SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
periya thirumozhi >> Sixth centum >> Seventh decad
Highlights from avathArikai (Introduction)
No specific introduction.
pAsuram
vaLLi kozhunan mudhalAya makkaLOdu mukkaNAn
veLgi Oda viRal vANan viyanthOL vanaththaith thuNiththu ugandhAn
paLLi kamalaththu idaippatta paguvAy alavan mugam nOkki
naLLiyUdum vayal sUzhndha naRaiyUr ninRa nambiyE
Word-by-Word meanings
vaLLi – For a woman named vaLLi
kozhunan – subrahmaNya who is the beloved
mudhalAya – having him as the chief
makkaLOdu – with sons
mukkaNAn – rudhran who is three-eyed (got defeated)
veLgi – being ashamed
Oda – as he ran
viRal – strong
vANan – bANAsuran’s
viyan – huge
thOL vanam – the forest of shoulders
thuNiththu – severed
ugandhAn – became joyful
kamalaththu idai – in the middle of a lotus flower
paLLi patta – went to sleep and got caught
paguvAy – having huge mouth
alavan – male crab’s
mugam – face (which is smeared with flower buds)
nOkki – seeing
naLLi – female crab
Udum – showing romantic anger
vayal – by the fertile fields
sUzhndha – surrounded
naRaiyUr ninRa – one who is eternally residing in thirunaRaiyUr
nambi – nambi is the refuge
Simple translation
Having subrahmaNya, who is the beloved husband of vaLLi, as the chief, the three-eyed rudhra along with his sons, ran away in shame; krishNa then severed the forest of the strong bANAsuran’s huge shoulders and became joyful. Such bhagavAn is eternally residing in thirunaRaiyUr which is surrounded by fertile fields where the male crab, which is having huge mouth, went to sleep in the middle of a lotus flower and got caught there and its face became smeared with the buds, on seeing which, the female crab showed romantic anger. Such nambi is our refuge.
Highlights from vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
vaLLi … – vaLLi is the name of a chaNdALa (forest dweller) girl; subrahmaNyan – her husband; starting with him, rudhra along with all his sons; here it is as said in “avinItha bruthya varga:” (disobedient followers). thiruchchandha viruththam 71 “… muNdanIRan makkaL veppu mOdiyangi Odidak kaNdu nANi vANanukku iranginAn em mAyanE” (For the sake of his daughter, ushai, around whose garland, beetles were roaming continuously, bANAsuran, with anger, waged a battle with krishNa. When that bANAsuran neared krishNan in the battlefield, krishNan severed the thousand shoulders of bANAsuran. rudhran [who had come to help and protect his devotee bANAsuran], with a tonsured head and ash smeared over his body, along with his sons skandha et al, kALi the deity of diseases such as fever, and agni, the deity of fire, ran away from the battlefield, leaving bANAsuran at the mercy of krishNa. Looking at this, krishNa, taking pity on bANAsuran since he felt ashamed at the action of rudhran, let go of bANAsuran with his life) – the one who has his head shaven and has applied ashes all over, his sons, jvaras (fire dhEvathAs), pidAri (dhurgA), agni – as all these personalities ran away showing their back; seeing that, krishNa thought “Oh we started fighting those who are as good as women (in the aspect of fighting)!” and became embarrassed.
vANanukku iranginAn – krishNa thought about bANAsura’s helpless state as in “One who has no refuge, has come to us surrendering” and showered his mercy upon him.
mukkaNAn veLgiyOda … – rudhra came there saying “I will protect you” but made bANa face the heat, and ran away along with his army; krishNa became joyful after eliminating the thousand shoulders of the very strong bANa. He severed the shoulders which helped bANa worship other dhEvathAs. [When asked if the hands which worshipped the other dhEvathAs should be severed] Since it is said that saluting with one hand should warrant the punishment of having that hand removed, those who worship other dhEvathAs should also face the same punishment.
paLLi kamalam … – It is mercifully said that “parASara bhattar would eagerly like this pAsuram”. The big-mouthed male crab got stuck in the middle of the flower. The female crab was pregnant. The male crab wanted to give something sweet to the female crab, It went into the lotus flower; as the sun had set and the flower became closed, it spent the night there; the buds and fragrance from the flower got smeared on its body, As the sun rose, the flower opened. Right from the time the male crab left, the female crab was waiting for the male crab, keeping the doors open. As it saw the male crab, due to staying out for the whole night and the bodily marks, it turned its face away, went in and shut the door. After parASara bhattar explained this, piLLai thirunaRaiyUr araiyar said “Should the female crab not analyse the situation and then if the mistake is proven, shut the door?” bhattar responded “What can we do! Here it is ruling of the woman i.e., thAyAr, where she is beyond questioning”.
In the next article we will enjoy the next pAsuram.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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