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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> Eighth decad
avathArikai
AzhwAr says in this pAsuram that SrIrangam is the divine abode, where emperumAn, who incarnated as SrI varAha in order to uplift SrI bhUmip pirAtti and as SrI narasimha, to annihilate hiraNya kashyap, dwells.
valleyiRRuk kEzhalumAy vALeyiRRuch chIyamumAy
ellai illAth tharaNiyaiyum avuNananiyum idandhAn Ur
elliyam pOdhu irum siRai vaNdu emperumAn guNam pAdi
malligai veN sangu Udhum madhiL arangam enbadhuvE
Word-by-Word Meanings
iru – huge
siRai – having wings
vaNdu – beetles
elliyam pOdhu – during the time of dusk
em – one, who is my lord
perumAn – periya perumAL’s
guNam – divine qualities
pAdi – singing, with affection
malligai – jasmine flower, which is similar to
veN sangu – white conch
Udhum – blowing it
madhiL – SrIrangam, which has fortified walls, is …
val – strong
eyiRu – having tusks
kEzhalum Ay – as varAha [huge boar]
vAL – having radiance
eyiRu – having teeth
sIyamum Ay – as (nara)simha
ellai illA – without any boundary
dharaNiyaiyum – earth
avuNanaiyum – the monster, hiraNya
idandhAn – one who uplifted with his divine tusks and who killed, with his divine nails, dwells
Ur – divine abode
Simple Translation
Beetles, which have huge wings, during the time of dusk, will sing affectionately about the divine qualities of periya perumAL, who is my lord. They will sit on jasmine flower, which appears like a white-coloured conch and blow on it. SrIrangam, which has all these, and fortified walls, is the divine abode, where emperumAn, who, as SrI varAha, lifted SrI bhUmip pirAtti, with his divine tusks and who, as SrI narasimha, annihilated the monster hiraNyan, dwells.
vyAkhyAnam
valleyiRRuk kEzhalumAy – as a great boar, which has strong tusks. What is the strength for tusk? It is the strength of digging out earth from the walls of the universe and holding it on the tusk, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 7.4.3 “UnRi idandhu eyiRRil koNda” (emperumAn pushed the earth into the shell of universe, dug it out and kept it on his tusks). He had to take the form of a boar since it will not step back from either land and water, while lifting up earth. Boar becomes overjoyed upon seeing water and land. The term Ay [as in kEzhalum Ay] refers to the congruence with the physical form taken, without any difference with other animals of the same species. This is unlike the magical deer [a form taken by mArIcha to deceive sIthAp pirAtti, in SrI rAmAyaNam] when other deer came near it, smelt it and moved away in fear, thinking “There is a scent of demon on it”. Other boar came near emperumAn, who had taken the divine form of boar, smelt it and thought “He is one like us”, showing trust. When emperumAn incarnated in the human species, he said, as in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 120.11 “AthmAnam mAnusham manyE” (I consider myself as a human), without any pride of being the supreme entity. He has the same paradigm when incarnating in the animal species too. AzhwAr’s divine daughter [ANdAL] too said, in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 11.8 “mAnam ilAp panRiyAm” (taking the form of boar, without any shame). Here the term mAnam would also refer to abhimAnam – the pride of being ISvaran, the supreme entity, controlling all. nanjIyar, one of our preceptors would say, in amazement “How truthful has emperumAn been, when he incarnated as boar! He even eats the food muththakkAsu (straight sedge tuber, which is a favourite food of boars), when he came as a boar!”
vALeyiRRuch chIyamumAy – as a lion, having radiant teeth. Earlier, AzhwAr had said val eyiRu in order to have sufficient strength to lift earth. Here, he says vAL eyiRu, since it is the repository for beauty. Wherever the term eyiRu is used with reference to this incarnation, as in periya thirumozhi 1.7.2 “alaiththa pEzhvAy vAL eyiRROr kOLariyAy ” (being a unique strong lion, with a huge mouth, having a swaying tongue) and periya thirumozhi 1.7.3 “Eyndha pEzhvAy vAL eyiRROr kOLariyAy” (being a matchless strong lion, having a huge mouth and sword-like teeth, matching that form), it is mentioned with the meaning of beauty. The term sIyam refers to narasimha. emperumAn had to take this divine form in order to kill the monster, without any encumbrance on the boon taken by hiraNyan that he shall not be killed by any entity born in the celestial, human, animal and botanical species. He had incarnated [as half-lion, half-man], as mentioned in brAhma purANam ”narasyArdha thanum kruthvA simhasyArdha thanum thathA” (taking half of a human being’s form and half of a lion’s form). Thus, even if the word mentions as sIyam [as in the pAsuram], it will have the meaning of narasimha only. The reason for saying Ay [as in sIyamum Ay] is to highlight not only the fact that he had combined two forms which will not join together ever, but also the fact that it was like a thickened milk in combination with candy sugar [kaRkaNdu in thamizh], with each adding flavour to the other, being enjoyable to the limit. thirumazhisai AzhwAr too mentioned, in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 22 “azhagiyAn thanE ariuruvan thAnE” (emperumAn, having the divine form of narasimha, is the boundary for beauty). For this AzhwAr, the form with an open, cave-like mouth, the angry face, the lips with tongue hanging out, hands twisted in order to pierce and the uproarious laughter are all reflections of emperumAn’s beauty. Since it was the form which emperumAn had taken in order to protect his follower [prahlAdhAzhwAn], for those who engage with emperumAn’s divine qualities, this form and the activities indulged in by the form, would appear as repositories of emperumAn’s beauty.
