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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Tenth decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that AzhwAr mentions about the first incident in this pAsuram.
neRindha karum kuzhal madavAy nin adiyEn viNNappam
seRindha maNi mudichchanagan silai iRuththu ninaik koNarndha
aRindhu arasu kaLai katta arundhavaththOn idai vilangach
cheRindha silai kodu thavaththaich chidhaiththadhum Or adaiyALam
Word-by-Word Meanings
neRindha – being dense
karu – being black
kuzhal – having locks
madavAy – Oh, pirAtti, who is quivering, due to separation from perumAL!
nin – to your highness
adiyEm – my, the servitor’s
viNNappam – appeal is
seRindha – tightly packed
maNi – embedded with the nine gemstones
mudi – donning the crown
sanagan – king janaka
silai – bow, which was kept as the wager for marriage
iRuththu – snapping
ninai – your highness
koNarndhadhu – that he [perumAL] was taking, after marriage
aRindhu – after knowing
arasu – twenty-one generations of wicked kings
kaLai katta – as one, who de-weeded
aru – impossible to perform for anyone
thavaththOn – paraSurAman, who carried out penance
idai – in the middle
vilanga – as he stopped
seRindha – apt, to remove his vanity
silai kodu – with the bow
thavaththai – his penance
sidhaiththadhum – removing it
Or adiyALam – is an indication (for your highness to know this servitor, who is a servitor of perumAL)
Simple Translation
Oh, pirAtti, who has dense, black locks and who is quivering on account of separation from perumAL! Please listen to the appeal of this servitor. SrI rAma had snapped the bow, which king janaka, who dons a crown studded with densely packed nine gems, had kept as a wager for marrying your highness. After hearing this, paraSurAma, who had weeded out twenty-one generations of wicked kings and who has strength of penance, which is impossible for anyone to carry out, stopped SrI rAma, in the middle of his journey [to ayOdhyA]. Taking the bow, which was apt for ridding that paraSurAma of his vanity, SrI rAma removed the power of paraSurAma’s penance. This is one of the indications for you to believe this servitor, who is a servitor of that SrI rAma.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
neRindha kuzhal madavAy – Oh, one who as dense, dark locks and who is quivering on account of separation from perumAL! The eminence for locks is that they should be curled and soft, unlike elephant grass, which is stiff and straight, and that the locks should be dark until the end [which, usually is below the waist]. This describes the locks of pirAtti, as they were in the past. At the moment, her locks appear, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam, sundhara kANdam 15.25 “neela nAga AbhayA vENyA jaghanam gathayaikayA” (with the radiance of a single, black serpent, reaching the hinder part), with a single plait, reaching her back. While she had the right to be together with her consort, perumAL, and feel proud, since she had been separated from him, due to her sorrow, she is now quivering. hanuman, looking at this, calls her as madavAy. Alternatively, madappam [the root word for madavAy] would also refer to not letting go of that which has been grasped. In pirAtti’s case, while she is here [in aSOka vanam, a long distance] away from emperumAn, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 15.52 “asya dhEvyAmanas thasmin” [the divine mind of sIthAp pirAtti is engaging only with SrI rAma pirAn], she is continuing to think of only SrI rAma and her mind is not involving in anything else.
nin adiyEn viNNappam – since hanuman is a servitor of SrI rAma, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 42.35 “dhAsO’ham kOsalEndhrasya” (I am the servitor of SrI rAma, the king of kOsala dhESam), as soon as he became the servitor of SrI rAma, he became the servitor of sIthAp pirAtti too; to emphasise this, he says of himself as the servitor of sIthAp pirAtti. Through this, it is implied that your highness [addressing pirAtti] should listen to the appeal of this servitor.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that when one says a word, one has to stand at a lower level and say it. SrI rAma himself had told sage viSvAmithra, after the annihilation of thAtakA and subAhu that he, along with lakshmaNa, are the sage’s servitors and that he [the sage] could order them to carry out any activity, which they will do willingly. Later, while introducing SrI rAma to hanuman, lakshmaNa had told him, as in SrI rAmAyaNam kishkindhA kANdam 4-18 “sugrIvam nAtham ichchathi” (SrI rAma is willing to accept sugrIva as his lord) that SrI rAma will accept sugrIva as his lord. Just as thirumangai AzhwAr had said in periya thirumozhi 2.2.3 “innAr thUdhan” (krishNa said proudly that he is the messenger of pANdavas), hanuman said that he is the servitor to make sIthAp pirAtti to believe him firmly.
