thiruppAvai – 30 – vangak kadal kadaindha (and vAzhi thirunAmam, etc.)

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

In this last pAsuram of thiruppAvai, ANdAL says that those who learn this prabandham would get the katAksham of pirAtti and perumAn. She says that those who learn would get the same benefit as those who actually performed (gOpikAs in dhvApara yugam) the nOnbu and those who pretended to perform (ANdAL) the nOnbu.

Is it possible for us to get same benefit as them, by reciting thiruppAvai (while immersed in its meanings)? A reply is provided as follows:

bhattar says that like how a mother cow would give milk out of love by looking at just the skin of its dead calf shaped with the filling of straws, pirAtti and perumAn out of kindness would give same katAksham to us, which they gave to those gOpikAs and to those who pretended in thiruppAvai.  Young cow -> emperumAn; lively calf -> gOpikAs, and ANdAL; and the one filled with straws -> we are.

In the previous 29 pAsurams ANdAL pretended to be one of the gOpikAs in thiruvAyppAdi, and followed the ways of them (anukAram – enacting) for reaching krishNan. She is singing this last pAsuram as self, as she was living in the great pudhuvai (srIvillipuththUr) as the daughter of great pattar pirAn (periyAzhwAr).

வங்கக் கடல் கடைந்த மாதவனை கேசவனை
திங்கள் திருமுகத்து சேய் இழையார் சென்று இறைஞ்சி
அங்கப் பறைகொண்ட ஆற்றை அணி புதுவைப்
பைங்கமலத் தண்தெரியல் பட்டர் பிரான்
கோதை சொன்ன சங்கத் தமிழ் மாலை முப்பதும் தப்பாமே
இங்கு இப்பரிசுரைப்பார் ஈரிரண்டு மால் வரை தோள்
செங்கண் திருமுகத்துச் செல்வத் திருமாலால்
எங்கும் திருவருள் பெற்று இன்புறுவர் எம்பாவாய்.

vangak kadal kadaindha mAdhavanaik kEsavanai
thingaL thiru mugaththuch chEi izhaiyAr senRu iRainji
angu ap paRai koNda ARRai
aNi pudhuvaip paingamalath thaN theriyal pattar pirAn kOdhai sonna
sangath thamizh mAlai muppadhum thappAmE
ingu ipparisu uraippAr Ir iraNdu mAl varaith thOL
sengaN thiru mugaththuch chelvath thiru mAlAl
engum thiruvaruL peRRu inbuRuvar empAvAi

Word by Word Meaning

thingaL thiru mughaththu chE izhaiyAr – gOpikAs having beautiful face like the moon, and wearing rich glittering ornaments
chenRu – reached
iRainji – prayed/prostrated
mAdhavanai – sriya:pathi (thAyAr’s husband)
kEsavanai – kaNNan
kadaindha – who churned (for dhEvas)
vangam kadal – the thiruppArkadal with ships in them  (milky ocean),
angu – in thiruvAippAdi
ap paRai koNda ARRai – and about the way in which they got the (their) well known goal (purushArththam),  (as explained by)
pai kamalam thaN theriyal pattarpirAn – (the daughter of) periyAzhwar with freshly blossomed lotus flowers,
kOdhai – (who is) ANdAL
aNi pudhuvai – (who) rose in the lovely place of srIvillipuththUr
sonna – (aruLich cheidha) and gifted
sangam thamizh mAlai muppadhum – these thirty pAsurams, which are to be immersed in by groups of groups
thappAmE – without fail;
uraippAr – those who recite
ingu – in this world
ipparisu  – in this way,
thiru aruL peRRu – would get the blessings of
Ir iraNdu mAl varai thOL – one having four big mountain-like shoulders
selvam – one having all the wealth
thirumAlAl – (that is) emperumAn who is srImAn
engum – and everywhere (in all the worlds)
inbuRuvar – (they would) be joyous.

Simple Translation

vangak kadal kadaindha mAdhavanai

When churning the ocean in earlier avathAram he cleverly did that without shaking any boats; he himself was like a boat; when he rotated while churning, he covered the whole ocean; or when he churned, the whole ocean was pulling all the boats/ships around and the whole ocean was full of it.

Are there boats/ships in thiruppARkadal? It is only to show the equivalence of the salty ocean near us with that ocean; it is to say how well he churned that ocean.

He was helping dhEvas who wanted the lowly amudham (nectar), with his body aching from the churning; they put the great perumAn through this for their vishayAntharam (interest in other matters).

