SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
In the previous pAsuram, AzhwAr enjoyed emperumAn protecting the righteous people and punishing the evil ones. In this pAsuram, he speaks about how he annihilated the group of demons who were inimical towards celestial entities such as indhran [the lord of celestial entities], who did not have the affection which cowherds, who were mentioned in the previous pAsuram, had towards him and how emperumAn got back their worlds. He also speaks about the affable quality of emperumAn when he spared indhran and protected the cowherd people on the occasion when indhran, who had received so much of help from emperumAn, turned against the cowherds because he was not offered food by them.
veRpeduththu vElai nIr kalakkinAy adhanRiyum
veRperuththu vElai nIr varambu katti vElai sUzh
veRpeduththa inji sUzh ilangai kattazhiththa nI
veRpeduththu mAri kAththa mEgavaNNan allaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
veRpu – manthara mountain
eduththu – took it
vElai nIr – water of the ocean
kalakkinAy – churned it
adhanRiyum – further
veRpu – mountains
eduththu – took them through the troop of monkeys
vElai nIr– in the ocean water
varambu – divine dam
katti– built
vElai – through the moat of ocean
sUzh – being surrounded
veRpu – in thrikUta mountains [a mountain range]
eduththa – established (by viSvakarmA)
inji – through fortified walls
sUzh – surrounded by
ilangai – lankA
kattu – protection
aziththa – destroyed by
nI – your highness
veRpu – the mountain gOvardhanam
eduththu– held
mAri – from rains
kAththa – protected (cows, cowherd boys and cowherd girls)
mEgavaNNan allaiyE – are you not the one with the divine form of dark clouds?
Simple Translation
You took the manthara mountain and churned the ocean water; further, with the help of troop of monkeys, you built a divine dam across the ocean waters. You had destroyed the protection of lankA, established by viSvakarmA on the thrikUta mountain range and which had the ocean as a protective moat and further by fortified wall surrounding the city. Aren’t you the one with the divine form of dark clouds who had held a mountain gOvardhana and protected cows, cowherd boys and cowherd girls!
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
veRpeduththu vElai nIr kalakkinAy – sage dhurvAsar had given indhran a garland gifted to him by SrI mahAlakshmi. However, indhran did not pay due respect to the garland. Sage dhurvAsa cursed indhran in anger saying “Let your wealth, the reason for your arrogance, be destroyed”. indhran et al lost their entire wealth as a result of the curse and took refuge under emperumAn, just as it has been stated in SrI vishNu purANam 1-9-65 “praNAma pravaNA nAtha dhaithya sainya parAjithA: l SaraNam thvAmanuprApthA: samasthA dhEvathA gaNA: ll” (Oh lord! We, the assembly of all the celestial entities, who were won over by the demonic entities, were engaged only with bowing down to you and have taken refuge under you). As a result of their taking refuge under you (emperumAn), you had churned the ocean with manthara mountain in such a way that all their wealth was regenerated in it. Going past the nature of ocean which is famous in the world as rathnAkaram (dwelling place for gems), mathsyAkaram (dwelling place for fish), you made it as the place of creation of materials which are in svargam (heaven). Didn’t kUraththAzhwAn too mercifully say this in his athimAnushasthavam 26? “Ethath katham yanmathithas thvayAsau hithvA svabhAvam niyamam prathitham thrilOkyAm l aSvApsarO visha sudhA vidhu pArijAtha lakshmyAthmanA pariNathO jaladhir bhabhUva ll” (This milky ocean, which was churned by you, going beyond its natural custom (of giving materials such as curd, ghee, fish, gems etc), gave horse, apsaras (celestial women), poison, nectar, chandhran (moon), pArijAtham (a type of jasmine) tree, lakshmI dhEvi and the like; how did this happen? You only have to mercifully declare this). Not looking at the lowliness of indhran, who desires only other benefits, not looking at your eminence, that you grant only mOksham (liberation), not looking at his old activities when, with the arrogance that “I am the head of celestial entities” indhran had refused to give pArijAtha tree [to krishNa] and indulged in opposing you, you saved him merely because he took refuge under you.
adhanRiyum – “This activity alone is enough to make your followers to believe in you as the refuge. However, how many more activities did you indulge in, for the sake of your followers!” exclaims the AzhwAr, listing other activities.
veRpeduththu vElai nIr varambu katti – you built a dam on the ocean to enable the troops of monkeys to walk on [in order to reach lankA], by throwing mountains that they could lay their hands on. Isn’t this an amazing activity, beyond the power of human beings! The mountains did not sink into the unfathomable ocean; the sand from the dam did not get eroded due to the agitating waves.
vElai sUzh veRpeduththa inji sUzh ilangai kattazhiththa nI – lankA had the ocean as its protective moat and was established ithe range of thrikUta mountains by viSvakarma. It had the protection of fortified wall surrounding it as another protection. You destroyed this casually, just as it has been said in “yathA saikathamambhasi” (just like a house made of sand dissolves in water). The term inji refers to fortified wall. The term kattu refers both to protection and natural quality. When it is taken as referring to natural quality, the meaning will transform to “You changed the natural quality of lankA where righteousness is non-existent”. The implied meaning is that emperumAn made vibhIshaNa who has righteousness as his natural quality as the king of lankA and through that made righteousness to return to lankA, just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam SlOkam 17-24 “vibhIshaNasthu dharmAthmA na thu rAkshasachEshtitha:” (vibhIshaNa is the epitome of righteousness; he is without the activities of demon)
Now, the pAsuram speaks about how emperumAn protected his followers without killing indhran when he, who is a favourable person, created harm to his followers.
veRpeduththu mArikAththa mEgavaNNan allaiyE – indhran became angry that “The cowherd people, listening to krishNan, have changed the tradition of offering food to me and have insulted me”. He ordered the clouds which normally pour heavy rain during the time of deluge, to create hailstorm on thiruvAyppAdi (SrI gOkulam). For this heinous act, while it was appropriate to destroy such indhran, thinking mercifully in your divine mind “Due to his anger of having been denied his food, he is angry; fighting with us is not his nature”, did you not lift the gOvardhana mountain and remove the harm caused by indhran, with this act of magnanimity! You did this only because, unlike rAvaNan, who had said, just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 36-11 “dhvidhA bhajyEyamapyEvam na namEyam thu kasyachith l Esha mE sahajO dhOsha:svabhAvO dhurathikrama: ll” (Even if split into two, I will not bow down to anyone like this. This is my fault, from birth. One’s nature cannot be crossed), indhran did not have this obstinacy of not bowing to anyone.
mEgavaNNan – you have the quality of doing good to the world, just like clouds, without expecting anything in return. Alternatively, it would refer to your divine form which will remove the ennui of beholders, like a dark, monsoon cloud. The implied meaning is that while the cloud of deluge was waiting to harm the cow-herd people, the cloud of krishNa negated that harm.
We will take up the 40th pAsuram of this prabandham, next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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