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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> Third decad
avathArikai
There is no specific avathArikai for this pAsuram.
palapala nAzham sollip pazhiththa sisupAlan thannai
alaivalaimai thavirththa azhagan alangAran malai
kulamalai kOlamalai kuLir mAmalai koRRa malai
nilamalai nINda malai thirumAlirum sOlai adhE
Word-by-Word Meanings
kulam malai – as the chief mountain of the clan of servitors
kOlam malai – being a beautiful mountain
kuLir – being cool
mA – having eminence
malai – as the mountain
koRRam malai – being victorious mountain
nilam malai – mountain, having the characteristics of soil to enable growth of trees etc
nINda malai – mountain, which is tall, it is that thirumAlirum sOlai only.
palapala nAzham – many types of faults
solli – saying, to the satisfaction of his mouth
pazhiththa – one, who calumniated
sisupAlan thannai – SiSupAlan
alaivalaimai thavirththa – one, who removed his alaivalaimai and protected him
(alaivalaimai refers to speaking, without looking at the eminence of the person standing in front, whatever comes to one’s mind) (During the last moments of SiSupAlan, krishNa manifested his beauty to him such that SiSupAlan was transformed, thus removing the quality of his ‘speaking as he pleased’ attitude, and protected him)
azhagan – having beauty
alangAran – one, who also has decorations, dwells
malai – the divine mountain.
Simple Translation
SiSupAlan reviled krishNa by heaping many faults on him, as he pleased, without considering krishNa’s eminence. krishNa removed SiSupAlan’s fault of heaping faults on him and protected him. thirumAlirum sOlai is the divine mountain where that krishNa, who has beauty and has decorated himself, resides. It is the chief mountain for the clan of servitors, it is beautiful, cool, eminent, victorious and tall mountain.
vyAkhyAnam (Commentary)
(Translator’s note: thiruvAImozhip piLLai has extensively analysed the feature where emperumAn had manifested his divine form to SiSupAlan, just before annihilating him, and had granted him refuge. He concludes that though emperumAn had granted refuge to SiSupAlan, even emperumAN will not create Athma guNams to a jIvAthmA; these have to be nurtured in a disciple by an AchAryan only. Hence, the translation for this pAsuram is being split into two parts, with the first part [this part], being based on maNavALa mAmunigaL’s vyAkhyAnam and the next part, based on thiruvAimozhip piLLai’s svApadhEsam)
pala pala … – SiSupAlan, kept reviling krishNa, by heaping many faults upon him. Since the faults, which he charged krishNa with, are not apt to be recounted by a follower of emperumAn, the pAsuram says “nAzh” – faults. Since there is no count for those faults, the pAsuram says palapala, many. Instead of thinking about those in his heart, since he spoke about them, the pAsuram says solli. nammAzhwAr said in thiruvAImozhi 7.5.3 ”kEtpAr sevisudu kIzhmai vasavugaLE vaiyum” (SiSupAlan used harsh words and scolded krishNa, which burnt the ears of even those, who were desirous of hearing defects about bhagavAn). In other words, if one were paid to scold bhagavAn, the words used were such that even the person, who paid for such an event, would have his ears burnt [The words were such fiery]. nammAzhwAr had given the reason too, for such a behaviour on SiSupAlan’s part – “sEtpAl pazham pagaivan” (age-old enemy, from distant past). In other words, starting with the birth of hiraNya, further being born as rAvaNa, it has become the habit for SiSupAlan to keep reviling emperumAn, due to that old enmity. There is no limit to the unfavourable acts indulged in by him, in each of his births. The words “old enmity” recalls the excess of time and the excess of unfavourable activities which he had indulged in. It is this old enmity which had caused him to revile emperumAn like this in this birth too. It is due to these cruel words and deeds that AzhwAr says SiSupAlan thannai instead of merely saying SiSupAlan, to emphasise the cruelty.
alavalaimai thavirththa azhagan – In the last moments of SiSupAlan, by manifesting his beauty, emperumAn changed SiSupAlan’s hatred towards him, thus removing his nature of alaivalaimai [speaking as he pleases, without considering the place and the eminence of the person who he is reviling], protecting him in the bargain.
alangAran malai – it is the divine mountain, where the one, described above, and who has decorated himself right from his divine crown to his divine feet, dwells forever.
kulamalai – It is the chief mountain for the clan of servitors. It is the beautiful mountain, for azhagar and for those, who have attained it, to enjoy continuously.
kuLir mAmalai – Due to its coolness, it removes the heat caused in the protector, who is unable to get those to be protected as well as in the protected, who are unable to get the protector.
koRRa malai – It is the victorious mountain, which protects those who attain it, by ensuing that samsAram [materialistic realm] does not surround them.
nilamalai – Instead of being merely rocks and stones, it gives space for nithyasUris and mumukshus to take the form of flowers, fruits as well as trees to offer to emperumAn, and to pray to emperumAn that they should become these entities.
nINda malai – It is such tall that it forms a contiguous path from samsAram to paramapadham, without any gap. It is thirumAlirum sOlai malai, which is like these.
We shall next consider the 2nd pArt of this pAsuram.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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