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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> First decad
avathArikai
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says, in his svApadhESam, that AzhwAr, who had spoken of the deceitful army, in the previous pAsuram, proves it, in this pAsuram.
nAzhigai kURittuk kAththu ninRa arasargaLtham mugappE
nAzhigai pOgap padai porudhavan dhEvaki than siRuvan
Azhi koNdu anRu iravi maRaippach chayaththiradhan than thalaiyaip
pAzhil uruLap padai porudhavan pakkamE kaNdAr uLar
Word-by-Word Meanings
nAzhigai – time
kURu ittu – distributing
kAththu ninRa – those, who were protecting
arasargaL tham mugappE – in the presence of kings
nAzhigai – the day time of thirty nAzhigai [12 hours in present day counting of time]
pOga – to appear that it has passed
padai – with thiruvAzhi AzhwAn [divine disc]
porudhavan – one who fought
dhEvaki than – dhEvakip pirAtti’s
siRuvan – as son
anRu – on the day when they were protecting
Azhi koNdu – with the help of the divine disc
iravi – sUryan [sun]
maRaippa – as he hid
sayaththiradhan – jayadhrathan’s
thalaiyai – head
pAzhil – in a pit, in a desolate place
uruLa – to roll
padai – with his arrow
porudhavan – arjuna, who shot that arrow
pakkamE – there are people, who had seen [krishNa] by his [arjuna’s] side
Simple Translation
As the kings were distributing the time available, in standing guard [over jayadhrathan], to make it appear that the day time of 30 nAzhigais had passed, krishNa, the son of dhEvakip pirAtti, hid sun with the help of his divine disc, in the presence of the kings. arjuna, shot off an arrow and made the head of that jayadhrathan to roll in a pit, on a desolate place. There are people who had seen krishNa, beside arjuna.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
nAzhigai … – arjuna took a pledge “Before sunset I shall kill jayadhrathan”. In order to prevent that incident, jayadhrathan, who was taller than a normal person, was made to stand in a pit which had the height of a normal person. Kings [who were on the side of dhuryOdhana] distributed the available day time of 30 nAzhigais [one nAzhigai is 24 minutes] amongst themselves, taking turns in protecting jayadhrathan [until the time of sunset] such that no harm came his way.
nAzhigai pOgap padai porudhavan dhEvakip than siRUvan – to make it appear that the day time of 30 nAzhigais had passed, dhEvaki puthran carried out an act, with his weapon. nAzhigai pOgap padai porudhavan refers to hiding Adhithyan (sun] with his divine disc. This is explained further. In the previous pAsuram, just as it has been mentioned “thiruchchakkaram Endhu kaiyan uLLa idam vinavil” [if you ask as to where the entity, who holds the divine disc on his divine hand, is present], we have to say here “dhEvaki siRuvan… – uLLa idam vinavil”. The reason for this is that there should be a connection between the first part of the pAsuram and the second part.
Azhi koNdu anRu iravi maRaippa – on the day when they [the kings] were remaining, protecting jayadhrathan, in turns, to make it appear that the entire day time of thirty nAzhigais had passed, krishNa hid the sun, with the divine disc, who acts based on emperumAn’s thoughts.
jayadhrathan … – Saying “The sun has set” the kings lifted him from the pit and made him stand in the open. Immediately, the divine disc, which was hiding the sun, spreading darkness everywhere, moved out, exposing sun. arjuna immediately shot an arrow which severed jayadhrathan’s head and rolled it in a pit, in a desolate place [where jayadhrathan’s father was carrying out penance]. There are people who saw krishNa, beside arjuna, then. When sun, who is full of bright light, is hidden by the divine disc, will not the world be full of effulgent light [since the divine disc is highly effulgent, more than matching the splendour of a thousand suns]? How is it said that the word became dark? The light from the sun could be seen by the eyes, and since it has a limited light only, it would be enough to drive away darkness. On the other hand, the light from the divine disc could not be seen by the eyes directly [since it is that effulgent]. Due to that extreme splendour, it would make the eyes go dark [when we look at sunlight directly and look elsewhere, that place would appear dark]. While explaining periya thirumozhi pAsuram 5.7.8 “AzhiyAl anRU angu Azhiyai maRaiththAn” (one, who covered sun with his divine disc, during the mahAbhAratha war), this is how our pUrvAchAryars [preceptors] have mercifully said.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here, the following: How was the divine disc, which has a radiance which is much more than the radiance of sun etc not visible? The radiance for the divine disc is to take a form in line with the divine mind of emperumAn and to take a complexion which is apt for that form. For emperumAn, as mentioned in periya thiruvandhAdhi 26 “iruLanna mAmEni” (having a great divine form which appears as if darkness has taken a form), while taking a dark form is a distinguishing feature, taking different complexions for different yugams [epochs] is a normal feature, as seen in (1) thiruchchandha viruththam 44 “pAlin nIrmai sem pon nIrmai” (The whiteness of milk, the redness of gold, the freshness of green complexion seen on the outer side of moss and the dark complexion seen when beetles spread out their wings in the pond are seen in the divine forms of emperumAn who is the controller of the four epochs of krutha, thrEthA, dhvApara and kali, respectively); (2) periya thirumozhi 4.9.8 “munnai vaNNam pAlin vaNNam” (the physical beauty in krutha yugam will be milk’s complexion, that is white; the physical beauty in the subsequent thrEthA yugam will be reddish, like gold); (3) mUnRAm thiruvandhAdhi 56 “niRam veLidhu seydhu pasidhu karidhu” (If we try to analyse whether emperumAn’s complexion is whitish or reddish or greenish or blackish, we cannot know that, even a little bit); (4) mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 44 “thamar ugandhadhu evvuruvam” (emperumAn attains that form, which his followers desire). When emperumAn takes different forms with different complexions, at various points of time, for an entity [divine disc] who is constantly with him, is it difficult to take a complexion which emperumAn thinks of? While the radiance in prAkrutham [samsAram] will be seen in aprAkrutha lOkam [SrI vaikuNtam], it is difficult for aprAkrutha radiance to be seen in prAkrutha lOkam. When those who are there [in SrI vaikuNtam] come here [to samsAram], they could take any of the three complexions which emperumAn thinks of, in his divine mind. There will be no shortcoming in knowledge or power [for those entities]. Alternatively, there are people who say that excessive radiance of divine disc will cause darkness. Ocean, which is like chandhran [moon, came out of the ocean during the churning process], will appear dark, though chandhran has the quality of removing darkness. The pAsuram has to be transposed as follows, the get the sequential meaning:
nAzhigai kURittuk kAththu ninRa arasargaL tham mugappE nAzhigai pOga, Azhi koNdu anRu iravi maRaippach chayaththiradhan thalayaip pAzhil uruLap padai porudhavan ennum padi padai porudhavan pakkamE kaNdAr uLar.
We shall next consider the 9th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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