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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Fifth decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
attukkuvi sORRup paruppadhamum thayir vAviyum neyyaLaRum adangap
pottathth thuRRu mArip pagai puNarththa porumA kadalvaNNan poRuththa malai
vattath thadam kaN madamAn kanRinai valaivAyp paRRik koNdu kuRa magaLir
kottaith thalaippAl koduththu vaLarkkum gOvarththanam ennum koRRak kudaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
attu – cooked
kuvi – heaped
sORu – rice
paruppadhamum – mountain
thayir vAviyum – stream of curd
ney aLaRum – muddled with ghee
adanga – all these
potta – immediately
thuRRu – consumed
mAri – rainfall
pagai – enemy
puNarththa – one who created
poru – with belligerent waves
mA kadal – like a dark ocean
vaNNan – one who has a divine complexion
poRuththa – one who held
malai – mountain
vattam – round
thada – being huge
madam – having obedience towards its mother
mAn kanRinai – fawn
valaivAy – in a net
paRRik koNdu – catching it
kuRa magaLir – women of hill tribe
kottai – cotton roll
thalai – with the head
pAl koduththu – feeding milk (the women will dip the cotton roll in milk and give the milk through one end of the roll to the fawn)
vaLarkkum – nurturing
gOvarththanam ennum – having the name ‘gOvardhana’ on account of increase in cattle numbers
koRRam – being victorious over that rain
kudai – called as umbrella since it did not allow even a drop of rain to fall on anyone, by being inverted
Simple Translation
krishNa ate up instantly, the heaped mountain of cooked rice, along with a stream of curd and muddled ghee, creating a fight as a consequence, through rain. He, having the divine complexion of a dark ocean with belligerent waves, held aloft the mountain. The mountain nurtured fawns which were having round, huge eyes, caught by tribal people through nets and given to their women, who fed them milk through rolls of cotton, dipped in milk. The mountain is named as gOvardhana, since it helped in multiplying numbers of cattle. It emerged victorious in the fight with rains, since, by being inverted, it did not let even a drop of water to fall on anyone.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
attukkuvi sORRup aruppadhamum – mountain of heaped cooked rice. Herd-people would traditionally worship indhra, the lord of celestial entities, for getting rainfall. He too, being pleased with their offerings and worship, would enable clouds to rain in thiruvAyppAdi. With the resultant water and well-grown grass, the herd-people would nurture their cattle, leading to abundance of milk and ghee, resulting in their well-being. This is the reason that this practice has been mentioned as traditional, as seen in periya thirumozhi 2.3.4 “ezhil vizhavil pazhanadaisey mandhira vidhiyil pUsanai” (in the beautiful festival of sacrifice, chanting hymns, the herd-folk worshipped). Since this was the custom, in order to worship indhra, people in all the five lakh families of thiruvAyppAdi cooked foods and loaded the cooked food on carts drawn by bulls, as mentioned in periya thirumadal “thunnu sagadaththAl pukka perum sORu” (huge quantum of food carried in many carts). All the cooked food were spread out on a huge land and heaped, in order to look like a mountain. It is to emphasise this that the verse says attukkuvi sORRup paruppadhamum. The term paruppadham refers to mountain.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that the herd-folk offer prayers to indhra to give them rains and they believed that they were protected by indhra. Hence, as done by their ancestors in thiruvAyppAdi, they too worshipped him, by cooking foodstuffs in their houses, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 2.3.4 “mandhira vidhiyil pUsanai seyyakkadavOm”, taking the foodstuffs in carts, as mentioned in periya thirumadal “thunnu sagadatthAl pukka perum sORu”. They added other cooked vegetables and fresh fruits, poured curd and ghee over that heaped rice. paruppadham could also refer to paruppu sORu [rice made with cooked lentils]. They also made tamarind rice, sweet pongal rice etc.
thayir vAviyum – stream of curd
neyyaLaRum – muddled with ghee. On top of that mountain of cooked food, a container was placed, through which plenty of curd was let onto the cooked rice. In a similar vein, ghee was also poured through containers on top of the mountain of rice, such that ghee was seen everywhere, both on and around the rice mountain. This is the reason for referring to it as ney aLaRu (muddled with ghee). Mentioning these two [curd and ghee] is representative of all the other ingredients for making palatable food, such as vegetables and fruits.
adanga – all these
pottath thuRRu – instantaneously consuming all the foodstuff. All these foods were made, keeping in mind some other deity [indhra]. Since emperumAn is the in-dwelling soul of all entities, he decided to eat all that food stuff himself and did not want others, who exist solely for him in thiruvAyppAdi, to have a taste of that food. Since the herd-folk could have a change of mind, saying “We would like to carry out the obeisance which we used to do earlier” [of offering food to indhra], krishNa instantaneously consumed all the food.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that krishNa did not want any residual food stuff to be consumed by other herd-folk and hence consumed the entire foodstuff immediately. krishNa had already convinced the herd folk that compared to the svathanthra chEthanas [entities such as indhra et al, who think that they are independent and have thinking abilities], it is better to offer food to the parathanthra achEthana [totally dependent entity, which does not have thinking ability], gOvardhana mountain, and they too had accepted that. Lest they change their mind and offer the foodstuffs to indhra, krishNa, with an urgency, said gOvardhanOsmi [I am gOvardhana] and in a moment, consumed all the food. Since he has pervaded those independent entities and is their antharyAmi (in-dwelling soul), it was acceptable for him to consume the foodstuff. He decided that the foodstuff is not to be given to dependent entities and those who inhabit the village in which he had incarnated. This is the reason, thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, that we do not partake of food which has been cooked and offered to other deities.
