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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Seventh decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that apart from being unable to control her daughter by speaking about the faults in her qualities, the mother now finds that even if she praises her daughter, her daughter is not able to bear even for a moment [separation from krishNa].
pEsavum theriyAdha peNmaiyin pEdhaiyEn pEdhai ivaL
kUsam inRi ninRArgaL tham edhir kOl kazhindhAn mUzhaiyAy
kEsavA enRum kEdilee enRum kinjuga vAy mozhiyAL
vAsavAr kuzhal mangaimIr! ivaL mAl uRuginRALE
Word-by-Word Meanings
vAsam – being fragrant fully
vAr – being long
kuzhal – having locks
mangaimIr – oh, girls, who are complete with your innocence!
pEdhaiyEn – I, who am unable to keep her under my control|
pEdhai – being [my] daughter
pEsavum theriyAdha – none could utter a word
peNmaiyin – having femininity
kinjugam – parrot’s
vAy mozhiyAL – having speech similar to [the parrot’s] speech
ivaL – this girl [her daughter]
ninRArgaL tham – those who are firmly associated with qualities of achcham [fear], madam [innocence], nANam [modesty] and payirppu [aversion to being touched by strangers]
edhir – in their presence
kUsam inRi – without any shyness
kOl kazhindhAn mUzhiyAy – like a ladle which has come off the wooden handle
(as if severing her relationship with me)
kEsavA enRum – saying “Oh, one who has beautiful locks!”
kEdilee enRum – saying “Oh, one who is without any fault” (one who does not let go of followers)
mAl uRuginRAL – she is infatuated
Simple Translation
Oh girls, who are having long locks which are always fragrant, and who are complete with your quality of innocence! I am unable to control my daughter, who cannot tolerate a word spoken by anyone about her femininity. She has sweet words just like a parrot. In the presence of those who are firmly rooted in feminine qualities of fear, innocence, modesty and aversion to strangers, without having any shyness, and [severing her connection with me] like a wooden ladle coming off its handle, she cries out “Oh, one who has beautiful locks! Oh, one who is without any faults!” She is completely infatuated with him [krishNa].
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
pEsavum theriyAdha peNmaiyin – she has qualities of femininity such that none can speak a word about her. In other words, through her activities, she is steadfast in her femininity. Even if someone were to speak a word about her, which could appear as if it would make her slip from her qualities of femininity, she would hit back through her femininity. Femininity here is defined as having qualities of AthmA [soul], namely fear, innocence, shyness and aversion towards strangers.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the term pEdhai, apart from referring to the feminine qualities of fear, innocence, shyness and aversion towards strangers, could also refer to a peacock; the mother says that her daughter is like a peacock.
pEdhaiyEn pEdhai – she is one who doesn’t know of any means, viz. she was born as a daughter to me, who doesn’t know of carrying out activities which are not apt for my femininity and my clan.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that her daughter became a pEdhai since she was born to her [the mother], who herself is a pEdhai. For the mother, the quality of pEdhai refers to her not giving up on her daughter, who was apt to be given up after the daughter had given up on her mother.
ivaL – she, who is like this.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the mother looks pointedly at her daughter, thinking “Her thinking is not aligned to her age” [she is thinking beyond her age]
kUsam inRI ninRArgaL tham edhir – those who are steadfast in their qualities of femininity and obedience towards their mothers. In their presence, without the shyness of thinking “In Your presence, how could I do this?”
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that those daughters, who are obedient towards their mothers, are apt to feel shy etc. In svApadhESam [enunciating one’s own thoughts on a subject], he says that this refers to those who feel that they cannot attain emperumAn on their own; their responsibility ends with identifying the entity who they should attain. Alternatively, this refers to those who carry out the deed mentioned in the first part of dhvaya mahAmanthram [second of the three esoteric manthrams in our sampradhAyam; the deed referred to here is carrying out SaraNAgathi, act of surrendering, by saying ‘prapadhyE’ (I hold on to your divine feet as my refuge)]. This gets established when the dress is held on to [we have seen in the earlier pAsurams that the girl does not even realise that her dress is loosening from the waist etc]. This applies to other features allied to this [we have seen words spoken by the mother, in earlier pAsurams, such as her daughter’s teeth have not sprouted, her locks have not grown such that they could be plaited etc]. All these forbidden activities are carried out by the girl on account of her deep desire for krishNa [the entity whom she has to attain, irrespective of what others say].
kOl kazhindhAn mUzhiyAy – severing her connection with me, who is her refuge, similar to a ladle coming off its handle. This implies that the daughter is no more under the mother’s control.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the mother, in an earlier pAsuram [3.7.4], had said that the ladle does not know the taste of the foodstuff that it is serving. Now, she says that the ladle has come off the handle. The difference between the two is that the earlier incident was with reference to the quality of the girl [she is unlike the ladle which does not know the taste of the foodstuff that it serves, viz she was too young to know the importance of emperumAn and was still having the urge to attain him, somehow]. Here, it is the fault which she is manifesting [just as the ladle comes off the handle, she is severing her connection with her mother]. The An [as seen in the last syllable of the term kOl kazhindhAn] is a poetic metric and does not have any meaning. None benefits if the ladle comes off the handle. Alternatively, it could be said that her status was similar to the ladle which has come off the handle from the hands of the one who is serving a foodstuff. It has no use. Through this, it is implied that the mother has lost her control over the daughter and that the daughter is now going in line with her senses. This applies to an AchAryan too [when the disciple goes outside the control of the AchAryan].
kEsavA enRum – She says “Oh, one who has eminent locks!”
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that this term [kEsavA] refers to one who annihilates his followers’ enemy [just as he killed the monster, kEsi] as well as to one who has eminent locks.
kEdilee enRum – She says “Oh, one who does not let go of those who are totally dependent on you!”
kinjuga vAy mozhiyAL – She has the complexion of a parrot’s beak on her lips and the sweetness of words, similar to the sweet words of a parrot. Even when the daughter is calling out to krishNa, mentioning his name, without obeying her mother, the beauty of the daughter’s lips and the sweetness of her words are attractive to the mother.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that through these two [lips being reddish like the parrot and words being sweet like the parrot’s], it is inferred that unlike thiruvAimozhi 8.9.6 “thiruvaruL oN kamugu pazhaththadhu” [her lips were like the reddish, well rounded areca fruit], earlier, her lips were pale red and that she will not speak a word after her mother had told her anything.
vAsavAr kuzhal mangaimIr– Oh, girls, who have fragrant and long locks, and who have youthfulness apt for your age!
ivaL mAl uRuginRALE – She is totally infatuated towards him, like this.
We shall next consider the 8th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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