SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
perumAL thirumozhi >> 6th Decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
In this pAsuram, AzhwAr speaks in the voice of another gOpi (cowherd girl).
keNdai oN kaNmadavAL oruththi kIzhaiyagaththuth thayir kadaiyak
kaN(du) ollai nAnum kadaivan enRu kaLLa vizhiyai vizhiththup pukku
vaNdamar pUnguzhal thAzhndhulAva vANmugam vErppach chevvAy thudippath
thaNdayir nI kadaindhitta vaNNam dhAmOdharA! meyyaRivan nAnE
Word-by-Word Meanings
dhAmOdharA – Oh dhAmOdharA!
kIzhai agaththu – on the house, to the east (of my house)
keNdai oN kaN – one who has eyes similar to a shining kayal (carp) fish
madavAL oruththi – a beautiful girl
thayir kadaiya kaNdu – seeing her, churning curd (alone)
nAnum – I too (along with you)
ollai kadaivan enRu – will churn immediately, saying so
kaLLam vizhiyai vizhiththu – with deceptive look
pukku – approaching and entering her place
vaNdu amar pU kuzhal – the hair, with flowers, on which beetles are sitting
thAzhndhu ulAva – swaying, in a lowered position
vAL mugam vErppa – with the radiant face perspiring
sem vAy thudippa – with the red lips quivering
thaN thayir – cold curd
nI kadaindhitta vaNNam – the way you churned
nAn mey aRivan – I know the truth, fully
Simple Translation
Oh dhAmOdharA! There is a beautiful girl, with eyes matching shining carp fish, who lives to the east of my house. You saw her churning curd, all alone. Approaching and entering her house, with a deceptive look, you told her that you will help her immediately, to churn the curd. I really know [what you are up to] from the way you churned, with your radiant face perspiring, your reddish lips quivering and your hair, with beetles sitting on the flowers, swaying and lowering.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
keNdai oN kaN madavAL oruththi – a cowherd girl having beautiful eyes, similar to carp, and having an ignorance which will make her believe whatever her beloved told her
kIzhaiyagaththu – AzhwAr speaks imagining himself to be a cowherd girl, thinking that he has a house in AyppAdi, and narrating an incident happening in a house located to the east of his (her) house. He says “Did you not shamelessly loiter near my house!” He describes now that event.
thayir kadaiyak kaNdu – in order to carry out a mischievous act, would not kaNNan seek out girls who are churning curd, all alone? Locating such a girl, he ran towards that house, as if he had attained a most unattainable benefit.
ollai nAnum kadaivan enRu – He entered saying “If you churn the curd alone, butter will not gather. To get the butter faster, I will also churn, along with you”. Just as nammAzhwAr had mercifully said in thiruvAimozhi 7-1-7 “anRu dhEvar asurar vAnga alai kadal aravamaLAvi” (once upon a time, with the celestial and demon entities churning, in the ocean with rising waves, using vAsuki, the snake, as the rope for churning), on that day, since it was someone else’s interest, emperumAn had allowed the celestial and demonic entities to churn the ocean until they became tired; then, he stood on both sides of the churning staff and churned the ocean himself. Here, since he was churning in order to enjoy the beauty of the cowherd girl, he churned the curd with the girl standing on one side, and himself, on the other side.
kaLLa vizhiyai vizhiththup pukku – since she is an innocent girl, her vision, activity and thought will be focussed on churning the curd. Since he is one with deceptive eyes, his vision, activity and thought will be on enjoying her beauty, with churning of curd, as an excuse. Since she is an innocent girl, looking at his deceptive eyes and vision, she believed that he had really come to help her to churn the curd.
vaNdamar pUnguzhal thAzhndhulAva vAn mugam vErppach cheyya vAy thudippa – while churning the curd, in order to attract her attention, he carried out activities due to which his hair, on which he had donned flowers, got lowered and swayed in the air; his radiant face started perspiring; his reddish lips quivered. If all his activities were to be described, they will be as huge as a mahAbhAratha collection of verses.
vaNdamar pUnguzhal thAzhndhulAva – what suffering did the beetles undergo, when they came believing that your hair will be a safe place for them?
vAL mugam vErppa – just as how pearls will appear on a lotus petal, drops of perspiration settled on his lotus-like face.
chevvAy thudippa – his lips were quivering. Aren’t all these, symbolic of what happens when a beloved is enjoying his lady! In thamizh literature, such an exchange of emotions between a man and woman is termed as ‘sunaiyAdal’. The implied meaning is that such an exchange took place here.
thaN thayrl nI kadaindhitta vaNNam – all those activities which you indulged in desirously, when you entered to churn curd. When the cowherd girl [AzhwAr] said this, kaNNan said “You are unnecessarily blaming me! I did not do anything like this”
dhAmOdharA! meyyaRivan nAnE – she says that if he could hide the scars on his stomach caused by the rope when his mother tied him just as it has been mentioned in the famous pAsuram kaNNinuN siRuththAmbinAl (with short ropes tied together), he could hide these activities too. dhAmOdharan – one tied with rope on his stomach.
We will take up pAsuram 6,3, next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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