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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Eighth decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
oru magaL thannai udaiyEn ulagam niRaindha pugazhAl
thirumagaL pOla vaLarththEn sengaN mAl thAn koNdu pOnAn
peru magaLAyk kudi vAzhndhu perum piLLai peRRa asOdhai
marumagaLaik kaNdu ugandhu maNAttuppuRam seyyum kolO
Word-by-Word Meanings
oru magaL thannai – only one girl
udaiyEn – I, who have
ulagam niRaindha – spread throughout the world
pugazhAl – with fame
thirumagaL pOla – like SrI mahAlakshmi
vaLarththEn – nurtured, affectionately
(such a girl)
sem kaN – having reddish eyes
mAl – kaNNan [krishNa], who has infatuation
thAn – himself
koNdu pOnAn – took her away
peru magaLAy – as a distinguished lady
kudi vAzhndhu – leading a familial life
peru piLLai – son, who is eminent
peRRa – one who begot
asOdhai – yaSOdhAp pirAtti
marumagaLaik kaNdu – looking at her daughter-in-law
ugandhu – feeling affectionate
maNAttuppuRam – to be carried out for the daughter-in-law
seyyum kol O – will she carry out the activities? Or, will she carry out whatever has to be carried out for life here, in a perfunctory manner?
Simple Translation
I, who have only one daughter, nurtured her affectionately, with her fame spreading throughout the world, like SrI mahAlakshmi. krishNa, who has reddish eyes and infatuation towards her, my daughter, took her away [from me], himself. Will yaSOdhAp pirAtti, who is leading a familial life as a distinguished lady, and who has sired an eminent son, feel happy with her daughter-in-law and carry out activities towards her, apt for her daughter-in-law or will she carry out perfunctory duties, in line with life on this earth?
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
oru magaL thannai udaiyEn – I have a daughter, who is unique. The term oru magal denotes a single daughter, the word thannai – denotes her eminence on account of her beauty etc, and the term udaiyEn denotes the eminence which the mother has, on account of having her as her daughter.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that the mother recounts the eminent manner in which she brought up her daughter. She says “My daughter is without any equivalent”. Through the word “thannai” she says that just as it has been mentioned of vEdhavyAsa as SukhathAtham [father of sage Sukha], apart from the clan in which the daughter was born, due to the completeness of qualities of the daughter, such as beauty etc, she [mother] became eminent.
ulagam niRaindha pugazhAl – the daughter had such a fame that all the people in the world, without any difference with regard to having significant knowledge or without any knowledge, praised her. recalling her qualities, from their respective place.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that starting with the controller of a little village and going beyond the controller of all the creations, just as she is called, as in SrI sUktham “sarvabhUthAnAm ISvari” (controller of all the entities), she has eminence beyond the nithyasUris. The daughter is like SrI mahAlakshmi, who has the pride of being the one who gives eminence to emperumAn, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 1.6.9 “thirumagaLAr thanikkELvan” (emperumAn has the eminence of the being the beloved consort of SrI mahAlakshmi, who is the best among women). Since there is no metaphor to be compared for one beyond SrI mahAlakshmi, the mother says that she brought up her daughter like SrI mahAlakshmi. However, SrI mahAlakshmi has shortcoming by way of her clan, whether it be samudhram (thiruppARkadal, or milky ocean) [since ocean did not immediately give way to SrI rAma when he surrendered to it, the king of oceans is not considered as eminent] or king janaka [when sIthAp pirAtti underwent all the tribulations, there was no help from king janaka; hence he too is not considered as eminent]. The mother, hence, says “oru magaL”.
thirumagaL pOla vaLarththEn – I nurtured my daughter such that she has equivalence with SrI mahAlakshmi, who is held as an example for distinction for all, who has the quality of purushakAram (recommendatory role, for acceptance of jIvAthmAs, with emperumAn), who is the most distinguished among all women, and who is mentioned, as in periya thirumozhi 3.7.9, as “kadi mAmalarp pAvai oppAL” (one who matches SrI mahAlakshmi, who resides on a very fragrant lotus flower).
