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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Third Centum >> Ninth decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
thArkku iLandhambikku arasIndhu thaNdagam
nURRavaL soRkoNdu pOgi nudangidaich
chUrppaNagAvaich cheviyodu mUkku avaL
Arkka arindhAnaip pAdippaRa ayOdhdhikkarasanaip pAdippaRa
Word-by-Word Meanings
thArkku – for ruling over the country, wearing a garland [in olden days, kings wore garland while sitting on the throne]
iLa – not apt
thambikku – for [SrI rAma’s] brother, SrI bharathAzhwAn
arasu Indhu – offering the kingdom of bearing his [SrI rAma’s] divine sandals
nURRavaL sol koNdu – as per the words of kaikEyi, who had analysed
dhaNdagam – towards dhaNdaka AraNyam [forest]
pOgi – mercifully went
nudangu – quivering
idai – one, who had waist
sUrppaNagAvai – demon sUrpaNakhA [sister of demon rAvaNa]
seviyodu mUkku – ears and nose
avaL Arkka – such that she screamed
arindhAnai – sing about the one who sliced
(While it was iLaiya perumAL [lakshmaNa] who severed the ears and nose of sUrppaNakhA, the reason for saying that it was perumAL [SrI rAma] who severed, is following the accepted principle of “rAmasya dhakshinO bAhu:” (lakshmaNa is considered as the right hand of SrI rAma)]
ayOdhdhikku arasanai – sing about the one, who is the king of ayOdhyA.
Simple Translation
SrI bharathAzhwAn considered himself as not being fit to rule over, as the king [of ayOdhyA], wearing a garland. SrI rAma gave SrI bharathAzhwAn, his divine sandals, which bharatha kept on his head [as a crown]. SrI rAma went to the dhaNdaka forest, heeding to the words of kaikEyi, who had analysed her boons. There, he sliced the ears and nose of demon sUrpaNakhA, who had come in disguise, with her slender waist quivering. Sing about such SrI rAma. Sing about the one, who is the king of ayOdhyA.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
thArkku iLandhambikku arasu Indhu – sages vasishta et al as well as the key members of the court in ayOdhyA told SrI bharathAzhwAn “Emperor [dhaSaratha] has allowed you to be the king; perumAL too agreed to it. This country [of ayOdhyA] should not be without a king. You should wear the regal crown”. While there is a provision like this, SrI bharathAzhwAn, considering that ‘It is not known in our clan that while the elder brother is there, the younger one would wear the crown’ told them “I do not qualify for wearing the crown, donning a garland. When elder brother, SrI rAma is there, I have no right to be the king”. He refused their pleading and went to chithrakUtam, to bring back SrI rAma. SrI rAma gave him his divine sandals, in line with SrI bharathAzhwAn’s nature [of being a servitor].
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that AzhwAr meditates on the pAsuram “adinilai IndhAnai” [3.9.6] and continues with that. SrI bharathAzhwAn had countered the counsel of vasishta et al, to make him he king, by saying that none in his clan had donned the crown when the elder brother was there. In the open, royal court, he was angry with vasishta and refused to wear the crown. SrI rAma, by stating a principle, had made him to agree to his proposal of giving him his sandals and the kingdom which was befitting him [to rule ayOdhyA until SrI rAma returns, as his representative]. The term thAr also refers to the four divisions of the army [chariots, elephants, horses and foot-soldiers]. When the four divisions of the army requested him to don the garland and rule over them, he said a few words, with his heart getting softened [here, iLa stands for nenju iLagudhal, heart getting softened]. Alternatively, thAr would also refer to garland, and through that, it refers to the kingdom. iLandhambi refers to SrI bharathAzhwAn, who is directly the immediate younger brother of SrI rAma [ILam – young; thambi – younger brother].
