SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
AzhwAr says in this pAsuram “When emperumAn defeats enemies of his followers and carries out their act, there are instances when he carries out a righteous war just as he did like chakravarthith thirumagan (SrI rAma, the son of emperor dhaSaratha) defeating demons; there are also instances when he went to mahAbali as a mendicant and won in a deceitful manner. There is no compulsion for him to do only in a particular manner in destroying the enemies of followers”.
kurakkinap padai kodu kurai kadalin mIdhu pOy
arakkar angu aranga venjaram thurandha Adhi nI
irakka maN koduththavaRku irakkam onRum inRiyE
parakka vaiththu aLandhu koNda paRpa pAdhan allaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
kurakku – monkeys’
inam – troop
padai– army
kodu – taking it
kurai – boisterous
kadalin – ocean’s
mIdhu – on top
pOy – going, after building a divine dam
arakkar – demons such as rAvaNa et al
angu – there
aranga – to hide in fear
vem – fiery
saram – divine arrows
thurandha – shot
Adhi– great warrior
nI – only you
irakka – to go for taking alms
maN – earth
koduththavaRku – for mahAbali, who gave
irakkam – a place to reside
onRum inRiyE – not having even a foot
parakka – (your divine foot) spread widely
vaiththu– kept
aLandhu koNda– one who measured
paRpa – like a lotus
pAdhan – one who has divine feet
allaiyE – aren’t you?
Simple Translation
You are the great warrior who took an army of troops of monkey on top of the boisterous ocean, after building a dam on it. You shot divine, fiery arrows on demons there such that they hid themselves in fear. Aren’t you the one with divine feet which are like lotus, with which you measured the land given by mahAbali by keeping them spread out in such a manner that there was no place for mahAbali to reside?
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
kurakkinap padikodu – taking monkey troops as the army
kurai kadalin mIdhu pOy – the troops of monkey were in fear, wondering “How do we cross this ocean?” since the ocean was boisterous and in a state of agitation. A dam was built on top of the ocean with stones, over which the monkeys walked across. This implies that emperumAn is capable of controlling strong entities such as ocean with weak entities such as monkeys.
arakkar angu aranga – demons were confident that “Due to the strength of boons that we have acquired as well as the strength of our shoulders, there is none matching us”. However, after seeing this impossible-to-achieve task [of crossing the ocean], they were in a state of fear, not knowing as to what they should do. The word arakka refers to hiding; hiding out of fear. The word arakka has got modified as aranga, with the sound ‘k’ transforming to the sound ‘ng’, thus arakka became aranga.
venjaram thurandha – one who shot arrows which were cruel and fiery, just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam SlOkam 46-22 “dhIptha pAvaka sangkASai: Sithai: kAnchanabhUshaNai: l na thvAmichchAmyaham dhrashtum rAmENa nihatham Sarai: ll” (I do not wish to see you killed by SrI rAma whose arrows are like burning fire, sharp and decorated with gold).
Adhi nI – you are the leader among warriors. Since SrI rAma, in this avathAram (incarnation) considered himself as a human being, till the end, the term Adhi cannot be taken as referring to his being the causative factor. We have to consider the verse to mean “You filled up ocean which was a protective layer for lankA, destroying the protection, made the demons fear in their hearts, destroyed them with your arrows; with all these rare activities, you are the leader of the warriors”. The word Adhi refers to leadership, here.
irakka maN koduththavaRku – When you went to seek alms, mahAbali did not say “I will not grant”; he did not pay heed to the words of his preceptor Sukran who said “Do not grant”. For mahAbali, who granted you earth
irakam onRu inRiyE – without leaving even a small space [to reside]
parakka vaiththu aLandhu koNda – you showed your small foot, asking for three steps of land with that foot. [Once he granted that] you spread the foot wide and measured all the worlds under his control, with two steps.
paRpapAdhan allaiyE – you have a divine name in SrI vishNu sahasranAmam ’’pushpahAsa’’ referring to a garden of lotus flowers. With such soft feet, aren’t you the one who measured rough forests, streams, hills, valleys etc? You did not look at your soft feet; you did not look at mahAbali’s magnanimity; you did not bother about indhra who was desiring something else and not you; you only considered that “Didn’t this indhra ask me for help?” and carried out his task. We have to add the hidden words “How amazing is this!” to get the full meaning.
Next, we will consider the 33rd pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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