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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Second Centum >> Eighth decad
avathArikai (Introduction)
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that AzhwAr tells krishNa that indhra and other celestial entities have come in order to worship him in the evening, asking him to come for andhikkAppu.
indhiranOdu piraman Isan imaiyavar ellAm
mandhira mA malar koNdu maRaindhu uvarAy vandhu ninRAr
chandhiran mALigai sErum sadhurargaL veLLaRai ninRAy!
andhiyam pOdhu idhuvAgum azhaganE! kAppida vArAy
Word-by-Word Meanings
chandhiran – chandhran (moon)
mALigai – mansions
sErum – such that it reaches
sadhurargaL – those, who are capable of carrying out mangaLASAsanam, and who reside
veLLaRai – in thiruveLLaRai
ninRAy – oh, one who is mercifully standing!
indhiranOdu – along with dhEvEndhra (lord of celestial entities)
piraman – brahmA too, with four faces
Isan – rudhra, also
imaiyavar ellAm – along with other celestial entities
mandhiram – made pure, through chanting of purusha sUktham etc
mA malar – distinguished flowers such as kalpakam [celestial flowers]
koNdu – bringing in their hands
maRaindhu – such that they are invisible to others
uvarAy – without being too near or too far
vandhu ninRAr – came and stood
azhaganE! – Oh, one who is having beauty (such that you have to be protected from evil eyes)
idhu – this time
andhiyam pOdhu Agum – is dusk (hence)
kAppu ida – to carry out andhikkAppu for your beauty
vArAy – you should mercifully come
Simple Translation
Oh, one who is mercifully standing in thiruveLLaRai, where chandhran is reaching the mansions and where those, who are capable of carrying out mangaLASAsanam, are residing! dhEvEndhra, brahmA, rudhra and other celestial entities have come, invisible to others, carrying distinguished flowers such as kalpaka, which have been made powerful through chanting of hymns such as purusha sUktham etc and are standing, neither too far nor too near. Oh, one who is beautiful! This is the time of dusk. You should mercifully come such that I could carry out thiruvandhikkAppu for your beauty.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
indhiranOdu … – indhra, who is the protector of three worlds, brahmA, who is the creator of fourteen worlds and rudhra, who is the destroyer of the worlds, along with their dependents, who are all celestial entities. Through this, it is made clear that along with the main celestial entities, their dependents too came, without any difference among themselves. While the order should have been brahmA, rudhra, indhra, what is the reason for mentioning indhra first? The difference among them is only on account of the activity which they carry out and not because of any distinctive eminence, among them, of being the controller of all [that feature is available only with emperumAn]. Moreover, these entities have been carrying out servitude to krishNa, right from the time when he was in the cradle. Hence, AzhwAr is including indhra, who had given, as in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 1.3.3 “ezhil udaik kiNkiNi” (beautiful anklet), brahmA, who had given, as in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 1.3.1 “vaNNach chiRuth thottil” (beautiful, small cradle), rudhra, who had given as in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 1.3.2 “udaiyAr kaNamaNi” (golden bells for the divine, beautiful waist), and all the other celestial entities, who had given as in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 1.3.4 “sEvadik kiNkiNi” (anklets for the divine, reddish feet).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that brahmA, rudhra, indhra and other celestial entities came, invisible to others, standing neither too far nor too near to krishNa. The reason for giving prominence to indhra and then mentioning brahmA and rudhra is that the pride, which comes due to difference in the levels of karma of individual entities, disappears first with indhra [since he has the shortest longevity [among indhra, brahmA and rudhra].
