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periyAzhwAr thirumozhi >> Fourth Centum >> Ninth decad
avathArikai
AzhwAr says in this pAsuram that thiruvarangam [SrIrangam] is the divine abode where emperumAn, who gave his divine sandals to SrI bharathAzhwAn [bharathan, younger brother of SrI rAma] to make him believe firmly that he would return, and who returned to rule over the world after destroying rAvaNa et al, lives.
maravadiyaith thambikku vAn paNayam vaiththup pOy vANOr vAzhach
cheruvudaiya dhisaik karumam thiruththi vandhu ulagANda thirumAl kOyil
thiruvadi than thiru uruvum thirumangai malarkkaNNUm kAtti ninRu
uruvudaiya malar neelam kARRAtta Osalikkum oLi arangamE
Word-by-word meanings
uru udaiya – having beauty
neelam malar – dark water-lily
thiru adi than – periya perumAL’s
thiru – beautiful
uruvum – the colour of the divine form
thirumangai – periya pirAttiyAr’s
malar – blossomed
kaNNum – the colour of divine eyes
kAtti ninRu – highlighting
kARRu Atta – as wind nudges
Osalikkum – moving
oLi – having radiance
arangam – the divine abode of SrIrangam
thambikku – for younger brother SrI bharathAzhwAn (who carried out SaraNAgathi, act of surrendering at chithrakUtam)
maram adiyai – the divine sandals
vAn paNayam vaiththu – pledging them, to create a firm belief that he would return
vAnOr – celestial entities, who were harmed by demons
vAzha – to live without weariness [of being driven out repeatedly from their abode]
pOy – going beyond chithrakUtam
seru udaiya – being created for engaging in war
thisai – going in the southern direction
karumam thiruththi – destroying rAvaNa et al and coronating SrI vibhIshaNAzhwAn
vandhu – mercifully reaching SrI ayOdhyA, with sIthAp pirAtti
ulagu – world
ANda – one who mercifully ruled
thirumAl – Sriya:pathi [divine consort of SrImahAlakshmi]
kO – for emperumAn
il – is the divine abode
Simple Translation
Black water-lily has the colour of periya perumAL’s divine form as well as the blossomed, divine eyes of periya pirAttiyAr. As wind nudges it, the flower moves in the wind. SrIrangam is the divine abode which emits a radiance due to this. It is also the divine abode where emperumAn, who had pledged his divine sandals to younger brother SrI bharathAzhwAn to make him believe firmly that he [emperumAn] would return, and who went beyond chithrakUtam in order to make celestial entities to live without any fear of being moved out of their abodes, who killed demons such as rAvaNa et al, coronated SrI vibhIshaNAzhwAn as the king of lankA and who returned to SrI ayOdhyA along with sIthAp pirAtti to rule all the worlds mercifully, lives.
vyAkhyAnam
maravadiyaith thambikku vAn paNayamvaiththup pOy – SrI bharathAzhwAn felt that his mind had been burnt, ever since he heard kaikEyi calling out to him, as in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 72.24 “rAjan” (Oh, the king!) since that word appeared to create an independence in him. After carrying out all the final rites for dhaSaratha chakravarthi, when the important people in the court [sage and teacher of the clan, vasishta et al], kings from other countries told him to accept coronation as the king [of kOsala country], he reached the centre of the court, lamented, manifesting his anguish, faulted SrI vasishta bhagavAn, the one who was responsible for coronating the kings in that dynasty, and said “I am the servitor of perumAL; I am not apt to be coronated as the king”. He then gathered all the people, along with animals, proceeded to chithrakUtam, fell at the divine feet of SrI rAma, clearly manifesting his anxiety, and surrendered to SrI rAma. He listed all his relationships with SrIrAma [younger brother, disciple, servitor etc] such that SrI rAma could not deny his [SrI bharathAzhwAn’s] request. SrI bharathAzhwAn, with tears rolling down from his eyes, pleaded with SrI rAma “Your highness should return to SrI ayOdhyA, and mercifully coronate as the king”. SrI rAma told SrI bharathAzhwAn firmly “Oh, son! You should not compel me. In front of those who said words, which made you feel svAthanthryam [independent], you accept pArathanthryam [being dependent (on me)] and return. I will not return until the end of fourteen years”. Since SrI rAma said this firmly, bharatha thought “If this is his divine opinion, we should not compel him otherwise”. He regained the posture in his mind, and asked SrI rAma “What is it which will reestablish my pArathanthryam and affirm that dhEvarIr would return?” SrI rAma told bharatha “Take these, for fulfilling both”, giving him his divine sandals, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 1.36 “pAdhukE chAsya rAjyAya nyAsam dhathvA puna: puna: l nivarthayAmAsa thathO bharatham bharathAgraja:” (Upon giving his divine sandals to that bharatha, for custodial care of kingdom till his return from exile, the elder brother of bharatha persuasively turned away bharatha). Since SrI rAma mentioned such words to bharatha in different ways, making bharatha feel happy [for confirming his pArathanthryam and affirming SrIrAma’s return after fourteen years], AzhwAr says in this pAsuram ”maravadiyaith thambikku vAn paNayam vaiththup pOy”. paNayam – that which is pledged as a cause for faith; since the pAsuram says vAn paNayam, it is clear that that this created a deep faith in bharatha. vAn refers to strength as well as eminence.