SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
When some people asked “Could we say about those deities as ‘varam thara midukkilAdha dhEvar’? Haven’t many people attained deities such as rudhran and been granted their desires?” AzhwAr responds in this pAsuram saying “Those celestial entities who were nearby knew how bANAsuran suffered after going to rudhran for help and how rudhran suffered when he tried to protect him”
kundhamOdu sUlam vElgaL thOmarangaL thaNdu vAL
bandhamAna dhEvargaL parandhu vAnagam uRa
vandha vANan iRainjgyURu thOLgaLaith thuNiththa nAL
andhavandha Agulam amararE aRIvarE
Word-by-Word Meanings
kundhamOdu – along with the weapon called as savaLam [lance]
sUlam – trident
vELgaL – many types of spears
thOmarangaL – many types of thOmarams (a type of dart)
thaNdu – mace
vAL – sword, all these
bandhamAna dhEvargaL – celestial entities who had them as protective gears
parandhu – scattering in the four directions
vAnagam – their abodes located in the ethereal layer
uRa – after they attained
vandha – one who came to wage a battle
vANan – bANAsuran’s
iRainjgyURu – thousand
thOLgaLai – hands
|thuNiththa nAL – when destroyed
andhavandha Agulam – the sorrows (suffered by rudhran)
amararE – the deities (who ran along)
aRIvar – would know
Simple Translation
Celestial entities, holding lances, spears, tridents, many types of darts, maces, swords as protective weapons, ran in different directions towards their abodes in the ethereal layers. bANAsuran, who came to wage a battle [with krishNa], had his thousand hands destroyed. The celestial entities, who ran from the battlefield, knew the sorrows suffered by rudhran [in the battle].
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
kundhamOdu sUlam vElgaL thOmarangaL thaNdu vAL bandhamAna dhEvargaL – celestial entities who came with different weapons such as lance etc, to rudhra to help him, as his friends. kundham – a weapon, also known as savaLam (lance); thOmaram – a type of spear which is thrown (at the enemy); thaNdu – mace; bandham – friends, relatives. Alternatively, bandham could also be considered as hurdle, since when they were running away from the battlefield in fear, these weapons became hurdles for their running; hence they had to throw them away and run for their lives. Though krishNa had said in bhagavath gIthA 4-8 “parithrANAya sAdhUnAm vinASAya cha dhushkruthAm l dharmasamsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE ll”
(I incarnate myself in every epoch in order to protect good people, to destroy wicked people and to establish righteousness as laid down in vEdhas), instead of looking at krishNa as one who came to destroy monsters and demons who are their enemies and to give them back their prosperity, the celestial entities looked at him as those monsters and demons and took to weapons to oppose him. Thus, these celestial entities are depicted as treacherous entities. Instead of merely saying that celestial entities came with weapons, by describing the different types of weapons that they brought with them, AzhwAr is saying with anger that these entities were trying to harm emperumAn who was trying to help them all along.
parandhu vAnagamuRa – unable to stand up to kaNNan in the battlefield, these celestial entities, instead of running in the same direction, ran helter-skelter in various directions towards their abode.
vandha vANan – even after seeing that the celestial entities were running, after discarding their weapons, and after seeing that rudhran, who is his lord, was in tears after losing out to kaNNan, bANAsuran came to the battlefield with pride in the strength of his thousand shoulders.
IrainjgyURu thOLgaLaith thuNiththa nAL – on that day when emperumAn severed five hundred shoulders on each side, with his divine disc. emperumAn destroyed the power of shoulders which bANAsuran thought that he had; he made the celestial entities, who came with various weapons, to throw their weapons away and run away from the battle field; he made rudhran, who was the leader of all these entities, to become incapacitated.
andha andha Agulam – rudhran lost in the battle in such a way that his matted hair got dishevelled, with the flowers decorating his hair, such as konRai (Indian laburnum), thumbai (white dead nettle, worn by soldiers in battlefield) falling off, and he was in sorrow. After seeing that he was helpless in facing up to emperumAn, rudhran became tearful and prayed to him in order to get his mercy. Has it not been said in harivamsam 125-8? “pAravaSyam samAyAtha: Suli jrumbhitha thEjasA l pAnchajanyasya ghOshENa SArngavishpUrjithEna cha ll” (Sivan, who is wielding a trident, swooned and fell unconscious, after hearing the trumpeting sound of emperumAn’s conch, SrI pAnchajanyam, and the sound of emperumAn’s bow, SrI SArngam) and in SrI vishNu purANam 5-33-41? “krishNa krishNa mahAbAhO jAnE thvAm purushOththamam l parESam paramAthmAnam anAdhinidhanam param ll” (Oh krishNa, with huge hands! I know that you alone are the best among all souls, the head of celestial entities, you are the supreme being, the one without a beginning and an end and superior to all)
amararE aRivarE – celestial entities who ran in fear, for the two types of sorrows are the witness; do I have to state further?
Next, we will take up the 71st pAsuram of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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