SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
AzhwAr tells emperumAn “With your casual sankalpam (thought; vow), you are capable of carrying out all the actions of creation, including creating ocean which is the basis for creation. In the world thus created, in order to protect your followers, you lower your eminence, undertake many incarnations and eliminate the enemies of your followers through your divine weapons. No one is capable of knowing these wondrous activities”. This pAsuram is to be combined with the verse “oruththarum ninAdhu thanmai innadhenna vallarE” which will appear in the next pAsuram.
padaiththa pAr idandhu aLandhu uNdu umizhndhu pauva nIr
padaiththu adaiththu adhil kidandhu mun kadaindha peRRiyOy
midaiththa mAli mAlimAn vilangu kAlan Ur pugap
padaikkalam viduththa pal padaith thadakkai mAyanE
Word-by-Word Meanings
pauva nIr – ocean which is the basis for the universe
padaiththu – creating it
padaiththa – thus created
pAr – earth
idandhu – piercing and taking it
aLandhu – measuring it (after taking it as alms from mahAbali)
adhu – that earth
uNdu – keeping in your stomach during the dangerous time of deluge
umizhndhu – (later) spitting it out
pauvanIr – huge water [ocean]
padaiththu– created
adaiththu – built a dam on it
mun – earlier
adhil kidandhu– reclining on that ocean
kadaindha – churned
peRRiyOy – Oh one who has great majesty!
midaiththa – one who became angry
mAli – monster known as mAli
mAli mAn vilangu – sumAli, who had the strength of an animal; these monsters
kAlan – yaman’s
Ur – town
puga – to enter
padaikkalam – weapons
viduththa– directed
pal – many
padai – having many weapons
thada – huge
kai – having divine hands
mAyanE – Oh one with amazing activities!
Simple Translation
Oh one who is with amazing activities! You created the ocean which is the basis for habitation. Having created the word, you dug it out during creation; you measured it; you kept it in your stomach during deluge and later, spat it out; you built a dam on the ocean created; earlier, you reclined on that ocean; you had also churned it. You made the monsters mAli, who was angry, and sumAli, who had the strength of an animal, to enter the town of yama, by directing your weapons at them, through the many weapons which you have in your huge, divine hands.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
padaiththa pAridandhu – the verse should be rearranged as “pauva nIr padaiththu pAr idandhu“. As a prelude to creating the universe, you created the huge ocean, just as it has been mentioned in manu smruthi 1-8 “sO’bhidhyAya SarIrAth svAth sisrukshur vividhA: prajA: l apa Eva sasarjAdhau thAsu bhIjam (vIryam) avAsrujath ll” (Desiring to create many species of prajAs (creations) from his divine form, that paramAthmA (supreme entity) through his sankalpam (thought), created water first; in that water, he planted the seed (of his power)). From that, you created universe and then brahmA, the head of universe. You dug out earth, which was created by brahmA, which had got immersed in the waters of deluge, by transforming your divine form, which is enjoyed by nithyasUris (permanent dwellers of SrI vaikuNtam) into a wild boar, from the walls of the universe. For one who created the universe through your sankalpam itself, it would have been possible to take it out from the deluge through your sankalpam itself. However, in order to nurture faith among your followers who would think “It is emperumAn who would remove us from the deluge of samsAram”, you took the form of a boar.
aLandhu – further, when mahAbali usurped earth, you incarnated as vAmana (dwarf) and retrieved it, after measuring it fully. This activity was also to nurture faith among your followers “to get back his possession, emperumAn would even come as a mendicant”
adhuNdumizhndhu – during deluge, incarnating as AlilaikkaNNan (infant on a tender banyan leaf), you kept the three worlds in the small stomach, protecting them, ensuring that the worlds did not suffer while inside, and then spitting them out, at the end of deluge. While this activity too could have been carried out through sankalpam, it was done to make followers to have the faith that emperumAn has all the amazing powers, capable of re-creating materials which had been destroyed.
pauva nIr padaiththu – verse to be rearranged as “pauva nIr padaiththu adaiththu“. This refers to your building a dam along the ocean for the sake of sIthAp pirAtti. While you had created oceans through your sankalpam, you chose one ocean to surrender to varuNa (lord of water), raised an army [of monkeys and bears] and then closed it [by breaking the end of the dam]. All these were carried out due to separation from your beloved [sIthAp pirAtti] and as a manifestation of your anguish.
mun adhil kidandhu – with the thought “When celestial entities such as brahmA, Sivan et al are troubled by demons such as hiraNyan, rAvaNan et al, we should not be at too far a distance”, as well as to enable devotees to meditate on you, you came down from paramapadham and reclined in thiruppARkadal (milky ocean). SrI vishNu purANam 2-12-38 says “jyOthImshi vishNur bhuvanAni vishNur vanAni vishNur girayO dhiSaScha l nadhyas samudhrAScha sa Eva sarvam yadhasthi yannAsthi cha vipravarya ll” (Oh the greatest among brAhmaNas! All the radiances are vishNu only; all the worlds are vishNu only; all the forests, mountains and directions are vishNu only. Rivers and oceans are only vishNu. jIvans (souls) which as considered as ‘existing’ (since they are without any change) and achEthana entities (those without knowledge) which are considered as ‘not existing’ (since they keep changing constantly) are also vishNu only). While you have pervaded all the creations, and are close-by, you have incarnated with a divine form only to manifest that you keep striving to protect your followers.
kadaindha peRRiyOy – oh one who has the eminence of churning the ocean in order to retrieve all the wealth lost by the celestial entities due to sage dhurvAsar’s curse! The word peRRi refers to inherent nature. While there was no compulsion that you had to churn the ocean in order to retrieve the lost wealth, this churning was done only in order to manifest your quality of striving to remove the hurdles faced by your followers.
midaiththa mAli – mAli, the monster, who was angry
mAli mAn vilangu – sumAli, another monster, who was very strong like an animal, but was insignificant. It could also be considered that since he had the conduct of an animal, he was considered as one.
mAn mAli – (due to strength) sumAli was considered as the great mAli. Since the name mAli has already been considered and since emperumAn did not kill mALiyavAn, here the word mAn mAli should be taken as referring to sumAli.
kAlan Ur pugap padaikkalam viduththa – emperumAn had used his chakrAyudham (divine disc) in order to send mAli and sumAli to yama’s town [hell]. Through this, it has been said that when it comes to removing the enemies of his followers, he engages in direct conflict with them, instead of killing them through his sankalpam and uses his weapons to annihilate them.
pal padaith thadakkai mAyanE – Oh the amazing entity who holds many divine weapons in your well rounded, large, divine hands so that you could destroy the enemies of your followers at later points of time!
We will next consider the 29th pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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