SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> First Centum >> Ninth Decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
mUththavai kANa mudhu maNal kunRu ERi
kUththu uvandhu Adik kuzhalAl isai pAdi
vAyththa maRaiyOr vaNanga imaiyavar
Eththa vandhu ennaip puRam pulguvAn empirAn ennaip puRam pulguvAn
Word-by-Word Meanings
mUththu avai – assembly of aging herd-folk
kANa – to see
mudhu – tall
maNal kunRu ERi – getting on top of a sand hill
kuzhalAl – with the bamboo flute
isai pAdi – playing tunes
uvandhu – displaying his happiness
kUththu Adi – dancing
vAyththa – those who took refuge under his divine feet
maRaiyOr – sages who follow vEdhams [sacred texts]
vaNanga – such that they bow down to him
imaiyavar – celestial entities
Eththa – to praise
vandhu – with the freshness of this dancing, he will come and embrace my back
empirAn – one, who is my swAmy [lord], will embrace my back.
Simple Translation
krishNa got on top of a tall sand dune such that old people among the herd-folks could see him. With the flute, which he had, he played nice tunes and exhibiting his happiness, he danced too. That krishNa, worshipped by sages who follow vEdhas and praised by celestial entities, will come and embrace my back. One, who is my lord, will embrace me
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
mUththavai kANa – matured herd-folks, matured due to their 1) age, 2) knowledge appropriate for their clan and 3) qualities, to see the essence of his activities. Alternatively, the term mUththu (old age) with the last syllable having got reduced, and the term avai, meaning assembly, would refer to the assembly of old people among the herd-folks.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the old people among the herd-folks came and sat, to hear the flute recital of krishNa, and locked up their girls in cellars such that they could not see this. The term avai refers to pointing out to these old people with distaste since they did not allow the girls too to come and engage with this activity. Alternatively, avai would also refer to an assembly; here, it would refer to the assembly of old people.
mudhu maNal … – getting on top of a tall sand hill, such that everyone could see him. Here, the term mudhu refers to a raised place.
kUththu … – he danced in such a way that girls, who are inside cellars, would come out of their cellars and see him dance. Manifesting that happiness, he danced.
kuzhalAl isai pAdi – playing tunes through the flute kept on his divine mouth. The old people would only hear the tune that he was playing. However, through those tunes, he was calling out to the girls who he desired to see and kept back the girls, who he did not wish to see, in their respective cellar. Only the girls who move with him would understand the distinctions in the tunes which he was playing. The verse should be rearranged as “kuzhalAl isai pAdi kUththu uvandhu Adi”. Through the songs which he was playing on the flute, he would call out to those who he desired to see, and feeling happy “We are fortunate to have seen them” he would dance. Since the type of dance has not been specified as dancing with false legs, dancing with pots etc, we should consider this as one of those dances.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the aged herd-folks would only know the music played out by krishNa on his flute. It is only the youngsters (girls in their cellars) who would understand the call of krishNa as he played out various tunes. They would know the regret that he was expressing through his music, for the delay in calling out to them; they would think of his soft feet and how those divine feet would be placed on their heads.
vAyththa … – desiring to see his distinguished activities, eminent sages who follow him, would lose out to this activity and worship him. Celestial entities, engaging with his activities, would praise him. Alternatively, vAyththa would transform as vAyndha, and maRaiyOr would refer to girls who are hiding in their cellars and who came out because of the tunes which he played on his flute. These girls would think of the softness of his divine feet and would worship him since he was dancing for their happiness. The old herd-folks, mentioned earlier, out of amazement, would praise him.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the girls, who are mangaLASAsanaparars, would know the softness of his divine feet and would praise him, saying “May you live long! May you live long!” Since the young girls have been kept hidden in the cellars [in thamizh, maRaidhal refers to hiding], they could be termed as maRaiyOr [those who have been hiding]. The old herd-folks, engaging with krishNa’s singing and dancing, would forget to bat their eyelids and praise him. Alternatively, this term [maRaiyOr] would refer to celestial entities, who wish to see the divine activities of krishNa in his incarnation and come down to thiruvAyppAdi, hide their forms and see his activities of singing and dancing. mUththavai refers to nithyasUris and mukthAthmAs in SrI vaikuNtam, who have matured knowledge; mudhu maNal refers to those who control their senses such that they do not flow into worldly pleasures and stand atop those senses, exhibiting their control over their senses. kuzhalAl isai pAdi refers to AchArya vachana pArathanthryam – listening to the words of AchAryan and being a servitor to him. imaiyavar Eththa refers to those who, forgetting even to bat their eyelids, engage deeply with the auspicious qualities of emperumAn and look at the divine form of emperumAn in dhivyadhEsams as their nurturing entity.
vandhu … – he will come with the freshness of his dance and embrace my back.
empirAn – one, who is a great benefactor for us, would embrace my back.
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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