RathnAngi Kaimkaryam : Part VII : Kaliyan's Paasurams: 3.1.5

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SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Today we will study the Fifth Paasuram

of Thirumangai Mannan on Lord DhaivanAyakan of

ThiruvahIndhrapuram ( Periya Thirumozhi: 3.1.5):

 

"Aangu Maavali vELviyil iranthu senRu ahal idam aLanthu,

aayar poonkodikkina vidai poruthavan idam ponn malar thihazh

kOngu SeNbakak-kombinil kuthi kodu kurukkinam iraitthOdi

tEn kalantha taNN palamkani nuhar taru ThiruvayeendhrapuramE"

 

In this Paasuram, Kaliyan celebrates Thiruvaheendhrapuram

as the place of residence of the Lord , who incarnated as

Vaamana-Thrivikraman first and JaganmOhana Krishnan later.

 

First Line of the Paasuram

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"Aangu" : The reference here is to the northern bank of

the river Narmadha , where an AswamEdha Yaagm by MahA Bali,

the grandson of PrahlAdhan , was in progress. The northern

bank of Narmadha was known for the sages , who were experts

in Rg Vedam Just as Dravida desam is known today for experts

in Yajur Vedam.

 

"Aangu Maavali vELviyil iranthu senRu" : As a dwarf BrahmachAri ,

the son of Athithi and Kasyapa PrajApathi , Vaamanan arrived

from SiddhAsramam at the site , where the AswamEdha yAgam

was being performed by MahA Bali Chakravarthi with the assistance

of his Guru,SukrAcchAr. Vaamana Moorthy travelled there (senRu)

with His little steps and asked (iranthu) as gift three steps of

land for "His AchAryan". MahA Bali sneered first at Vaamana Moorthy

for asking such an insignificant gift and then ceded the requested

grant. Right before the eyes of that unsuspecting MahA Bali ,

the Lord grew and grew as "Ongi UlahaLantha Utthaman) and

measured the entire universe with one step and the skies

with another step and asked MahA Bali as to where He can

place His third step . Mahaa Bali begged the Lord to place

that step on his head and became a BhAgyasAli.

 

In the previous paasuram , the focus was on NrusimhAvathAram

and the Lord's anugraham to PrahlAdhan . Lord Narasimhan promised

during that avathAra samayam that He will spare the life of

any descendant of PrahlAdhan's vamsam . Keeping that promise,

Our Lord spared the life of MahA Bali and contented Himself

with regaining the Isvaryam lost by the DvAs and dispatching

MahA bali to the nether world (PaathAlam).

 

Second line of the Paasuram

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"Aayar Poonkodikkina vidai poruthavan idam "

Aayar Poonkodi is Nappinnai , the golden creeper

like soundharyavathi of Aayar kulam . For Her sake ,

Krishnan fought with seven ferocious bulls and

subdued them to qualify for the hand of His dear

Nappinnai Nangai . " Poruthavan " means , one who

fought . KrishNa BhagavAn fought with the seven

bulls characterstric of asura jAthi ( inam vidai

poruthavan ). Kaliyan says The place of residence of

this supremely skilled bull fighter, who won the hand of

Nappinnai is Thiruvaheendhrapuram . Nappinnai is His

BhOga Devi at this site as at BrundhAvanam .

 

Third Line of the Paasuram

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Now, Kaliyan looks a round and finds a bunch of

monkeys jumping energetically from branch to branch

on the trees like Kongu, SeNpakam and Venkai which are

known for their bright yellow flowers ( Kongu SeNpaka

Kombinil kuthi kodu kurangu inam). In the earlier line of

the Paasuram, Kaliyan dwelled on Vidai inam or the group

of Bulls. Here , he refers to Kurkinam or Kurangu inam

(the group of monkeys). This batch of monkeys make

a lot of joyous noise and jump from branch to branch

( iraitthu Odi) in search of food for the Lord .

 

Fourth Line of the Paasuram

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In this line of the Paasuram , Kaliyan describes as to

what kind of food these connoseiur monkeys were seeking:

" thEn kalantha taNN palam nuhar taru". The monkeys were

seeking Palaa pazham (jack fruit)to offer as naivEdhyam

for the Lord of ThiruvahIndhrapuram , their Kula Dhaivam

(Raamachandran) . As the monkeys tore the fruit from

the jack fruit tree , the honey also flowed .The monkeys

mixed the honey with the sweet edible matter inside

the fruit with the rough exterior and offered that

delicacy to the Lord prior to partaking of that prasAdham.

It is known that the dipping of the fruit in honey

will result in a combination that is highly recommended

for one's health. The monkeys of ThiruvahIndhrapuram

had that in mind , when they prepared their food offering

to the Lord.The enjoyment of the Jack fruit suLai with

honey is equivalent to the enjoyment of the Lord DhaivanAyakan

with His dear PirAtti , HemAbhja Valli .

 

SrI HemAbja NaayakiA SamEtha SrI Achyutha Para BrahmaNE nama:

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan