nAcciyAr tirumozhi IX - Sindurac cempoDi 1

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

nAcciyAr tirumozhi IX - Sindurac cempoDi

pASuram 9.1 (ninth tirumozhi - pAsuram 1 Sindurac cempoDi)

nAn uyvEnO?

 

Sindurac cempoDip pOl tirumAlirum SOlai e~ngum

indira kOba~ngaLE ezhundum parandiTTanavAl

mandaram nATTi anRu madurak kozhum SAru koNDa

sundarat tOL uDaiyAn Suzhalaiyil ninRu uydum kolO

 

A. Meaning from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 

Butterflies are spread all over tirumAlirum SOlai mountain like

the red sinduram powder applied on an elephant's forehead. The

Hills remind godai of emperumAn who is huge like an elephant.

She laments that this Lord, who long ago at the request of

the devas who wanted the amRtam, made a mattu out of the

mandara mountain, churned the ocean and obtained the

sweetest amRtam, namely pirATTi, will neither appear in

front of her not let her forget Him. She wonders if she

will ever be able to escape the mAya net spread by sundarabAhu,

the Lord of tirumAl irum Solai.

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrImAn Sadagopan:

 

tirumAl irum SOlai nAthan has another name - sundarabAhu;

ANDAL calls this tirunAmam "sundarat tOLuDaiyAn".

godai's father periyAzhvAr had described the beauty of

tirumAlirum SOlai mountain thus:" ....... appan malai

indira kObangaL emperumAn kani vAi oppAn

Sindum puRavil ten tirumAlirum SOlaiyE" (where he

talks about the red color of the dense cloud of butterflies

competing with the red hue of kaNNan's lips). The clouds

with which godai conversed in the earlier pASuram have rained

already; as soon as the rains stopped, the butterflies arise

and cover the mountain; it looks like the mountain is clothed

with red-hued cloth. Following her father's footsteps, godai

starts painting the beauty of tirumAlirum SOlai. Thinking

that if she uses her father's way of comparing the red flies

to kaNNan's red lips, she would be tormented even more

in viraha tApam, godai compares them to the red sindurap

poDi. Even this clever way of avoiding kaNNan's beauty does

not help her; She then heaves a long breath and reminds

herself of how much this tirumAlirum SOlai nambi is tormenting her.

Just as tirumangai mannan said "aNNal Seydu, alai kaDal

kaDaindu viNNavar amudil varum peNNamudu uNDa em perumAnE",

godai describes how emperumAn supported the mandara malai

in the form of a tortoise (kUrmam), churned the pARkaDal

and took mahAlashmi, who came out of the ocean and thus

does mangaLAsAsanam to Him. With the words "mandaram nATTi",

ANDAL is referring to kUrmAvatAram. The following passage

from bhAgavatam describes kUrmAvatAram:

"madhyamAnerNave sodriranAdhArohyapoviSat

dhriyamANopi balibhir gouravAt pANDunandana

krtvA vapuh kAcchapam adbhutam mahat praviSyatOyam girimujjahAra "

(Even though the mandara malai was being supported by

the most powerful devas and aSuras, it started drowning in

the ocean, because of it own weight. At that time, baghavAn

took a huge form of a tortoise, got into the ocean, carried

the mandara malai on His back and brought it up above

the ocean level (so that the devas and aSuras could continue

to churn). The mandara mountain, which now had as a foundation

emperumAn's back, was trying to test the strength of

emperumAn's tortoise shell, and started growing and growing

till it reached the skies. He vanquished the mountain's

ego by appearing with thousands of hands and by pressing

the mountain with just one of His hands. bAghavatam speaks of this

beauty:

uparyagEndram girirADivAnya Akramya hastEna sahasrabAhuh |

tasthou divi brahma bhavnndramukhyaih abhiShTuvadbhih

sumanObhivrshTah ||

 

C. Additional thoughts (from SrI PVP ):

 

Sindurac cempoDi... parandiTTanavAl: godai is hoping to

hold on to life at least by having the darSanam of His

abode, tirumAlirum SOlai malai; now that hope is also

destroyed. Alas! All these butterflies are covering the hills.

