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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Ninth decad
avathArikai
The day after carrying out the last rites for emperor [dhaSaratha], after the sun had risen, all the royal entities, all the common people and the priests, headed by vasishta et al, gathered together and told bharathAzhwAn “perumAL [SrI rAma] has gone to the forest; emperor is no more; the country cannot remain without a king”. To make bharatha as the king, auspicious music from musical instruments was being played. Upon hearing the music, bharatha became very pained. To manifest his inability to bear the pain, he came to the gathering and, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 82.10 “vilalApa sabhAmadhyE jagarhEcha purOhitham” (In the middle of the assembly, he lamented and reproached the head priest), cried out aloud, saying “You are coming as a huge gathering and stealing my quality of pArathanthryam [servitor to SrI rAma]”. Without observing the rule stated in Apasthamba sUthram “When the teacher crosses the boundary of justice, he should be told in confidence”, he accosted vasishta bhagavAn [he is addressed here as bhagavAn since he has been the head priest for the clan of ikshvAku kings for a very long time], in that gathering, saying “You have very nicely carried out good bodings for this clan from the beginning”. Further, he said, as in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 82.12 “rAjyam cha aham cha rAmasya dharmam vakthumihArhasi katham dhaSarathAj jAthO bhavEdh rAjyApahAraka:” (The kingdom and I are SrI rAma’s possessions; mercifully ordain what is righteous in this matter. How could one, born of dhaSaratha become the usurper of the crown?) He said “When two entities are the possessions of a person, would one of the two possessions rule over the other? Could the kingdom rule over me? When you say that the kingdom cannot remain without a king, should you not look at me, who is involved in this, and speak the words? If I usurp the kingdom, which SrI rAma had left behind, wouldn’t it be said as to how could I, born to that dhaSaratha, take over the kingdom as soon as SrI rAma left?” When they all asked him “What should we do now?”, he told them “Let us all go to SrI rAma, fall at his divine feet, bring him back with us and coronate him; come with me”. This pAsuram mentions the manner in which bharathAzhwAn took them all with him to chithrakUtam, surrendered at the divine feet of perumAL, with his grief and submitted to him.
mudi onRi mUvulagangaLum ANdu un
adiyERku aruL enRu avan pin thodarndha
padiyil guNaththup paradha nambikku anRu
adi nilai IndhAnaip pAdippaRa ayOdhdhiyar kOmAnaip pAdippaRa
Word-by-Word Meanings
mudi onRi – donning the divine crown
mU ulagangaLum – the three worlds of bhUmi (earth), svarga (heaven) and pAthAlam (nether world)
ANdu – looking after
un – your
adiyERku – servant, for me
aruL – you should shower your mercy
enRu – praying like this
avan pin thodarndha – one, who followed the divine son of dhaSaratha chakravarthi [SrI rAma]
padi il – unmatched
guNam – having auspicious qualities
baradha nambikku – for SrI bharathAzhwAn
anRu – during that time, when he was distressed in his mind
adi nilai – SrI pAdhukas [divine sandals]
IndhAnai – sing about him, who mercifully gave him
ayOdhdhiyar kOmAnai – sing about the one, who is the king of those who inhabit the divine ayOdhyA
Simple Translation
SrI bharathAzhwAn, who has unmatched auspicious qualities, followed the divine son of emperor dhaSaratha and prayed to him “You should don the divine crown and rule over the three worlds, protecting them. You should shower your mercy on me, your servitor”. Sing about the one, who mercifully gave his divine sandals to that SrI bharathAzhwAn, when he was distressed and prayed to him. Sing about the one who is the king of all who inhabit divine ayOdhyA.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
mudi onRi – You, who had avoided the divine crown, who had matted your hair, left the country and entered the forest, should leave aside this forest and your thApasavEsham [the dress of penance], mercifully enter divine ayOdhyA and don the divine crown.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says in his svApadhESam, that SrI bharathAzhwAn tells SrI rAma “Unlike last time, without any hurdle, you should come and don the divine crown, forever. The reason for the hurdle last time was my staying away [from ayOdhyA].” SrI rAma replied to him “It was due to me that the coronation ceremony was stopped. The kingdom is intact. Did not our father give that to you? You should look at his solemn words and his permission”. SrI bharathAzhwAn said “He was father to you. I was born after you. Moreover, wasn’t I your disciple? Weren’t you the disciple of sage vasishta? Am I only your brother and your disciple? Am I not your servitor too? Isn’t my nature such that I consider both the kingdom and me as your possessions [on equal footing]?” SrI rAma asked him “Do you have a separate perception, other than our father’s?” SrI bharathAzhwAn told him “Please bear with my being in my uncle’s place when all these incidents happened and mercifully return to ayOdhyA” and surrendered to perumAL.