Aren’t these gOpikAs about singing krishNan? Would it match for them to sing about the one who churned the ocean?

perumAn had a different agenda when churning the ocean; from the ocean not only did the nectar come out; it also brought out his dear periya pirAtti – he churned it only for getting her, but used as front getting nectar for dhEvas (clue: why did he keep churning even after nectar came out?).

==> So these gOpikAs are saying that this is nothing new to him. Like how he used churning of ocean as the front for getting pirAtti, krishNan is born here and churned curd to get these gOpikAs.  Similarly, He used the elders’ nOnbu request as the front for getting what he really wanted – all these innocent gOpikAs. So she sings kadal kadaindha mAdhavanai…

[[ kadal kadaindha: vEdhas are like ocean; upanishadhs too; meanings in prabandhams are like an ocean; AchAryan churns these oceans and brings out beautiful meanings;

vanga: perumAn; so AchAryan shows us perumAn by churning the ocean of vEdhas, upanishadhs, and prabandhams.

]]

mAdhavanai – Husband of pirAtti. What is available for us to surrender to, and to enjoy too, is available with pirAtti; he is near the one who will make Him forgive us, our mistakes, and make Him realize His greatness to accept us.

We feel confident when pirAtti is there to support us.

kadal kadaindha mAdhavanai – one who churned the ocean and got pirAtti from that.

[ mA-thavan – AchAryan, who has the great thapas of having perumAn in his noble heart;  it refers to gyAnam as well; gyAnam anuttAnam ivai nanRAgavE udaiyanAna kuruvai adaindhakkAl… said maNavALa mAmunigaL in upadhEsa rathinamAlai.]

kEsavanai – who gets rid of whatever is not good for his devotees; he who made us get rid of our thinking that we are girls who should not get out of our house (to see krishNan); he who makes all of us get rid of anyasEshathvam (sEshathvam (servitude) for something other than naRAyaNan).

kEsavanai – one with beautiful hair;  one who troubles the enemies of his adiyAr; one who killed the asuran kEsi;

kadal kadaindha kEsavan – When perumAn was churning the ocean, his hair was waving in the air and it was such a beautiful divine sight. ANdAL feels terrible that dhEvas were focusing on the lowly nectar and missed what was really really important – seeing perumAn‘s divine face and his hair and enjoying that, and forgetting other things. To feel better now, she sings, kEsavanai….

bhattar says: He ate the actual nectar (pirAtti) from churning ocean (mAdhavan), and gave the residue (சக்கை / chakkai ) to those dhEvas.

mAdhavanaik kEsavanai – you got pirAtti, and you were kind to those who needed your help (dhEvas).

mAdhavanaik kEsavanai – you are mAdhavan (pirAtti married you), because you are kEsavan (have got beautiful hair).

kEsavanai – ANdAL referred to His thiruvadi in 2nd pAsuram – ‘paraman adi pAdi‘ and in this last pAsuram is singing about his head, thus singing from His thiruvadi (lotus feet) to thirumudi (lotus head).

{ srIvaishNavas always start mangaLAsAsanam to perumAn starting from thiruvadi, and going up to thirumudi, when in temple, etc. }

[ kEsavan – perumAn who killed the horse asuran kEsi.  In bhagavath gIthai perumAn said that our indhriyas (senses) are like horses; AchAryan helps us control our indhriyas, so kEsavan as well refers to AchAryan. ]

Now ANdAL talks about the adiyArs who want perumAn.

thingaL thirumugaththu

Like a pleasant moon, gOpikAs’ faces have blossomed due to joining krishNan,

His – ‘kadhir‘ ‘madhi‘yam pOl mugam – because he sees both puNyams and pApams of ours, his face is like sun and moon.

gOpikAs’ faces – just nice like the moon. That is because they are with their krishNan.

==> Everyone who enjoys Him will have such a nice and happy face. So happy that others would wonder where they have come from.

As nammAzhwAr sang, those who enjoy him in srIvaikuNtam are too ‘madhi muga madandhaiyar / மதிமுக மடந்தையர்’! (thruvAimozhi 10-9-10 / திருவாய்மொழி 10-9-10).  (women with beautiful faces like the moon).

chEi izhaiyAr

They had asked for ‘chUdagamE‘ (27), etc., ornaments, now they are here wearing all the ornaments put on them by Him, while being together with krishNan.

