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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> First decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his avathArikai, that AzhwAr’s desire is to see emperumAn and pirAtti together, along with the divine crown, the divine weapons, incarnation of krishNa, other incarnations such as mathsyAvathAram [incarnation as fish], [nara] simha, varAha incarnations [as narasimha, combination of lion’s head and human torso, wild boar] in similar fashion [here, similar fashion refers to being with pirAtti]. Seeing that his desire [of seeing perumAL and pirAtti together] has gone to the level of his friends [those who ask whether anyone has seen, in all the pAsurams in this thirumozhi], he feels happy, hearing through their words. Through this pAsuram, he carries out mangaLASAsanam to perumAL, who is together with pirAtti, along with his long, divine crown.
kadhir Ayiram iravi kalandhu eRiththAl oththa nIN mudiyan
edhiril perumai irAmanai irukkum idam nAdudhirEl
adhirum kazhal porudhOL iraNiyan Agam piLandhu ariyAy
udhiram aLaindha kaiyOdu irundhAnai uLLavA kaNdAr uLar
Word-by-Word Meanings
kadhir – having (countless) rays
Ayiram iravi – thousand Adhithyas [suns]
kalandhu – joining
eriththAl oththa – having effulgence like that
neeL mudiyan – having a long crown
edhir il – without a match
perumai – having eminence
irAman – chakravarthith thirumagan [son of emperor dhaSarathan]
irukkum idam – the place, where he is mercifully present
nAdudhir El – if you are searching
(I shall tell you)
adhirum – making sound
kazhal – being with valorous anklet
poru – itching for battle
thOL – having shoulders
iraNiyan – the monster hiraNyan’s
Agam – chest
ariyAy – in the form of narasimha
piLandhu – breaking it into two
udhiram aLaindha – wallowing in blood
kaiyOdu – with hand
irundhAnai – one who was
uLLa A – the manner in which he was
kaNdAr uLar – there are those, who have seen
Simple Translation
SrI rAma has the effulgence of a thousand suns, each with countless rays, which burn together at the same time. He has a long crown. He is without a match. If you are searching for that SrI rAma, who is eminent, I shall tell you. hiraNyan, the monster, has resounding anklets, he has shoulders which keep itching for battle. There are people who have seen narasimha, who tore the chest of that hiraNyan into two, with his divine hands wallowing in blood.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
kadhir … – SrI rAma has an effulgence which was like a thousand suns, each having thousands of rays, burning together. He has a divine crown, which was long, indicative of his being the supreme entity. This implies that after killing rAvaNa, he coronated vibhIshaNa as the king of lankA, returned mercifully to ayOdhyA along with pirAtti, and coronated as the king of ayOdhyA.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that since even a thousand suns burning together could not match SrI rAma’s effulgence, AzhwAr says that he has a long crown.
edhiril perumai irAmanai – Due to his svarUpa guNam [qualities of his basic nature], Athma guNam [qualities of his AthmA] and activities which are beyond the realms of human species, he is without a match. Since he has the nature of making everyone’s heart happy through his distinguishing features, he has the divine name of SrI rAma [rAma refers to one who makes others happy].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that it was not only that he did not have any enemies. He did not have a metaphor in sAdharmyam (equal merits), EkadhESa dharmyam (equal in one or two features) or vaidharmyam (being completely opposite). All the entities until brahmalOkam were one of three types: friendly, inimical and indifferent. They carried jealousy in their hearts, or they openly opposed or they came to fight with weapons. SrI rAma made all of them, barring one or two entities, to be happy. The fault in ayOdhyA, due to one or two such entities [reference here is to kubjA [kUni] and kaikEyi] lasted only until SrI bharathAzhwAn came. But, there were entities such as rAvaNa, who were not like that. Just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 12.29 “sathyEna lOkAn” (SrI rAma conquered the people of the world through his virtues, the poor through charity, the elders through service and the enemies through his bow), the root causes for all these were his jithEndhriyathvam (ability to control his five senses) and his audhAryam (magnanimity). Even the senses, which had taken residence in him, were looking up to his magnanimity. In order to remove the shortcoming “rAvaNa was not a match for perumAL’s valour”, hiraNyan was made as an enemy and, winning over him was manifested as his valour. AzhwAr regarded this as his benefit due to dharmi aikyam [both narasimha and SrI rAma are manifestations of the same entity, SrIman nArAyaNa].
