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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Second Centum >> Seventh decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that in the final pAsuram, AzhwAr mentions the benefit to those who recite the pAsurams in this decad and brings it to an end.
seNbaga malligaiyOdu sengazhunIr iruvAtchi
eN pagar pUvum koNarndhEn inRu ivai sUtta vA enRu
maN pagar koNdAnai Aychchi magizhndhu urai seydha im mAlai
paN pagar villibuththUrk kOn battar pirAn sonna paththE!
Word-by-Word Meanings
seNbagam – champaka flower
malligaiyOdu – along with this flower, jasmine
sengazhunIr – red water-lily flower too
iruvAtchi – and Tuscan jasmine flower
eN pagar – mentioned as “such and such flower”, counting them
pUvum – all the flowers
koNarndhEn – I brought, searching for them
ivai – these flowers
inRu – now
sUtta – to don
vA enRu – saying that you should come
pagar – known famously in SAsthram that it is his
maN – earth
koNdAnai – regarding one who measured after taking water from [king] mahAbali
Aychchi – yaSOdhAp pirAtti
magizhndhu – feeling joyous in her mind
urai seydha – mentioned
paN – to unite with tune (paN – tune)
pagar – one, who mentioned
villibuththUrk kOn – the head of SrI villibuththUr
battar pirAn – periyAzhwAr
sonna – mercifully recited
im mAlai – these, which are a garland of words
paththE! – are ten pAsurams!
(praising the eminence of these ten pAsurams, AzhwAr mercifully says that the flavour that one experiences in reciting these pAsurams is the benefit)
Simple Translation
I have brought flowers such as champaka, jasmine, red water-lily, Tuscan jasmine etc, which have been identified as “such and such flowers” after searching for them. yaSOdhAp pirAtti had told, with joy in her mid, to emperumAn, who had, after taking water from mahAbali, measured earth which is famously mentioned in SAsthrams as his, to come and don those flowers. periyAzhwAr, the controller of SrI villibuththUr, recited these mercifully, with tune and these are the ten such pAsurams.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
seNbaga malligaiyOdu … – along with champaka, which blossoms in the morning, and jasmine, which blossoms in the evening, I had searched and brought the morning flowers of red water-lily and Tuscan jasmine. Alternatively, the term eN pagar pU would refer to flowers which were counted as “Such and such flowers” and were established by SAsthrams [as being appropriate]. Hence, there is no need to doubt whether a morning flower and an evening flower could be taken together with the same freshness.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, for the same doubt, explains in the following way: when it is for emperumAn, there is no boundary with respect to time. When SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn [elephant, which was snared by a crocodile in the pond when the elephant entered to pluck a flower to offer to emperumAn] was fighting with the crocodile for a thousand years, the flower which he held in his trunk did not wither at all. It could also be due to chillness. thiruvAimozhip piLLai cites the following references to establish that when it comes to emperumAn, all flowers would retain their freshness and all flowers are appropriate for him; it is only the qualification of the entity who approaches emperumAn that is important and not of the offering : (1) bhagavath gIthA 9.26 “pathram pushpam” (Any leaf or flower is acceptable to me); (2) thiruvAimozhi 1.6.1 “purivadhuvum pugaip pUvE” (submit some type of incense and flower); (3) periya thirumozhi 11.7.6 “kaLLAr thuzhAyum” (any wild flower and thuLasi) – along with thuLasi, which exists exclusively for emperumAn, other flowers, even without fragrance, could be offered. It is appropriate for both the follower to offer such flowers and for emperumAn to accept such flowers; (4) SrI vishNu dharmam “na kaNdakArika pushpam” (flower with thorns are not acceptable) nanjIyar asked bhattar as to how emperumAn could say that he will not accept a flower here, when he had said all along differently. bhattar told him that since thorns are present in the plant, they could hurt his followers; hence, emperumAn forbids his followers from offering such flowers; thus there is no flower which is not of use to him; similarly, there is no need to look for time such as in thiruppAvai 29 “siRRam siRu kAlE” (I came to worship you, early in the morning) and in thiruppallANdu 5 “andhiyam pOdhil” (during the time of dusk); (5) chAndhOgya upanishad “sarva gandha: sarva rasa:” (emperumAn is the repository of all smells and all tastes) it is only when the flowers are taken near the supreme entity that they get their basic nature of smell; (6) thiruvAimozhi 1.9.7 “thOLiNai mElum” (having cool thuLasi on his divine shoulders); (7) periya thiruvandhAdhi 37 “thazhaikkum thuzhAy mArban” (one who has the sprouting thuLasi on his divine chest); (8) [well known verse] “ahimsA prathamam pushpam” (emperumAn desires to don harmlessness as the primary flower); (9) thiruvAimozhi 1.4.9 “nAdAdha malar nAdi” (searching for and offering rare flowers); (10) thiruvAimozhi 4.3.2 “pUsum sAndhu – punaiyum kaNNi – vAsagam sey mAlai” (my heart is sandalwood paste for emperumAn; my pAsurams are garlands which are donned); (11) periya thirumozhi 8.1.10 “kaliyan olisey thamizh mAlai” (the garland strung with the resounding thamizh words by thirumangai AzhwAr) etc.
