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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Fourth decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that this pAsuram describes the people of the village calling one another and pointing out to krishNa returning [home].
kunRu eduththu Anirai kAththa pirAn kOvalanAyk kuzhal Udhi Udhik
kanRugaL mEyththuth than thOzharOdu kalandhu udan varuvAnaith theruvil kaNdu
enRum ivanai oppArai nangAy! kaNdu aRiyEn Edi! vandhu kANAy
onRu nillA vaLai kazhanRu thugil Endhu iLa mulaiyum en vasam allavE
Word-by-Word Meanings
kOvalan Ay – as one born in the clan of herd-folk
kunRu – gOvardhana hill
eduththu – taking it as an umbrella
A nirai – herds of cattle
kAththa – one who protected (when rain poured for seven days)
pirAn – benefactor
kuzhal – flute
Udhi Udhi – playing on it, repeatedly
kanRugaL mEyththu – grazing the calves
than thOzharOdu – with his friends, who went with him
kalandhu – along with
udan varuvAnai – one who came together
theruvil kaNdu – seeing on the street
nangAy – oh, one who is complete with the qualities of femininity!
enRum – forever
ivanai oppArai – those who are like him
kaNdu aRiyEn – I have not seen
Edi – oh, my friend!
vandhu kANAy – Come and see
(After seeing him)
thugil – dress
kazhanRu – slipping such that it would not remain on the waist
vaLai – bangles on the hand
onRum nillA – none is staying
Endhu – being raised
iLa – youthful
mulaiyum – bosoms too
en vasam alla – are not under my control
Simple Translation
krishNa, born in the clan of herd-folk, is the benefactor, who protected the herds of cows when he lifted the hill gOvardhana when it poured for seven days. Oh, one who is complete with the qualities of femininity! I have not seen people like him, playing continuously on the flute and coming together along with friends who had gone with him, for grazing calves. Come and see him. After seeing him, my dress is not staying on my waist and the bangles too are not remaining on my hands. My young bosoms, which are raised, are not under my control.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
kunRu enduththu Anirai kAththa pirAn – indhra, the lord of celestial entities, was angry since he was denied food by krishNa. He showed his anger by making rain to pour hailstorm on SrI gOkulam. Just as it has been mentioned in thirunedundhANdakam 13 “kal eduththuk kalmAri kAththAy” (one who lifted the mountain to protect the herds and herd-folk from hailstorm), krishNa, being the benefactor, lifted the mountain gOvardhana itself, which he had earlier identified as the protector, like an umbrella, ensuring that not a drop of rain fell on either the cattle or the people.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here: kunRu … – kOvalanAyk kuzhal Udhi – kunReduththu Anirai kAththa pirAn – krishNa played on the flute, without showing any trace of tiredness, while carrying out the activities of lifting the mountain [gOvardhana], playing on the flute, protecting the cattle, grazing the cattle etc, as one who cares for them. If it were not this way, what is the connection between lifting the mountain and playing on the flute? For one who cares, lack of tiredness will be manifested in the way that one is playing the flute. The reason for lack of tiredness is because of lack of blemish in the entities to be protected, viz. among the five lakh families [living in SrI gOkulam], not erecting gates for their houses [and leaving the responsibility of protecting them with krishNa].It is worth recalling here the verse in thiruvAimozhi 1.8.4 “veRpai onReduththu oRkam inRiyE niRkum ammAn” (the lord, who is standing, without feeling tired, after lifting up the gOvardhana hill). It is only because he is a herd person that he could lift the hill and play on the flute. This would not have been possible for chakravarthith thirumagan [SrI rAma]. Since the verse is repeated (Udhi Udhi), in the present tense, it is clear that it was not to feign that krishNa did it [He was really playing on the flute repeatedly].
kOvalanAy – It is his birth in the clan of the herd-folk which is the reason for his action in the previous verse and the succeeding verse. The term Ay [in kOvalan Ay] conveys the meaning that in his nature as a herd-person, there was no blemish. It is for this reason that, deciding that “cows, which are to be protected, should not be harmed in any way”, he kept the mountain aloft for seven days continuously. During this period, he did not have even a little bit of tiredness. The reason for this is that among the entities to be protected [cattle as well as herd-folk], none made any attempt on their own, in protecting themselves.
kuzhal Udhi Udhi – this is also an activity on account of having been born in the clan of herd-folk. The reason for repeating the word [Udhi Udhi] is on account of the fact that he had to play on the flute with different tunes to get the cattle to prepare for going for grazing at the time of dawn, to keep them without going astray while going or grazing and to gather them at the time of dusk to return home.
kanRugaL … – when he returned in the evening after ensuring that the calves had eaten to their fill, he appeared as one among his friends without any distinction.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that calves do not look alike. Even when they graze as a herd, their forms will be distinctly known. Since he is returning together with a thousand other herd-boys who are like him, to emphasise on the difficulty in identifying him from the rest, the verse says “kaNdu” (saw). This is like getting back a material which had been lost. theruvil kaNdu – This is the blemish with the girl. She only saw him; she did not tell him “Come to my house”.
enRum …– Oh, one who is complete in all qualities [a herd-girl addressing her friend]! I have not seen anyone who matches him, ever. Apart from seeing krishNa herself, she is calling her friend to come and have a look at him. Through the term nangAy [one who is full in all the qualities], she is specifically referring to the friend’s quality of ensuring fulfilment of an errand that she had thought of. The term Edi refers to addressing a friend. According to thamizh lexicon, words such as ellE, Edi are terms referring to addressing a female-friend who is near one. Though krishNa has been coming every day like this, since the girl says enRum ivanai oppArai …, that she has not seen someone like krishNa ever, this clearly states that he is forever a rare person to see. This also confirms that there is nothing analogous to equate with krishNa. The words nangAy and Edi show that the friend is an acceptable person and that she is in close proximity. vandhu kANAy shows that she is asking her friend to come and see krishNa for her sake.
onRu … – She refers to the changes [in her form], soon after seeing krishNa.
thugil-kazhanRu-vaLai-onRum-nillA – The dress, not fitting on the waist, got loosened from it. Even one among the bangles on the hands, despite trying to stop from slipping, did not stay put on the hands.
EndhiLa mulaiyum en vasam allavE– Even the bosoms, which are raised and young, are not under my control. Just as it has been mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 5.7 “kongai kiLarndhu kumaiththuk kudhugaliththu Aviyai Agulam seyyum” (the bosoms swelled, and becoming joyous, will melt and make my life distressed), the bosoms, on their own, swelled and troubled me.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the herd-girl says that even if krishNa stands in the street, my dress and bangles are not remaining in their positions. She says that even if an elephant, which has brought down its mahout [keeper] stands, my bosoms, which have gone beyond their holding bodice, are not under my control.
We shall next consider the 5th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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