seRindha maNi mudich chanagan silai iRuththu – king janaka had a crown, embellished with gemstones, which were closely placed. He had kept a bow as a wager for anyone to draw it and tie the cord, in order to marry his daughter, sIthAp pirAtti. While there was none in the world, even to draw the bow, as soon as SrI rAma took it and drew it, even before he could tie the cord, being unable to sustain the power of his divine hand, the bow broke into two pieces.
ninaik koNarndhadhu aRindhu – looking at the valour of SrI rAma, king janaka said, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 73.24 “iyam sIthA mama suthA sahadharmacharIthava l prathIchchainAm bhadhranthE pANim gruhNIshva pANinA” (This sIthA, is my daughter. She is apt to be with you when you engage with righteous activities. Accept her. Let auspicious events happen to you. Hold her hand, with your hand) told SrI rAma to hold her hand. Hearing the information about SrI rAma marrying you …
arasu kaLai katta arundhavaththOn idai vilanga – paraSurAma had weeded out wicked kings for twenty-one generations and he had carried out penance which none could carry out. While SrI rAma was proceeding, after his marriage, to ayOdhyA, paraSurAma stopped him, on the way and told him “Check the strength of my bow and then proceed”. The term vilanga is a transformation of vilakka – to stop.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that paraSurAma spoke a few words, which crossed the limit [of forbearance] to SrI rAma [while asking SrI rAma to prove his ability by drawing the bow, which was with paraSurAma]. When paraSurAma tried to prevent SrI rAma from proceeding further, just as it has been said in bhagavath gIthA 16.19 “kshipAmi” (I push them into low births), SrI rAma removed the power of paraSUrAma’s penance, thus making him unable to enjoy that power. kaLai katta would also refer to killing.
seRindha … – while it was a bow taken from the hands of paraSurAma, the bow fitted better, on the divine hands of SrI rAma, it being the bow of vishNu. With that bow, SrI rAma removed the strength of paraSurAma’s penance. Instead of saying “thavaththaich chidahiththadhu adaiyALam” (removing the penance was identification), since hanuman said “thavaththaich chidhaiththadum Or adiyALam” (removing the penance was an identification), it appears that hanuman has decided to point out to several other identifications for pirAtti to believe in him. He has to keep saying until her doubt is removed.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the bow was very distinguished in the retinue of emperumAn’s divine weapons, as mentioned in thiruppallANdu 12 “SArngamennum villANdAn” (emperumAn, who controls the divine bow, SrI SArngam). This is one of the identifications [for sIthAp pirAtti to believe that hanuman is indeed SrI rAma’s servitor]. Just as krishNa kept telling arjuna “mA sucha:” [do not grieve] until arjuna stopped grieving, hanuman too has to repeatedly point out to various identifications, until sIthAp pirAtti’s doubt was cleared.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says at the end that when svarUpAvESam [emperumAn entering a jIvAthmA , giving his powers to that jIvAthmA] meets the most distinguished emperumAn, it cannot stand upright before emperumAn. Once the purpose of that AvESam has been completed, emperumAn himself removes the results of the penance of that jIvAthmA, making that jIvAthmA to experience the results of past deeds [since the base is a jIvAthmA, in which emperumAn has pervaded with his powers, once the purpose for which he had pervaded has been accomplished, the jIvAthmA has to spend the remaining years, experiencing the results of its past deeds]. emperumAn also manifests the eminence for the svarUpAvESam [in this case, standing against emperumAn himself]. The difference between the most distinguished emperumAn and the ordinary svarUpAvESam will be clearly known only if it is demonstrated through an activity, as in this case.
We shall next consider the 2nd pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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