SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> Second decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
oru vAraNam paNi koNdavan poygaiyil kanjan than
oru vAraNam uyir uNdavan senRu uRaiyum malai
karu vAraNam than pidi thuRandhu Oda kadal vaNNan
thiruvANai kURath thiriyum than mAlirunjOlaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
karu vAraNam – black elephant
than – its
pidi – female elephant
thuRandhu – leaving it
Oda – as it started running away fast, due to love-quarrel
kadal vaNNan thiru Anai kURa – as it said “Command on the one who has the complexion of
ocean”
thiriyum – cool thirumAlirum sOlai, where the female elephant returned, without going further
poygaiyil – on the banks of a pond
oru vAraNam – unique SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn [elephant]
paNi – servitude
koNdAn – one, who mercifully accepted
oru vAraNam – the elephant, kuvalayApeedam’s
kanjan than – kamsan’s
uyir – life
uNdavan – one who removed
senRu – mercifully going
uRaiyum – residing
malai – it is the divine mountain
Simple Translation
When a female elephant left its male, black elephant, in love-quarrel, the male elephant ordered it in the name of emperumAn, who has the complexion of an ocean [to stop]. The female elephant returned to the male, never to leave, in the cool thirumAlirum sOlai. On the banks of a pond, emperumAn accepted the servitude of SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn, a unique elephant. He had removed the life of another elephant, kuvalayApeedam, which belonged to kamsan. It is the divine mountain, where such emperumAn has mercifully taken residence.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
oru vAraNam paNi koNdavan poygaiyil – Due to the curse of a sage, though it had taken birth as an elephant, due to impressions from previous births, having deep devotion towards emperumAn, the elephant SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn, used to pluck thuLasi plants and offer to emperumAn. During a particular time, owing to drought conditions, the elephant could not locate any flower for proffering to emperumAn. As it was roaming around, it saw at a distance, a cool orchard and a pond which appeared to have blossomed, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 3.5.1 “moymmAm pUmbozhil poygai” (inside the gardens, in a pond with tightly packed, well-grown flowers). It went running towards the pond and entered it, without realising that there was a wicked creature inside the pond. In line with its desire, as it plucked a flower, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 5.8.3 “kAmaru poygai vaigu thAmarai vAngiya vEzham” (SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn plucked the lotus flower, present in the desirable pond) and returned to go up the bank, the crocodile, which had been lying for a long time, thinking “We have not seen the leg which is like a mortar, to relieve us of our curse”, grabbed the elephant’s leg. While the crocodile pulled the elephant towards water, the elephant tried to pull the crocodile towards land. After a long time, as this went on, the elephant realised that it is not possible for it to do anything and called out to emperumAn. Through the path of that sound, with a huge urge, emperumAn came to the pond, released the elephant from the crocodile’s mouth, took the flower from the elephant’s trunk and laid it at his divine feed, thus accepting the elephant’s servitude.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn was a unique elephant, with gyAna [knowledge about emperumAn], bhakthi [devotion towards emperumAn] and virakthi [detachment towards worldly pursuits]. Before the freshness of the flower [which he was holding in his trunk] was lost, emperumAn came there and took his servitude. Was the servitude accepted in paramapadham? It was not there, he took the servitude on the bank of the pond itself. Through this, it is affirmed that emperumAn does not consider even the fault of the physical form. It is pertinent to recall thirumAlai 28 “umbarAl aRiyalAgA oLi uLAr AnaikkAgi vandhAr, nambaramAyadhu uNdE nAygaLOm siRumai OrA” (emperumAn, who cannot be estimated even by celestial entities such as brahmA et al, came for the sake of SrI gajEndhrAzhwAn; is there any responsibility for us, in protecting ourselves? He does not consider the faults of ours, who are like lowly creatures like dogs) and periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.10.1 “oppilEn Agilum ninnadaindhEn Anaikku nI aruL seydhamaiyAl” (since you have showered your mercy on the elephant, I came and took refuge under you, even though I do not have matching qualities). When thirukkachchi nambi went to dhEvarAjap perumAL and asked him to give him a suitable nAmam [a divine name, considering his nature of being a servitor], perumAL mercifully told him “We shall call you as SrI gajEndhradhAsar”.