ellai illAth tharaNiyaiyum avuNanaiyum – earth, which is expansive, without any limit and the monster, hiraNya kashyap, who had obtained boons, without any limit. For earth, being without limit refers to the fact that unlike islands and oceans contained in it, it has an expanse covering fifty crore yOjanas [one yOjana is ca. 10 miles]. For the monster hiraNya, being without limit refers to the fact that each of the boons which he had obtained was without a limit.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that earth had got submerged in the deluge and its boundary could not be seen. In the case of hiraNyan, there was no limit to his inimical activities against the followers of emperumAn, incurring bhAgavathApachAram [carrying out wrongful activities against emperumAn’s followers].
idandhAn – one, who lifted with his divine tusks and who annihilated with his divine nails. Lifting with the divine tusk refers to the act of digging up earth from the walls of the universe [during deluge]. Lifting hiraNyan with his divine nails refers to piercing the chest of hiraNyan, which has been protected by the strength of the boons which he had obtained, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 3.4.4 “ponnan paimbUN nenju idandhu” (tearing hiraNyan’s chest which was filled with well decorated ornaments) such that blood spurted out from his heart like a river in flow. The blood overflowed everywhere, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 11.4.4 “ivvaiyam mUdu peru neeril mummai peridhu” (the quantum of blood was thrice the quantum of water which permeates earth during deluge) when emperumAn tore his chest, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 11.4.4 “piLavu ezhavitta kuttam” (river of blood which flowed when emperumAn tore hiraNyan’s chest). Thus, these verses mention the hurdles which came the way of SrI bhUmip pirAtti and prahlAdhAzhwAn and the manner in which emperumAn incarnated as SrI varAha to protect SrI bhUmip pirAtti and as SrI narasimha to protect prahlAdhAzhwAn. His protection of bhUmip pirAtti was unlike any other protection since it was the pradhAna rakshaNam [primary protection] and his protection of prahlAdhan was such that everyone could notice the divine hands when they tore hiraNyan’s chest.
Ur – it is the divine abode, where, one, who protected pirAtti, who is nithyASrithai [one who attains him forever] and prahlAdhan, who attained him today, without any distinction between them, dwells forever, in order to protect those, who came subsequent to them.
elliyam pOdhu irum siRai vaNdu emperumAn guNam pAdi – periyAzhwAr had mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.2.8 “aRu kAl varivaNdugaL Ayiram nAmam sollich chiRu kAlaip pAdum” (in thirumAlirum sOlai, at the time of dawn, beautiful beetles, with six legs, will hum, reciting the thousand divine names of emperumAn). Here, he says that they sing at the time of dusk, in the divine abode of SrIrangam. Thus, it is evident that beetles, living in divine abodes, in line with the time of the day, will sing about the divine qualities of emperumAn, in the ordained manner. elliyam pOdhu – time of dusk; irum siRai vaNdu – beetles with large wings. Since AzhwAr considers with reverence anything which engages with emperumAn and his auspicious qualities, their physical form and qualities are also matters of reverence for him; hence, he describes the beauty of their wings. emperumAn guNam pAdi – singing about the divine qualities of emperumAn, derived from the divine activities carried out for the protection of his followers, as mentioned in the verses seen above, as an outlet for overflowing affection.
malligai veN sangu Udhum – the beetles will blow on the jasmine flowers, which appear like white conch. Just at the time of blossoming in the evening, the jasmine flowers will appear like a conch, with their heads drooping slightly, the top portion would appear a bit swollen and the stalk would curve at the base. When the beetles settle on the flower to take in the honey, it would appear that they are blowing the conch. Hence, AzhwAr mercifully mentions this.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that singing the divine qualities of emperumAn, the beetles were flying with pride and settling on the jasmine flowers. In the end, he says that this pAsuram brings out the connection between SrI pAnchajanyam [divine conch of emperumAn] and Artha prapannars [those who have surrendered to emperumAn and are desirous of reaching him at the earliest, unable to wait to attain him]. Also, this pAsuram indicates the coming together of those who are entrenched in shatpadham [this could refer either to the six parts of dhvayamahAmanthram or to the beetle, which has six legs], who sing about the auspicious qualities of emperumAn and those who have noble qualities and good hearts [in the pAsuram, this indicates the togetherness of beetles and jasmine flowers].
madhiL arangam enbadhuvE – this is the divine abode, which has the distinction of such gardens and having fortified walls as protection.
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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