They have got the ornaments that are krishNan’s fondness and his katAksham. Because of this they got the briskness and looks like wearing one container (ஒரு படி) full of ornaments.

[ thingaL thiru mugaththu sEi izhaiyAr – we sishyas are too; moon does not have its own light. We sishyas get gyAnam from AchAryan.  Moon is called ‘madhi’, which also means ‘gyAnam’. With our AchAryan’s katAksham we would be filled with gyAnam.  Our AchAryan puts the ornaments on us which are Athma guNams.]

chenRu

gOpikAs went to him, without being able to do all these decorations with the ornaments.

[chenRu – we sishyas go to our AchAryan ]

iRainji

They did ‘thU malar thUvi thOzhudhu, vAyinAl pAdi, manaththinAl sindhiththu, anRu ivvulagam aLandhAnai adi pORRi, sEnRu sEviththu, and all that mangaLAsAsanam.

angu – In thiruvAyppAdi

ap paRai koNda ARRai – the way they used ‘paRai’ instrument for elders as the front, and surrendered and did kainkaryam to krishNan;

koNda – they asked ‘nI thArAi paRai‘, and he gave himself to them for eRRaikkum (for ever).

ARRai – the way in which they did these.

[  ‘ap’ paRai  – ‘that’ paRai –  Going even beyond doing kainkaryam to perumAn, ANdAL refers to AchArya kainkaryam, which is the ultimate kainkaryam – sishyas to do AchArya kainkaryam (kuRREval) while living here, and to continue the same after going to srI vaikuNtam. ]

aNi pudhuvai – the main place for the people of this world, the beautiful srivillipuththUr where vada perungkoil udaiyAn is also present for us;

Unlike for pirAtti or nappinnai, ANdAL‘s birth place is also her husband’s place.

The place decorated with periyAzhwAr, ANdAL and vata perum kOyil udaiyAn (vatapathrasAyI – presiding emperumAn of srIvillipuththUr).

paingamalath thaN theriyal pattar pirAn

pain thaN kamala theriyal – lotus garland that is cool and nice to the core

pattar pirAn – periyAzhwAr (who is a brAhmaNOththamar with the beautiful garland), who gave love and gyAnam to all the learned people (pattar) by singing thiruppallANdu to perumAn himself, and hence was named the pirAn (leader/king) of pattars.

periyAzhwAr who gave her daughter in marriage to perumAn.

pattar pirAn kOdhai sonna

What periyAzhwAr‘s daughter ANdAL said pretending (anukAram) to be a gOpikA living in thiruvAippAdi.

pattar pirAn kOdhai – If krishNan’s greatness is that he is ‘ARRap padaiththAn magan (21)‘ (son of nandhagOpa), ANdAL is ‘pattar pirAn kodhai’ (daughter of periyAzhwAr).

sonna – as ANdAL listened to the upanyAsakar (vidhwAn) who came to srIvillipuththUr explaining about nOnbu, ANdAL imagined everything, and after it filled her heart with kaNNan, the thiruppAvai came pouring out due to bhagavath katAksham.

sonna – sruthi sathas siddham – what is told in vEdhAs, ANdAL sang them in simple thamizh for everyone to understand.

[ pattar pirAn kOdhai – she says about her AchAryan – her father – periyAzhwAr. Shows her abhimAnam towards her AchAryan]

sangath thamizh mAlai

This prabandham which has to be recited and enjoyed together in bigger and bigger groups of adiyArs (devotees); (sangam); Isn’t this the prabandham that the gOpikAs from 5 lakh houses got together and enjoyed? (‘sangam iruppAr pOl vandhu thalaippeidhOm’)

thamizh mAlai – like how bhUmi pirAtti came as ANdAL to help us, upanishadh became thamizh.

thamizh – amizhdhu (amrutham) – sweet; simple. (sweet like krishNan; simple like gOvindhan).

When perumAn came himself to the level of human form as krishNan, bhUmi pirAtti came herself as ANdAL, but she went one step further as usual – as part of thiruppAvai she pretended to be a cowherd girl. vEdhas wanted to do their part, and became thamizh thiruppAvai.

mAlai : thiruppAvai. thiruppAvai like the flower/garland, is not only our medicine, but it is also for enjoyment, to be carried in our head (sirObhUshaNam).

mAlai – periyAzhwAr named ANdAL as ‘kOdhai’ to mean mAlai (garland), as He was into doing pushpa kainkaryam (flower) to perumAn. So, ANdAL herself is mAlai. And she put together the mAlai that is this thiruppAvai.