mandhira mAmalar koNdu – with flowers which have been purified by divine hymns. The term mandhiram refers to SrI purusha sUktham etc which have been mentioned in all the vEdhams. The term mA malar refers to [celestial] eminent flowers such as kaRpagam etc.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here [for both this verse and the next verse] that the mandhirams referred to here are those contained in vEdhams. Though they [indhran et al] think that they are invisible, they are visible to AzhwAr. mAmalar – carrying flowers such as kaRpagam etc, they stand with their faults too, awaiting krishNa’s call. They were standing to carry out mangaLASAsanam with, manthrams which have been mentioned in japa, hOma, dhAna, tharpaNam [these are rituals conducted either as nithya or naimiththika karma, viz. ordained every day or for specific occasion respectively]. There are some animals, which think that if they close their eyes, they will be invisible. The term uvar will not be applicable to those who have gone past the three qualities [sathva, rajas and thamas] [They would have been identified as ivar, these people; since they have been identified as uvar, they are less desirable entities].
maRaindhu uvarAy vandhu ninRAr – just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 7.7.11 “katkariya piraman sivan indhiran” (entities such as brahmA, rudhra, indhra et al who are difficult to see for the eyes of humans), entities such as brahmA, rudhra, indhra et al, who are invisible to human beings, came and stood, waiting for their turn to be called out by you, neither too far away from you nor too near you. If the text has been maRaindhu uvarA [instead of maRaindhu uvarAy], the meaning for the term uvarA would be that they were neither too far nor too near.
chandhiran … – since the mansions are very tall, reaching up to the moon, chandhran could come and reach the mansions. Oh, one who is mercifully standing in the divine abode of thiruveLLaRai, where people, who are capable of knowing your tender nature and who carry out mangaLASAsanam for you, reside!
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the mansions, in which SrI vaishNavas dwell, and the temple [in thiruveLLaRai] are such tall that chandhran reaches there. Through this, it is implied that those with deep, inner knowledge [regarding Athma guNams, viz. one is subservient to emperumAn, dependent on emperumAn etc] reach there [we have seen in the padhigam 1.4 [than mugaththuch chutti] that thiruvAimozhip piLLai refers to madhi, niRaimadhi, mAmadhi etc as entities with knowledge of Athma guNams]. Knowledge born out of SAsthrams [sacred texts] is like the radiance from a lamp. Those with this knowledge, and detached from worldly pursuits, are considered to be with knowledge like Adhithya [sun]. Knowledge gained through the instructions of an Acharya is like full moon. While there is parity among those with this knowledge [leading to ananyArhathvam, existing only for emperumAn], who live in divine abodes [such as thiruveLLaRai] and SrI vaikuNtam, it is a matter of honour for those in nithya vibhUthi to descend to divine abodes to worship emperumAn. sadhurargaL veLLaRai ninRay – it is here [thiruveLLaRai] that he [emperumAn] also desires to reach. This is the reason that, just as it has been mentioned in periya thirumozhi 6.9.8 “nilaiyAra ninRAn” (emperumAn mercifully stayed forever), emperumAn dwelt in thiruveLLaRai. The term sadhir [derived from chathurargaL] refers to a tree, bearing fruits directly, without going through the stage of flowering. They are that capable. In other words, they will give response through their actions, as mentioned in the verse “kriyA kEvalam uththaram” (responding through action). They are similar to the followers of emperumAn, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 3.7.6 “salippinRi ANdu” (engaging us firmly in service), capable of removing our connection with samsAram through their activities.
andhiyam pOdhu idhu Agum – this is the time of dusk. Since you are indulging in playing, you are not aware that the sun has set.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that through the term andhiyam pOdhu, AzhwAr, due to fear that it is the time when people with predominance of rajO guNam [characteristics of passion, aggression etc] roam around, with high levels of ahankAram (egoistic tendencies) and who would not be able to bear the wealth of others, asks krishNa to come [so that he could carry out andhikkAppu]
azhaganE – Oh, one who has the beauty such that you have to be kept protected from evil eyes due to fear from those eyes, constantly. Just as you are unaware of sun-set, you are unaware of your beauty too!
kAppida vArAy – you should come so that I could carry out thiruvandhikkAppu [protecting you from evil eyes], for your natural beauty as well as the beauty from decorations [with flowers etc].
We shall next consider the 2nd pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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