SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) – When people in proximity told her “While other women are also wearing bangles, isn’t the reason for his taking your bangles due to his desire towards you? Instead of feeling happy, should you feel sad?” She responds, saying “That is alright. It doesn’t appear that the desire towards my bangles has been shown towards me. I was thinking that since it is a bangle which he desired, I could sustain myself by wearing it. However, if he thought that he could not sustain himself without having that bangle which has connection with me, and he takes it desirously from me, should he not walk once through this street in front of me such that I could sustain myself?”
machchaNi mAda madhiL arangar vAmananAr
pachchaip pasundhevar thAm paNdu nIrERRa
pichchaik kuRaiyAgi ennudaiya peyvaLai mEl
ichchai udaiyarEl iththeruvE pOdhArE
Word-by-Word Meanings
machchu – with upper storeys
aNi – decorated
mAdam – mansions
madhiL – and having compound walls
arangar – mercifully residing in thiruvarangam
vAmananAr – (earlier) incarnated mercifully as vAmanan [divine, dwarf form]
pachchaip pasundhEvar – periya perumAL, who is a very beautiful lord
thAm – he
paNdu – earlier (with mahAbali)
nIr ERRa pichchai kuRai Agi – with some shortcoming in the alms which he had taken through water
(to overcome that shortcoming)
ennudaiya – my
pey vaLai mEl – on the bangle laid (on the hand)
ichchai udaiyarEl – if he had a desire
iththeruvE – through this street
pOdhArE – will he not mercifully come?
Simple Translation
periya perumAL, who is very beautiful, has mercifully taken residence in thiruvarangam which has mansions which have been decorated with upper storeys and compound walls. He had earlier incarnated as vAmanan and taken water on his hand, as a symbol of taking alms from mahAbali. If he had some shortcoming due to that, to overcome which he desired to take the bangle which had been laid on my hand, would he not mercifully go through this street?
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
machchaNi mAda madhiL arangar vAmananAr – SrIrangam has mansions which are decorated with upper storeys and fortified with compound walls such that enemies could not enter. emperumAn is mercifully reclining inside the big temple, in such SrIrangam, with the vow that he would not leave the place until he attained his followers, who are his possession, just like he had got during his incarnation as vAmanan.
machchaNi mAda madhiL arangar vAmananAr – he had only learnt about how to build mansions and compound walls but had not learnt about how to move with me, his loving consort.
vAmananAr – since it was a wealth attained by a small person, he did not know as to what to do.
vAmananAr – since she would have learnt from her father periyAzhwAr as said in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 1-9-6 “chaththiramEndhith thaniyoru mANiyAy uththaravEdhiyil ninRa oruvanai, kaththiriyar kANak kANi muRRum koNda paththirAkAran” (mahAbali was unmatched in his magnanimity. Even as kings under him were watching, emperumAn, with a distinguished form as a unique bachelor, with an umbrella, took the entire world as his own), would she not have desired the bachelor vAmanan?
pachchaip pasundhEvar – referring to a beautiful, greenish complexion, the term pachchaip pasundhEvar refers to ‘a very beautiful lord’. His beautiful form is such that even though he has not called me and enjoyed, his form cannot be wished away. Just as bharatha talks of SrI rAma’s form, as said in Sri rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 83-8 “mEghaSyAmam mahAbAhum sthirasathvam dhrudavrutham l kadhA dhrakshyAmahE rAmam jagatha: SOkanASanam ll” (When will we see SrI rAmapirAn who is dark like cloud, who has long hands, who has stable strength, who has firm vow and who removes the sorrows in the world?) did he not say “The anger which came about due to having been born to kaikEyi will get removed only if I wake up to the beautiful form of SrI rAma”? Instead of considering this meaning, just as we consider pachchaip pasum pon as pure gold without any adulteration, pachchaip pasundhEvar could be taken as referring to having the quality of bhagavAn without any shortcoing. Did not nammAzhwAr say that emperumAn, even during the time of incarnation, incarnates with auspicious qualities such as parathvam (superiority) etc, without any deficiency, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 3-5-5 “AdhiyanjOdhi uruvai angu vaiththu ingup piRandha” (one who was born here with the same divine, primordial, spiritual form having divine splendour)?
dhEvar – one who has auspicious qualities such as radiance etc, typical of emperumAn
thAm paNdu nIrERRa – just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 3-8-9 “koLvan nAn mAvali mUvadi thA” (Oh, mahAbali! I will accept three steps of land; give) unable to sustain himself unless he retrieved the world which belonged to him, getting the land through taking water from mahAbali earlier, as mentioned by poygai AzhwAr in mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 79 “oNdArai nIrangai thOya nimirththilaiyE” (did you not grow immediately after the radiant stream of water fell on your beautiful hands and washed your divine feet?)
pichchaik kuRaiyAgi …. udaiyarEl – he had taken earth as alms from mahAbali and felt deficient, thinking “I had to take earth as alms from someone who thought proudly that it was his”. If he desires to take as alms from my hand, when I do not have such pride …
pichchaik kuRaiyAgi ennudaiya peyvaLaimEl icchai udaiyarEl – even though he had lot of eminence, he did not have the eminence that he had taken as alms for the sake of his followers. To overcome that shortcoming, he had taken three steps of land as alms from mahAbali. In a similar vein, if he had the deficiency that he had not taken alms from his followers, he could overcome that deficiency by taking my bangle as alms. This is the meaning hinted through this verse.
iththeruvE pOdhArE – just as it has been mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 4-5 “nAdi nandheruvin naduvE vandhittu” (searching [for our house] and coming to the centre of the street where we reside), should he not mercifully walk in our street, in order to take alms from me? Should he not manifest the gait, which he had shown in the arena of the monster [mahAbali] where the ritual was conducted, on my street? She thinks that she could sustain herself, if she sees the beauty of his divine form, if he walks in her street.
Next, we will consider the 5th pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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