==> mAlai kattina mAlai (thiruppAvai constructed by ANdAL)

==> mAl-aik-k-kattina mAlai (mAl -> perumAn.  perumAn was tied down (koLLAmal pOgAdhu) by ANdAL).

‘sevip pUvE‘ – krishNan gave one flower to her ears; ANdAL gave this big thamizh mAlai to him and to us. With this mAlai she tied him and demanded paRai (mOksham/kainkaryam).

muppadhum thappAmE  (muppadhum thappAmal) – all 30 without missing any pAsuram.

Like how when even one stone is missing in a priceless necklace it would not look beautiful, it would not be complete. It would be a big loss.

ingu – ANY time in the future; in this samsAram (of ours);

ip parisu uraippAr

– whoever would recite these pAsurams

– ip parisu – with the same mind

– In actual thiruvAippAdi, gOpikAs got Him and doing krishnAnubhavam; ANdAL got the same by anukAram (pretending and following what the gOpikAs did earlier); So, we who would learn these pAsurams also would get Him in the same way and at same intensity.

Ir iraNdu mAl varaith thOL

krishNan does not have to see our level, but as we sing following the ways of ANdAL, krishNan’s shoulders would grow big out of love for her.

Those who don’t have love towards him will see only two shoulders;

For us who love ANdAL and krishNan, his shoulders would appear to grow as we recite thiruppAvai and other prabandhams.

mAl varai – big like mountains; where pirAtti and gOpikAs can enjoy their krIdai (playing).

sengaN thirumugaththu

The one with the divine face with the eyes that became red because of eagerness to give katAksham and love as we sang thiruppAvai.

Whose is this thiru mugam?

selva thirumAlAl

Lakshmi’s husband.

with the katAksham of husband of lakshmi (thirumAl);

perumAn, the one who is the owner of all worlds (his selvam);

Like in dhvayam where pirAtti is mentioned in its first half and second half, this pAsuram also mentions pirAtti in ‘mAdhavanai’ in first half, and here in ‘thiru mAlAl’ in second half.

engum thiruvaruL peRRu

Both in this world and in srIvaikuNtam, pirAtti and perumAn‘s kataksham will be there (for those who recite all the 30 pAsurams of this prabandham)…

inbuRuvar

.. and they will become happy because of getting together with perumAn (and do kainkaryam in srIvaikuNtam).

empAvAi – Think about our ways, commit in your mind, and follow our path.

empAvAi inbuRuvar – like how we girls were happy because of thirumAl, those who recite all the thiry pAsurams of this thiruppAvai will also be happy in the same way.

bhattar: wake up very early in the morning and recite all the 30 pAsurams; if not doing that, recite ‘chiRRam chiRu kAlE’; if not doing that, at least think about this gOshti (of bhattar, with bhattar reciting thiruppAvai (and its greatness).

In this pAsuram ANdAL as periyAzhwAr‘s divine daughter says that those who would recite all the thirty pasurams that she sung following the ways of gOpikAs of thiruvAippAdi for reaching krishNan, would also get the same benefit that the gOpikAs and ANdAL got: receive thAyAr and perumAn‘s katAksham and will live happily in this world and in srIvaikuNtam. thAyAr and perumAn shall take turns to treasure us. தாயாரும் பெருமானும் மாறி மாறி பரியக் கடவர்.

---

Recited along with thiruppAvai:

kOdhai pirandha Ur – where kOdhai was born
gOvindhan vAzhum Ur – where there is kOdhai there is gOvindhan
sodhi maNi mAdam thOnRum Ur – the place with beautiful gOpuram
nIdhiyAy nalla paththar vAzhum Ur – the place where honest devotees live
nAn maRaigaL Odhum Ur – where the four vEdhas are recited all the time
villipuththUr vEdhak kOn Ur – It is srIvillipuththUr, that is the place of king of vEdhas.

---

padhagangaL thIrkkum – will make all the karmas vanish
paraman adi kAttum – will show us perumAn‘s thiruvadi for surrendering and doing kainkaryam
vEdham anaiththukkum viththu Agum – the one that is seed/extract of all vEdhas, upanishadhs, and purANas
kOdhai thamizh ai aindhum aindhum – ANdAL‘s thamizh prabhandam 5*5 + 5 (thiruppAvai)
ariyAdha mAnidarai vaiyam sumappadhum vambu – (those who don’t know those 30 pasurams) are a trouble to this world since they would misunderstand vEdhas’ meanings and would debate or follow in wrong ways.

