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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Fourth decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that this pAsuram too mentions about krishNa’s decorations.
valangAdhin mEL thOnRip pU aNindhu malligai vana mAlai mauval mAlai
silingAraththAl kuzhal thAzha vittuth thInguzhal vAy madhuththu Udhi
alangAraththAl varum Ayap piLLai azhagu kaNdu en magaL Asaip pattu
vilanginillAdhu edhir ninRu kaNdIr veLvaLai kazhanRu meymmeliginRadhE
Word-by-Word Meanings
vala kAdhil – in the right ear
mEl thOnRip pU – sengAndhaL flower (red species of malabar glory lily)
aNindhu – donning
vanam – beautiful
malligai mAlai – garland of jasmine flower
mauval mAlai – wild jasmine garland
aNindhu – donning
silingAraththAl – in a decorative manner
kuzhal – bundle of divine locks
thAzha vittu – making it hang down on the back
thIm – giving sweetness to all
kuzhal – flute
vAy maduththu – keeping on the divine lips
Udhi Udhi – playing on it, repeatedly
alangAraththAl – with this get-up
varum – one who came
Ayap piLLai – herd-boy’s [krishNa’s]
azhagu kaNdu – looking at his beauty
en magaL – my daughter
Asaip pattu – with desire
vilangi nillAdhu – instead of stepping side (keeping the eyes elsewhere, instead of on him,
thinking ‘This will trouble the beholders’)
edhir ninRu kaNdIr – looking at him, standing opposite him
veLvaLai – bangles made of conch
kazhanRu – slipping out (instead of staying put, on the hands)
mey – form too
meliginRadhu – was emaciating
enRu – says the mother of the daughter, to those who came to enquire about her
Simple Translation
krishNa, the herd-boy, had donned the reddish malabar glory lily flower, on his right ear and garlands of beautiful regular jasmine and wild jasmine on his divine form. He had let bundles of his divine locks decoratively, to hang down on his back. He kept his flute, which gives sweet music to everyone, on his divine lips and played repeatedly on it. Looking at the decoration of the herd-boy, like this, my daughter, with desire, stood in his path, looking at him, instead of stepping aside, thinking “Looking at him like this will bring sorrow to beholders”. Her bangles, made of conch, slipped out of her hands and her form too became emaciated [tells the mother of the girl, to her friends who came to enquire about her].
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
valam kAdhil mEl thOnRip pU aNindhu – donning the reddish species of malabar glory lily flower, as a decoration, over the right ear. Since nothing has been mentioned about the left ear, it should be presumed that he came with this only, with the decoration on only one ear looking beautiful, in a way. After donning the flower on one ear, since he looked at the jasmine garland, he would have probably forgotten about the left ear and donned the jasmine garland [mentioned next].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that decoration, apt for the clan, will look appealing for the eyes of people of that clan. krishNa donned the reddish malabar glory lily, which was beautiful to the eyes, on his right ear. Looking at the jasmine flower, krishNa forgot about decoration for the left ear. thiruvAimozhip piLLai further says that looking at krishNa’s flower decoration, the herd-girl too forgot about the left ear. He says that krishNa desired the wild jasmine garland. Alternatively, just as it has been mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 14.2 “vanamAlai minunga ninRu viLaiyAda” (as krishNa played with his friends, with the vanamAlai shining) [vanamAlai is the distinguished garland worn by emperumAn, on his chest, and is called as vaijayanthi], the jasmine garland became his distinguished vanamAlai.
malligai vana mAlai – The term vanam [forest] could be added to malligai [jasmine] and this would then refer to jasmine grown in forest areas. Alternatively, vanam could refer to being beautiful, thus referring to jasmine garland, which was looking beautiful.
mauval mAlai – mauval refers to a variety of jasmine flower [it is also referred to as wild jasmine flower]. Just as in the term pUvai kAyA [from periya thiruvandhAdhi], the flower pUvai is a variant of the flower kAyA, here too, a similar variation exists between malligai and mauval flowers. The term vanam [beautiful] is to be added here too, to make it beautiful mauval garland. Similarly, the term aNindhu [donning] in the first verse [mEl thOnRip pU aNindhu] has to be added here to infer that krishNa donned the garlands of malligai and mauval flowers.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that mauval vanamAlai refers to beautiful garland, with different colours.
silingAraththAL kuzhal thAzha vittu – silingAram – SrungAram [decoration]; through this, the decoration made to the divine locks with these garlands is mentioned. Along with those decorations, krishNa had let his divine locks such that they came on to his back, hanging down.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the garlands were donned both on his divine locks and on his divine chest.
