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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Second Centum >> Tenth decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that the herd-girls are manifesting their concern for the divine hands [of krishNa], lifting the [gOvardhana] hill.
dhEnugan Avi seguththup panangani
thAn eRindhitta thadam perum thOLinAl
vAnavar kOn vida vandha mazhai thaduththu
Anirai kAththAnAl inRu muRRum avai uyyak koNdAnAl inRu muRRum
Word-by-Word Meanings
dhEnugan – the monster, dhEnukan’s
Avi – life
segutthu – killing
panai kani – such that the fruits of the palm tree, which had been permeated by monster, shook and fell down (recall [the ancient poem] nannUl “panai mun … valivarin aipOyammum …”. In other words, if the word panai is followed by a surd such as ka, the syllable ai in panai will be replaced with the syllable am as mentioned in the ancient grammatical text of nannUl. Thus, panai + kani will become panam + kani, in other words, panangani)
thAn – he [krishNa]
eRindhitta – threw (that dhEnukan)
thada peru – humongous
thOLinAl – with the shoulders
vAnavar kOn – dhEvendhran [head of celestial entities]
vida – ordered
vandha – came to pour
mazhai – rain
thaduththu – lifting a hill and preventing
A nirai – herds of cows
kAththAnAl – we will perish on account of the one who protected [the cows]
avai – those cows
uyyak koNdAnAl – we will perish on account of the one who uplifted them
Simple Translation
krishNa threw the monster dhEnukan on a palm tree which had been permeated by a monster, such that the life of that monster dhEnukan ebbed. With those humongous shoulders, krishNa lifted a mountain and prevented the pouring rain, which was ordered by dhEvEndhran to harm the herds and herd-folks, from harming them. We will perish today, on account of the one who protected those cows. We will perish today on account of the one who had uplifted those cows.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
dhEnugan … – SrI vishNu purANam 5.8.9 and 5.8.10 say “gruhIthvA bhramanEnaiva sO’mabarE gathajIvitham l thasminEva sachikshEpa dhEnukam thruNarAjani ll thatha:palAnyanEkAni thALAgrAn nipathankara: l pruthivyAm pAthayAmAsa mahAvAthO kanAniva ll” (that lord caught hold of the monster dhEnukan, swirled him in the sky, due to which he lost his life in the sky itself. He fell on the palm tree and made the fruits which were on top of the tree to fall down, just as great wind makes dark clouds to pour rain). Just as it has been mentioned here, emperumAn caught hold of a monster, dhEnukAsuran, who had come to harm him, swirled him in the sky, killing him with that speed. He made the monster to fall on top of a palm tree which had been permeated by another monster, making the fruits which were on the tree to fall down. With such huge shoulders …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that dhEnukan was totally dependent on kamsan and came to SrI gOkulam in order to harm krishNa. krishNa annihilated him and the palm tree in which another monster had pervaded, with his shoulders.
vAnavar … – krishNa had told the herd-folk to proffer food to [gOvardhana] hill instead of to dhEvEndhran, the controller of celestial entities. Becoming angry on account of this, dhEvEndhran ordered pushkalAvarthakam clouds to pour in SrI gOkulam such that all the herds of cows, along with the herd-men and herd-women would end up in the ocean. Since krishNa had earlier told the herd-folk that gOvardhana hill is their protector, he lifted the hill itself as an umbrella and protected the cows, which knew in their hearts the great benefit carried out by krishNa on them. We will perish today on account of that krishNa.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that krishNa thought “In the place where we live, there should be no scope for people to be servitors of other dhEvathAs”. Hence, he told the herd-folk “Offer these foods to gOvardhana mountain, which provides grass and water to our cows”. The herd-folk were in agreement with this. SrI nandhagOpar, hearing this, said “Look at his level of knowledge, when he is still a little child!” celebrating the wisdom of krishNa. Once they offered the foods to the mountain, indhran became extremely angry and ordered clouds such as pushkalAvarthakam to ensure that “The village of herd-folk ends in ocean”. krishNa lifted that mountain itself and protected the cows. Instead of saying that krishNa protected the herd-men and herd-women, why is periyAzhwAr saying that he protected the cows? krishNa wanted to protect only those who had the intelligence [to understand that krishNa is the only protector].
avai … – We will perish today, on account of the one who had uplifted those cows such that they did not have to engage with those rains. Through this, it is mentioned that the one who removed the danger which was to befall the entities to be protected, created pangs of separation in us and harmed us [reference here is to the herd-women, whose bangles and saris were taken away by krishNa]. Hence, we will perish today.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here even after protecting the cows, since there was none who was appropriate to receive his mercy, he uplifted those cows themselves.
We shall next consider the 5th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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