SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: Sri varavaramunayE nama:
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> Eighth decad
avathArikai
AzhwAr says that SrIrangam is the abode, where, one, who annihilated rAvaNa [demon] and who mercifully protected the worlds, lives.
peruvarangaL avai paRRip pizhakkudaiya irAvaNanai
uruvarangap porudhu azhiththu ivvulaginaik kaN peRuththAn Ur
kuravarumbak kOngu alarak kuyil kUvum kuLir pozhil sUzh
thiruvarangam enabadhuvE en thirumAl sErvidamE
Word-by-Word Meanings
kuravu – kuravu tree [fragrant type of tree; also known as bottle-flower tree]
arumba – to blossom
kOngu – a type of tree [a kind of cotton tree]
alara – to bud
kuyil – cuckoos
kUvum – as they call out, with joy
kuLri – being cool
pozhil – by gardens
sUzh – SrIrangam, which is surrounded like this
peru – huge
varangaL avai – boons, granted by brahmA et al
paRRi – considering as his strength
pizhakku udaiya – harming celestial entities and sages as his nature
irAvaNan – rAvaNa’s
uru – physical form
aranga – to be blown to smithereens
porudhu – engaging in a war with him
azhiththu – destroying him, with brahmAsthram
i ulaginai – this world
kaN peRuththAn – as one who protected
en – my
thirumAl – divine consort of SrI mahAlakshmi
sErvu idam – where he attains, desirously
Ur – divine abode
Simple Translation
SrIrangam is surrounded by cool gardens where the flowers of kurava tree blossom and the flowers of kOngu tree bud, and where cuckoos are calling joyously. After receiving boons from entities such as brahmA et al, rAvaNa, the demon, considered that they would protect him always and harmed celestial entities and sages. emperumAn engaged in a battle with that rAvaNa, and blew his physical form to smithereens, destroying his physical form with brahmAsthram and protected the world. SrIrangam is the divine abode attained desirously by such emperumAn, the divine consort of mahAlakshmi.
vyAkhyAnam
peruvarangaL avai paRRi – considering the boons which he had received from entities such as brahmA et all, as his strength; this was the reason for his harming and destroying others.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that rAvaNa took refuge under the boons granted to him by brahmA et al, thinking that no harm could come his way till those boons remain with him, as result of which he started harming celestial entities et al. rAvaNa is the exact opposite of the etymology for SrI rAma “ramayathIthi rAma:” (one, who makes others happy)
pizhakkudaiya iurAvaNanai – he thought “Until we have these boons, none will destroy us” and indulged in transgressions against celestial entities, sages et al. pizhakku – misdemeanour. He is aptly called as rAvaNa, since he was harming all the people in the world, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam uththara kANdam 34.1 “rAvaNOlOkarAvaNa:” (he is called as rAvaNa since he made all the worlds to cry [rAvaNa – one, who makes others cry])
uruvarangap porudhazhiththu – when annihilating such rAvaNa, instead of thinking “A difficult-to-obtain entity has been caught; let us kill him immediately”, SrI rAma dismembered his shoulders and his heads, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 1.6.7 “thOLgaL thalai thuNi seydhAn” (one, who destroyed twenty shoulders and ten heads), engaging in a playful fight with rAvaNa, making his limbs to get blown to pieces.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that as a precursor to disfiguring rAvaNa, SrI rAma destroyed rAvaNa’s sons and relatives. Also, he made rAvaNa to remain standing in the battle, without any armaments, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 59-140 ”chachAla chApam cha mumOcha vIra:” (the valorous one, who dropped his bow and stumbled) as a valorous one without any armament, with the expectation if he[rAvaNa] would, at the least now, carry out what he [SrI rAma] desired. Hence, SrI rAma told rAvaNa “Go back to your palace now and come tomorrow”. Since he did not return in the same manner in which he went to his palace [empty handed, without any armament or chariot, and seek refuge under SrI rAma], SrI rAma disfigured him. The term aranga refers to losing [rAvaNa lost his physical form]. thiruvAimozhip piLLai raises a question here: Even though rAvaNa had indeed carried out a heinous act [of abducting pirAtti], is it proper on the part of SrI rAma to fight with the one, who he had let go of, the previous day, and to kill him? He gives the response himself, to that query, as follows: SrI rAma knew that being a coward [rAvaNa had abducted sIthAp pirAtti when neither SrI rAma nor lakshmaNa was present to protect her], rAvaNa would not return to the battlefield, expecting to be victorious. For perumAL too, killing rAvaNa is not an act of auspicious quality. When SrI rAma engaged furiously with rAvaNa [after rAvaNa started raining his arrows on hanuman], he made rAvaNa to lose all his accompaniments such as his chariot, his horses, his weapons etc and told him, victoriously, to leave the battlefield and return. He expected rAvaNa to come the next day, fall at his feet and seek refuge. However, since rAvaNa did not do that even after having been provided an opportunity, SrI rAma dismembered rAvaNa and killed him, ultimately.
ivvulaginaik kaN peRuththAn – one, who protected this world. The term kaN refers to the entity who controls. SrI rAma became the protector of the world after annihilating the enemy rAvaNa and protecting all the creatures who were harmed by that rAvaNa.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that when the people of lankA feared for their safety [after rAvaNa was killed], he created a protector for them [himself]. He removed the enemy for all the worlds, and offered himself as the protector for all. [SrIrangam is] the divine abode for that perumAL. Alternative meaning: kaN refers to the eye. For those who do not see him, there is no eye, as mentioned in the verse in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 17.14 “yaScha rAmam na paSyEth” [the one who did not get to see SrI rAma]. Even for the one, who has seen SrI rAma, the eyes will not be under his control, since they will go after SrI rAma. The divine abode, where such SrI rAma, who steals the eyes and hearts of those who see him through his auspicious qualities and magnanimity, takes rest is SrIrangam.
kurava … – surrounded by cool gardens where flowers of kurava trees are blossoming, flowers of kOngu trees are budding and where cuckoo birds are calling out, joyously.
thiruvarangam enbadhuvE – it is SrIrangam, which is indeed famous. Through this, the verse mentions about the fame gained from being mentioned in most of the purANams, and being mercifully mentioned by all the AzhwArs in one voice.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that AzhwAr uses the term enbadhuvE [it is indeed SrIrangam] since it is famous whether one mentions paramapadham or vyUha, vibhava, other divine abodes, all SAsthrams etc.
en thirumAl sErvidamE – after annihilating rAvaNa, this is the abode where emperumAn, as mentioned in perumAL thirumozhi 10.7 “thirumagaLOdu inidhu amarndha” (mercifully residing with pirAtti), who is my Sriya:pathi, rests desirously, more than in divine abodes such as paramapadham etc, with the highest degree of taste, just as a thirsty person enters a pond. The pAsuram should be transposed as ivvulaginaik kaNpeRuththAnAna en thirumAl sErvidamAna Ur thiruvarangam enbadhuvE to get sequential meaning.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that just as AzhwAr specifically points out to emperumAn [as en thirumAl], he says pointedly that the divine abode where emperumAn specifically reaches is indeed SrIrangam only. Since emperumAn takes rest in the place which AzhwAr too desires, he refers to emperumAn as en thirumAl. He says at the end, the following: mumukshus and
nithyasUris take the form of kurava and kOngu trees in SrIrangam and worship emperumAn. Just as cuckoo birds joyously sing about this, our AchAryas too point out to those who are desirous of reaching paramapadham that this is the place to be in. AchAryas too inhabit this abode desirously [like the cuckoo birds].
We shall next consider the 6th pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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