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Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
amudhanAr said ‘aRu samayach chediyaith thodarum maruL seRindhOr sidhaindhOda vandhu’, talking about how emperumAnAr came here for winning the philosophies that did not accept vEdhas as authority – in the previous pAsuram;
in this pAsuram – due to the overflowing affection towards emperumAnAr, amudhanAr addresses those of other philosophies that don’t accept vEdhas or gives wrong meanings for vEdhas – the elephant that is irAmAnusa muni came to this world looking out for you and opposed you; your existence is now done with – says amudhanAr.
Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)
amudhanAr said ‘aRu samayach chediyaith thodarum maruL seRindhOr sidhaindhOda vandhu’, talking about how emperumAnAr came here for winning the philosophies that did not accept vEdhas as authority – in the previous pAsuram;
in this pAsuram – due to the overflowing affection towards emperumAnAr, amudhanAr addresses those of other philosophies that don’t accept vEdhas or gives wrong meanings for vEdhas – the elephant that is irAmAnusa muni came to this world holding the ruling stick looking out for you for punishing you; your existence is now done with from the root up – says amudhanAr.
paN tharu mAran pasum thamizh Anandham pAy madhamAy
viNdida engaL irAmAnusa muni vEzham meymmai
koNda nal vEdhak kozhum dhaNdam Endhik kuvalayaththE
maNdi vendhEnRadhu vAdhiyargAL ungaL vAzhvu aRRadhE 64
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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
engaL – he who we depend on
iramAnusa muni vEzham – that is, emperumAnAr like an elephant ,
due to thiruvAimozhi which can be said as ‘paNNAr pAdal’, which
mARan – AzhvAr
paN tharu – bestowed using his pAsurams
pasum thamizh – in beautiful thamizh language,
Anandham – (emperumAnAr’s) happiness
pAy – pouring out as
viNdida – fully developed
madhamAy – madness,
Endhi – (emperumAnAr) holding the
kozhun dhaNdam –beautiful stick, that is
nal vEdham – distinguished vEdham
as said in ‘vEdha nUl Odhugiradhu uNamai’ (what vEdhas say are true),
meymmai koNda – that is, having the truth due to saying what is the truth,
maNdi vandhu – he came pushing you all aside
for no one to stand in front of him
kuvalayaththE – in this world where you are ruling as if it is yours
EnRadhu – and opposed charging against you;
vAdhiyargAL – oh! you the debaters
ungaL – you, who were well grown with disciples and next levels of disciples
vAzhvu – your ‘good’ existence
aRRadhE – has ended!
That is, the world got saved!
Can it be interpreted as ‘paNdu aru’ instead, to mean that it is existing from old ages, and is hard for others to get it? That would not be accurate because the focus is not on old times, but on the music of the pAsuram, so ‘paN tharu’ is apt.
vyAkyAnam
engaL irAmAnusa muni vEzham – “engaL irAmAnusan”, “em irAmAnusan”, “ennai ALa vandhu ippadiyil piRandhadhu”, and so in many pAsurams amudhanAr has divined in this way – this is due to his love towards the wonderful divine body of emperumAnAr, you see!
The elephant that is emperumAnAr who incarnated for us, unlike the worldly elephant that has got lowered sentience, this elephant is here to condemn those who try to propagate wrong meanings for vEdhas, and to enlighten them and put them in proper track of vEdhas, and to protect the amicable ones, and be one to meditate upon – this elephant is one having such flourishing of sentience/knowledge;
in this way for this elephant that is not material based, its knowledge also would be of that size;
describing emperumAnAr as an elephant is to show his ability to destroy the opponents, and for the ones protected by him to make them eligible for getting crowned.
paNdaru mARan pasum thamizh – that which is complete in all respects of grammar, style, construction, etc., for pAsuram, which is enjoyable for the ones who take it up; Or, even though for proper emphasis it cannot be split and considered as ‘paNdu aRu’ (instead of paN tharu), we can say that like how sarvESvaran Himself incarnated as vyAsar in each yuga-cycle [4 yugas] and gave vEdhas in good form, in each kali yugam, etc., among the cycles, sarvESvaran Himself incarnates as knowledgeable noble ones and gives dhrAvida (thamizh) vEdhas to us – this is famous as said in brahma, bhArgava, pAdhma, etc., purANas;
so thiruvAimozhi which is eternal and not authored by a person, is hard for anyone to know and understand in their mind except for the devotees;
mARan is the original first divine name of nammAzhvAr.