sengaNmAl thAn koNdu pOnAn – emperumAn has naturally reddish eyes, as mentioned in chAndhOgya upanishad 1.6.7 “yathA kapyAsam puNdarIkam” ([emperumAn’s divine eyes have] the colour, which a blossomed lotus flower has, in the morning, under sunlight). On top of that, since he keeps looking at her [the daughter] constantly, without looking at any other entity, with infatuation, the divine eyes have become even more reddish. He has this infatuation as an identity for him. Instead of sending any messenger such as AthivAhikar [eminent entities who reside in vidhyuth lOkam, the land of lightning and who guide mukthAthmAs who proceed towards SrI vaikuNtam, by helping them to cross river virajA] or periya thiruvadi [garuda, emperumAn’s vehicle], he came himself to take my daughter with him, as mentioned in periya thirumozhi 3.7.1 “kaLvan kol” (Is he a thief?) An incident is narrated here by the vyAkyAthA of this prabandham, maNavALa mAmunigaL: when AzhwAn [kUraththAzhwAn] attained SrI vaikuNtam, unable to bear the separation, udaiyavar [rAmAnujar] famously said “oru magaL thannai udaiyEn”, “ulagam niRaindha pugazhAl thirumagaL pOla vaLarththEn”, “sengaN mAl thAn koNdu pOnAn” [same lines which are in this pAsuram]. SrI vishNu purANam 1.15.156 says “upamAnam aSEshANAm sAdhUnAm yassadhAbhavath” (he sired prahlAdhan, who was the metaphor always for all the wise people). Since kUraththAzhwAn was held as the metaphor for all wise people in the world, it was his fame which had spread throughout the world.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai adds further to the above-mentioned narration explained by maNavALa mAmunigaL. He quotes a few pAsurams from the divine works of AzhwArs to show that it was kUraththAzhwAn who had a fame which had spread throughout the world. The pAsurams quoted are: (1) thirumAlai 43 “sAdhi andhaNargaLElum” (even if it is a highly informed brAhmaNa, if he indulges in despising the followers of emperumAn, such a person would be considered as lowly) [kUraththAzhwAn corrected one of his disciples, piLLaip piLLai AzhwAn and made him to stop denigrating SrIvaishNavas]; (2) thirumAlai 7 “kalaiyaRakkaRRa mAndhar” (those who had learnt the deeper meanings of vEdhams and other sacred texts) [kUraththAzhwAn’s father, kUraththAzhwAr, himself praised kUraththAzhwAn as having learnt all the vEdhams and sacred texts]; (3) thiruvAimozhi 7.10.5 “palar adiyAr munbu aruLiya pAmbaNaip paLLiyappan” (one, who is reclining on AdhiSEshan, who showered his grace on me, in the presence of great followers) [this incident is about periya nambi, the AchAryan of rAmAnujar, who chose kUraththAzhwAn, as the one without any ahankAram or mamakAram (ego and possessiveness), ahead of all the others, for carrying out a specific task]; (4) irAmAnusa nURRandhAdhi 7 “mozhiyaik kadakkum perum pugazhAn” (one who has eminence which is beyond words, viz. indescribable) [kUraththAzhwAn had such eminence that it cannot be described through one’s words], and (5) “oRppAl karudhuvar” (people will analyse the supremely auspicious qualities of kUraththAzhwAn and consider him as befitting all the praise]. Thus, it is only kUraththAzhwAn who has fame which had spread throughout the world. thiruvAimozhip piLLai further says that the term lOkam is synonymous with SAsthram. Thus, kUraththAzhwAn’s fame is widely spoken of by SAsthram too.
perumagaLAyk kudi vAzhndhu – living a life as a distinguished lady, in the house. SrI nandhagOpar is the controller of the five lakh families in thiruvAyppAdi. Since she is his consort, she is referred to as perumagaL – distinguished lady. Just as he administers the town with affection, she administers the house, with affection. Hence, she is referred to as “kudi vAzhndhu” [living in the house].
perum piLLai peRRa asOdhai – one who gave birth to an eminent son. Since krishNa is fully complete with rUpaguNam [qualities of his divine form] and AthmaguNam [qualities of his divine soul], and since he has made people say of his mother “enna nOnbu nORRAL kolO ivanaip peRRa vayiRu udaiyAL” (What penance did the one, who gave birth to him, carry out?) he is referred to as perum piLLai, eminent son. She is a distinguished lady; the one, who she gave birth to, is also a distinguished son.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai adds here that yaSOdhAp pirAtti became eminent only after giving birth to krishNa.
marumagaLaik kaNdu ugandhu – being affectionate, after seeing her daughter-in-law. Even though the mother is sad that “He had taken her away” [about her daughter], since she has to identify her [daughter] with a relationship in the place where she has gone, she refers to her as [yaSOdhAp piAtti’s] daughter-in-law.
kaNdu ugandhu – Looking at the qualities of beauty etc of her daughter and infatuation [with krishNa], yaSOdhAp pirAtti should keep her daughter-in-law on her lap and feel happy, thinking “We have been fortunate to get such a person”.
maNAttuppuRam seyyum kolO – Will she carry out all the eminent activities with her, considering her as her daughter-in-law or will she do, without her heart in it, considering her to be one who “came on her own” in a perfunctory manner?
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the mother is wondering whether yaSOdhAp pirAtti will consider her daughter-in-law as an eminent person and decorate her with flowers, dresses etc, in a wholehearted manner, in line with the appropriate methods of her clan.
He says at the end that through this pAsuram, even if emperumAn takes away the AchAryan’s disciple [here, mother is AchAryan and daughter is disciple] who is obedient and unique, the AchAryan will forget about his loss and consider emperumAn’s benefit and loss, as his [AchAryan’s] benefit and loss. It is also apparent in this pAsuram that if the disciple leaves for SrI vaikuNtam, the divine consorts of emperumAn and eminent women there will accept the disciple.
We shall next consider the 5th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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