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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Tenth decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
min oththa nuNNidaiyAy! meyyadiyEn viNNappam
pon oththa mAn onRu pugundhu inidhu viLaiyAda
nin anbin vazhi ninRu silai pidiththu empirAn Ega
pinnE angu ilakkumaNan pirindhadhum Or adaiyALam
Word-by-Word Meanings
min oththa – matching lightning
nuN – slender
idaiyAy – oh, one who has waist!
mey – without any fault
adiyEn – made by me, the servitor
viNNappam – mercifully listen to the appeal
pon oththa – having the colour of gold
mAn onRu – a deer
pugundhu – entering the front-yard of hermitage
inidhu – stealing one’s mind
viLaiyAda – as it was leaping and playing
nin – your highness’
anbin vazhi ninRu – desiring to fulfil the desire
silai pidiththu – taking the bow
empirAn – perumAL
Ega – as he mercifully went over a long distance to catch it
pinnE – later
angu – in that place
ilakkumaNan – iLaiya perumAL [lakshmaNa]
pirindhadhum – separating, is also an identification
Simple Translation
Oh, one who has a waist which is slender, like lightning! Listen mercifully to the appeal made by this servitor, who is without any fault. A deer, having the colour of gold, entered the front yard of the hermitage, leaping and playing, stealing the mind. Desiring to fulfil your highness’ desire, perumAL went behind it, with his bow, over a long distance. Later, iLaiya perumAL too had to separate from the place. This is another identification.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
min … – Oh, one who has a waist which was slender, like lightning! The waist, which was already slender, became further reduced due to inability to sustain in separation. hanuman refers to that.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that since the metaphor lightning was not adequate to describe the waist of sIthAp pirAtti, AzhwAr further says nuN idaiyAy [one with slender waist]. This further thinning down of pirAtti’s waist has happened due to the detachment arising out of her pArathanthryam [total dependence on perumAL.]
mey adiyEn viNNappam – Please listen mercifully to the appeal made by me, the servitor, who is firm. meyyadiyAn [one, who is a faultless servitor] is one who focusses on the well-being of sIthAp pirAtti alone, considering that as his benefit, and does not look at any benefit for himself.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that hanuman, coming in the lineage of lakshmaNa [carrying out servitude to perumAL and pirAtti], says mey adiyEn [servitor, without any fault]. Even if hanuman would not have known about thirumAlai 38 “ mEm poruL pOga vittu meymmaiyai miga uNarndhu Ambarisu aRindhu koNdu …” (getting rid of attachment towards worldly pursuits, knowing fully about SEshathvam [being servitor to emperumAn and his followers] and carrying out servitude), since he is conversant with the meanings of sAthvika purANam [sacred texts dealing with noble qualities], since the divine ring of perumAL was with him and since he was in the presence of pirAtti, due to the emergence of brahma bhAvanai [thinking of emperumAn constantly], he could very well have said these words. If the verse had been transformed to read as adiyEn mey viNNappam, there are several instances featuring this [for example, in thiruviruththam 1, nammAzhwAr says “mey ninRu kEttaruLAy adiyEn seyyum viNNappamE” (You should stand firmly and hear the appeal to you from me, your servitor). periyAzhwAr too had mercifully spoken about this. For AzhwAr, who had said uRagal uRagal [remain awake, lest any harm comes to emperumAn], is there anything which will not synchronise?
pon oththa mAn … – mArIchan [the maternal uncle of demon rAvaNa], had taken a form which had never been seen before in the world. The deer, which appeared with the colour of gold and with the dots [on its skin] appearing like different types of gemstones embedded on gold, and with other amazing features, came to the front yard of the hermitage, leapt and played, stealing the minds of beholders.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that even as mArIchan took the guise of a golden deer and tried to be friendly with the real deer which were roaming around near the hermitage, those real deer moved away from the golden deer, despising it for its deception, the golden deer went around, leaping and playing.
nin anbinvazhi ninRu – when your highness [referring to sIthAp pirAtti] appealed to perumAL “Please get this”, iLaiya perumAL, who was standing there, said “There is no animal like this in the world. It is well-known here that mArIchan takes different deceptive forms and roams around. Hence, this is an illusory animal”. Yet, since your highness desired it, perumAL was determined to fulfil it.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that hanuman tells sIthAp pirAtti “ perumAL, due to his affection towards your highness, did not think of anything else in his divine mind and was focussed on fulfilling your highness’ desire”
silai pidiththu empirAn Ega – Since iLaiya perumAL was standing guard here [at the hermitage], perumAL went after the deer, with his bow, and had gone a long distance. He refers to perumAL as empirAn [our benefactor] since perumAL had come to them later [while searching for sIthAp pirAtti] and this was made possible only because of pirAtti asking perumAL to get the deer.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that hanuman tells pirAtti “perumAL went after the deer, with the support of his bow and arrows, leaving iLaiya perumAL for the support of your highness”. Since perumAL had already left the hermitage, the verse says pinnE ilakkumaNan pirindhadhum (latr, lakshmaNa separated).
pinnE … – Despite going over a long distance, attempting to catch it, since the deer kept slipping, perumAL decided in his divine mind that it was indeed an illusory deer and shot an arrow at it. Once it was attacked, the deer, mimicking the voice of perumAL, cried out “hA sIthE! hA lakshmaNa!”. Your highness, hearing that, thought that some harm had happened to perumAL and told lakshmaNa “Go immediately and find out as to what has happened”. Since perumAL had specifically told lakshmaNa to stand guard over pirAtti and since lakshmaNa knew the valorous capabilities of perumAL, said “Nothing would have happened there. Your highness need not fear anything”. Since he was standing firmly there, without leaving, your highness told him a few words which made iLaiya perumAL to leave the place and go in search of SrI rAma. This separation of lakshmaNa from that place is another identification.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that when perumAL separated, iLaiya perumAL was still present, However, the separation, later, of iLaiya perumAL, was a difficult situation. When lakshmaNa had told SrI rAma that he could not live without SrI rAma, just like sIthAp pirAtti, SrI rAma took lakshmaNa with him to the forest, without joy in his heart. It was only later, when he met SrI guhap perumAL, a true follower, that he felt happy in his mind about bringing lakshmaNa with him. If he could not have his follower to be with him, he would have felt that there was no purpose in achieving anything [the context here is that sugrIva, upon seeing rAvaNa for the first time, went and wrestled with rAvaNa, and brought back all the ten crowns which were adorning the ten heads of rAvaNa. SrI rAma felt sad about this incident and told sugrIva “If anything had happened to you, what would I have achieved even after winning the war with rAvaNa and getting back sIthAp pirAtti?” Such was his affection towards his followers]. For both SrI rAma, who wanted to fulfil sIthAp pirAtti’s words [of getting the deer] and for lakshmaNa, who listened to sIthAp pirAtti’s words [to go look for SrI rAma, leaving her without any protection], fulfilling the words of a lady appears to be running in the clan [their father, emperor dhaSaratha too fulfilled the words of his consort, kaikEyi].
We shall next consider the 8th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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