upadhESa raththina mAlai – 49

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pAsuram 49

Angavar pAl peRRa siRiyAzhvAn appiLLai
thAm koduththAr tham maganAr tham kaiyil – pAngudanE
nAlUr piLLaikku avar thAm nalla maganArkku avar thAm
mElOrkku eendhAr avarE mikku.                                                     49

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Word by word meaning

Angu – In that place,
avar pAl peRRa – as he got from nanjeeyar {must be nampiLLai or vadakkuth thiruveedhip piLLai}
siRiyAzhvAn appiLLaieeyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL (his another name)
thAm koduththAr – himself gave it
tham maganAr tham kaiyil – to the hands of his divine son named padhmanAbhap perumAL;
pAngudanE – In the same way
avar thAm – that padhmanAbhap perumAL
nAlUr piLLaikku – to one named nAlUr piLLai;
avar thAm – he himself
nalla maganArkku – to good divine son nAlUrAchchAn piLLai;
avarE – he himself
eendhAr – by grace gave it
mElOrkku – to the noble ones of later time
mikku – in a big/special way.

vyAkyAnam

He (maNavALa mAmunigaL) divines about how this vyAkyAnam was carried out in sampradhAyam way, starting from nampiLLai’s grace, as obtained by eeyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL who has got the divine name of siRiyAzhvAn appiLLai, (who gave it to padhmanAbhap perumAL, who gave it to nAlUr piLLai, who gave it to nAlUrAchchAn piLLai, who after praying to dhEvap perumAL and getting the command of dhEvap perumAL spread it to several of next generation including) thiruvAimozhip piLLai, who is the AchAryan of maNavALa mAmunigaL, with this pAsuram Angavar pAl peRRa siRiyAzhvAn appiLLai.

Angu – In front of him, being in divine assembly (gOshti); or, from the situation of getting it from the divine hands of vadakkuth thiruveedhip piLLai;

avar pAl peRRa – Being the chief of gOshti, and being the principal one doing upanyAsam of eedu – from such nampiLLai, he (eeyuNNi mAdhavar) got the meanings like getting wealth, as said in ‘uRu perum selvamum [rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 19]’. The scene of that place, the preceptor, and the grantham! (oru dhEsamum dhEsikarum kOSamum irundhapadi).

siriyAzhvAn appiLLai thAm – His (eeyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL) other name (siRu pEr) being this. Such is the wealth that he got, he –

thAm koduththAr tham maganAr tham kaiyil – Like how one would show their savings, he that is mAdhavap perumAL, passed it on into the hands of his divine son who is identified as padhmanAbhap perumAL. That is, after bestowing the meanings of eedu muppaththARAyiram (36000 padi), he handed over the SrIkOSam (text) in his divine hands as well. That is why it is said ‘mAdhava padhmanAbha [eedu thaniyan]’.

In this way they both were advising this grantham in OrAN vazhi, and not publishing the SrIkOSam but nurturing it in kOyil AzhvAr (pUjA room) as part of their thiruvArAdhanam (daily worship), based on the condition of nampiLLai; this is how the eedu of thiruvAimozhi was handled.

In this way, protecting it like protecting wealth, this was taken care of in the thirumALigai (divine house of SrIvaishNavas) at perumAL kOyil (kAncheepuram), bhattargaL thiruveedhi (name of the street).

pAngudanE nAlur piLLaikku avar thAm – That is, surrendering to the divine feet of padhmanAbhap perumAL, and with his (nAlUr piLLai) obeisance to that feet, prostrating, speaking with pleasant words, etc., made him happy as said in ‘kurukkaLukku anukUlarAi [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi 4.4.2]’ (well disposed to do services to AchAryan), so in this way, padhmanAbhap perumAL who was pleased by the obeisances and services, decided to bestow eedu that had been forwarded along one-on-one, to nAlUr piLLai whose services served as the means.

