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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> First Centum >> Eighth Decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that AzhwAr wants krishNa to come with the disguise which he had taken on, when he went to the ritual arena of mahAbali, donning all the divine weapons.
mikka perum pugazh mAvali vELviyil
thakkadhu idhu anRu enRu dhAnam vilakkiya
sukkiran kaNNaith thurumbAl kiLaRiya
chakkarak kaiyanE! achchO achchO sangam idaththAnE! achchO achchO
Word-by-Word Meanings
mikka peru – being huge
pugazh – having fame (due to his magnanimity)
mAvali – mahAbali’s
vELviyil – in his ritual (when emperumAn, as vAmana, went to seek three steps of land)
idhu – “donating to him
thakkadhu anRu enRu – is not proper” saying this
dhAnam – donation of land
vilakkiya – one who prevented
sukkiran – Sukra, the AchArya [teacher] of monsters
kaNNai – eyes
thurumbAl – with the edge of pavithram [bunch of sacred grass] worn on his divine finger
kiLaRiya – one who poked
chakkarak kaiyanE – oh, one who holds the divine disc on your divine hand! You should
embrace me.
sangam – SrI pAnchajanyam [divine conch]
idaththAnE – oh, one who is donning on the divine left hand! You should embrace me
Simple Translation
emperumAn had gone [in the guise of a dwarf, vAmana] to the ritual arena of mahAbali, who was famous for being magnanimous, with the intention of seeking three steps of land. SukrAchArya, the guru [teacher] for the clan of monsters, attempted to prevent mahAbali from donating the land sought, saying “Donating to him is not proper”. Oh, one who holds the divine disc on your divine hand! You should embrace me with the hand with which you had poked the eye of that SukrAchArya, with the tip of the divine grass which you were wearing on that hand. Oh, one who holds the divine conch on your left hand! You should embrace me.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
mikka …– mahAbali, a monster [grandson of emperumAn’s follower, prahlAdhan] was famous for being magnanimous. When he was conducting a ritual, emperumAn went to that arena, for the sake of indhran [who had lost his kingdom to mahAbali], disguising himself as vAmana, a dwarf. He told mahAbali, as mentioned in thiruvAImozhi 3-8-9 “koLvan nAn mAvali mUvadi thA” (give me three steps of land, mahAbali; I will accept), to give him three steps of land. Just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 1-8-6 “pulan koL mANAy” (having a form which attracted the senses of all), due to the beauty of vAmana, which was stealing all the senses of beholders as well as the childishness with which vAmana had demanded fulfilment of his wish, mahAbali, with his heart stolen by vAmana, agreed to grant him that which he had sought. SukrAchArya, his guru, analysed from the form, the gait and the way in which he demanded, that the visitor is not any ordinary human personality. He warned mahAbali “He is the lord of all; he has come on behalf of celestial entities, to rob you of all your possessions. Thus, it is not proper on your part to donate him like this”. Rejecting his words, when mahAbali attempted to offer water on the hands of vAmana (symbolic of acceding to vAmana’s request for three steps of land), SukrAchArya took the form of a beetle and lodged himself at the entrance of the vessel through which water was to be poured as a symbolism, blocking the flow of water. vAmana, with the edge of the pavithram (sacred grass) worn on his finger, poked the hole as if testing it. The grass pierced the eye of SukrAchArya, blinding him and making him to fall out. Oh, one who has the divine disc on your divine hand! Since the verse states “thurumbAl kiLaRIya chakkarakkaiyan” it appears that it was the divine disc which went in the form of the grass and poked the eye of SukrAchArya, just as it has been said in thiruvAimozhi 10-6-8 “karudhum idam porum thiruvAzhi” (divine disc goes to the place where emperumAn thinks of, to engage in battle).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that SukrAchArya told mahAbali “His seeking alms and your giving alms are both incorrect”. He ordered mahAbali not to accede to vAmana’s request. mahAbali, instead of listening to his AchArya’s words, attempted to offer water as symbolic of fulfilling vAmana’s request. periyavAchchAn piLLai, one of our preceptors and who had mercifully given the vyAkhyAnam for all the pAsurams of nAlAyira dhivya prabandham, asked nampiLLai, who was his AchArya (guru, teacher) “One who fulfilled the wish of an alms-seeker, a worthy recipient, was punished and imprisoned. One who warned him, saying ‘This is a deceptive person; do not fulfil his request’ speaking the truth, lost his eye. Is this proper?” [the reference here is to mahAbali who had to be pushed down into the nether world by emperumAn after he had measured all the lower worlds with one step and all the upper worlds with the second step, and asked mahAbali as to where he should keep the third; mahAbali told him to put his third step on his head, thus pushing him to the nether world; SukrAchArya lost his vision in the eye which was poked by the edge of the sacred grass]. nampiLLai told periyavAchchAn piLLai “mahAbali did not heed the words of his AchArya; hence he was punished. SukrAchArya prevented a righteous act [donation to a brAhmaNa] being performed; hence he too was punished”. When asked: just as it has been mentioned in periya thirumozhi 5-1-2 “kaLLak kuraLAy mAvaliyai” (with a deceptive disguise, cheating mahAbali) and in thiruvAimozhi 4-8-6 “kodum kOLAl nilam koNda” (reclaiming earth through a cruel path, by deceiving mahAbali), could emperumAn demonstrate a dishonest activity and break established lawful traditions? The response was: just as it has been said in thirumAlai 15 “poyyarkkE poyyanAgum” (emperumAn will act deceptively with those who act in a deceptive manner) and in thiruvAimozhi 1-4-3 “madhiyinAl kuraL mANAy” (through his intelligence, taking the form of a dwarf and seeking alms), for emperumAn this conduct is acceptable. Moreover, when such acts are carried out for the sake of his followers, everything is valid only. He did not do these for fulfilling his desire.
sangam idaththAnE – there is never a separation between the divine disc and SrI pAnchajanyam (divine conch). Thus, when the divine disc appears on emperumAn’s divine right hand, the divine conch will have to appear on his divine left hand.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that when a hurdle in the form of a block is noticed in the vessel, first it has to be blown away. For this purpose, emperumAn was carrying the conch.
achchO achchO – she tells krishNa to come with his divine hands and the AzhwArs [divine weapons are referred to as AzhwArs in our traditional custom], and to hug her.
We shall next consider the 8th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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