kanjan … – kamsan had an evil mind, as mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 2.2.5 “thIyabundhik kanjan” (kamsan, who has wicked reasoning). He sent monstrous entities, hiding their original forms and taking up different forms, in order to harm krishNa. None of them returned to tell him as to what had happened. Since there was none else, who could be sent to harm krishNa, kamsan decided “We cannot achieve our aim in this way. We shall invite him to our festival of bows and kill him”. He called akrUrar, the favourable entity [to krishNa] among his minsters, and asked him to bring krishNa. After akrUrar had brought krishNa to mathurA, kamsan had made his elephant, kuvalayApeedam, to become bewildered by feeding it various intoxicating materials, and made it to stand at the entrance of the arena where he was conducting the bow festival, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 6.5.6 “puguvAy ninRa pOdhagam” (kuvalayApeedam, the elephant, which was present at the entrance). Not considering it as an entity of any consequence, krishNa plucked its tusks and removed its life. This mountain [thirumAlirum sOlai] is the one where he has taken residence forever, manifesting his happiness, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 10.7.4 “nangaL kunRam kaividAn” (Considering it to be a favourable, divine abode, he will not abandon this mountain which is enjoyable for us). Since it is the divine abode where he has taken residence after showering mercy on a favourable elephant and destroying an unfavourable elephant, this has become the land where all the favourable elephants live. It is pertinent to recall thiruvAimozhi 2.10.9 “mazhakkaLiRRinam sEr mAlirum sOlai” (thirumAlirum sOlai is the place where herds of elephants reach, with their calves).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the reason for saying oru vAraNam [an elephant] is to emphasise the firmness in the elephant to somehow kill krishNa. The reason for saying kanjan than oru vAraNam is due to the fact that while elephant has its nature, harming others, it was given certain materials to take it to a high state of madness. For one elephant, emperumAn gave life while for another, he took away the life.
karuvAraNam – [male] elephant, which had a black colour
than pidi thuRandhu Oda – the female elephant, seeing the dark colour of its male, thought “The elephant has got this colour, after uniting with some other female elephant”. Due to praaNaya rOsham [anger, born out of love], it left the male elephant and started moving away rapidly, without looking back. Seeing this running away, in order to get it back, just as it has been mentioned in iraNdAm thiruvandhAdhi 75 “perugu madha vEzham” (the elephant, with the fluid of exultation running copiously, plucked a bamboo pole, dipped it in honey, available nearby and offered it to the female elephant), started employing various means. Even as the female elephant rejected those, saying “Give it to the elephant who you desire”, the male elephant decided “There is no purpose in employing other means. Let us employ the ultimate means”
kadal vaNNan thiruvANai kURa – the male elephant told the female to go to the divine feet of azhagar.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says additionally here that the term kadalvaNNan is azhagar’s [the divine name of emperumAn there] divine name and the term thiruvANai refers to the male elephant invoking the divine name of periya pirAtti and tells the female elephant not to go further. He says at the end, the following: Through this, it is explained that when the disciple goes away from his AchAryan, AchAryan invokes the divine name of purushakAram bhUthai [periya pirAtti, who performs the role of recommending the jIvAthmA to emperumAn], making the disciple to return.
thiriyum – taking that divine command properly, the female elephant, without going out, will return. It was this narrative, which has been mentioned by kUraththAzhwAn in sundharabAhu sthavam 8 “sundharadhOr dhivyAgyA lambana kAthara vaSAnuyAyini kariNi l oraNayaja kalahasamadhir yathra vanAdhri: sa Esha sundharadhOshNa” (That divine thirumAlirum sOlai, where an elephant, not willing to allow its female to go beyond the mountain, called its female and made peace with it, is the divine mountain of sundharabAhu emperumAn).
thaNmAlirum sOlaiyE – thatpam [root word for thaN] refers to the ability of various entities to remove their excess heat.
We shall next consider the 6th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
archived in https://divyaprabandham.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org