So he took him in front of pEraruLALap perumAL, and thinking that he should get an authentic vow that he would not reveal it to anyone, and so through archakar he requested for SrI SatakOpam to be pressed on his (nAlUr piLLai’s) divine head;

he (nAlUr piLLai) who understands the intention of minds, understood the way in which it was pressed in the head to imply that the text should not be released to anyone, (but) he looked at dhEvap perumAL’s divine face, and as said in ‘aruLALar thiruvadiyai UnRinavar’ (one who pressed the SrI satakOpam of dhEvap perumAL), showed him the sign, pressing it in the head;

and emperumAn who understands everything, felt it in his divine mind, and after thinking through he gave divine command through archakar, ‘you shall propagate this to everyone’, and the AchAryan padhmanAbhar who heard this, and as it is not happening according to the old ways, accepted ‘thiruvuLLam Anapadi’ (as your divine mind wished), and after that, with happiness, he divined it (to nAlUr piLLai).

As he (nAlUr piLLai) wished to propagate it to everyone, with that idea in his divine mind, he who is focused only on the welfare of others, had done things like pradhakshiNam (circumambulating emperumAn’s sannidhi), doing namaskArams (prostrating), etc., and more.

And since this emperumAn is ‘arthithArtha paridhAna dhIkshitha’ (vowed to fulfill the desires of the devotees), He commanded like this (for propagation of eedu).

That is why, ‘since nAlUr piLLai got it by his prayers, he is referred as ‘sumana: kOlEsa dhevAdhipAn [bhagavath vishaya thaniyan]’  (kOlavarAhap perumAL being his another name).

Isn’t it in the same way thiruvAimozhip piLLai had SrI ranganAtha’s divine feet on maNavALa mAmunigaL , and propagated the eedu of thiruvAimozhi.

It is to be said as ‘charaNAbja samarppaNAth | dharSayan sugrahAnArthAn dhramidOpanishathkirAm’ (~ placing unto your lotus feet, show the meanings of thiruvAimozhi that are known).

nalla maganArkku avar thAm – That nAlUr piLLai, as emperumAn fulfilled his prayers,  showed his gratitude as when he got a divine son he named him as ‘dhEvap perumAL’; such son who got this name, who learned everything, and being so, such –

nalla maganAr – nAlUrAchchAn piLLai’ (being other name), his father divined him the eedu saying – you propagate this. Like father like son in auspicious qualities.

Or, (to explain the phrase of pAsuram by combining the words differently), for ‘ivar aruLALar thiruvadi UnRiyavar [bhagavath vishaya thaniyan]’ (one on whose head SrI satakOpam (SatAri) of SrI dhEvarAjap perumAL was well pressed meaning well blessed, one who pressed on the SrI SatakOpam of srI dhEvarAjap perumAL),

the word ‘ivar’ (he) could refer to padhmanAbhar, having his divine grace could be said for nAlUr  piLLai, and saying ‘thiruvadi UnRiyavar’ as by nAlUr piLLai saying to nAlUrAchchAn piLLai as per divine feet of peraruLALar to be set on the son, and in that say ‘thiruvadi UnRina dhEvap perumAL kaikoNdu aruLum thirumalai AzhvAr [bhagavath vishaya thaniyan] (thiruvAimozhip piLLai who was lovingly accepted by nAlUrAchchAn piLLai (who is the son of nAlUr piLLai), as his disciple), that is talking about thiruvAimozhip piLLai – and so they divine as the meaning for this phrase. This line of explanation would match very well with that of ‘melOrkku eendhAr avarE mikku’.

mElOrkku eendhAr avarE mikku – that is, unlike the aforementioned way of passing this one to one, by his generosity, he who is given (eedu) by the grace of kOlavarAhap perumAL, he having the (other) name of dhEvap perumAL (as named by this divine father) , (that is, nAlUrAchchAn piLLai), divined the obtaining of thirumalai AzhvAr (thiruvAimozhip piLLai), and starting from him he divined eedu to thirunArAyaNapurththil Ay, thiruvAimozhi AchchAn piLLai as well. That is why it used the plural word ‘mElOr’ (future noble ones).

