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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Second Centum >> First decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that krishNa is showing appUchchi displaying the strength of his divine form of narasimha (lion head and human body)
thaththuk koNdAL kolO thanE peRRAL kolO
chiththam anaiyAL asOdhai iLam singam
koththArk karum kuzhal gOpAla kOLari
aththan vandhu appUchchi kAttuginRAn ammanE! appUchchi kAttuginRAn
Word-by-Word Meanings
thaththu – as adopted son
koNdAL kol O – did she nurture? (Or)
thanE – she herself (with her body going through pain)
peRRAL kol O – did she give birth to?
chiththam anaiyAL – one who acts as per his thoughts
asOdhai – having been born from the stomach of yaSOdhAp pirAtti
iLam singam – one who remained as the cub
koththu – with bunches of flowers
Ar – being filled
karu – being black
kuzhal – having plenty of locks
gOpAlar – for the herd-folk
kOL – having strength
ari – one who is like a lion
aththan – one who is the lord, is showing appUchchi
ammanE! – oh, my! He is showing appUchchi
Simple Translation
Did yaSOdhAp pirAtti adopt krishNa as her son or did she give birth to him? He is the cub and yaSOdhAp pirAtti acts as per his thoughts. He is having bunches of flowers, which are completely filled on his dark locks. He is like a lion, having great strength, for the herd-folk. Such krishNa is showing appUchchi. Oh, my! He is showing appUchchi.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
thaththu … – Did yaSOdhAp pirAtti nurture krishNa as her adopted son or did she give birth to him, after enduring pain, in her form? He is known as yaSOdhAp pirAtti’s young lion. We [herd-women] have not seen her adopting him as her son. We had been focussed on her well-being at the time that she gave birth to him, but we did not see her giving birth to him. We had become tired and slept off. We had only heard from her that she had given birth to him. Just as it has been mentioned in SrI vishNu purANam 5-3-22 “dhadharSacha prabhudhdhAsA yaSOdhA jAtham Athmajam” (yaSOdhAp pirAtti, who was sleeping, woke up after remaining unconscious, and found the son who was born), it was only after she had regained consciousness that she saw the infant [krishNa]. After seeing krishNa’s divine form, auspicious qualities and activities which are beyond this world, it could be only said that “He is not her son”. She too says, as mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 3-1-3 “immAyam valla piLLai nambi unnai en maganE enbar ninRAr” (Oh, one who is complete in your auspicious qualities as a child! Seeing your amazing activities, people, who are neutral, will say that you are my son only) that neutral persons would say that he is her son only, while most of the others would say, after seeing your activities which are beyond this world, that you could not have been my son.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that in the first line of the pAsuram, the herd-ladies are asking whether yaSOdhAp pirAtti had adopted krishNa as her son initially, and only after that, they are asking whether she had given birth to him. Normally, those who are conversant with SAsthrams (sacred texts) will say that the eminence should be for the son who was given birth to and only after that, one asks about the son who was adopted. However, here, AzhwAr, who knows the ultimate benefit of vEdhams, as mentioned in vEdhap payan koLLa valla (one who knows the benefit of vEdhams) is accepting the herd-ladies’ order of adoption initially and giving birth to, subsequently. When there are two dharmams [accepted principles] such as sAmAnya dharmam (normal principle) and viSEsha dhrmam (distinguished principle), the former will come under the latter while the latter will never go under the former [in other words, distinguished principle will get precedence over the normal principle] [it goes without saying that when there is no viSEsha dharmam, only the sAmAnya dharmam will be followed]. Why is the viSEsha dharmam given priority? Those who are conversant with SAsthrams will relegate the adoption process to the background since it has the fault of selective muhUrtham (auspicious time for carrying out the function of adoption), unlike the natural birth which happens automatically, without selecting any auspicious time. In krishNa’s case, no function was held when he had incarnated since no one knew that he had been born. Apart from the fault coming from forefathers’ karmas [deeds], the fault of union between a man and a woman also gets attached to the one who is born as a natural child. Also, any fault due to union between man and woman belonging to different varNas (divisions) will also come to the naturally born child. These faults are not seen in the case of the child who is taken through adoption. Faults due to not practicing ordained activities as well as following the ordained activities in the wrong manner also will not come to the child taken through the adoption process. On the other hand, atonements carried out for overcoming faults at various points of time when the child is naturally born [and not adopted] will lessen the affection towards the child, to an extent. These faults are not seen in the case of the adopted child. Will these faults come to the naturally born child? Just as it has been mentioned in manthra praSnam “AthmAvai puthranAmAsi” (father is born as the child), the faults will come onto the child. Due to these faults, the faults of ruchi and vAsanA (impressions from previous births and repeated taste in carrying out wrong deeds) also will get attached. While these faults will go off, to an extent, by following vEdhAnthams and being together with noble people, it is not easy to remove them fully. However, will not those faults come to the adopted child through the original father’s deeds? Only the fault due to lineage [clan] will come. The faults due to ruchi and vAsanA will not come. Due to the earlier mentioned following of vEdhAntham and being with noble people, following their activities, faults due to the original father’s deeds will also disappear. Hence, the prominence is more to the adopted child than to the naturally born child. What are these differences? In vihagEndhrasam 22 the order of importance is mentioned as “puthrAn dhArAn bandhUn sakIn gurUn” (sons, wives, relatives, friends, teachers) and as “pitharam mAtharam dhArAn” (father, mother, wives). When these relationships are renounced at the time of surrendering, these differences will not exist anymore. However, puthran (son) has to be mentioned before pitharam (father). Only if there is a son, will the father exist. Even when pitharam mAtharam (father, mother) are mentioned, they have to be identified as “this person’s father, this person’s mother”. Only in order to manifest the needlessness of these relationships were the words pitharam mAtharam mentioned. This is the reason for giving prominence to adopted son over naturally born son. More than all these arguments, for the one who did not know that she only had given birth to the son [yaSOdhAp pirAtti], when she nurtures the child [krishNa] with complete affection and esteem, should one talk about the differences in affection and esteem for those who had adopted and who had given birth to, as a result of ignorance?
chiththam …– yaSOdhAp pirAtti is such that even when she sees your mischievous activities, she doesn’t control you. She acts in line with your thoughts. You are like a young lion, uncontrolled by her. She controls him in the other way [giving him more opportunities to indulge in mischiefs] by saying, as in periya thirumozhi 10-7-11 “anganam thImai seyvargaLO nambI! Ayar madamakkaLai” (Oh, kaNNapirAn! Against the women who are obedient towards herd-folk, is it apt to carry out such mischiefs?) by making him indulge in more mischiefs. This is also mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 3-9 “anja urappAL asOdhai ANAda vittirukkum” (yaSOdhAp pirAtti wouldn’t say any harsh word which would frighten him; she would allow him to indulge in mischiefs). He is being referred to as a young lion since he had the pride and there was none who could control him.
koththAr … – his locks were completely decorated with flowers, donned with love by those who were affectionate towards him. Just as kUraththAzhwAn had mentioned in varadharAja sthavam 23 “anjanapunjaSyAma kundhaLam” (locks which were dark like the dark bluish clouds), he had dark locks; he could not be controlled by herd-folk; he had strength and he was like a lion, being prideful. asOdhai iLanjingam – gOpAla kOLari – one who does not obey his mother, will not obey the words of those who are in the town. kOL – strength. aththan – lord. This is the word uttered, after losing out to the qualities and activities mentioned earlier.
We shall next consider the 8th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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