---

thiru Adip pUraththu segaththudhiththAL vAzhiyE – Her thiru nakshathram is great Adi pUram. bhUmi pirAtti was hidden away by hiraNyAkshan; perumAn assumed kUrma avathAram, dug and brought out his wife bhUmi pirAtti and kept her in his lap. pirAtti found herself to be safe, but she was concerned about us the samsAris; she asked perumAn a simple way in which we all could reach perumAn in srI vaikuntam. He gave varAha charama slOkam. bhUmi pirAtti wanted to simplify that further, so she came to srIvillipuththUr as ANdAL, and sang thiruppAvai which explained in simple thamizh about the simple way to reach perumAn : saraNAgathy.
thiruppAvai muppadhum chEppinAL vAzhiyE – She told us thiruppAvai having 30 pAsurams
periyaAzhwAr peRREduththa pEN piLLai vAzhiyE – The girl child of periyAzhwAr
perumpUthur mAmunikkup pinnAnAL vAzhiyE – emperumAnAr who was born in srIperumbUthUr is like her elder brother because he fulfilled her wish of giving ‘nURu thadA veNNai, akkAra adisil, etc.’ to perumAn. ANdAL came in front of him and called him aNNar (since he fulfilled her wishes like an elder brother), even though she was born much much earlier than emperumAnAr. So udaiyavar got another name ‘kOyil aNNar’.
oru nURRu nArpaththu mUnRu uraiththAL vAzhiyE – ANdAL sang thiruppAvai and also nAchiAr thirumozhi which contains 143 pAsurams.
uyar arangarkkE kaNNi ugandhu aLiththAL vAzhiyE – who gave herself, that is who got married, to thiru arangan and increased his status.
maruvArum thirumalli vaLa nAdi vAzhiyE – Glory to srivillipuththUr that is filled with fragrance of malli flowers everywhere.
vaN pudhuvai nagark kOdhai – malarp padhangaL vAzhiyE – glory to one from srIvillipuththUr – Glory to ANdAL‘s lotus feet.

---

ANdAL thiruvadigaLE charaNam
uyyakkONdAr thiruvadigaLE charaNam
parAsara bhattar thiruvadigaLE charaNam
periyavAchchAn piLLai thiruvadigaLE charaNam
azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr thiruvadigaLE charaNam
thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ayi jananyAchAriAr thiruvadigaLE charaNam
vAnamAmalai jIyar thiruvadigaLE charaNam
sudhdha sathvam dhoddAchAryar thiruvadigaLE charaNam
piLLai lOkam jIyar thiruvadigaLE charaNam
AzhwAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE charaNam
AchAryan thiruvaidgaLE charaNam
maNavALa mAmuniyE innum oru nURRANdu irum.

---

Note: Thanks so much to srI U.Ve. Vinjimoor S. Venkatachariar swAmi of srIvillipuththUr for providing initial guidance when adiyen did the translation. As mentioned in the beginning, our pUrvAchAryAs have provided so much of wealth related to thiruppAvai that they all came in handy in doing the translations, in addition to upanyAsams on thiruppAvai by many great swamis.

A lot of thanks to Sarathy Thothathri swami for encouraging adiyen to maintain accuracy, consistency, and time. Every day he read through the whole text, made corrections for above reasons, and then published to the group. His tireless efforts made this much more readable than the original.

Finally a lot of praNAms to the adiyArs who read this translation everyday, and also to those who provided comments and feedback for these posts.

In addition to the vyAkyAnams and upanyAsams, there are a couple of other resources which were helpful in doing the translation.

– thiruppAvai viLakka urai – by ‘AzhvArgaL amudha nilaiyam’ which is a simple thamizh translation of the 3000padi vyAkyAnam for the most part.

– vaiNava urai nadai varalARRu muRaith thamizhp pEr agarAdhi – by sAnthi sAdhana – publishers, 125 Chamiers Road, Chennai 600 028, which is a GREAT resource to know the translation of samskrutham words seen in our srIvaishNava granthams. It is in thamizh. (If interested in purchasing the 3-volume set, publisher’s contact number is 9940019804 in Chennai. (we are not associated with them in any way other than as buyers))

---

English translation Raghuram Srinivasa Dasan.

archived in https://divyaprabandham.koyil.org