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai, in his svApadhESam, says that while SrI bharathAzhwAn had spoken of his distinguished connections with SrI rAma saying, as in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam “bhrAthu: Sishyasya dhAsasya” (I am your younger brother, your disciple and your servitor), AzhwAr refers to SrI bharathAzhwAn as SrI rAma’s thambi [younger brother] since he knows the distinguished differences among these states. When SrI bharathAzhwAn fell at the divine feet of SrI rAma and appealed to him to return to SrI ayOdhyA, SrI rAma asked him as to what benefit would accrue to SrI bharathAzhwAn, should he return to ayOdhyA. bharatha told him that if SrI rAma returns and gets coronated, SrI rAma would be svathanthran [totally independent, as the king] and he [bharatha] would be parathanthran [totally dependent on SrI rAma].
SrI rAma: Didn’t our father grant you the kingdom?
bharatha: isn’t the right to rule, your highness’?
SrI rAma: Land belongs to one, who is victorious. The only qualification for that is that one should be born in the clan of kings.
bharatha: Until the time that our father was alive, your highness had addressed me as thambi (younger brother). Your highness had fulfilled my desires. Am I not your highness’ thambi today? Has the old relationship disappeared?
SrI rAma: If you are my thambi, you should do as per the elder brother’s words.
bharatha: Have I become independent? Am I not your highness’ disciple?
SrI rAma: If you are my disciple, you should do as per the words of AchArya.
bharatha: Am I not apt to be bought or sold? Am I not your highness’ servitor?
SrI rAma: Then, you should do as per the master’s words.
With these objections, bharatha thought that he was becoming more and more independent. He wanted to know from SrI rAma as to what SrI rAma was intending to do for him. SrI rAma too thought about this. He realised that unlike lakshmaNa, who said that he could not live without SrI rAma and surrendered to SrI rAma in the presence of sIthAp pirAtti, to take him to the forest for fourteen years. He firmed up his mind and told bharatha “Oh son! You desire to be a parathanthran and wanted to know our next step. For our sake, you return to ayOdhyA and carry out coronation.” bharatha told him “If dhEvarIr has decided to coronate me, do so with dhEvarIr’s divine sandals”, asking SrI rAma to shower his mercy upon him, expressing his grief. SrI rAma told bharatha that if he grants his request out of mercy, that would bring svAthanthryam to bharatha. bharatha then told SrI rAma to make him a parathanthran there itself. SrI rAma then told bharatha that instead of donning his divine sandals in ayOdhyA, he could don them there itself and gave bharatha his divine sandals. He told bharatha “Consider the day when I return, as the end of the period mentioned by our father and mother”. When bharatha asked SrI rAma as to how he could believe this, SrI rAma told him “Believe these”, giving his divine sandals and asking bharatha to return. People with knowledge about SrI rAma’s divine qualities would melt at this. AzhwAr, who had earlier said of the same incident, in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 3.9.6 “adi nilai IndhAnai” (Sing about the one, who mercifully gave his divine sandals to SrI bharathAzhwAn), now says “vAn paNayam vaiththu” (offering a highly valued object as a pledge), thus making this to be totally different from the earlier one. Pledging a highly valuable object for redeeming a low value object is vAn paNayam [here, the highly valued object is SrI rAma’s divine sandals; the low valued object which SrI rAma redeemed was himself]. He had to redeem himself in order to carry out the activity [for which he came to the forests – to annihilate the demons]. This is the reason for that pledge. Both the qualities of viLgai and viLLAmai [leaving and staying put] have been splendorously brought out here, by the two brothers of SrI rAma [SrI bharathAzhwAn left SrI rAma in order to enable him to carry out the activity for which he incarnated; lakshmaNAzhwAn stayed with SrI rAma to support him in his activity]. What is that activity? To enable the celestial entities to live.