mArip pagai puNarththa – creating the enmity of rains. In other words, when food stuff was cooked, in order to proffer that to indhra, krishNa told the herd-folk not to proffer the food to indhra but to gOvardhana mountain. He then said “gOvardhanOsmi” [I am gOvardhana] and ate up all the foodstuff. This made indhra to be starved of food. In the resultant anger, he ordered banks of clouds such as pushkalAvarthaka etc to create a heavy downpour on thiruvAyppAdi. Since krishNa started the entire sequence, the verse says that krishNa created the enmity.
porumA kadal vaNNan – one who has his divine complexion similar to a dark ocean, which has belligerent waves. This term describes the splendour which was seen on his divine form resulting from severing the dependence of herd-folk on other deities [indhra et al] and the joy that was created in him as a result.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that krishNa has a divine complexion which is attractive, like the ocean. Since his action [of consuming the foodstuff] led to a fight, the pAsuram says “porumAkadalvaNNan” [ocean where the waves were fighting with one another]. Alternatively, it could be considered as mArip pagai puNarththa mA kadal vaNNan [one who caused the fight and who is like a huge ocean]. Since he is mA kadal vaNNan, even if it is possible to estimate the depth of ocean, it is not possible to estimate the protective nature of his divine quality.
poRuththa malai – the mountain which he held. He had held it, continuously, for seven days.
vattath thadam kaN madamAn kanRinai – a fawn, which had rounded eyes, which were huge, and which was obedient towards its mother, being under the control of the mother-deer.
valaivAy paRRikkoNdu – trapping it in their net. The hunters in the tribes of hills would catch the fawn and hand it over to their womenfolk, to nurture it.
kuRa magaLir kottaith thalaip pAl koduththu vaLarkkum – those tribal women would dip a roll of cotton in a container having milk, and feed the fawn with that milk by keeping the cotton roll on its mouth, similar to its mother’s udder, and nurture it. kottai – cotton roll
gOvardhanam …– since the mountain had grass and water with it all the time, it was nurturing cattle, leading to plentiful of cattle. Hence, it was called “gOvardhanam” [that which nurtures and multiplies cattle]. Since it inverted fully and prevented any drop of water to fall on anyone, when it rained heavily [due to indhra’s anger], it is referred to as gOvardhanam ennum koRRak kudai [victorious umbrella called as gOvardhanam].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that apart from rains, since the mountain protected the herd-folks and cattle against hail and fire too, enabling removal of undesirable for the entities to be protected [distress created due to rains] and fulfilment of desirable for them [being close to krishNa for seven continuous days, without a break], the mountain is referred to as koRRak kudai [victorious umbrella]. He further explains the inner meaning of the second part of the pAsuram. vattaththadangaN … this term refers to a young disciple who has attained an AchArya; this disciple, who is like the fawn which has large eyes, has sharp knowledge [in our sampradhAyam, eyes are equated to knowledge, bosoms are equated to devotion and waist, to detachment], obedience towards AchArya and disinterest in protecting himself. Just as the tribal hunters catch the fawn in a net, the AchArya catches the disciple in the net of nArAyaNa (nArAyana’s divine eyes are the net, for ensnaring the disciple here). The term kadalvaNNan refers to nArAyaNa through rUdyartham [generally accepted meaning]. Through yOgavyApthi [distinct quality] of removing the ennui of beholder, the term kadalvaNNan also refers to nArAyaNa, who removes one’s ennui. Thus, AchArya, who is bestowed with deep knowledge, and who knows all three times [past, present and future], through his amazing faculty of speech, catches the disciple, telling him about the svarUpa, rUpa, guNa, vibhUthi characteristics of the term nArAyaNa [his svarUpam is that he dwells inside every AthmA, his rUpam is that all the AthmAs reside in him, his guNa is that he is the repository of all the auspicious qualities and his vibhUthi is that he is the lord of both leelA and nithya vibhUthi]. All these meanings are derived from the single word nArAyaNa. Just as the tribal people handover the fawn to their dependents [the hill tribal women], the AchArya hands over the Sishya to his dependents, the Sishyas already with him and tells them to enlighten the newly acquired Sishya. Just as the women feed the fawn with cotton roll, dipped in milk, the AchArya’s Sishyas enlighten the newly acquired disciple with nArAyaNa’s sauhardham [good heart, which is the equivalent of milk], through the last term [nArAyaNa] of thirumanthram, which is the cotton roll, and which is the essence of all the vEdhams. The term nArAyaNa is similar to the roll [of cotton]; its shortened meaning, the first syllable ‘a’ in the first term of thirumanthram, is the cotton [which is dipped in milk while feeding the fawn]. Thus, instructing the newly acquired disciple about nArAyaNa’s sauhardham and protecting him through nArAyaNa is the svApadhESam for the tribal people catching fawn and nurturing it through milk.
We shall next consider the 2nd pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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