SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArimai (Introduction)
Without establishing the reason for emperumAn’s reclining at thirukkudandhai, AzhwAr had asked him whether it was due to fatigue. emperumAn manifested his valorous divine form at thirukkuRungudi after destroying hiraNya kashyap. AzhwAr sustained himself after seeing that divine form, and meditating on the tender form of emperumAn, asks him wondrously “Was it you that predecessors were mentioning about, having destroyed the savage-like iraNiyan!”
karaNda mAdu poygaiyuL karum perum panaip pazham
puraNdu vIya vALai pAy kuRungudi nedum thagAy
thiraNda thOL iraNiyan sinam koL Agam onRaiyum
iraNdu kURu seydhu ugandha singam enbadhu unnaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
karaNdam – water-crows
Adu – walking
poygaiyuL – in the pond
karum – being dark
perum panaip pazham– huge palm fruits
puraNdu vIzha – to fall down, in the water
vALai – carp fish
pAy – (mistaking the palm fruits for crows) jumping in fear
kuRungudi – mercifully residing in thirukkuRungudi
nedum thagAy – Oh one with great eminence!
thiraNda – being thick
thOL – having shoulders
iraNiyan – hiraNya kashyap’s
sinam koL Agam onRaiyum – unmatched physical form which manifests anger
iraNdu – two
kURu seydhu – tearing into halves
ugandha – one who became happy
singam enbadhu – speaking about as narasimha
unnaiyE – is that about you?
Simple Translation
Huge, dark palm fruits fall into water pond, inside thirukkuRungudi, where water-crows walk about. Mistaking the palm fruits for water-crows, the carp fish jump in fear. Oh one who is mercifully residing in thirukkuRungudi with great eminence! People speak about narasimha, who tore the unmatched physical form of demon hiraNya kashyap, which manifested anger, into two halves, and felt happy. Is that you?
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
karaNdam Adu …. kuRUngudi nedum thagAy – on the bank of the pond in thirukkuRUngudi, water crows will keep walking about. Huge black palm fruits, from palm trees, will fall into the water in pond. Carp fish in the pond, mistaking the palm fruits for the water-crows, will jump in fear. Oh emperumAn who has the qualities of beauty, tenderness, simplicity and eminence with radiance, in such thirukkuRUngudi! karaNdam – water crow (coot); Adu – this word could refer to either walking or bathing. thagai refers to the natural, auspicious qualities of thirukkuRungudi nambi (emperumAn’s divine name in thirukkuRUngudi). The fear which the carp fish felt looking at the palm fruit is symbolic of the people in that divine abode needlessly fearing about the safety of emperumAn there, wondering “Oh, what will happen to him?”
thiraNda thOL iraNiyan – hiraNyan who had thick (well-rounded) shoulders. The shoulders manifest the huge strength which he had. Alternatively, we could consider this to mean the shoulders which were well rounded in order to control celestial entities. SrI vishNu purANam says through 1-17-3 SlOkam, about the way hiraNya kashyap controlled the celestial entities “indhrathvamakarOth dhaithya: sa chAsIth savithA svayam l vAyuragnirapAm nAtha: sOmaSchAbhUnmahAsura: ll” (that iraNiyan held the post of indhra (as head of celestial entities); he was himself sUryan; that great demon was vAyu (deity for wind), agni (deity for fire), varuNan (deity for water) and chandhran).
sinangoL Agam – physical form which was full of anger; the anger in his heart was visible clearly in his physical form.
onRaiyum iraNdu kURu seydhu – with the tender form [which he was manifesting in thirukkuRungudi], emperumAn tore the physical form of hiraNyan, who had unmatched strength, into two parts
ugandha singam enbadhu unnaiyE – is that you, with this tender form, who, the authentic texts praise as one who felt happy that “The enemy of son prahlAdhan has been destroyed”! nrushimhathApinI – nrusimha manthram says “ugram vIram mahAvishNum jwalantham sarvathOmukham l nrusimham bhIshaNam bhadhram mruthyumruthyum namAmyaham ||” (I worship the one who is full of fury, valour, mahAvishNu, effulgent, who has faces everywhere, [present in all places], who is narasimhan (combination of human and lion forms), who is terrifying, who is beautiful and is death for death itself). SrI vishNu purANam 5-20-60 says
“kva yauvanOnmukhIbhUtha sukumAra dhanur hari: l kva vajra katinA bhOga SarIrO’yam mahA’sura: ||” (Where is hari who has the divine form of an adolescent, just entering the stage of youth and where is the great demon who has the form which is hardened like diamond and which is broad?) The opinion here is that your [emperumAn’s] tenderness was amazing while it was not fitting with the incarnation of narasimha who carried out a harsh task. emperumAn, who is superior to everyone else and who is tender, is manifesting himself to samsAris, who do not desire him, in thirukkuRungudi. This made the people in that divine abode to get bewildered, thinking “What will befall him?” This manifestation [of emperumAn] becomes the reason for the fear in the minds of the people of the abode and for AzhwAr to wonder about the tenderness of emperumAn.
Next, we will take up the 63rd pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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