SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) –
kaNNan has two types of nature. In one, he will fulfil the wishes of those who praise him, such as pANdavas. In the other, he will also do good to those who scold him, such as SiSupAlan. Until now, the cowherd girls had been praising him, without any success. Hence, now they decide to scold him, to see whether by scolding him, their desire would be fulfilled.
kanjan valaivaiththa anRu kAriruL ellil pizhaiththu
nenju dhukkam seyyap pOndhAy! ninRa ikkanniayarOmai
anja urappAL asOdhai ANAda vittittirukkum
vanjagap pEchchi pAluNda masimaiyilee kURai thArAy
Word-by-Word Meanings
kanjan – kamsan
valai vaiththa anRu – during the time when he wanted to destroy you
kAr iruL – having pitch darkness
ellil – during the night
pizhaiththu – escaping
ninRa – those who remain
ik kanniayarOmai – for us, young women
nenju dhukkam seyya – to create suffering in the mind
pOndhAy – you incarnated
asOdhai – yaSOdhaip pirAtti, on the other hand
anja – to make you frightened
urappAL – will not scold you
ANAda vittittirukkum – she let you to grow, carrying out mischiefs
vanjagam – having deceit
pEychchi – the demon, pUthanai’s
pAl – milk from her bosom
uNda – one who suckled (along with her life)
masimai ilee – oh one, who is shameless!
kURai thArAy – mercifully give the saris
Simple Translation
You incarnated during the time when kamsan wanted to destroy you, by escaping in the darkness of the night, and to create suffering in our, the young girls’ minds. yaSOdhaip pirAtti will not scold you to frighten you, and let you grow up, carrying out mischievous acts. Oh one, who drank the bosom milk of pUthanai, the deceitful demon, along with her life! Oh, the shameless one! Mercifully give us our saris.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
kanjan valai vaiththa anRu – on that day when kamsan attempted to destroy kaNNan and through him, to destroy both nithya vibhUthi (spiritualistic realm) and leelA vibhUthi (materialistic realm). On that day when kamsan tried to annihilate all the entities… if emperumAn were present, even if both the vibhUthis are destroyed, he could re-create them; but if he himself were to be destroyed, all the entities, which take their existence from him, will get destroyed. Hence, instead of saying “casting the net for a particular person”, they say “casting the net” in a general way. In harivamSam vishNu parvam 6-39, the rishi too expressed this meaning when he said “sthanyam thadh visha sammiSram rasyamAsIth jagath gurO:”
(the poisoned milk from [pUthanA’s] bosom was like nectar for krishNa, the lord of entire universe). He used the term jagath guru to identify kaNNan since he established himself as the lord of the universe, after taking her poisoned bosom milk which was the sustaining nectar for him. How did poison become the sustaining nectar for kaNNan? It was only emperumAn who created the boundaries saying that poison is a destructive material and that nectar is life-sustaining material. When such is the case, how could poison destroy him? Just like nectar, even poison could sustain him, there is no shortcoming for that. This is the reason for nammAzhwAr too to mercifully say in thiruvAimozhi 1-5-9 “thUya kuzhaviyAy vidappAl amudhA amudhu seydhitta mAyan” (the child, without a blemish, drank poisoned milk as nectar; one who has amazing activities).
kAriruL ellil pizhaiththadhu – kamsan had devised a scheme to ensure that kaNNan would be destroyed, without any escape route. Despite that, a darkness had protected kaNNan! The implied meaning is – when vasudhEvar carried kaNNan from mathurA to thiruvAyppAdi (SrI gOkulam), since darkness was having the same complexion of kaNNan, who had a dark, divine form, and since it was the time when those, who were guarding dhEvaki and vasudhEvar in the prison, came under the control of sleep, due to darkness alone, kaNNan escaped from the net cast by kamsan. nammAzhwAr too mercifully gave this meaning in thiruvAimozhi 6-4-5 “vIngiruLvAy pUNdu anRannai pulambappOy angOr Aykkulam pukkadhum” (dhEvaki lifted the child, embraced and started crying uncontrollably, as kaNNan [left mathurA and] in total darkness, entered the clan of cow-herds in SrI gOkulam, which was a unique place]. piLLai uRangAvilli dhAsar [one of the distinguished disciples of rAmAnujar] used to say, with affection “kaNNan was an infant, not capable of protecting himself. There was none to protect him, with love. kamsan and his henchmen were waiting to somehow destroy the infant as soon as it was born. Was it not darkness which protected him at that time? We all should take refuge under that darkness”.
ninRa ikkanniyarOmai nenju dhukkam seyyap pOndhAy – the cowherd girls despise that darkness which is praised by those who are favourable to kaNNan, saying that darkness had protected him that day, such that he could later harass them. They say “Apart from tormenting dhEvaki and vasudhEvar, your parents, by separating from them, you had come to thiruvAyppAdi only to harass women, other than dhEvaki, too”. The implied meaning is that while they thought that the infant, escaping from the net cast by kamsan, would protect those who were born as girls, it has become the (unavoidable} reason for harassing them.
anja urappAL asOdhai – they say that when they complained to yaSOdhAp pirAtti about the ways by which kaNNan was harassing them, they thought that she, being a woman like them, would reprimand him; however, she was not rebuking him such that he would mend his ways. Just as it has been said in periya thirumozhi 10-7-11 “anganam thImaigaL seyvargaLO nambI! Ayar madamakkaLai” (Oh kaNNa! Would you indulge in such harassing acts towards the women folk in SrI gOkulam?), while the girls expected yaSOdhAp pirAtti to be strict with him and reprimand him, she would gently tell him not to trouble them. Hearing this, the cowherd girls would say “How sad that we came to her to complain about him! It appears that kaNNan is better than yaSOdhAp pirAtti”
anja urappAL asOdhai – in the presence of cowherd girls who came to complain about kaNNan, yaSOdhAp will say a word or two, merely as a lip-service, but would not rebuke him enough to frighten him.
ANAda vittirukkum – kaNNan would think “They have gone to complain to mother yaSOdhAp pirAtti, to make her rebuke me. We have seen the result of their complaint too!” kaNNan, who has harassing girls as his nature, would now start harassing them hundred times more, with the support of yaSOdhAp pirAtti.
irukkum – making him behave mischievously towards them, yaSOdhAp would feel happy, thinking “Even at this young age, he is indulging in such wrongful deeds!” Just as it has been said in perumAL thirumozhi 7-8 “thollai inbaththu iRudhi kaNdALE” (she saw the boundary of unbounded pleasures), feeling elated that she had done her duty properly. Hearing this, kaNNan said angrily “You people are complaining to others and trying to get things done through me”. They reply to him, saying …
vanjagap pEychchi pALuNda masimaiyilee – we do not think like that. It is you who wouldn’t know the difference between mother’s bosom and a demon’s bosom. Had it been the divine son of chakravarthi (dhaSaradhan), he would have felt ashamed, just as it has been said in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 10-9 “prasIdhanthu bhavanthO mE hrIrEshO hi mamAthulA l
yadhIdhruSairaham viprair upasthEyair upasthitha ll” ((Oh sages!) May all be happy. You people are apt to be attained. However, you have come here to attain me. I feel more ashamed now), since he did not take the initiative to protect them. How would you, who would not know the sorrow of a woman, know about this? Are you not a shameless person? masimai – shame.
kURai thArAy – You be like whoever you wish to be. Give us our dresses first. We do not wish to have any connection with you, they say.
Next, we will consider the last pAsuram of the this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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