perumAL told him “If you think that you are my younger brother, then do as per the wishes of the elder brother. If you think of yourself as a disciple, then carry out the AchAryan’s wishes. If you are servitor, then do as per the wishes of the lord. If you have surrendered to someone, then do as per the wishes of the person who has granted you refuge”. Stating a few convincing words mercifully, like these, perumAL made SrI bharathAzhwAn to feel happy and granted his divine sandals to him. It was only after SrI bharathAzhwAn accepted the sandals, considering them as his ultimate benefit [purushArtham] that he became padiyil guNaththup paradha nambi [one who has unmatched auspicious qualities and who is complete with all the auspicious qualities]. The term padiyil guNam [unmatched qualities] infers that the qualities of one who said that he would fulfil the words of his father [perumAL] and the one who said that he does not consider emperor dhaSaratha as his father [iLaiya perumAL] are not a match for the qualities of SrI bharathAzhwAn. It was after accepting the divine sandals that bharatha became adi sUdum arasan [the king who donned the divine sandals]. It is because of this that he attained completeness [nambi]. This came about due to the thoughts of SrI SathrugnAzhwAn [Sathrugna considered bharatha as his lord and would serve only him; he would not even look at SrI rAma (for fear that he would change)], and since he [bharatha] did not say, like lakshmaNa, that he could not live without SrI rAma. This is the explanation for the syllable “u” in praNavam [ananyArha SEshathvam, being exclusive servitor to emperumAn and to none else].
mUvulagangaLum ANdu – just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 2.13 “thrailOkyamapi nAthEna yE nasyAnnAthavaththaram ” (through which lord the three worlds would shine, getting a great lord), you should rule over the three worlds, being their lord
unnadiyERku aruL enRu avan pin thodarndha – bharathAzhwAn had gone, following the path of SrI rAma and prayed to him, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 101.12 “bhrAthuSSishyasya dhAsasya prasAdham karthum arhasi” (It is appropriate for you to shower your mercy on me, who is your younger brother, your disciple and your servitor), saying “Not only as your brother, since I had learnt all the esoteric meanings from you, you should treat me as your disciple; also, I am your servitor such that you could do as you deem fit with me. Hence, you should mercifully grant me”.
padiyil guNaththup paradha nambikku – SrI bharathAzhwAn has unmatched auspicious qualities since he revered the boundary of the clan which said “When the elder is there, none has known of a younger brother coronating, in this clan”; he was frightened of being coronated since it would make him svAthanthryan [as an independent entity, while he was totally dependent on SrI rAma]; he also looked at his svarUpam (basic nature of being a servitor to SrI rAma). He fell at the divine feet of SrI rAma, trembling from head to foot, and prayed to him “You should return mercifully and don the divine crown”.
anRu adi nilai IndhAnai – when bharathAzhwAn was standing, with anguish, in front of him, SrI rAma told him “If I return as requested by you now, I would have gone against the words of our father, due to involvement with ruling the country. If you take me back with you, people would say that you are capable of carrying out both deeds – of earlier sending a secretive message to your mother to send me to the forest and getting the kingdom for you; now, once the people started speaking ill of you, you followed your brother, cried in his presence, fell at his feet and somehow, brought him back to ayOdhyA. This blame will come on you. Hence, in the presence of those who said a few words to you which made you feel that you are independent, get back the quality of being totally dependent, which is aligned to your basic nature and return”. SrI rAma spoke these words which made SrI bharathAzhwAn not to compel him further and to agree to his words. Just as it has been mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.9.1 “maravadiyaith thambikku vAn paNaiyam vaiththu” (pledging his divine wooden sandals to SrI bharathAzhwAn to make him feel reassured), to ensure that SrI bharathAzhwAn rids himself of his fear of independence as well as to assure him that he [SrI rAma] would mercifully return, he gave his divine sandals to him and made him as one who donned the sandals. Sing about such SrI rAma.
ayOdhdhiyar kOmAnaip pAdippaRa – the girl [who sings this pAsuram] tells her competitor to sing about the one who became the controller of those who are in divine ayOdhyA, by making SrI bharathAzhwAn to don his [SrI rAma’s] divine feet instead of the divine crown.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that since the divine sandals ruled ayOdhyA, using bharatha as a pretense, the one who gave the sandals could be termed as the king. Moreover, since he crowned himself subsequently, it could be said that he is the king.
We shall next consider the 7th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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