SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
As mentioned in the previous pAsuram, AzhwAr had started enjoying at the divine feet of ArAvamudhAzhwAr (emperumAn) in thirukkudandhai, which is the abode for enjoyment. He saw that emperumAn was not speaking to him or embracing him. Due to his deep affection for emperumAn, AzhwAr had a doubt “Perhaps, with his soft divine form, since he had undertaken very difficult to perform deeds such as measuring the worlds etc, he had become tired; he is reclining to get rid of that tiredness”. He says in this pAsuram “You should mercifully state the reason for reclining like this and remove my fear”. In thiruvehkA (a divine abode in kAnchIpuram), emperumAn, in his archAvathAra form, had done what AzhwAr had asked him to do. AzhwAr thinks that this perumAL too, though being in archAvathAra form, should respond to the question raised by him and hence says “ezhundhirundhu pEsu” (you should get up and speak).
nadandha kAlgaL nondhavO nadunga gyAlam EnamAy
idandha mey kulangavO vilangu mAl varaich churam
kadandha kAl parandha kAvirik karaik kudandhaiyuL
kidandhavARu ezhundhirundhu pEsu vAzhi kEsanE
Word-by-Word Meanings
nadandha – measured the worlds (alternatively, walked in the forest)
kAlgaL – divine feet
nondhavO – did they suffer?
gyAlam nadunga – when bhUmip pirAtti trembled (not seeing the protector)
EnamAy – as a great boar
idandha – dug her out (from the walls of universe)
mey – divine form
kulungavO – was it the tiredness due to the jolt?
vilangu – being a hurdle
mAlvarai – huge mountains
suram – forests, all these
kadandha – crossed
kAl parandha – having widespread flow
kAviri – divine kAvEri [river]
karai – on the bank
kudandhaiyuL – inside thirukkudandhai
kidandhavARu – the reason for reclining
ezhundhirundhu – standing up
pEsu – you should mercifully say
kEsanE – Oh kEsavanE!
vAzhi – let auspicious things happen (to you)
Simple Translation
Did your divine feet suffer when they measured the worlds (or, when you walked in the forests)? Did your divine form become tired due to the jolt of digging out bhUmip pirAtti (from the walls of the universe), in the form of a great boar, when she trembled in fear (at not seeing you)? Oh kESava! You should stand up and mercifully tell me the reason for your reclining like this in thirukkudandhai which is on the bank of river kAvEri, which is flowing past the hurdles of huge mountains and forests. Let auspicious things happen to you.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
nadandha kAlgaL nondhavO – Just as it has been said by nammAzhwAr in thiruvAimozhi 9-2-10 “vadiviNaiyillA malarmagaL maRRai nilamagaL pidikkum melladi” (the soft divine feet gently massaged by SrI dhEvi and bhU dhEvi, both of whom have unmatched divine forms), your divine feet are such soft that they will become red even if your divine consorts touch them. Are you reclining because you had measured the worlds with such soft feet which suffered due to that activity of measuring? Or, as SrI rAma, you had walked for many years through forests and mountains, with those soft feet. Unable to bear the suffering due to that, have you reclined? emperumAn’s divine feet are such soft that dhaSaratha chakravarthi had to cry out, just as it has been mentioned by kulaSEkharap perumAL in his perumAL thirumozhi 9-2 “evvARu nadandhanai emmirAmAvO” (Oh rAma! How did you walk on those rough lands with your soft feet?) AzhwAr is asking emperumAn whether his divine feet suffered during thrivikramAvathAram or rAmAvathAram so that he could massage the divine feet to get rid of their suffering.
nadunga gyAlam EnamAy idandha mey kulungavO – Or else, when bhUmip pirAtti, who is the esteemed deity for earth, was hidden by hiraNyAkshan in the nether world, when she was trembling as to how she was going to be lifted up, you had taken an incarnation as the great boar, dug out the fifty-crore mile wide earth from the walls of the universe. Due to the tiredness in your divine form, did you recline here? AzhwAr is asking emperumAn through his divine mind so that he could massage emperumAn’s divine form to rid him of his tiredness.
vilangumAl varaichchuram kadandha kAl parandha kAvirikkarai – on the bank of river kAvEri which flows past the hurdles of mountains and forests, branching out severally due to the excessive flow of water. The term suram would refer to forest as well as to an insurmountable narrow path. Through this verse, the way by which river kAvEri came, with several tributaries, after crossing several hurdles such as mountains and forest, in order to carry out servitude to ArAvamudhan through cool water and breeze, to manifest her great affection for him, has been mentioned.
kudandhaiyuL kidandhavARu – the way by which emperumAn has reclined manifesting his fatigue, so that kAvEri could carry out servitude to him in the above-mentioned way. Since AzhwAr saw river kAvEri carrying out servitude through her cool water and cool breeze, since emperumAn did what AzhwAr had asked him to do in the divine abode of thiruvehkA, just as it has been said in paramasamhithai SlOkam “yEna yEna dhAthA gachchathi thEna thEna saha gachchathi l thadhyathA tharuNa vathsA vathsam vathsO vA mAtharam chAyA vA sathvamanugachchEth thathAprakAram ll” (Just like a cow which has a tender calf follows the calf, just as the calf follows the cow, just as a shadow follows a person, in the same way, (mukthAthmA) follows parama purushan (supreme entity) wherever he goes), and since emperumAn showed himself up to AzhwAr just as he had said in the 55th pAsuram of this prabandham “unna pAdham enna sindhai manna vaithu nalginAy” (you kept your divine feet in my heart, without separating from it, and benefitted me greatly), AzhwAr thought in his divine mind that the reason as to why emperumAn was not mingling with him in thirukkudandhai and was merely reclining there, must be his fatigue only. ArAvamudhAzhwAr too, in order to enjoy the boundary for affection of this AzhwAr, who is called as thirumazhisaippirAn (the word pirAn refers to one who carries out a benefit) as well as due to the sweetness of the place, is only reclining there, instead of mingling with AzhwAr.
ezhundhirundhu pEsu – if you tell me the reason for lying down like this, in the posture of lying down, it will not remove my fear. In order to remove my fear, you have to stand up and mercifully tell me “I am not fatigued”. My fear should disappear after seeing the beauty of your getting up [from the reclining posture] and after hearing your sweet voice when you open your mouth to tell me. Just as jatAyu maharAjar (the bird jatAyu) had praised SrI rAma with long life when he said as in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 67-15 “yAmOshadhimivAyushman! anvEshasi mahAvanE l sA dhEvI mama cha prANA rAvaNEnObhayam hrutham ll (Oh one with long life! That sIthA dhEvi, who you are searching for like a medicine in this forest, as well as my life, have been seized by rAvaNa), AzhwAr too sings in praise of emperumAn such that no shortcoming would come to his beauty.
kEsanE– Oh kEsava! The last syllable in kESava has got shortened and has become kEsan. Or, we can consider this word to refer to one who has beautiful hair (kESam). Through both, it would mean the divine hair which is glossy and dark, and is curled. Just as it has been said in “narakE pachyamAnasthu yamEna paribhAshitha: l kim thvayA nArchithO dhEva: kESava: klESanASana: ll” (a jIvAn (soul) who was being tortured in narakam (hell) was asked by yama, the lord of righteousness “Oh! Haven’t you worshipped kESava dhEvan (emperumAn) who has beautiful hair and who removes all the grief?”) AzhwAr is beseeching emperumAn to decorate his divine hair and to remove his grief.
Next, we will take up the 62nd pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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