SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
periya thirumozhi >> First centum >> Fourth decad
Highlights from avathArikai (Introduction)
No specific introduction.
pAsuram
mAn munindhu oru kAl vari silai vaLaiththa
mannavan ponniRaththu uravOn
Un munindhu avanadhudal irupiLavA
ugir nudhi maduththu ayan aranaith
thAn munindhitta vendhiRal sAbam
thavirththavan thavam purindhuyarndha
mAmunikoNarndha gangaiyin karaimEl
vadhariyAchchirAmaththuLLAnE
Word-by-Word meanings
oru kAl – while remaining in panchavati
mAn – mArIcha who came in the form of a deer
munindhu – showing anger on
vari – beautiful
silai – bow
vaLaiththa – aimed (at him) by bending
mannavan – being the king
pon niRam – having golden hue
uravOn – strong hiraNya’s
Un – flesh
munindhu – showing anger
avanadhu – his
udal – body
iru piLavA – to split into two parts
ugir nudhi – the edge of his nails
maduththu – made to enter
avan thAn – brahmA himself
aranai – rudhra
munindhu – showing anger
itta – gave
vem thiRal – very cruel
sAbam – curse
thavirththavan – sarvESvaran who eliminated
thavam purindhu – performing penance
uyarndha – became brahmarishi (due to that)
mAmuni – viSvAmithran
koNarndha – (perumAL and iLaiyaperumAL) brought along
gangaiyin karai mEl – on the banks of gangA
vadhariyAchchiramaththuLLAnE – is residing in SrI badharIkASramam
Simple translation
Showing anger on mArIcha who came in the form of a deer, emperumAn while remaining in panchavati, being the king, aimed his beautiful bow at him by bending it; showing anger on the strong hiraNya, who was having a golden hue, made the edge of his nails enter his body to split it into two parts; sarvESvaran eliminated the very cruel curse of brahmA who showed anger on rudhra and cursed him; such sarvESvaran is residing in SrI badharIkASramam on the banks of gangA where viSvAmithran who became brahmarishi by performing penance, brought along SrI rAma and lakshmaNa.
Highlights from vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
- mAn munindhu … – sIthAp pirAtti mercifully requested perumAL (SrI rAma) “Please catch and bring this deer to me”, and perumAL chased the deer. Since the deer was an illusory one (mArIchA came in disguise), it kept evading perumAL, and hence perumAL became angry on it and he, the strong one, aimed at the deer and bent his beautiful bow.
- ponniRaththu uravOn … – One who was known as hiraNya, who had a golden hue and great strength; emperumAn showed anger on his bodily flesh which grew based on his evil pride, and placed the edge of his divine nails on his body which is abode for such flesh.
- ayan … – emperumAn favoured the child, prahlAdha [who has much less love compared to pirAtti towards him], the same way he did for pirAtti; and he favoured the same way towards rudhra who is prideful. brahmA who could not tolerate the prideful attitude of rudhra, thought “we should make him commit a mistake and punish him”, and allowed rudhra to sever his head saying “you sever my head if you have the courage to do so” and then cursed him for that same reason as said in mAthsya purANam “kapAleethvam bhavishyasi” (you will have my skull attached to your hand). When one’s own father becomes an enemy, it is bhagavAn who remains even closer and helps such persons.
- thavam … – viSvAmithra is identified as the one who became great by his penance and brought perumAL and iLaiya pertumAL Though he was a kshathriya he became a brahmarishi by the strength of his penance. Since he brought perumAL and iLaiya perumAL along the banks of gangA, AzhwAr could be talking about that. One who became great by performing thapas – viSvAmithran. Here, SrI parAnguSa dhAsar asks nampiLLai “jIyA (Oh great personality)! Instead of mAmuni koNarndha, can we not change it to mAmuni puganRa (the great sage spoke about) as an alternate text, and explain it as viSvAmithran explaining the greatness of gangA to perumAL and iLaiya perumAL. AzhwAr could be speaking about that”. nampiLLai mercifully responds “We don’t have the strength/ability to do so” [i.e. We don’t have the ability to change AzhwAr’s pAsurams]. Alternatively, mAmuni could mean bhagIratha himself [as he also did a great penance] and explain it as gangA which was brought down to earth by bhagIratha.
In the next article we will enjoy the next pAsuram.
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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