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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Second Centum >> Seventh decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
In the earlier pAsuram, AzhwAr recalled about the annihilation of hiraNyan. In this pAsuram, he recalls about the annihilation of mAligan.
seemAligan avanOdu thOzhamail koLLavum vallAy!
sAmARu avanai nI eNNich chakkaraththAl thalai koNdAy!
AmARu aRiyum pirAnE! aNiyarangaththE kidandhAy!
EmARRam ennaith thavairththAy! iruvAtchip pUch chUtta vArAy
Word-by-Word Meanings
mAligan – having the name “mAligan” (In the term seemAligan the term see is a courteous word. The samskrutham word SrI has become see in thamizh. Since he was kaNNan’s friend, this word reflects that relationship)
avanOdu – with him, who is famous as being the chief among those with monster-like qualities.
thOzhamai koLLavum – even to be friendly
vallAy! – oh, one who is capable!
avan – that monster (here, the syllable ai in avanai is for poetic metrics; it does not have any meaning)
sAm ARu – the modes of killing him
nI eNNi – you had thought of
chakkaraththAl – with the chakrAyudham (divine disc)
thalai koNdAy! – oh, one who severed his head!
Am Aru – that which is going to happen
aRiyum – capable of knowing
pirAnE! – oh, my lord!
aNi – being beautiful
arangaththu – in the big town of SrI rangam
kidandhAy! – oh, one who is reclining!
en – me, who is concerned for you (here again, ai (as in ennai), is a poetic metric)
EmARRam – sorrow
thavirththAy! – oh, one who removed!
iruvAtchi pU – you should come to don iruvAtchi pU [Tuscan jasmine flower]
Simple Translation
Oh, one who is capable of even being friendly with mAligan, who is the chief among those with monster-like qualities! Oh, one who severed his head, with your divine disc, after analysing the modes in which you could kill him! Oh, my lord, who knows the events which are going to take place! Oh, one who is reclining in the beautiful town of SrI rangam! Oh, one who removed the sorrow of mine, who is concerned about you! You should come to don the Tuscan jasmine flower.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
seemAligan … – A person, by name mAligan was friendly with krishNa. He learnt the usage of weapons from krishNa. With this power, without fearing anyone, he started harming noble people in the world. krishNa thought “He has become a friend, hence it is not possible to kill him” and was troubled in his divine mind. Once, krishNa became angry with seemAligan [due to his harming noble people]. seemAligan started blabbering in response with words such as “naRugu muRugu” [meaningless harsh words]. Then, seemAligan told krishNa “You had trained me in all the weapons; but you haven’t trained me in Azhi (divine discus)”. krishNa told him “It is a distinct weapon for me; it is not something which is to be done for you”. However, seemAligan compelled krishNa, saying “Is there any weapon which is not to be handled by me?” krishNa thought “Due to his bad nature, he has to be annihilated”. Without any defect to his greatness, he started teaching seemAligan in handling the divine discus. With one divine finger, he spun the divine disc and let it into the sky. As the divine disc came down from the sky, he took it in his divine hand effortlessly. Seeing this, seemAligan said “Is it difficult for me?” Despite krishNa telling him “This is not for you”, seemAligan took the divine disc in his hand, spun it and let it into the sky. As it came down spinning, aiming to take it in his finger, he kept the finger close to his neck. Since it is a sharp disc, and since it did not have enough space to spin from his finger, it severed seemAligan’s head. This narrative, which is mentioned in ithihAsam [epic] etc, has been briefly stated in the earlier part of the pAsuram.
seemAligan avanOdu thOzhamai koLLavum vallAy – sI – a courteous word. Due to your eminent quality, you are capable of being friendly with even a person, named seemAligan, who has monster-like qualities.
sAmARu avanai nI eNNi – Once he started indulging in harming noble persons, you thought “If he is not killed, the world cannot tolerate”, analysing a way for him to die. In other words, the blame that “He had killed his friend” should not come on to him and that it should be said “He died due to his own deed”. In the term avanai, the syllable ai is a sAriyai (augment) and does not have any meaning.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that krishNa thought “What shall we do with him? We are not able to make him accept our words of advice. Due to friendship with us, he is harming people in the world. Moreover, he does not realise that any weapon, which is distinct for us will not be under his control, yet he is compelling”. Ultimately, krishNa, who is such that he will enter one’s mind and be sweet, like nectar, thought of the modes by which he could destroy seemAligan, without getting blamed for it and did that in a manner which made AzhwAr to celebrate by composing the verse “thOzhamai koLLavum vallAy, sIr chakkaraththAl thalai koLLavum vallAy” (you are capable of being even friendly and also capable of severing his head with the divine disc).
chakkaraththAl thalai koNdAy – Oh, one who severed his head with the divine disc, despite telling him “This is a distinct weapon for me; this is not for you”. Since mAligan compelled you, with the garb of training him in that weapon, you had destroyed him through the divine disc as the means.
AmARu aRiyum pirAnE – Oh, one who is the benefactor, knowing the consequence of engaging with either annihilation of enemy or protection of followers.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that AzhwAr says “AmARu aiyum pirAnE” since the divine disc severed seemAligan’s head. For AzhwAr, it is not that emperumAn became friendly with seemAligan and severed his head with the intention of killing him in the correct way, which made him to say “AmARu aRiyum pirAnE”. It is not even emperumAn’s nature of being, as said in thirumAlai 15 “poyyarkkE poyyanAgum” (he would display falseness to those who are not interested in him as the ultimate benefit) or when he measured the worlds with his expanded foot, in a deceptive way [when he went in a deceptive garb to mahAbali] that AzhwAr says “AmARu aRiyum pirAnE”. It is when emperumAn reclines in SrI rangam that AzhwAr thinks in his divine mind “aNiyarangaththE kidandhAy, AmARu aRiyum pirAnE”. It is due to this that emperumAn too removed his sorrow. EmARRam – sorrow. It is the thought of “What will befall this [most eminent] entity?” Will it get removed? thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 8.3.11 “uRaiyAvennOy thavira” (removing the cruel disease of wondering “What will happen to bhagavAn who is the lord of ubhaya vibhUthi, the two realms [materialistic and spiritualistic]” by eradicating through his grace), emperumAn will remove that sorrow. The basis for that is when emperumAn makes AzhwAr to see the time [in SrI rangam, there is no threat from enemies].
aNi arangaththE kidandhAy – Oh, one who is mercifully reclining in the temple [at SrI rangam], which is the decoration for samsAram, thinking “If we remain here, we can attain mumukshus [those who are desirous of attaining mOksham]”!
EmARRam ennaith thavirththAy – Oh, one who removed my sorrow as to what will befall you due to your qualities of tenderness etc, by residing in a divine place such as SrI rangam, which is referred to as in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 11-5 “nallArgaL vAzhum naLir arangam ” (divine abode where eminent people reside, not expecting any benefit from emperumAn, other than himself)! EmARRam – sorrow
iruvAtchip pUchchUtta vArAy – You should come such that I bedeck your divine locks with this Tuscan jasmine flower, before it loses its freshness, since it has blossomed already at the right time.
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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