This information is in his thaniyan too – ‘thrEdhApravarthya bhuviya: prathayAm chakAra [nAyanArAchchAn piLLai thaniyan](he who made it popular in the world by divining to the three).

It is said too ‘SrISailanAtha gurumAthru gurUththamAbhyAm SrISUkthi dhESikavarENa cha yasthridhaivam [nAlUr piLLai thaniyan]’ (thiruvAimozhi’s bAshyam that is eedu sath sampradhAyam, which got enriched by the three, that is thiruvAimozhip piLLai, thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ay, and thiruvAimozhi AchchAn..).

thiruvaimozhi-pillaithiruvAimozhip piLLai

avarE mikku – by this, their requesting (for it) could be considered as excessive – such was the way he himself gave them the meanings after getting them, due to his generosity.

Not only that, maNavALa mAmunigaL himself has mentioned in the vyAkyAnam of ‘mARRuth thAi [periyAzhvAr thirumozhi 3.9.4]’ (like the mother), about nAlUrAchchAn piLLai teaching the meanings of all the prabandhams to thiruvAimozhip piLLai (such was that piLLai’s generosity and interest).

In many places of periyAzhvAr thirumozhi vyAkyAnam by maNavALa mAmunigaL, he divines ‘nAlUr piLLai prasAdhiththathAga AchchAn piLLai aruLich cheyvar’ (nAlUr AchchAn piLLai would say that this (meaning) was divined by nAlUr piLLai).

Due to thiruvAimozhi such was the Acharya-sishya relationship between that father and son, such relationship could also be seen in the cases of – kUraththAzhvAn bhattar, periyavAchchAn piLLai and his sons, vadakkuth thiruveedhip piLLai piLLai lOkAchAryar, (eeyuNNi) madhavarpadhmanAbhar, and nAlUr piLLainAlUrAchchAn piLLai.

As said in ‘thirumalai AzhvAr theevinaiyOm thammaik kuruvAgi vandhu uyyak koNdu [Arththi prabandham – 46]’ (~ thiruvAimozhip piLLai accepted the lowly me and came as AchAryar and saved me)), He who is accepted by thirumalai AzhvAr (thiruvAimozhip piLLai), who is said as ‘dhEvap perumAL kaik koNdaruLum thirumalai AzhvAr’, such maNavALa mAmunigaL got the meanings of thiruvAimozhi and all dhivya prabandhams, and after that he spread it in the world, isn’t it?

(He got the meanings from his AchAryan as said in) ‘AryAScha SrISailanAthA dhadhigatha SatajithsUkthi bhAshyO mahimnA [bhagavath vishya thaniyan?]’ (by the greatness of the vyAkyAnams of nammAzhvAr SrISukthi learned from thiruvAimozhip piLLai),

and

‘AsisrayadhayambhUya: SrISailAdhISadhESikam | aSEshAnshruNoth dhivyAn prabandhAn pandhanachchidha: [yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam – 57](This azhagiya maNavALap perumAL reached an AchAryan named thirumalai AzhvAr. From him, he learned the meanings of all dhivya prabandhams that break the bondage of births).

It is said, ‘yE(a)vApya saumyavarayOgi varAchchatAri SrIsUkthi bhAshya madhi thathprathitham vithEnu: | thAn bhattanAtha munivAna mahAdhriyOgi vAdhUla vamsyavaradhAryamukhAn bhAjAma: [bhagavath vishya thaniyan?]’ (From which guru that thiruvAimozhip piLLai learned, all of the prabandhams without leaving even one, he crossed the bounds of dhivya prabandham learning and learned again?)

– – – – – – – – – –

Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dhAsan

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