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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Ninth decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that the earlier pAsuram described emperumAn’s affection for sIthAp pirAtti. This pAsuram recalls the benefit that he carried out for rukmiNip pirAtti.
uruppiNi nangaiyaith thErERRik koNdu
viruppuRRu angu Ega viraindhu edhir vandhu
serukkuRRAn vIram sidhaiyath thalaiyaich
chiraiththittAn vanmaiyaip pAdippaRa dhEvaki singaththaip pAdippaRa
Word-by-Word Meanings
uruppiNi nangaiyai – rukmiNip pirAtti
thEr – on the divine chariot
ERRik koNdu – taking
angu – with that
viruppuRRu – desirously
Ega – even as he went
edhir – to oppose and fight with him
viraindhu vandhu – one who came hurriedly
serukkuRRAn – rukman, who had vanity
vIram sidhaiya – to destroy the power [of that vanity]
thalaiyai – head
siraiththittAn – sing about the strength of the one who tonsured his head with his arrow
dhEvaki singaththai – sing about the son of dhEvakip pirAtti, who has the valour of a lion
Simple Translation
krishNa took rukmiNip pirAtti, on his divine chariot, and went desirously. Even as he was proceeding [to marry her], rukman [the eldest brother of rukmiNip pirAtti] came hurriedly to fight with him. Sing about the strength of the one who destroyed the power of that rukman’s vanity by tonsuring his head with his arrow. Sing about the strength of the son of dhEvakip pirAtti, who has the valour of a lion.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
uruppiNi nangaiyaith thEr ERRik koNdu – just as it has been mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 11.9 “kaNNAlam kOdiththu” (carrying out nicely, all the arrangements for the marriage), the wealth earned by king [rukma] was spent in the arrangements for the marriage [of rukmiNip pirAtti with SiSupAlan]. Desiring to hold her hand in marriage and like one who desires to “smell the fresh flower”, SiSupAlan had carried out all the preliminary functions preceding the marriage. He was firm that he had got hold of rukmiNip pirAtti. krishNa went there and took the hand of rukmiNip pirAtti, such that SiSupAlan’s radiance was completely destroyed; he felt ashamed to look at anyone’s face and looked upward. krishNa took her on his chariot.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that rukmiNip pirAtti had tied the sacred protective thread around her wrist as a prelude to marrying SiSupAlan. She had prayed to emperumAn “At the time when SiSupAlan comes to touch me, my life should have left me or krishNa should accept me”. krishNa, who is the supreme entity himself, thought in his divine mind about her prayer, kept SrI pAnchajanya AzhwAn [the divine conch] on his divine lips and blew on it, signalling his arrival to her and making her to sustain herself. He came there, took rukmiNip pirAtti’s divine hand in his divine hand, signalling that he will rule over her, making the radiance of SiSupAlan and the assembly of kings there to disappear, and making them to feel ashamed. He took her on his chariot and mercifully left, uproariously. When the son of king rukman came there to oppose krishNa and to retrieve his sister rukmiNip pirAtti, krishNa, thinking that if he were to kill her brother, rukmiNip pirAtti;s divine mind will get hurt, krishNa tied him to the wheels of his chariot and tonsured his head with his arrow. He carried out the remaining parts of the marriage function, considering the other functions conducted by SiSupAlan as having been carried out by himself, since he is the antharyAmi [indwelling soul] of SiSupAlan too. Just as it has been mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 11.9 “peNNALan pENum Ur pErum arangamE” (thiruvarangam is the divine abode where that emperumAn, who is famously known to help all women, has mercifully taken residence, with desire), [the girl, who sings this pAsuram tells her competitor to] sing the strength of one who placed rukmiNip pirAtti in the famous bhOgamaNdapam [the centre which is for enjoying], who helped women-folk, who tonsured the head of rukman, to remove the vanity of his valour and who destroyed his enemies. This is taken as an example of all his valour.
viruppuRRu angu Ega – even as he left, taking her desirously with him
viraindhu … – rukman, the eldest brother of rukmiNip pirAtti, wondered “Why is this being done?” and came there, to oppose krishNa and to retrieve rukmiNip pirAtti from him, with the vanity of his valour. krishNa thought that if he killed rukman in the fight, rukmiNip pirAtti’s mind will get hurt. Hence, he caught him, tied him to the wheel of his chariot, and as a means of destroying his vanity, tonsured rukman’s head with his arrow. Sing about the strength of such krishNa, impelled by your affection [says the girl who sings this pAsuram, to her competitor]. Alternatively, if the text had been vandha serukkuRRAn [instead of vandhu serukkuRRAn], the meaning would be: sing about the strength of one who tonsured the head of one, who came hurriedly, with vanity, to retrieve rukmiNip pirAtti.
dhEvaki singaththaip pAdippaRa – sing about the one, who has the greatness of having been born from the divine stomach of dhEvakip pirAtti and who has the valour of a lion in annihilating enemies.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the reason for mentioning krishNa as the son of dhEvakip pirAtti, more than the son of yaSOdhAp pirAtti who had the fortune of getting him and nurturing him, is to manifest his basic clan of royalty [in order to marry rukmiNip pirAtti, who is from royal clan] and to emphasise his fulfilling the words of his mother right at the time when he was born [to hide the divine weapons with which he incarnated].
We shall next consider the first part of 4th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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