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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Fifth decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
ammaith thagangaN mada Aychchiyarum AnAyarum Aniraiyum
emmaich charaN enRu koL enRu irappa ilangu Azhikkai endhai eduththa malai
thammaich charaN enRa tham pAvaiyaraip punam mEyginRa mAn inam kANmin enRu
kommaip puyam kunRar silai kunikkum gOvarththanam ennum koRRak kudaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
am – being beautiful
mai – with decorative pigment
thadam – expansive
kaN – having eyes
madam – being obedient
Aychchiyarum – herd-women
An Ayarum – herd-men, who have protecting their cattle as their work
A niraiyum – herds of cattle
alaRi – calling with sadness, due to the harm wrought by rains
emmai – “us
saraN enRu – ‘would protect’ taking a vow
koL enRu – you should hold in your divine mind” saying so
irappa – as they prayed
ilangu – being splendorous
Azhi – divine disc
kai – holding in his divine hand
endhai – one, who is my lord
eduththa – who lifted (to protect them)
malai – mountain
thammai – them
saran enRa – took refuge, saying “You should protect us”
tham pAvaiyarai – their womenfolk
(looking at the eyes of those who are roaming on their dry lands)
punam mEyginRa – “grazing on our dry lands
mAn inam – herd of deer
kANmin – look”
enRu – pointing to one another
kommai – being round and huge
puyam – shoulders
kuRavar – tribal people, inhabiting hills
silai – bow
kunikkum – (aiming to launch arrows at those people) drawing, it is the victorious mountain called as gOvardhana.
Simple Translation
Herd-women, who had their broad, beautiful eyes decorated with black pigment, along with the herd-men, whose work is to protect their cattle, and the herds, called out to krishNa, being harmed by rains, praying “You should think in your divine mind ‘We shall protect them’” My swAmy, who has the splendorous divine disc on his divine hand, lifted the mountain, gOvardhana, to protect them. It is the mountain on which tribal hunters, who have firm, huge shoulders, to protect the womenfolk who took refuge under them, would point out to the deer which are roaming on their dry lands and tell their women folk “Look at them; they are the herd of deer which are out to destroy our dry lands”.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
ammaiththadam … – herd-women, as such, have beautiful eyes. On top of that, they have decorated their broad eyes with black pigment; they have a natural quality of being obedient to their men-folk
AnAyarum – herd-men, who protect their cattle
A niraiyum – cattle, which look up to them for their protection
alaRi – being troubled by the heavy rains, called out, just as it has been said in SrI vishNu purANam 5.11.13 “gOgOpI janasankulam thIvArtham” (when it rained heavily, herd-men, herd-women and herd were distressed).
emmaich charaN enRu koL enRu irappa – they prayed to krishNa, saying “You should assume the role of our protector, saying ‘We shall protect them’”
ilangAzhikkai endhai eduththa malai – My swAmy [lord], who has the splendorous divine disc, which reaches the place thought of by my lord [to destroy enemies], on his divine hand, lifted the mountain in order to protect us. The reason for mentioning here about the divine disc is – while he had the implement to sever the head of indhra [who troubled the herd-folk and the herd], he didn’t do that out of thinking “We had taken away his food; let us not take away his head too. He is our follower; due to his bewilderment, he has indulged in a wrongdoing. He will get clarity of mind”. This was mentioned here to indicate his simplicity in lifting the mountain such that the entities, dependent upon him for their protection, were not harmed.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that while krishNa had the splendorous, divine disc in his divine hand, with which he could have dried up the entire waters, pouring through the rain, due to his overflowing urge to protect his followers, he lifted the mountain. It is pertinent for chakraththAzhwAn (divine disc) to reach the place thought of by emperumAn, in order to destroy his enemies. endhai – it was only after krishNa lifted the mountain that the entities to be protected were considered as having been born. endhai – kAraNabhUthan, one who is the causative entity.
thammaich charaN enRa tham pAvaiyarai – their women folk, who have taken refuge under them [the tribal hunters] for their protection.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the women-folk are totally dependent on the men-folk among the tribal people; they took refuge under the men-folk.
punam mEyginRa mAn inam kANmin enRu – they told one another, pointing out to some people who were roaming around in their dry lands “Look at the herd of deer, which is destroying our dry lands”
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the tribal hunters tell their women “Stand here and look at us, making the deer, which are destroying our dry lands, to fall down with the grass still in their mouths”. The hunters, having firm, rounded shoulders, drew their bows, taking aim at the trespassers.
He says at the end that through this pAsuram, it is indicated that a Sishya [disciple, equivalent to the tribal lady] should not only attain an AchArya [equivalent to the tribal hunter], but should also take refuge under the AchArya’s affection, such that the AchArya thinks of the disciple as “He is ours”. AchArya instructs the disciple about matters unknown to the Sishya [about matters relating to emperumAn, SAsthrams etc]. It is not only that the Sishya has taken refuge under the AchArya, he also considers only the words of AchArya as apt to be considered. However, bhAhyas and kudhrishtis [these are people who do not believe in vEdhams and who misinterpret vEdhams, respectively] will try to harm the Sishya through their expertise in words [this is equivalent to those who roam around in the dry lands, trying to destroy the lands]. Just like the tribal men drive away such people through their arrows, AchArya will drive away these bhAhyas and kudhrushtis through references such as villibuththUr pagavar words “yUyam …” (We believe in emperumAn and SAsthrams while you people are different from us) and as said in thiruppallANdu 3 “engaL kuzhuvinil pugadhal ottOm (We will not allow you to people to enter our assembly). If they keep coming to harm the Sishyas, despite these, the AchArya will drive them away through the arrow of knowledge born out of dhAntha (ability to control the mind, senses etc) of the Sishya, which will lead the Sishya to carry out mangaLASAsanam to emperumAn [this is equivalent to the arrows let off by the tribal hunters on the trespassers].
kommaip puyak kunRar silai kunikkum – the tribal hunters, who have rounded, firm shoulders, taking aim at the trespassers, draw their bows.
gOvardhanam ennum koRRak kudaiyE – 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].
We shall next consider the 4th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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