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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> Third decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
Ayiram thOL parappi mudi Ayiram minnilaga
Ayiram paindhalaiya anandhasayanan ALum malai
Ayiram ARugaLum sunaigal pala Ayiramum
Ayiram pUmbozhilumudai mAlirum sOlai adhE
Word-by-Word meanings
Ayiram ARugaLum – many rivers
pala Ayiram – many thousands of
sunaigaLum – ponds
pU – beautiful
Ayiram pozhilum – many gardens
udai – it is thirumAlirum Solai, which has
Ayiram – many
thOL – divine shoulders
parappi – spreading them
mudi Ayiram – thousand divine crowns
min ilaga – to be splendorous (on account of rubies)
pai – well-spread
Ayiram thalai – having thousand heads
anantha sayanan – one who is ananthaSAyi [reclining on thiruvananthAzhwAn, AdhiSEshan]
ALum – one who is ruling
malai – it is the divine mountain
Simple Translation
emperumAn, who reclines on AdhiSEshan having a thousand heads spread out, has spread his many divine shoulders. His thousand divine crowns are splendorous on account of rubies embedded in them. thirumAlirum sOlai is ruled over by such emperumAn. It is the divine mountain which has many rivers and many thousands of ponds. It also has many beautiful gardens.
vyAkhyAnam
Ayiram thOL parappi – spreading the thousand divine shoulders
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that for kshirAbdhinAthan [the lord of kshIrAbdhi, the milky ocean], more than reclining on the divine mattress there, it is desirable to stand on this divine mountain, as mentioned in mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 53 “ninRAl maravadiyAm” (when emperumAn stands, AdhiSEshan becomes his divine sandals).
mudi Ayiram minnilaga – The divine thousand crowns were splendorous, on account of the radiance from gemstones such as ruby etc embedded in them. Here, the word “Thousand” does not refer to the count of thousand, but to “Many”. If it is not considered this way, there will be incongruence between thousand shoulders and thousand crowns [heads]. nammAzhwAr had mentioned in his thiruvAimozhi 8.10.8 “thALum thOLum mudigaLum samanilAdha pala parappi” (emperumAn spreads his many divine feet, divine shoulders and divine crowns, which are without a match). thiruvananthAzhwAn (AdhiSEshan) contains emperumAn’s such an expansive divine form, within himself. One, who mercifully reclines on such thiruvananthAzhwAn, who has thousand spread hoods. This is the divine mountain, which emperumAn desires as his desirable abode, just like that thiruvananthAzhwAn. Since that thiruvananthAzhwAn himself stands as the divine mountain, there is no shortcoming in thinking this way.
Ayiram …– Here too, due to his overflowing affection, AzhwAr mercifully says thousand, on account of their indeterminable count.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that emperumAn reclines on thiruvananthAzhwAn, who has countless crowns which are made splendorous by rubies glittering from them. That emperumAn rules over this mountain, with unlimited affection, in line with reaching this mountain, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 10.7.4 “nangaL kunRam kaividAn” (emperumAn will not abandon this mountain, which is enjoyable for people like us).
Ayiram ARugaLum – In the earlier pAsurams, reference had been made for only one river, the divine silambARu. The rivers coming from the forest are innumerable, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 9.8.1 “sandhodu maNiyum aNimayil thazhaiyum thazhuvi vandhu aruvigaL niRaindhu vandhu” (the streams gather materials such as sandalwood, gemstones, beautiful peacock feathers and come flowing with them).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the divine rivers do not have any contact with other deities [reference here is to gangA, which has contact with the head of rudhra].
sunaigaL pala Ayiramu – When the expanse of that divine mountain is seen, the ponds formed by those rivers on the mountain would also be innumerable, just as it is mentioned as “thirunAraNan poygai, nalam thigazh nAraNan poygai, ArAvamudhu poygai etc” [poygai refers to pond). There are many such ponds at the divine foothills of the mountain.
Ayiram pUmbozhilum – there are many gardens too, which have been nourished well by those rivers and ponds such that they keep blossoming flowers all the time. The identity for the divine mountain is “sOlai malai” [mountain with gardens]. It is well known about the mountain: “nadhI pichchatha sAhasrair nirjjanair bahubirvruthA – anEka Satha sAhasrair udhyAnair upalakshithA” (It is surrounded by hundreds of thousands of gemstones and by many streams. It also has hundreds and thousands of gardens).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says at the end, the following: the innumerable rivers present on the divine mountain denote the innumerable explanations for thiruvAimozhi, given by eminent entities such as thirumAlai AndAn, who live there forever [thirumAlai AndAn was one of the prominent disciples of ALavandhAr, an eminent preceptor in our sampradhAyam, as well as one of the five eminent AchAryas of rAmAnujar]. Just as the river, which has the divine name of thiruchchilambARu converges with thirunArAyaNap poygai, these explanations too converge in one meaning [that of emperumAn]. Just as rivers, the ponds too, which are innumerable, denote that nithyasUris, who take birth in the botanical species to serve emperumAn there, are sustained by these rivers and ponds [this is taken from perumAL thirumozhi 4th decad, where kulaSEkhara AzhwAr desires to be born as some entity on thirumalai hills in order to serve emperumAn there].
udai – it is the same divine mountain, thirumAlirum sOlai, which has all these and is ruled over by ananthaSayanan.
We shall next consider the last pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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