pOy – this mentions that after making SrI bharathAzhwAn to return [to SrI ayOdhyA], SrI rAma proceeded beyond chithrakUtam. This mentions about the long journey undertaken by SrI rAma from dhaNdakAraNya to lankA.
vAnOr vAzha – such that the celestial entities, who were harmed by rAvaNa and who desired his annihilation, and who surrendered to emperumAn to make him incarnate as SrI rAma, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 1.7 “sa hi dhEvarIrudhIrNasya rAvaNasya vadhArthibhi: l arthithO mAnushElOkE jaggyE vishNu: sanAthana: ll” (vishNu,who permeates everywhere, listening to the celestial entities’ prayers, incarnated as SrI rAma, in order to annihilate rAvaNa), could live without having to be driven out of their abodes.
seruvudaiya dhisaik karumam thiruththi – the term seru refers to battle. The term seruvudaiya dhisai refers to the southern direction. It was in this direction that all the demons such as rAvaNa et al had gathered together. For this direction, karumam thiruththi refers to (1) seeking out demons who were tormenting others, as mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 7.5.1”nAttai naliyum arakkarai nAdith thadindhittu” (seeking demons who were tormenting people, and killing them in their own places) in places which are dear to emperumAn, starting with janasthAnam [a location in dhaNdakAraNya]; when rAvaNa, who after hearing this, came to dhaNdakAraNya and abducted pirAtti, on account of that, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 64.66 “karishyE maithili hethOr apiSAcham arAkshasam” (considering sIthAp pirAtti as the reason, I will make this place free from fiends and demons), SrI rAma avowed that he would kill the demons; he befriended sugrIva mahArAja, who had lost his kingdom and wife, killed sugrIva’s enemy, vAli, united sugrIva with his wife and kingdom; he then took sugrIva et al, built a dam across the ocean and entered lankA, as mentioned in perumAL thirumozhi10.7 ”maRukaraiyai adhanAl ERi” (reaching the other shore of the ocean, through that bridge); he then killed all the supporters of rAvaNa, such that lankA was without anyone, subsequently killing rAvaNa too, as mentioned in the same pAsuram, perumAL thirumozhi 10.7 “erineduvEl arakkarodum ilangai vEndhan innuyir koNdu” (removing the sweet lives of rAvaNa and other demons who had long spears which will burn their enemies) (2) coronating vibhIshaNa as the king of lankA.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here when SrI rAma took a step towards the southern direction, all the wicked people came crying out “Fight!” SrI rAma annihilated them all, in righteous manner, until the destruction of rAvaNa. For those who intended to engage in battle, SrI rAma’s manner of fighting was like guide on how to engage in a war.
vandhu – after annihilating rAvaNa, SrI rAma returned mercifully, with sIthAp pirAtti to SrI ayOdhyA, in a pushpaka vimAnam [a vehicle, which is capable of flying] with a great urge, to make sure that SrI bharAzhwAn did not take any hasty decision based on his vow, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 112.26 “chathurdhaSE hi sampUrNE varshE hAni raghUththama l na dhrakshyAmi yadhi thvAm thu pravEkshyAmi huthAsanam” (Oh, rAma! If I do not see you the day following completion of fourteen years, I shall enter fire once and for all).
