Arththi prabandham – 29

Introduction

maNavALa mAmunigaL in this pAsuram praises about the victories of SrI rAmAnuja, the person who is solely responsible for destroying all hurdles that come in the way of paramapadham for maNavALa mAmunigaL. maNavALa mAmunigaL describes how SrI rAmAnuja defeats his opponents, the ones who quote outside the vEdhas or distort what is being said in the vEdhas. He uses books that includes the likes of SrIbhAshyam in order to defeat them. maNavALa mAmunigaL praises SrI rAmAnuja’s victories and subsequently sings mangaLams to them.

pAsuram 29

chAruvAga madhanIRu seydhu samaNach chedikkanal koLuththiyE
sAkkiyakkadalai vaRRaviththu migusAnkiya kiri muRiththida
mARu seydhidu kaNAdha vAdhiyagaL vAy thagarththu aRamiguththu mEl
vandha pAsupadhar sindhiyOdum vagai vAdhu seydha ethirAsanAr
kURum mAkuru madhaththOdu kumArilan madham avaRRin mEl
kodiya tharkka charam vittapin kuRugiya mAyAvAdhiyarai venRida
mIRi vAdhil varu pArkkaran madhavilakkadik kodiyerindhu pOy
mikka yAdhava madhaththai mAyththa peruvIrar nALum miga vAzhiyE!!!

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Word-by-Word Meanings

chAruvAga madhanIRu seydhu – (SrI rAmAnuja) burnt into ashes the philosophy called “chAruvAka matham” that is defined by “prathyakshamEkam chArvAka:”, i.e., people who follow the philosophy of chAruvAka accept only those things that they see.
samaNach chedik kanal koLuththiyE – (SrI rAmAnuja) burnt the philosophies of a weed called “samaNam” (jaina)
sAkkiyak kadalai vaRRaviththu – (SrI rAmAnuja) completely burnt and emptied the ocean known as “sAkkiyam” (baudhdha) using his works as rays of destruction
migusAngkiya kirimurithida – (SrI rAmAnuja) destroyed the philosophy called “sAnkhyam” that was largely prevalent (Because of the enormous presence, the philosophy is described as a mountain)
thagarththu –  (SrI rAmAnuja) destroyed, using his arguments
vAy – the  arguments put forth
mARu seydhidu kaNAdha vAdhiyargaL – as “counter arguments” by a group known as “kANAdha vAdhigaL”.
aRamiguththu mEl vandha – that which kept on pounding one after another
pAsupadhar sindhiyOdum vagai – like how rudhran along with his entire family ran helter skelter to save his life, even rudhran’s devotees who are called “sivasamayigaL” were made to run helter skelter by
vAdhu seydha ethirAsanAr – ethirAsan using his arguments
kodiya tharkka charam vittapin avaRRin mEl – (SrI rAmAnuja) attacked with his arrows known as “tharka” (the art of arguing using techniques such as logic etc., ) and specifically destroyed the
kURum – blabbering arguments of
mA – the mighty (in terms of numer of people)
kuru madhaththOdu – philosophy called “prabhAkara madham”
kumArilan madham – and the philosophy called “bhAtta madham”.
kuRugiya mAyAvAdhiyarai venRida – (SrI rAmAnuja) went to the place where the people of “mAyAvAdha” philosophy lived and won over the arguments of all the people whom he was able to meet.
pArkkaran madha vilakkadi kodiyerindhu pOy – (SrI rAmAnuja) shook and plucked the fundamental arguments of people of “bhAskara” philosophy and threw them astray and went ahead.
mIRi vAdhil varum – these “bhAskara” philosophy people were the people who came with so much haughtiness to argue against SrI rAmAnuja.
mikka yAdhava madhaththai mAyththa – (After conquering the bhAskra philosophy, SrI rAmAnuja) totally annihilated the philosophy of “yAdhavaprakAsa”, whose followers were huge in number.
nALum migavAzhiyE!!! – Long live
peruvIrar – emperumAnAr , who has an unmatched bravery and victories over his opponents.
 

Simple Translation

In this pAsuram, maNavALa mAmunigaL celebrates the victories of SrI rAmAnuja. Specifically, maNavALa mAmunigaL lists some of the philosophies that were prevalent and famous. maNavALa mAmunigaL praises SrI rAmAnuja who emerged victorious over the philosophies that includes the likes of “chAruvAka”, “samaNam”, “sAkhyam”, “sAnkhyam”, “kANAvAdhi”, ”pAsupatha”, “prabhAkara”, “bhAtta”, “mAyAvAdha” and “yAdhava”. maNavALa mAmunigaL concludes by saying that the victories of SrI rAmAnuja should grow daily. He sings mangaLam to such SrI rAmAnuja.

Explanation

The philosophy that is known as “chAruvAka matham”, whose basic tenet is “prathyakshamEva chArvAka:” (A chArvAka person accepts only what is seen by naked eye), was burnt down to ashes by the scorching rays of SrI rAmAnuja‘s arguments. He set fire to the philosophy known as “samaNam” (jainisim). The ocean called “sAkhya madham” was made completely dry without any trace of water in it by SrI rAmAnuja, again using his scorching rays of arguments. One of the philosphies that was spread in large numbers was known by the name of “sAnkhya madham”. Hence it is compared to a mighty mountain. Yet SrI rAmAnuja, using his vajrAyudham called “arguments”, annihilated this very mountain. There were some group of people known as “kANAdh vAdhigaL” who are known for their counter arguments. Sri rAmAmuja decimated their counter arguments using his arguments.

There were another group of people who were known by the name of “pAsupathars”. A lot of people belonging to this group flocked in large numbers to argue and win against SrI rAmAnuja. However, they were made to run helter skelter in order to save their livelihood by the arguments of SrI rAmAnuja. This was akin to how rudhran and his entire family were made to run helter skelter by krishNa during the battle of bhANAsura. SrI rAmAnuja wielded the powerful bow of arrows towards the arguments of people in “prabhAkara philosophy” and “bhAtta philosophy”. After doing this, he went towards the places where the people pursuing “mAyAvAdha philosophy” lived. Their presence was widely prevalent. SrI rAmAnuja defeated them using his arguments, as celebrated by the phrase “vAdhil venRAn nammirAmAnusan (irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi 58)”. People from “bhAskara philosophy” came to argue against SrI rAmAnuja. However, SrI rAmAnuja not only defeated them but also ensured that no one ever walks in the path that were laid by them. There were a huge crowd from the followers of “yAdhava philosophy” that flocked together with the sole objective of defeating SrI rAmAnuja. To their utter dismay, SrI rAmAnuja obliterated them completely without any trace of their philosophy.

maNavALa mAmunigaL wishes that these brave, victorious acts of SrI rAmAnuja, that were the result of him destroying other philosophies, should go day by day.

Translation by santhAna rAmAnuja dhAsan

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