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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Third decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that when unfavourable entities show enmity towards krishNa, he would annihilate them. When favourable entities show enmity, due to the issue with annihilating them, he had to let go of them after putting down their pride.
kEttaRiyAdhana kEtkinREn kEsavA! kOvalar indhiraRkuk
kAttiya sORum kaRiyum thayirum kalandhu udan uNdAy pOlum
Utta mudhal ilEn unRannaik koNdu oru pOdhum enakku aridhu
vAttam ilAp pugazh vAsudhEvA! unnai anjuvan inRu thottum
Word-by-Word Meanings
kEsavA – Oh, kESava!
kEttu aRiyAdhana – in matters regarding you, whatever has not been heard of, before this
kEtkinREn – I am hearing now
kOvalar – herd-folk
indhiraRku – for indhra [head of celestial entities]
kAttiya – sent
sORum – food
kaRiyum – and, vegetables, appropriate for that
thayirum – curd too
kalandhu – mixed together
udan – without leaving anything behind
uNdAy pOlum – it appears that you have eaten.
(For you, capable of eating like this)
Utta – to feed every day
mudhal ilEn – I do not have any means with me
un thannaik koNdu – keeping you
oru pOdhum – even for one time in a day
enakku – for me
aridhu – it is difficult for me
vAttam ilA – never fading
pugazh – having fame
vAsudhEvA – oh, the divine son of vasudhEvar!
unnai – regarding you
inRu thottum – from today, whatever I heard about you, which I have not heard of before
anjuvan – I am afraid
Simple Translation
Oh, kESava! I am hearing about you, which I have not heard of before. Herd folks had sent food, along with suitable vegetables and curd, mixed together, as offering for indhra, the head of celestial entities. It appears that you have eaten them all, without leaving anything behind. I do not have the wherewithal to feed you. It is difficult for me to feed you, even once in a day. Oh, one who has fame which does not fade at all, and who is the divine son of vasudhEvar! I am afraid of you, from now.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
kEttu aRiyAdhana …– yaSOdhAp pirAtti tells krishNa “Oh, one who, being the causative factor for the birth of brahmA and rudhra, has the divine name of kESavan! I am hearing everything about you today, which I have not heard until now” When krishNa asked her, in turn, ”What is it?” she says …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that yaSOdhAp pirAtti tells krishNa “What shortcoming is there for you in this place? Many people have come and told me ‘Your son has taken a gigantic form and eaten up all the food there, which had been brought in many carts’. They said ‘Your son, your son’. I have not heard like this any time before this. Only today, I am hearing like this”. For the term kEsavA, thiruvAimozhip piLLai quotes yaSOdhAp pirAtti – Apart from being the causative entity for brahma and rudhra, should you be the causative entity for such a blame too?
kOvalar … – Herd folk have cattle as their wealth. Hence, to nurture them, they pray to indhra every year for rain, and offer him food. When they were about to offer to him this year, by bringing the food in a cart, drawn by wheels, along with vegetables and curd, you had argued with them for not proffering that food to indhra and had told them “Offer the food to this gOvardhana hill, which protects us in all ways”, making them to offer the food in front of the hill. Just as it has been mentioned in SrI vishNu purANam, “gOvardhanO’smi” (I am gOvardhana hill), you had taken a huge form, mixed all the food together and ate up the entire lot. Many people came and told me this, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 10.7.7 “pAsana nallana paNdigaLAl pugappeydha adhanai ellAm pOyirundhu angu oru bhUdha vadivu koNdu un magan inRu nangAy mAyan adhanai ellAm muRRa vAri vaLaiththu uNdirundhAn” (food had been brought in good vessels, in many carts; today, your son, who is capable of engaging in amazing activities, went there, took the form of a huge entity, scooped up all the food together and ate them all up). Did you do that way? Since krishNa stood there, without any response …
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the food was collected from each of the five lakh families of herd-folk in thiruvAyppAdi as well as those who have moved in newly to that place. All the food had been loaded in many carts and taken for offering to indhra. yaSOdhAp pirAtti tells krishNa, “It appears that you had asked them ‘For whom are you offering this?’ When they said that they are offering the food to indhra, you had told them ‘You people do not know what is correct. Isn’t this mountain offering our cattle and us, materials such as grass, water, firewood, place to rest etc?’ On hearing this, the people there became happy and your father too praised you saying ‘He is speaking beyond his age; what a knowledge he has! What he has said should be done’ When the deity in charge of that mountain came there and ate up the food, the people there said that you had mixed up all the food, kept for one person [indhra] and had eaten it all up” She further says “It is shameful to hear that one person ate up the food offered to another person. However, I do not have the means to feed you like this”
Utta mudhal ilEn un dhannaik koNdu oru pOdhum enakku aridhu – I do not have any means with me to feed you food like this, which you are capable of eating. It is difficult for me to feed you even one time like this.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that in the term un, yaSOdhAp pirAtti thought of krishNa’s small form and in the term thannai, she thought of the greatness of the food and says “It is not possible for me to feed you like this even once”. Alternatively, it could be said that she says that “I did not get to feed you food like this every day”. thiruvAimozhip piLLai further says: Just as krishNa had prevented the people of his village from offering food to another person, when he was there and thus removed their servitude to others, ALavandhAr too had removed the servitude of others towards AkkiyAzhwAn. It is well known that by winning over AkkiyAzhwAn [who had lorded over all the wise men in that place by making them to serve him constantly], ALavandhAr liberated all the wise people in the place from this servitude such that they could serve emperumAn. It was only after removing servitude of thiruvAyppAdi herd-folk [towards others] that krishNa gained undiminishing fame. yaSOdhAp pirAtti feels that one who had consumed such a large quantity of food, was nurtured by her with the quantity of food which she gave him every day without any withering on his part. thiruvAimozhip piLLai further says that when we, who reside in dhivyadhEsams, prevent any worship of other deities and make everyone to worship only emperumAn, due to their ignorance, those deities may try and harm us. However, just like emperumAn lifted the gOvardhana mountain and protected the herd-folk, he would protect us too. When krishNa held the mountain, indhra overcame his anger of having been denied food, went into brahmabhAvanai [seeking emperumAn] and told krishNa to keep the mountain down. krishNa told him “This is not possible. You are a strong person. These herd-folk are innocent people, who do not even know to build a house of their own and protect themselves. Your anger may rear its head again; at that time, I would have to lift the mountain and protect them again. I am comfortable in this position itself, without any tiredness”. Thus, thinking about krishNa’s such strategies, we do not have to be fearful.
vAttam ilAp pugazh vAsudhEvA – Oh, the son of vasudhEvar, having fame which shines for ever, without diminishing! The opinion here is that due to such activities [of eating such large quantities of food] there should be no shortcoming to his fame.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that yaSOdhAp pirAtti tells krishNa “Is there any shortcoming for the fame that you have, since your incarnation?” She says that hearing words about him which she hadn’t heard until then, makes her feel afraid of him. By changing the case, it could also be construed as yaSOdhAp pirAtti telling him that she is afraid for him [instead of being afraid of him, she would be afraid for him].
unnai anjuvan inRu thottum – I am afraid from today, after hearing about you, who had carried activities beyond the realm of human species, which I have not heard until now, as to “What you are looking for, to do further? Will your fame diminish because of these?”
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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