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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Eighth decad
avathArikai
In the end, AzhwAr mentions the benefit which will accrue to those who recite these pAsurams and brings the decad to its end.
mAyavan pin vazhi senRu vazhi idai mARRangaL kEttu
AyargaL chEriyilum pukku anguththai mARRamum ellAm
thAy avaL solliya sollaith thaN pudhuvaip pattan sol
thUya thamizh paththum vallAr thUmaNi vaNNanukku ALarE
Word-by-Word Meanings
mAyavan – sarvESvaran [lord of all] who has amazing activities
pin vazhi senRu – following him
vazhi idai mARRangaL kEttu – querying about the strange entities/events seen on the way
AyargaL chEriyilum pukku – entering thiruvAyppAdi too
anguththai – appropriate to those who are there
mARRamum ellAm – all the words of her daughter
thAy avaL – mother
solliya – spoken to those who were in proximity
sollai – words
thaN – cool
pudhuvai – controller of SrI villibuththUr
pattan – periyAzhwAr
sonna – mercifully composed
thUya – sacred (since it is related to emperumAn)
thamizh – in thamizh language
paththum – ten pAsurams
vallAr – those who are capable of reciting
thU maNi – like a faultless bluish gemstone
vaNNanukku – one who has his form
ALar – will get to carry out servitude
Simple Translation
The mother went behind sarvESvaran, who has amazing activities. She queried about the strange entities/events which she saw on the way. She entered thiruvAyppAdi too and learnt about the words spoken by her daughter about those who are present there, appropriate to each of them. The mother shared those words with those who were in her proximity. periyAzhwAr, who is the controller of the cool SrI villibuththUr, mercifully composed those words into ten pAsurams in the sacred thamizh language. Those who are capable of reciting these pAsurams will get to be the servitors to one, who has a form resembling a faultless bluish gemstone.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
mAyavan pin vazhi senRu – emperumAn had manifested his rUpa guNa chEshtithams [his divine form, his auspicious qualities and his divine activities] to my daughter and captivated her, through those amazing characteristics. She went behind him, just like it has been mentioned in periya thirumozhi 3.7.1 “kaLvan kol” (Is he a thief, who came and took my daughter away?)
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that with the owner taking his possession and not taking it with the permission of the one who has it now, he has manifested both his auspicious quality and his fault. The mother calls him as mAyavan [one with amazing activities] since both these qualities are apt to be accepted. She follows the way in which he had gone, asking from people, who were coming opposite her, about their [krishNa’s and her daughter’s] condition, their path, their rest etc.
vazhiyidai mARRangaL kEttu – just as it has been mentioned in periya thirumozhi 3.7.2 “kiLi pOl mizhaRRRi nadandhu” (walking behind him, speaking some words like a parrot), as she went behind him, whenever she saw anything strange on the way, she would ask him about it.
AyargaL chEriyilum pukku – entering the divine abode to be attained, thiruvAyppAdi. All these activities which happened …
anguththai mARRamum ellAm – all the activities which her daughter had done and all the words which she had spoken to SrI nandhagOpar, yaSOdhAp pirAtti, krishNa et al, there, appropriate to their nature. Through the word mARRamum which is a word of aggregation [meaning this along with others], we have to consider the activities mentioned in earlier pAsurams too.
thAy avaL solliya sollai – the words spoken by the divine mother, from her house, feeling sorrowful as well as desirous [sorrowful about the way the daughter left and desirous to know what happened further], to other herd-women in her proximity.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the term avaL [added to the mother here] appears to convey the meaning that whatever she had said is very secretive and is parama rahasyam [most concealed]. Utilising these as a reason, with his bhakthirUpApanna gyAnam [knowledge maturing into devotion], taking it to the limit of mangaLASAsanam [carrying out kainkaryam, born out of that devotion]
maNavALa mAmunigaL gives a second interpretation for the verse up to this part. mAyavan … – emperumAn had taken his possession [her daughter] as the owner takes the owned. He did not take that entity, in the way in which he should have taken. Thus, manifesting both his auspicious quality and fault, both of which are to be considered as acceptable, he left with her. The mother followed such an amazing entity. On the way, she enquired from people who were coming opposite her about the condition, the way in which they were going, their taking resting for sleeping etc. AyargaL chEriyilum pukku – She went into the town of thiruvAyppAdi, to the street where SrI nandhagOpar was living, enquiring from the people there about distinguishing activities taking place there. thAy avaL solliya sollai – she asked the people who came opposite her “Have they gone near mathurA?” [as in pAsuram 1], “Will this activity be a matter of blame or auspicious quality for our clan?” [as in pAsuram 2], “Did you see decorative arches erected in thiruvAyppAdi and the sound of auspicious music?” [as in pAsuram 3}. She went to thiruvAyppAdi and enquired about the support [for her daughter] or the lack of support from SrI nandhagOpar, yaSOdhAp pirAtti etc. The responses given by them are to be considered as the words of the divine mother. maNavALa mAmunigaL says that the first narrative [between these two] appears more appropriate.
