SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
The nAyaki is unable to tolerate until the nAyakan arrives. Hence she engages with kUdal to find out whether he would come or not [kUdal is drawing a large circle on sand, either at the river or at the ocean, and drawing many smaller circles inside the large circle. If the count of the small circles is even, it would indicate that the nAyakan would return and if it is odd, it would indicate that he would not]. Since this also did not yield the desired result, she gets angry with kUdal, as much as the anger that she would have felt had the nAyakan, who had separated from her, returned.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
sidhaikkinRadhu AzhiyenRu Azhiyaich chIRi than sIradiyAl
udhaikkinRa nAyagam thannodum mAlE unadhu thaN thAr
thadhaikkinRa thaNNam thuzhAy aNivAn adhuvE manamAyp
padhaikkinRa mAdhin thiRaththu aRiyEn seyaRpAl adhuvE
Word-by-Word Meanings
mAlE – Oh swAmy (lord)!
Azhi – ocean
Azhiyai – kUdal (drawing of circles on sand)
sidhaikkinRadhu – destroying
enRu – saying so
sIRi – becoming angry
than – her
sIr – beautiful
adiyAl – with foot
Azhiyai – ocean
udahikkinRa – kicking
nAyagam thannodu – with pride
thaN – cool
thAr – with flower
thadhaikkinRa – being complete
thaN – cool
am – beautiful
unadhu – your
thuzhAy – garland of divine thuLasi
aNivAn – to don
adhuvE – in that
manamAy – keeping her mind
padhaikkinRa – having urge
mAdhin thiRaththu – in the matter of the girl
seyaRpAladhu – what you intend doing
aRiyEn – I do not know
Simple Translation
Oh my lord! She (my daughter) is kicking the ocean with her beautiful feet since the waves of the ocean are destroying the circles that she has drawn. She has a great urge to don the cool, beautiful garland of thuLasi which you are wearing. What do you intend doing in her matter? I do not know.
vyAkyAnam
sidhaikkinRa – three different interpretations are given here: the opinion of those who were prior to parASara bhattar, the opinion of parASara bhattar and the opinion of nampiLLai. In the first two interpretations, the term Azhi (in both the verses sidhaikkinRadhu Azhi and Azhiyaich chIRi) refers to kUdal. In the first opinion, the interpretation is – she started carrying out kUdal. Since it did not reflect her desire, out of anger, she kicked it. bhattar’s interpretation is – kUdal did not hint her desire that he would come and unite with her. Instead, it hinted that he will not come. Becoming angry, she destroyed it. In nampiLLai’s interpretation, the first Azhi refers to kUdal and the second Azhi refers to ocean. Thus, when she drew the circles on the shore, the waves of the ocean destroyed them. Becoming angry with the ocean, she kicked the waves. Is there any precedence for a person becoming angry with ocean? The vyAkyAtha (commentator) periyavAchchAn piLLai cites the case of SrI rAma in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 21-22 “chApamAnaya” (bring the bow) when he threatened to dry up the ocean with his bow and arrows when the samudhrarAjan (King of oceans) did not respond to his surrendering to him to give way for his army to cross it and reach lankA. The second reference is also from yudhdha kANdam 21-13 “rAmO rakthAntha lOchana” (SrI rAma had eyes which were blood red in colour due to his anger) again, in the same context.
sIradi …. – nAyaki kicks with her eminent divine feet. While the nAyakan was desiring this, instead of happening to him, this was happening to someone else. He did not have his desire of uniting with her fulfilled; he did not get his desire of being touched by her [even if it is with her divine feet] fulfilled! She is kicking the ocean with her feet which are rare indeed to attain! Had he known this, he wouldn’t have hidden himself inside a pillar [as in narasimhAvathAram] but would have hidden himself within these sand grains so that he would have been touched by her feet. Perhaps, he pervaded every droplet of water in the ocean in anticipation of this only. As mentioned in the verse “thvath pAdha pankaja parigraha dhanya janmA bhUyAsam” it is a great honour to be touched by her lotus like feet. parASara bhattar, in his SrI rangarAja sthavam 1-9 says “lakshmIpathi lAkshaika lakshaNam” (the identity of her divine feet smeared with vermillion paste can be seen on the chest of emperumAn), indicating that he relishes being touched by her divine feet.
than sIradiyAl udhaikkinRa nAyagam – she is kicking without considering the soft nature [of emperumAn]. nAyagam refers to greatness, eminence, pride etc. Her greatness is such that she is not considering his greatness which is sought after by everyone.
mAlE – oh one who is bewildered after making her get bewildered!
unadhu thaN thAr … – she desires to don the garland of divine thuLasi which appears to be fresher when in contact with your divine form than when it is in its plant. Her condition is similar to the one mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 2-4-9 “pattapOdhu ezhupOdhu aRiyAL virai mattalar thaN thuzhAy ennum” (she who does not know as to when the sun rises or sets, keeps repeating the word ‘thuLasi’ which is filled with fragrance and honey). The moment she hears the word thuLasi, she starts craving it. Her condition is similar to lakshmaNa when he says as in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 96-23 “pAdhasyavathE dhOsham nAham paSyAmi” (I do not see any fault in killing this bharatha) and in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 17-29 “vadhyathAm” (vibhIshaNa, who has come seeking refuge under SrI rAma) should be killed). Though bharatha and vibhIshaNa had come to SrI rAma with good intentions, due to excessive devotion towards SrI rAma, lakshmaNa became furious. In the same way, the nAyaki kicks at the ocean thinking that it is coming to harm her.
aRiyEn seyaRpAl adhuvE – I do not know as to what you intend doing with her. Attaining him in course of time and her craving are not the means, since he is the end goal.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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