eN pagar pUvum koNarndhEn – since it has been said that flowers, which were established by SAsthrams, were brought with a count, this is representative of all the flowers. Thus, while AzhwAr had mentioned nine flowers in the first nine pAsurams, he has cited only four in the final pAsuram [seNbaga malligaiyOdu sengazhunIr iruvAtchi], due to this reason. This is in line with SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 127.18 “akAla palinO vrukshA:” (trees blossomed with unseasonal flowers, when SrI rAma returned to ayOdhyA), with SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam SlOkam “pushpitha kAnana:” (as soon as dhaSaratha announced coronation for SrIrAma, all the trees started blossoming flowers) as well as with periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 3.6.9 “malargaL vIzhum” (upon hearing the tunes from krishNa’s flute, flowers will fall down on their own).
koNarndhEn – I brought
inRu ivai sUtta vA enRu – you should come such that I could bedeck these on your beautiful, divine locks.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that since AzhwAr has said inRu, there is no rule that flowers should blossom in ”morning, noon or evening”. They could blossom any time. Just as it has been mentioned in iraNdAm thiruvandhAdhi 73 “Adhi nadu andhivAy vAyndha malar thUvi” (proffering flowers to emperumAn with available flowers, without distinction among morning, noon and night), there is no rule that only specific flowers should be offered. Since AzhwAr had said ivai (these) in plural count, this term would include flowers which had been left out when he mentioned the first four flowers. In other words, the first four flowers were not representative of all nine flowers.
maN pagar koNdAnai – one, who took the land, which SAsthram has said to be his. pagardhal – emperumAn’s assertion to grant him three steps of land; or, it could be mahAbali’s assertion that he had granted; or, one who has land, which has been established by SAsthras to be his.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that it was the land which emperumAn had taken after mahAbali had said “I have given” through water. It could also be taken as land which emperumAn took, after requesting mahAbali. This could also be taken as the land which emperumAn took, which was established by SAsthrams. Just as it has been mentioned in thiruviruththam 61 “vEy agam Ayinum” (even land for bamboo), emperumAn measured all the worlds with his two steps, not leaving even a little bit of land for a bamboo tree to grow. While mahAbali had taken only three worlds, why is AzhwAr saying “All the worlds”? AzhwAr considers that mahAbali has all the fourteen worlds, including the walls of universe. There is none who is inferior to mahAbali in terms of being servitors to others [instead of emperumAn alone] and being dependent on oneself for protection [in other words, there are others like mahAbali, who have other worlds, and emperumAn measured everything, without leaving anything, to proclaim all as his].
Aychchi magizhndhu urai seydha – the pAsurams recited joyously by yaSOdhAp pirAtti, asking krishNa, who is like this [as mentioned above] to come and don them.
paN pagar villibuththUrk kOn battar pirAn sonna – immAlai – paththE – these pAsurams are such that even if someone were to say it in any particular manner, tune will come into that person’s recitation. Such is the garland of words, mercifully composed by periyAzhwAr, who is the controller of SrI villibuththUr. The term oru paththE describes the eminence of the ten pAsurams. Instead of mentioning the benefit for reciting these pAsurams, mentioning its eminence is to make it apparent that the flavour of experiencing the pAsurams is the benefit which will accrue to one who recites them.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that whatever words are spoken by those who reside in villibuththUr and the response of others to such words, would all be in musical form. periyAzhwAr is the controller of such SrI villibuththUr. Orththa ippaththE – AzhwAr praises these ten pAsurams just as nammAzhwAr had said in thiruvAimozhi 1.2.11 “Orththa ippaththE” (well analysed ten pAsurams). These are the most trust-worthy words. It is only the flower garlands and word garlands which emperumAn desires and the follower could carry out.
We shall next consider the pravESam of the next thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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