 

Sindurac cempoDi pOl: tirumalai looks like a huge

elephant. The red butterflies covering the mountain make

it look like the sindurap poDi applied on the elephant's

forehead. sinduram here refers to the red color, and

Semmai refers to its beauty. periyAzhvAr also talks

about "Sinduram ilanga tan tiru neRRi mEl" (periyAzhvArtirumozhi

3-4-6).

This red color also reminds ANDAL of His beautiful red

lips. periAzhvAr refers to this in his tirumozhi 4.2.9 -

"indira kObangaL emperumAn kani vAi oppAn Sindum puRavil".

 

tirumAl irum Solai engum parandiTTanavAl: The butterflies

appear after a rain are all over the world; why does

godai talk about tirumAl irum Solai as if this is the

phenomenon that occurs only here? It is because for her

thriumAl irum Solai is the world; all she can see is tirumalai.

 

indira kObangaLe: ANDAL does not see these butterflies

which have enveloped tirumAl irum Solai as analogous to

the bhAkta vAnara-s which had covered SrI lankA's walls

all around; she was seeing them as analogous to the cruel

rAkshasa-s who had enveloped the whole of SrI lankA.

 

ezhundum parandiTTanavAl: rAmAyaNam yuddha kANDam

(26-20,22) talks about how naLan is being followed by

monkeys who raise their bodies, sound like lions, rise

up and down with anger; just like the vAnara troops,

some of these butterflies appear on the ground, some

keep rising up, some are flying.

 

mandaram nATTI anRu madurak kozhum SaRu koNDa: He can

agitate even the great tattva-s such as the ocean

and extract everything out of it without leaving anything

behind. Why is ANDAL referring to this here? She is

pointing out that there is nothing that is not possible

for Him. Even though she thought that He cannot take

control of her and make her suffer for Him like this, He

completely invaded her mind and is making her suffer the

separation to the point that she is so weak that her

bangles are slipping out of her hands.

 

madurak kozhum SaRu koNDa: When He thus churned the

ocean, He kept the real sweet essence of the amRtam,

peria pirATTi, for Himself, and gave only what was left

behind, which by comparison is like the salty extract of

the ocean. In this context, tirumangai AzhvAr's peria

tirumozhi 6.1.2 - viNNavar amudu uNNa amudil varum peN amuduNDa

emperumAnE.

(SrI PBA observes that the usage here by ANDAL is not

just madurac cARu - the sweet nectar, but madurak kozhum

SARu - peria pirATTi Herself).

 

sundarat tOLuDaiyAn: even though He tortures godai,

she cannot leave Him, because of His beauty as reflected by

His beautiful shoulders etc.

 

SuzhalaiyininRu uydum kolO : He is the creator of the

clouds, the waves in the ocean, the lightning, the movement

in the winds, the moon's kalaigaL, sun's movement etc.

These are all His mAyai or leelA. If He has spread His

net in the form of clouds to ensure we don't escape from

Him, there is no way we are going to escape Him.

 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

 

SrI PBA's anubhavam of the use of the word Suzhalai here

by ANDAL is a reference to His cunning nature. Instead of

coming in person, emperumAn makes the clouds resembling

His hue appear before godai; He makes the indira kObangaL

(butterflies) to spread all over and reminds her of His

beautiful red lips. When such a great Magician is trying to

catch godai, how can she escape?

 

E. Additional thoughts from SrI Sampath rangarAjan:

 

Please refer to the bhakti archives (from October 1996 to

February 1997) for a detailed description of tirumAlirum

cOlai and related experiences and for additional anubhavamson this

pASuram.

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

adiyEn,

Kalyani Krishnamachari

 

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