periyAzhwAr thirumozhi

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SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:

periyAzhwAr vaibhavam

periyAzhwAr was born in SrivillipuththUr, to mukundha bhattar and padhmA ammangAr, in krOdhana year, ninth day of mithuna mAsam (Ani), Sukla paksha EkAdhasi thithi (11th day after full moon) on a Sunday, in swAthi nakshathram, as the amSam (having the features of) garuda, emperumAn’s vehicle [these details are from dhivyasUri charithram]. At the time of his birth, he was given the name vishNu chiththar [the name periyAzhwAr came much later] [in our translation work, the term AzhwAr will refer to him, unless otherwise specified]. He grew up, studying all the vEdhams [sacred texts] after undergoing various rituals such as chaulam (having a tuft), upanayanam (donning the sacred thread) etc. Once he had completed his studies, he decided to carry out the kainkaryam (service) of stringing flowers and offering the garlands to vatapathraSAyI emperumAn at SrIvillipuththUr [he was the first among all the AzhwArs until then, to carry out kAyika [physical] kainkaryam to emperumAn. The other AzhwArs until then had only carried out vAchika kainkaryam [composing and reciting pAsurams (hymns)]. While he was in this kainkaryam, vallabhadhEvan, the king ruling the pANdiya kingdom [of which SrIvillipuththUr was a part] came across a person during his night rounds, who was singing a song which had the following meaning: for taking care of 4 months during monsoon time, one works harder during the other 8 months; to take rest during night time, one works during day time; to live in comfort, during old age, one works harder when one is young; in order to attain peace in after-world, one carries out correct actions while being here [samsAram, the materialistic realm].

The king, listening to this, wondered “We have made our people to realise the first three among the four things which the man said; for the fourth, how do we make them realise as to who is the supreme entity to be meditated upon and how to surrender to him?” He asked his kula guru (teacher for his clan), selva nambi, about this. The guru, though a very learned person, told the king “My answer alone may not be the proper way to tell you the response to your doubt. Call all the learned persons in the country to your court. Have a sadhas (assembly) where the learned people can discuss/deliberate/debate among themselves and arrive at the correct answer”.

The king sent out word among the people of his country, accordingly. emperumAn came in the dream of AzhwAr and told him “You too go to the king’s court tomorrow. Establish my supremacy”. AzhwAr told him that he knew nothing about this. emperumAn told him that he would bring out the correct words and verses from AzhwAr’s mouth and that AzhwAr need not worry about this. AzhwAr set out for the king’s court the next day. The king had tied a poRkizhi (treasure placed and tied inside a piece of expensive cloth) as a gift for the person who comes up with the correct response to his doubt and had said that the poRkizhi will come down on its own and land on the hands of the person with the correct response. AzhwAr, with apt statements quoted from vEdhams and other texts, was able to prove that SrIman nArAyaNan alone is the supreme entity. The poRkizhi came down on its own and fell in his hands, confirming that his response is the correct one. The king, to celebrate this event, arranged for a procession in which AzhwAr was made to sit on the royal elephant and taken around the town. emperumAn, with his consorts, came on garuda, his vehicle, to look at his child, AzhwAr, and bless him. Looking at emperumAn in samsAram which is full of vices and people full of vile, AzhwAr became concerned about emperumAn’s safety and carried out mangaLASAsanam (praising emperumAn) by composing 12 verses titled as “thiruppallANdu” to cast off evil eyes.

On returning to SrIvillipuththUr, he utilised the amount which he received as a gift from pANdiya king, on emperumAn’s temple in SrIvillipuththUr. He composed further 461 pAsurams, which come under the classification of periyAzhwAr thirumozhi (divine verses of periyAzhwAr). These are classified under four centums, each having 105 pAsurams and a fifth containing four decads, having 41 verses. 273 out of these 461 pAsurams deal extensively with the activities of krishNa in his incarnation. These pAsurams come under the thamizh literary classification of piLLaith thamizh, dealing with the activities of a child [here, krishNa is the child whose activities are described].

Explanation for these pAsurams has been given by (1) thiruvAimozhip piLLai through his svApadhESam (sva – self; apadhEAsam – opinion expressed through words), (2) maNavALa mAmunigaL for the first 4 centums through his vyAkhyAnam [commentary] and (3) periyavAchchAn piLLai for the 4 decads of the fifth centum [periyavAchchAn piLLai’s vyAkhyAnam for the first four centums had been lost to termite attack]. Apart from these, several great people had composed arum padha viLakkam (explanation for difficult-to-understand verses).

We have translated the meanings of maNavALa mAmunigaL’s vyAkhyAnam, with the additional help of thiruvAimozhip piLLai’s svApadhEAsam and arum padha viLakkam.

We will next take up the thaniyans for this prabandham.

adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan

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