dhaNdaga nURRavaL sol koNdu pOgi – kaikEyi analysed her boons which she had received from emperor dhaSaratha [at an earlier point of time] and told SrI rAma “We shall allow you to leave the kingdom and go to the forest”. Heeding her words, SrI rAma went to dhaNdaka AraNyam. In an earlier pAsuram [3.9.4] too, it was mentioned as “kURRuththAy sollak kodiya vanam pOna” [one who went to the cruel forest, heeding the words of kaikEyi, who was like yama, the lord of death]. It was only to heed her words that SrI rAma did not return to ayOdhyA, despite [eminent] people such as vasishta et al, who had gone with SrI bharathAzhwAn, pleading with him to return to ayOdhyA, but went ahead with dhaNdaka AraNyam.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that he went against the words of sages such as vasishta et al, his divine mothers and the people of the city of ayOdhyA, heeding the words of kaikEyi alone, who had analysed her boons and told him to go to the forest. The word pOgi would refer to going as well as to the person who is going. Heeding her words, he went not only to the forest that she had indicated, but further beyond [all the way to lankA].
nudangu idai … – since she [sUrpaNakhA] was driven by her lust, she hid her original form of a demon and took on the guise of a beautiful woman. [She came to panchavati] Displaying her beautiful form, with quivering waist, she told SrI rAma “You should accept me”. Pointing out sIthAp pirAtti, SrI rAma told sUrpaNakhA “She is there for us. You could go there”, pointing out to lakshmaNa. When she went to him, he told her “I am his servitor. It is better for you to go to him”. Becoming angry, due to their taunting, sUrpaNakhA took her original [demonic] form and tried to take sIthAp pirAtti with her. Sing about the one, who sliced her ears and nose. Though it was lakshmaNa who disfigured her with his sword, since lakshmaNa is said, as in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 34.14 “rAmasya dhakshiNObAhu:” (lakshmaNa is considered to be the right hand of SrI rAma], lakshmaNa was only the instrument and it was SrI rAma who was the doer.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that when sUrpaNakhA tried to abduct sIthAp pirAtti, knowing the signal from perumAL, lakshmaNa, considering himself as only the implement [carrying out the order of the doer, SrI rAma], sliced her ears and nose, such that she screamed and fled the place. Instead of saying aRuththAnai [one, who severed], the reason for saying arindhAnai [one, who sliced] is that during the time of slicing, the pain will not be felt. However, a few moments later, the pain will hit the person, severely. The term Arththal [as in avaL Arkka arindhAnai], could also mean pride. In this case, lakshmaNa sliced her ears and nose, even as sUrpaNakhA was looking at SrI rAma’s divine form, fulfilling her desire to imbibe his looks fully. Later, while recounting this incident to her brothers kara and dhUshaNa, she said, as in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 19.14 “tharuNau rUpa sampannau…” (They are youthful and good-looking). Regarding lakshmaNa acting as the implement for SrI rAma, while disfiguring her, this is fortified by the SlOkam in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 34.14 “rAmasya dhakshinObAhu:” (lakshmaNa is the right hand of SrI rAma). thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that this is not to be considered as sAmAdhikaraNyam but as sAyujyam [sAmAdhikaraNyam is one where the substrate is one, displaying different qualities, while sAyujya refers to two different entities, united with each other].
He says at the end, the following: The physical form will not distinguish aspects such as knowledge, power etc among those who have taken aprAkrutha forms [aprAkrutham refers to one which is different from the five elements seen in the universe, viz. sky, wind, fire, water and earth. Any entity seen in SrI vaikuNtam is aprAkrutham while any entity seen anywhere else, including brahma lOkam [abode of brahmA], rudhra lOkam [abode of Siva] etc is prAkrutham]. In other words, their knowledge, power etc will always shine and nothing can hide them. It is only with prAkrutha forms, that differences will be seen [since the prAkrutha form hides the knowledge of the entity, from knowing about emperumAn]. When differences are seen, at the time of getting a task done, when emperumAn has to impel someone to carry out the task, sAmAnAdhikaraNyam will be seen. Otherwise, it is only vaiyadhikaraNyam which will be seen [for example, when SrI rAma desires to slice the ears and nose of sUrppaNakhA, he will act through lakshmaNa, treating lakshmaNa as an implement of himself. However, when lakshmaNa carries out a task towards fulfilling his nature of a servitor to emperumAn, such as building a hermitage etc, he will be a separate entity carrying out the task. This is termed as vaiyadhikaraNyam].
ayOdhdhi … – Since SrI bharathAzhwAn did not wear the crown, and since SrI rAma had given his divine sandals to SrI bharathAzhwAn [as his representative], it is SrI rAma, who is considered as the king of ayOdhyA. The girl, who sings this pAsuram, implores her competitor to sing about such SrI rAma.
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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