thaN pudhuvaip pattan sonna – SrI villibuththUr appears as a cool place, removing the ennui from samsAram [materialistic realm]. Mercifully composed by periyAzhwAr, who is the controller of such SrI villibuththUr.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that SrI villibuththUr is without any shortcoming in enjoyable materials and these are the aids for carrying out mangaLASAsanam. Hence, AzhwAr mentions the coolness of the place, in the same breath as mentioning about himself.
thUya thamizh paththum vallAr – unlike samskrutham words which are dark, without knowing the meaning, thamizh language, which is pure, has words whose meanings are bright, which ladies and ignorant people too could know. While each of these pAsurams is sufficient to uplift a person, those who are capable of reciting all the ten pAsurams, with AzhwAr’s pathos …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that purity for thamizh comes due to the following: unlike SAsthrams where emperumAn is known through words, in thamizh, words are composed in a fluent style for a meaning; also, the words express empathy; through the root word, suffix and etymology [root word is the primary part of the word, which denotes an action while suffix is the last part of the word, which denotes the tense, gender, number etc. As an example, in the word padiththAn (he read), padi is the root word (also called in thamizh as pagudhi) which says that the person is indulging in the action of reading, while An, at the end is the suffix [called in thamizh as vigudhi]; it reveals that it is in past tense, the person is male and is a single person], the meanings become clear in thamizh while in samskrutham, there will be several interpretations for the same word. The words which define the action [verb] in thamizh are straightforward, such as “ninRanar, irundhanar” etc, while in samskrutham, there will be three different genders for every word [male, female and neutral gender; for example, for the meaning wife, there are three words in samskrutham, one for each gender such as dhArA: in masculine, kaLathram in neutral and bhAryAL in feminine gender. Context will change based on the word used. In thamizh, there is only one word, manaivi]. Our AchAryas, who were experts in all the SAsthrams, cherished the pAsurams of AzhwArs, saying that they are indeed free from any fault. Hence, it is correct to say thUya thamizh. While one pAsuram alone is enough to uplift a person, the reason for saying “paththum vallAr” [those who could recite all ten pAsurams] is because of its flavour. Those who are capable of reciting these ten pAsurams, till the stage of carrying out mangaLASAsanam.
thUmaNi vaNNanukku ALarE – They will get to carry out servitude to the one, who has the beauty of his divine form like a faultless bluish gemstone, as his servitor.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the purity in pramANam [the language of pAsuram] is extended to the pramEyam too [subject of the pAsuram]. Since the term is with fourth case [thUmaNivaNNanukku, where the last syllable ku is the fourth case, conveying the meaning, for him], it is similar to periya thirumozhi pAsuram 8.9.3 “kaNNapuram onRu udaiyAnukku” (for one, who has thirukkaNNapuram as his permanent dwelling). The syllable E, in ALarE confirms that the fourth case is present in all the parts of padhathrayam [three parts of thirumanthram, viz praNavam, nama: and nArAyaNAya]. He further explains as to how this is treated as mangaLASAsanam [carrying out servitude to emperumAn, since the pAsuram is only expressing the sorrow of the mother regarding her daughter who has been taken by emperumAn]. emperumAn has taken a disciple who was totally dependent on his AchAryan [krishNa, taking the daughter away from the mother] since he [emperumAn] had been taking efforts since time immemorial, to take this AthmA to mOksham [SrI vaikuNtam]. AchAryan is wondering whether the disciple is capable of carrying out mangaLASAsanam to emperumAn there. Thus, he follows them and asks people who come in the opposite direction and those in the town, about this [mother asking people coming opposite her as well as those in thiruvAyppAdi about her daughter]. Hence, this is to be treated as mangaLASAsanam only. The term “those who came opposite” refers to those who propel the disciple towards emperumAn and return to take more such disciples.
We shall next consider the pravEsram of the next thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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