irukkum idam nAdudhirEl – if you are searching for the place where he is mercifully present …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that though perumAL had gone to the place of the enemies of his followers and killed them, to ensure that they do not return to that place, he stayed put there. If you are desirously searching for that place …
adhirum kazhal poru thOL iraNaiyan Agam piLandha ariyAy – hiraNyan, a monster, had all the worlds, starting with brahmA’s lOkam, under his rule, without there being a second king. He had a resounding anklet. Since he did not have an enemy, his shoulders were always itching for a battle. Taking the form of narasimha [lion’s face and human being’s torso], without impinging on the boons which hiraNyan had taken from celestial entities, he tore the chest, which was fortified through the strength of his boons and strength of his shoulders.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the monster made the whole world tremble with his valorous anklets, which were making a resounding noise, and his shoulders, which were itching for a battle. Since he was harming the followers of emperumAn, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 2.3.8 ”paLLiyil Odhi vandha than siRuvan” (hiraNyan was angry and intolerant towards his son who returned from his school, reciting the divine names of emperumAn). Appropriate for this monster, emperumAn took the incarnation as narasimha. He effortlessly tore the chest of the monster, which had been fortified by the strengths of his boons and shoulders, just like a silver hill tears apart a golden hill. He wallowed in the blood of the monster which was streaming due to emperumAn tearing him with his divine nails, and removed his intestines. He waited to see if he would return to harm his follower again. Looking at his fury [manifested on the monster], entities such as brahmA, rudhra et al ran with their hearts bewildered. It was only after SrI mahAlakshmi embraced him that they returned and praised him, until their tongues became scarred, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 1.7.8 “nAththazhumba nAnmuganum ISanum Eththa” (brahmA and rudhra praised emperumAn till their tongues became scarred). Even though his fury had subsided, his hands were still wallowing in the monster’s blood. Since she too is a valorous consort, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam SlOkam “bharthAram parishasvajE” [pirAtti embraced perumAL tightly], pirAtti, shedding her fear, hugged him, after he had annihilated the enemy.
udhiram aLaindha kaiyOdu irundhAnai – apart from tearing hiraNyan’s chest, as mentioned in the term venjinaththu ari [furious lion], he was wallowing in the monster’s blood which was flowing like a flood, after emperumAn tore his chest with his nails, and removed the monster’s intestines.
uLLavA kaNdAr uLar – There are those who had seen him without any doubt in their minds or without any misunderstanding. uLLavA kANgai [to see as it exists] refers to not seeing the differences in the forms taken for the two different incarnations, which he had to take appropriate for each incarnation, but knowing that the one who annihilated rAvaNa in SrI rAmAvathAram and the one who annihilated hiraNyan in narasimhAvathAram are the same person. It was hiraNyan who had taken birth earlier, who was born later as rAvaNa. Since emperumAn had to destroy these two entities, without any contrariety to the boons which they had taken from brahmA et al, emperumAn had to take appropriate forms. In other words, hiraNyan had taken a boon that he could not be killed by any of the four species of celestial, human, animal and botanical. Hence, emperumAn had to combine the species and take incarnation as narasimham. Since rAvaNa had taken a boon that he could not be killed by celestial, demonic and monstrous species, disregarding human species as being too weak to kill him, emperumAn took incarnation in human species and killed him. Thus, for the task on hand, emperumAn had to take different forms, while the basic form is the same [as SrIman nArAyaNa]. Knowing this aikyam [harmony] and seeing them as one is uLLavA kANgai.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that people had seen SrI rAma, as he was. Since he had incarnated in a regal clan, in order to remove the enemies of his followers, he had taken the next incarnation and people had seen him remove the enemy [hiraNyan], as he had done. It is only when he is united with pirAtti that he could be seen, as he is. This alone is dharmi aikyam.
We shall next consider the 2nd pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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