pasum thamizh – constructed by him which is in pure thamizh language, that is thiruvAimozhi;
As ‘mARan paNiththa thamizh maRai’, and, ´eenRa mudhal thAy satakOpan’, thiruvAimozhi that is connected to nammAzhvAr;
Anandham pAy madhamAy – From the sea that is SrIpathi (husband of SrI mahAlakshmi), the cloud that is AzhvAr, sourced the water that is great kindness, and poured in on the hill that is periya mudhaliyAr (nAthamunigaL), and that kindness came down as water falls that are maNakkAl nambi, and uyyak koNdAr, and reached the river that is the elder AchAryar ALavandhAr, and filled the lake that is emperumAnAr, and flowed freely through the pathways/canals that are the preceptors, and went to the paddies that are sentient beings of this material world, and protected them – so thiruvAimozhi is referred with joy as ‘kavi amudham’ (nectar that is poetry), and as ‘thoNdarkku amudhu uNNach chonmAlai’, and so it is nectar for everyone – the happiness that came out of thiruvAimozhi that is fully of joy, and so that nectar has gathered and is pouring out (from emperumAnAr) (like how for a mad elephant water would pour from its eyes);
{Translator’s note: nammAzhvAr is also known as ‘parAnkuSar’, a meaning of which is that for debaters of other philosophies who were like mad elephants, he was like the stick that can control and remove that madness; there – he removed the madness; here – he created the sort of madness in emperumAnAr; emperumAnAr used that stick to win the debaters of other philosophers; so the stick he used could be considered as nammAzhvAr himself! }
viNdida – and is fully developed, such that there is no barrier to it at any time and any place;
emperumAnAr the elephant, on the elephant vAhanam
meymmai koNda nal vEdhak kozhum dhaNdam Endhi – meymmai – truthfulness;
that is, as said in ‘vEdha nUl Odhuvadhu uNmai´ (what vEdham says is truth), being truthful to the actuals; since it is having such truthfulness it is the ultimate authority – such distinguished vEdham;
vEdham that shows the supremacy of emperumAn in saying ‘sathyam gyAnam anantham brahma’. (so ‘nal’ (good) vEdham’).
And it is apt that vEdham is defined as ‘parAvara thathvAni yathAvathu vEdhayathi ithi vEdha:’ (shows the factual meanings correctly and clearly like a mirror).
The inner meaning for the adjective for vEdham as ‘meymmai koNda’ :- For the misunderstanding ‘rajjAvayam sarpa:’, (rope as snake), only when we get the correct knowledge ‘iyam rajjurEva na sarpa:’ (this is rope only, not a snake), would we realize what it is; in the same way, for the eternal ignorance through the philosophies which derive own meanings and which dismiss or misinterpret vEdhas, vEdhas show the true meanings and clears the misunderstanding.
So, (emperumAnAr) uses the help of stick that is vEdham that is instrumental in winning the opposing debaters;
kozhu – greatness;
Or, even though what is mentioned now is samskrutha vEdham, it can also be taken together with the thamizh vEdham mentioned earlier. (that is, emperumAnAr using the stick that is thiruvAimozhi as well).
This phrase implies an ‘also’ here; so he not only just held the stick in his hand to correct them, but also affected them with the stick such that they got corrected; for emperumAn to correct others He is always holding conch and disc as said in ‘sangodu chakkaram Endhum thadak kaiyan’, emperumAnAr is also holding in his hands the stick that is in the form of vEdham!
kuvalayaththE maNdi vandhu EnRadhu – in the places where you were ruling as if they are yours, from sEthu in south to the himAchal in the north, vEnkatAchala, yAdhavAchala, and, SAradhA peetam, etc., divine places, he argued and won the debaters who came to argue, and that is how he came against you;
vAdhiyargAL – Oh you who are attached to arguing for philosophies that ignore or misinterpret vEdhas!
ungaL vAzhvu aRRadhE – your well being of having grown big with disciples and next levels of disciples, has ended! As you were thinking of living and growing with disciples and next levels of disciples, all your philosophies have been lost;
jeeyar too divined this meaning in ‘sankara bhAskara yAdhava bhAttap prabhAkarar thangaL matham sAyvura vAdhiyar mAyguvar enRu chathu maRai vAzhndhidu nAL’ (the day when all the ill meaning philosophies like Sankara etc., were won and the four vEdhas lived well (that is emperumAnAr’s incarnation day of chiththirai thiruvAdhirai)).
The SlOkam ‘kaNAdha paripAdibhi:’, (about how other philosophies were won over by the words of yatheendhrar), and the SlOkam ‘gathAdhAthA gadhAnAm’, are to be considered as the authoritative reference for this meaning.
From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :
It is ‘thamizh’, moreover ‘pasum thamizh’, and moreover ‘paN tharu pasum thamizh’, and more than anything it is ‘mARan paN tharu pasum thamizh’ – so it goes without saying that emperumAnAr would be so ecstatic upon immersing in thiruvAimozhi.
Unable to stay in, the experience of thiruvAimozhi comes out as joyous tears from emperumAnAr; comparing this to the madness water coming out of the eyes of an elephant.
By ‘engaL vEzham’, it shows emperumAnAr makes himself available to other SrIvaishNavas who enjoy thiruvAimozhi, that they could even hug him happily, while by ‘muni vEzham’ it shows that debaters of other philosophies cannot come near emperumAnAr;
By ‘vEdhak kozhum thaNdam’, (beautiful stick tha is vEdham), amudhanAr considers the ‘thirdhaNdam’ (three sticks/staff tied together as held by viSishtAdhvaitha saints) that emperumAnAr holds; they are the three vEdhas is the opinion of amudhanAr.
emperumAnAr immersed himself in the meanings of thiruvAimozhi, and based on that he got clear understanding of the vEdhas, and won the debaters using the words of those vEdhas.
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