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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Fifth decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that AdhiSEshan’s action of supporting the earth, became fruitful now [AzhwAr wanted to quote a simile for krishNa holding gOvardhana mountain; today, he quoted this as an example and thus, AdhiSEshan’s activity bore fruit today].
padangaL palavum udaip pAmbu araiyan padar bUmiyaith thAngik kidappavan pOl
thadangai viral aindhum malara vaiththuth thAmOdharan thAngu thada varai than
adangach chenRu ilangaiyai Idazhiththa anuman pugazh pAdith tham kuttangaLaik
kudangaik koNdu mandhigaL kaN vaLarththum gOvarththanam ennum koRRak kudaiyE
Word-by-Word Meanings
padangaL pala udai – having many hoods (in the term palavum, the syllable um does not have any specific meaning; it is there for the metrics)
pAmbu araiyan – one, who is the king of snakes
padar – being expansive
bUmiyai – earth [here, the term earth refers to the entire universe]
thAngik kidappavan pOl – just as remaining, supporting through his heads
thada – having space
kai viral aindhum – five fingers on the divine hand
malara vaiththu – spreading them out
dhAmOdharan – one who is called as ‘dhAmOdharan’
thAngu – standing, supporting
thada – huge
varai thAn – the mountain
senRu – attaining, through the path of sky
ilangaiyai – lankA
adanga – fully
Idazhiththa – destroyed
anuman – hanuman’s
pugazh – eminence
mandhigaL – female monkeys
pAdi – singing
tham – their
kuttangaLai – baby monkeys
kudangai – on their palms
koNdu – lifting
kaN vaLarththum – caressing them and putting them to sleep, occurs on gOvardhana mountain.
Simple Translation
AdhiSEshan, who is the king of snakes and who has many hoods, supports the earth through his heads. Similar to that, dhAmOdharan [krishNa] spreads his five divine fingers and supports the huge mountain, gOvardhana. This is the victorious mountain where female monkeys sing the praise of hanuman when he reached lankA through the path of sky and destroyed the city of lankA. The monkeys support their little ones on their palms, caressing them and putting them to sleep.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
padangaL … – like nAgarAjan [king of snakes, referring to AdhiSEshan] who has many heads, supports the expansive universe, through his heads
thadam kai viral aindhum malara vaiththu – [krishNa] spreading out his fingers which are present on his expansive divine hand
dhAmOdharan thAngu thada varai than – krishNa was simple enough to be tied down [to a mortar] and beaten up by a person [yaSOdhAp pirAtti], who had no strength. He also acted as if he were without any strength to break free from that binding. It was the same krishNa who held aloft the huge mountain, gOvardhana. The mountain was such huge in its area that all the people living in the five lakh houses inside thiruvAyppAdi, along with their cattle and calves, could take shelter under it. The term thAn [as in thada varai thAn] signifies the weight of the mountain, the trees which have grown on it, all the animals which were inhabiting it and all the people who were dwelling in it.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, additionally, here that AdhiSEshan, who supports all the universe from down below, is a jIvAthmA, in whom AdhiSEshan has applied his strength. This jIvAthmA has attained this status through his previously acquired puNya palam [fruit of his virtues], emperumAn’s ordainment and his [emperumAn’s] support. Unlike that case, emperumAn’s five fingers on their own held the mountain aloft [there is no need for any of the three features which the jIvAthmA, in whom AdhiSEshan had pervaded, had].
adangach chenRu ilangaiyai Idazhiththa – lankA was a place which could not be easily entered into by anyone on account of the three protections which it had [protection through ocean, protection through forest and protection through mountains], the boons which had been granted to rAvaNa by celestial entities as well as rAvaNa’s strength of [his] shoulders. It could not be destroyed by anyone. It was such a place that hanuman, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 10.2.6 “OdhamA kadalaik kadandhu ERi” (going past the huge ocean with belligerent waves), reached and destroyed as mentioned in the same periya thirumozhi pAsuram 10.2.6 “uyar koL mAkkadikAvai iRuththu” (destroying the huge aSOkavanam, which was distinguished and fragrant). Singing the praises of such hanuman…
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that hanuman made some people in lankA to engage with him in a fight, he annihilated some in the fight, he made some people to come under his control through fear, using his strength in a just manner, through his quality of forgiving, through his power of speech. All these, which are SrI rAma kainkaryam [servitude to SrI rAma] brought him fame. This is termed as anuman pugazh [hanuman’s eminence]. Just as it has been mentioned in the dhyAna SlOkam of SrI rAmAyaNam “ullanka sindhO: gOshpadha krutha vA rAsIm” [hanuman crossed the ocean through a jump, making the ocean as the water under a cow’s hoof], every act of hanumAn’s brought him fame.
tham kuttangaLai – their respective little monkey. Instead of saying kutty [little one], the reason for saying kuttan is due to affection.
kudangaik koNdu – keeping them on their palms
mandhigaL kaN vaLarththum – mandhi – female monkey; the female monkeys will caress their little ones and put them to sleep [recounting the eminence of hanumAn].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai raises a query here. While many people had carried out servitude to SrI rAma, what is distinguishing about hanuman? Also, when female monkeys tell their younger ones about the eminence of their ancestors, instead of speaking about the king of monkeys [sugrIva], why are they speaking about a servitor, hanuman? He explains this saying that hanuman’s service was nishkAraNAya [without any underlying reason]. While hanuman brought others to carry out servitude to SrI rAma, he did not need a reason for doing that. emperumAn’s anugraham [mercy] brought him to emperumAn. In periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 3.3.7, AzhwAr had said “anganam AvargaLE” [those who carry out harmful acts against my son will die like that]. Why is he now praising hanuman, when hanuman had destroyed life and properties? thiruvAimozhip piLLai says that activities which bring auspiciousness to emperumAn are eminent ones for AzhwAr. Thus, he praises hanuman’s activities. Just as AzhwAr says in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4th centum “puLLaraiyan pugazh kuzhaRum” [birds will speak about the eminence of garuda, the king among birds], he says here that female monkeys tell their young ones about the eminence of hanuman and put them to sleep. If a person attains his AchArya and carries out servitude without any shortcoming, those born in that person’s lineage, those who live in the place where that person stayed, those who live in the place where he went, all these persons are acceptable to AzhwAr. The term kaN vaLarththum indicates that the AchArya tells his disciples the manner in which he was nurtured by his AchArya, viz. varying out servitude to emperumAn and his followers. He says that this is termed as mArbil kaivaiththu uRangap prApthi [in our sampradhAyam, we do not engage in protecting ourselves. We leave our protection in the hands of emperumAn and sleep without any worry about our protection]. In the same way, the female monkeys put their younger ones to sleep by recounting about the eminence of the person in their ancestors [hanuman] who was involved in servitude to emperumAn. AchAryas instruct their disciples about thyaja, vraja and mA Sucha: [All these three terms come from bhagavath gIthA 18.66, thyaja – refers to giving up taking efforts on our own to attain emperumAn, vraja refers to taking refuge under emperumAn [alone] and mA Sucha: refers to not grieving]. This nirbharathva anusandhAna paryantham [completely leaving aside our protection] is the essence of the term kaN vaLarththum.
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].
We shall next consider the 8th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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