thInguzhal vAy maduththu Udhi – the term thIm refers to sweetness. Since the pAsuram has not specifically mentioned that the sweetness is “For such a person”, this implies that the music from the flute was sweet for him as well as for others, without any distinction. Among the listeners [of that music], his ears are the nearest. Just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 9.9.9 “pEdhuRu mugam seydhu nondhu nondhu” (since his ears are closest to the music from the flute, he became distressed, thinking “If we are ourselves so immersed in it, how will the helpless girls feel about it?)” the music from the flute distressed him first, before going towards the others. Distressing others has been explained through the following pAsurams from periyAzhwAr thirumozhi, decad 3.6: (1) 3.6.7 “aviyuNA maRandhu vAnavar ellAm” ([the music went up to the celestial word such that] the celestial entities forgot to consume the havis [offering from ritual] proffered by human beings]); (2) 3.6.5 “thumburuvOdu nAradhanum tham tham vINai maRandhu” (the music from the flute made thumburu [a celestial sage] and nAradhan to forget their vINai [a stringed instrument]); (3) 3.6.1 “kOvalar siRumiyar – vandhu kavizhndhu ninRanar” (young herd-girls, hearing the music from the flute, came to the place where krishNa was, and with shyness, bowed down their heads and stood); (4) 3.6.8 “paRavaiyin kaNangaL kUdu thuRandhu vandhu sUzhndhu” (flocks of birds, hearing the music, came out of their nests, came to where krishNa was, surrounding him) and (5) 3.6.10 “marangaL ninRu madhu thAraigaL pAyum” (trees, listening to his music, will stand in a focussed manner, and secrete a flood of honey). Thus, as seen in these examples, the music from krishNa’s flute will affect all species, such as celestial, human, animals and plants, without any distinction. krishNa will keep such a flute on his divine lips and keep playing repeatedly on it.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that since the music played by krishNa on the flute was meant to alleviate the anguish of those who were affectionate towards him, it was sweet for them [reference here is to the herd-girls who were wilting under separation from him from dawn to dusk]. For the term vAy maduththu, he says that the herd-girl feels distressed that she is not like that flute, to be handled so affectionately by krishNa. Why is it this slim? She wonders! [Since he is constantly touching it and keeping it on his divine mouth, it should have become bulky, due to the resultant pride. But it is slim]. This [flute] refers to the characteristic of an AchArya, who lets known the unknown [just as emperumAn instructs jIvAthmAs through an Acharya, here, krishNa informs his instructions to the cattle or about his arrival to the people in thiruvAyppAdi, through the flute].
alangAraththAl varum Ayap piLLai – krishNa, the herd-person, coming with the decorations as mentioned above. The term piLLai refers to krishNa’s age which is between a boy’s and a youth’s, as mentioned in rig vEdham as “yuvAkumAra:” [between a youth and a boy].
azhagu kaNdu en magaL Asaip pattu – my daughter became desirous of such krishNa, whose beauty was attracting the eyes and hearts of those who beheld him.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the herd-girl was overcome by the beauty of krishNa’s divine, beautiful form. When an elephant, in rut, is coming, if one were to stand in its way, it will not only not allow to person to reach his destination, it will also throw the person down. In the same way, when one looks at krishNa, with such decorations, his beauty will not only allow the person to attain him, by considering him as the means, it will also not allow the person to look at his qualities of protection etc. Will anyone desire to covert that beauty?
vilangi nillA edhir ninRU kaNdIr – Instead of stepping aside from his path, realising “This beauty will trouble those who see him”, she came looking at his beauty and came opposite him.
veLvaLai kazhanRu mey meliginRadhE – the bangles, made of conch, slipped out and her form too started emaciating. Will not the body become thin first and then the bangles slip out? Why then has the pAsuram mentioned about bangles slipping out first and then, the body becoming thin? For her mother, the bangles slipping out appeared first and then only she saw her daughter becoming thin. Alternatively, the daughter became thin just enough for the bangles to slip out; subsequently, the bangles could not be fitted back on the hands since she continued to become thin. The mother is mentioning this sequence. These words are also the response of the mother to those who came to enquire about her daughter’s condition.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the mother tells her friends that her daughter had not only gone out of her [mother’s] control, she had also lost respect for her own femininity. He asks whether the form [of the herd-girl] will become thin only after the shining, pure, bangles slip out. Will it not be sufficient to become slim until the bangles slip out? Since the term meliginRadhu [slipping out] is in the present tense, it appears that one would wonder whether there is any place for the bangles to get back on. vaLai could also be considered as the bangles worn on the shoulder, which will keep dropping and would need to be pushed back up the arm. Since this would recur, the mother thought initially that the bangles had dropped down on their own. It was only when she found that despite being pushed up, the bangles were not staying in place, that she realised that her daughter had become thin. She tells the pAsuram in the manner in which she saw the events [bangles slipping out first and then the realisation that the daughter’s form had become thin].
We shall next consider the last pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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