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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Fifth decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that this pAsuram celebrates the effortlessness in lifting the gOvardhana mountain.
kaduvAych china vem kaLiRRinukkuk kavaLam eduththuk koduppAnavan pOl
adivAy uRakkai ittu ezhap paRiththittu amarar perumAn koNdu ninRa malai
kadalvAych chenRu mEgam kavizhndhu iRangik kadhuvAyppada nIr mugandhu ERi engum
kudavAy pada ninRu pozhiyum gOvarththanam ennum koRRak kudaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
kadu – being cruel
vAy – having mouth
sinam – having fury
vem – being angry
kaN – having eyes
kaLiRRinukku – for an elephant
kavaLam – spheres of food
eduththu – gathering
koduppAn avan pOl – like the mahout [elephant keeper], who gives
adivAy – at the base of the mountain
uRa – such that it holds
kai – divine hand
ittu – keeping it below
ezha paRiththittu – uprooting
amarar perumAn – kaNNan, who is the head of dhEvas
koNdu ninRa – sustaining
malai – mountain
mEgam – clouds
kadal vAy senRu – going to the ocean
iRangi – alighting on its shore
kavizhndhu – staying, upside down
kadhuvAy pada – (ocean) floor becoming exposed
nIr – all the water present [in the ocean]
mugandhu – taking it
ERi – climbing on to the sky
engum – in all the places
kudavAyppada ninRu – remaining, with water pouring out of a pot full of water when inverted
mazhai pozhiyum – it is the victorious mountain gOvardhanam, on which rain pours
Simple Translation
Just as a mahout (caretaker of an elephant) gives food, by rolling it into spheres, to the elephant which has a cruel mouth, which is in full fury and which has reddish eyes, krishNa, the head of nithyasUris, uprooted the gOvardhana mountain by keeping his divine hand under the base of the mountain. He seized it and held it. Clouds go to an ocean, alight on its shore, imbibe the entire water from the ocean such that its floor could be seen, rise up with the imbibed water and pour it everywhere, like a pot of water pouring it out, when it is inverted.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
kadu vAych china vengaN kaLiRRinukku – for the elephant which had a cruel mouth, anger and eyes which were spitting fire
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the term kaduvAy refers to the elephant having the trumpeting sound and speed, which an elephant has. vengaN refers to eyes which were like lightning, and which were fiery like cloud having fire around it, coming from lightning.
kavaLam eduththuk koduppAn avan pOl – like the mahout, who rolls food in his hands and feeds the elephant. Through this, cloud has been placed in the status of elephant, mountain has been placed in the status of food and krishNa, who lifted the mountain has been compared to the mahout, who feeds the elephant. The reason for comparing the elephant to cloud is due to its equivalence with the elephant. We could recall nAchchiyAr thirumozhi pAsuram 8.9 “madha yAnai pOl ezhundha mAmugilgAL” (Oh, the great clouds who have risen like the elephant in exultation). Since the pAsuram says kaduvAych china vengaN kaLiRu, it is clear that it appears to be in exultation. This is explained as follows: kaduvAy – the elephant has a cruel mouth through which it was raising its trumpeting sound, and it also indicates its anger. The term vengaN refers to eyes which are spitting fire. These features are noticeable in the cloud too. It will raise a clattering sound, which will frighten those who hear it; it will pour [rains] obstinately. Just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 9.7.5 “thI vaLaiththu minnilagum” (Oh, clouds which are having increased beauty due to the presence of lightning which is like a ring of fire carried around!), it has the ring of fire brought about by lightning around it; due to its darkness, its huge form and height, it could be said that it looks like an “elephant in exultation” to those who see it.
adivAy uRakkai ittu ezhap paRiththittu – krishNa thrust his one divine hand under the base of the mountain, kept his other divine hand on top of the mountain and uprooted it.
amarar perumAn koNdu ninRa malai – the entity who is the lord of the indefatigable nithyasUris, appearing as if he was without help from anyone, lifted and held the mountain, on his own.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that amarar perumAn refers to emperumAn being the head of nithyasUris. Alternatively, the term amarar would refer to celestial entities and amarar perumAn would refer to their lord, indhra. However, since indhra has now become inimical, emperumAn changed his [indhra’s] name and assumed indhra’s name for himself.
kadalvAych chenRu mEgam kavizhndhu iRangi – clouds, going to the ocean, alighted near the shore of the ocean and inverted themselves [with their mouths close to the ocean and their backs, pointing to the sky].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the clouds descended on the ocean and sucked in water, like an extremely thirsty person, and rose up the sky. Since indhra, in anger, had ordained them to carry out a task, they rose up the sky to carry it out; since it was a fiery rain, all the places where they poured became hot.
kadhuvAyp pada nIr mugandhu ERi – the term kadhuvAyppada refers to having a shortage. Through this, it is hinted that the clouds sucked in the entire water available with the ocean, such that the ocean felt that there was a shortage of water with it, and rose up in the sky. Alternatively, kadhuvudhal would refer to seizing with the mouth. In other words, having an affectionate mouth, and just as mentioned in thirunedundhANdagam 24 “perum pauvam maNdi uNda” (entering the great ocean and sucking out the entire water from it), the cloud took in all the water from the ocean such that the ocean became hard floor, and rose up in the sky.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai adds here that the term kadhu could be considered as a modification of the samaskrutha term krathu, which means a ceremony or ritual, and the clouds poured out water such that it was flowing fully, as at the end of a ceremony.
engum kudavAyp pada ninRu mazhai pozhiyum – just like a pot, when inverted, pours out the entire water held in it, the clouds remained for seven days and poured rains.
gOvarththanam 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].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says at the end, the following explanation for the verse kadalvAych chenRu mEgam kavizhndhu iRangik kadhuvAyppada nIr mugandhu ERi – just as the cloud descends onto the ocean and takes in water from it, great entities, such as our AchAryas [preceptors], also descended to the ocean of samsAram and carried out all activities which are befitting samsAram, without any taste in it. Instead of getting caught in the quagmire of samsAram, they ascend [to SrI vaikuNtam], without being affected by the faults seen in samsAram. Just as vibhIshaNa, after spending considerable length of time in lankA, left it and went up the sky [anthariksha gatha: SrImAn] while approaching SrI rAma, these AchAryas too, rise up. Similar to the clouds gathering only pure water from the salty ocean and distributing that good water to everyone, the AchAryas too, without considering the lowliness of samsAram, take up the good features from it [such as AchAram, anushtAnam, nithyAnusandhAnam, nithya thiruvaradhanam etc, which are respectively good conduct, carrying out such activities, reciting hymns which are to be recited daily, carrying out divine worship to emperumAn] and spread those to their disciples. They realise that they are fully dependent on emperumAn and instruct their disciples too accordingly. This is carried out as an example to lOka sangraham [the people at large, as a whole]. Just as the cloud carries the water for some time before giving it to others, the AchAryas too carry out the anushtAnams while instructing their disciples. Clouds were expected to help others. However, the clouds were harming the followers of krishNa [herd, and herd-folk]. This is because of its anyaSEshathvam [being dependent on others, instead of on emperumAn]. The reason for this [being anyaSEshathvam] is because in the previous yugam [during SrI rAmAvathAram], it had gone against the order of SrI rAma [when SrI rAma surrendered to the ocean for giving way for his army of monkeys to cross the ocean and reach lankA], it did not give way. The result in this yugam is that it became dependent on indhra.
We shall next consider the 5th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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