Amalanadipiran - Song Two

[Guest guest]

AMALANATIPIRAN - Translation and notes by Satyamurthi Ayyangar Swamin

 

 

Song Two:

 

Preamble: In the opening song, mention was made of the entry of Lord

Ranganatha's lotus feet (shedding honey aplenty - Visnoh pade parame

madhvautsah), on their own, into Pan Perumal's eyes. The taste of

ultra-mundane honey from the Lord's blissful feet trickled down to his mind

and kindled in him the yearning to move upwards and have a taste of the

limbs, higher up, one by one. And so, the mind switched on to the radiant

robes, flowing down to the ankles. This movement of the Alvar's mind is

described in this song. The Commentator draws a parallel to this, as

follows: Unlike the human babe, the calf, just yielded by the cow, can see

the mother's teats, all right but it does not know that it has to suck them

for getting milk, the source of its sustenance. And so, the mother

introduces the the young one to the technique by inserting teats into the

mouth of the calf and allowing it to suck. Having once tasted the sweet

milk, the calf wishes to have more and more of it and dashes towards the

mother's teats even though the mother signals, at times, her disinclination

to feed the calf by kicking her hind legs.

 

Text:

 

Uvanta ullattanay ulakamalantantamura

Nivanta nilmutiyan anru nernta nicacararaik

Kavarnta venkanaikkakuttan katiyar polil

Arangattamman araic

Civanta ataiyinmel cenratam ena cintanaiye ||2||

 

Translation:

 

Fine! My thought moved on the robes, red and radiant,

Of our Sire grand in Arangam enshrined, among orchards

fragrant,

Who spanned the universe; the jubilant one, sporting the

crown tall,

Kakuttan *, the warrior invincible, aiming lethal

arrows, dreadful,

Who the other day slew the attacking Raksasas, one and

all. ||

 

[* Lord Rama, who slew, single-handed, the Raksasa hordes, fourteen

thousand strong, who attacked Him at Janasthana, in an amazingly short

period].

 

Notes: Uvanta ullattan: The Lord was mighty glad because (1) He could

reclaim a devotee of the excellence of Pan Permal, overcoming his 'naichya'

(self-denouncing humility) and (2) when He set foot on His subjects, one and

all (high and low, the devout as well as the diabolic), while spanning the

sprawling universe, as Trivikrama, none of them thought in terms of moving

so as not to have the Lord's feet on their heads. In this song, Lord

Ranganatha is identified with Lord Trivikrama.

 

Nil mudiyan: The tall crown worn by Lord Ranganatha, symbolishes His

Supreme Sovergnity, the overlordship of Brahma, Rudra, Indra and the rest.

 

Anru nernta nicacarar: The other day, when during exile, the trio, Rama,

Sita and Laksmana were camping at Janasthana, Khara, Dusana and Trisiras and

their army, fourteen thousand strong, charged toward Rama, courting disaster

like the fireflies rushing to fire and perishing in it.

 

Kavarnta venkanai Kakuttan: Lord Rama, whose arrows never missed their

target, deadly as they were, literally scorching the enemy, vanquished the

Raksasas, pitted against Him in such great strength, effortlessly, unaided,

in an amazingly short period of a 'muhurt'. Of the twin aspects of the

Lord's operations, this episode highlights the second namely, the

elimination of the obnoxious (ansta nivrtti), the first being the succour of

the Rsis (devout, in general - ista prati). Earlier on, Lord Ranganatha was

identified with Trivikrama and now, He is identified with Lord Rama.

 

Arangattamman: This signifies at once, Lord Ranganatha's Supremacy as

well as Simplicity, the latter denoting His intimate link with His subjects,

in every conceivable manner, His multiple kinship and multi-faceted

benefaction.

 

(To be continued)

 

_______________

Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.

http://www.hotmail.com