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that SrI rAma returned to ayOdhyA to remove the grief of SrI bharathAzhwAn et al. Along with pirAtti, he coronated in a divine manner, removing the withering of all entities which were suffering in separation from him and made them happy. He conducted himself in the path of righteousness and protected the world in a just manner. To ensure that those who came after his time did not lose out on him, he came to SrIrangam and has been living here forever.
ulagANda – after mercifully returning to SrI ayOdhyA, SrI rAma had his divine coronation such that people, animals and plant species, who had been in sorrow for fourteen years due to separation, could live in happiness. He ruled such that a larger entity did not torment a smaller entity, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 131.65 “rAmamEva anupaSyanthO nAbhyahimsan parasparam” (While SrI rAma was ruling the kingdom, the people looked only at SrI rAma and did not harm one another); during the time that he ruled, he made the people to keep reciting his name, winning them over through is auspicious qualities, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 128.102 “rAmO rAmO rAma ithi prajAnAm abhavan kathA:” (while SrI rAma was ruling the kingdom, all the conversations of people centred only around SrI rAma). He ruled the world for eleven thousand years, in a benevolent manner, as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam yudhdha kANdam 128 “dhaSa varsha sahasrANi dhaSa varsha SathANi cha- rAmOrAjyam upAsithvA” (Having ruled the kingdom for eleven thousand years, SrI rAma will depart for his abode).
thirumAl kOyil – having separated from pirAtti for some time, to make up for that loss, SrI rAma lived with her for a long time, ruling the kingdom; after reuniting with her, he became thirumAl. SrIrangam is the divine abode where that perumAL resides forever.
thiruvadi … – SrIrangam is the abode which is radiant, with the blue Indian water-lily moving with the gentle breeze, matching the divine complexion of the divine form of periya perumAL, who is the lord of all, and the colour of the divine eyes of periya pirAttiyAr which blossom forever. The term Osalikkum could be split into O and salikkum. The first syllable ‘O’ could refer to eminence or would be there for poetic metrics, without any meaning for itself. In the term arangamE, the syllable ‘E’ would refer to affirmation [emphatical], distinguishing this abode from other abodes. Also, it would be there for poetic metrics, without any meaning for itself.
thiruvAimozhip piLLai says here that the flower is a metaphor for both perumAL’s divine form and pirAtti’s divine eyes. SrIrangam is the abode where such a flower is seen and it is also the abode which has a radiance, which does not sway even when the breeze is blowing. Here, the syllable ‘O’ would have either no meaning or a negative connotation. Thus, Osalikkum would mean that the abode will not move – in other words, the radiance which the abode gets on account of the flower, is not swayed by the breeze.
He says at the end, the following: this shows the distinguished meaning of SrIman nArAyaNan [thiruvadi refers to nArAyaNan and thirumangai refers to pirAtti; thus, this refers to SrIman nArAyaNan]. thirumangai malarkkaN refers to purushakAram [recommendatory role of pirAtti] forever. thiruvadi than thiruvuru refers to emperumAn’s divine feet [thus, until now, we have seen SrIman nArAyaNa charaNau]. uruvudaiya malar neelam refers to AchAryas, who have qualities of physical form [which are below those of AthmA, the soul], who have noble minds and who are firmly established in this meaning [of dhvaya mahAmanthram]. kARRAttAch chaliyA – through this, it is shown that those who are inhabiting that abode will have unwavering radiance even when worldly pursuits such as sparSam [touch; wind is the entity which is felt by our senses through skin] sway them. In an earlier pAsuram [4.8.9], AzhwAr had referred to manRUdu thenRal ulA [wind blows and reaches the junction of four streets, not able to affect the people within the fortified walls of SrIrangam]. However, breeze will not torment even those who are outside the fortified walls since they are also within [the other] fortified wall of indifference [not being swayed by worldly pursuits, since they live in SrIrangam, as seen in this pAsuram].
We shall next consider the first part of 2nd pAsuram of this thirumozhi.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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