Thiruppavai pasurams11 to 15

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Pasuram11-kattrukkaravai

 

 

 

kattrukkaravai kaNanghaL palakarandhu chettrAr thiralaziya

senrucheruccheyyum

 

kuttramonrillAdha kOvqlartham porkodiyE puttraravalgul punmayilE

pOdharAi

 

suttratthu thOzimAr yavarum vandhu nin muttram pugundhu mugilvaNNan pEr

pAda

 

sittrAdhE pEsAdhE selvappendAtti nee yettrukkurangum poruL ElO rempavai

 

 

 

You, who is the girl of blemishless, valiant man not only capable of

milking several cows with calves but also able to vanquish his enemies,

who has tresses like the hood of a serpent, and resembles a peacock,

come . why are you, who is the darling of all, sleeping without moving

and without replying while all your friends have come and are standing

in your courtyard and are singing the name of the one who is like a dark

cloud in hue.

 

 

 

kattrukkarvai - the cows should be milked only along with their calves

and after the calves have drunk their share. But kattrukkaravai means

the one who gives milk to its calf and at the same time carrying another

in its womb. Thus it is forever giving milk.

 

 

 

kaNangal palakarandhu-There is a multitude of cows in AyarpAdi.Milk is

abundant and overflowing but the cows are milked in order to reduce

their heaviness owing to carrying a lot of milk.Also the cowherds do the

milking as an exercise for their limbs to make them fight-worthy to

conquer their enemies.

 

 

 

chettrAr - enemies. Who are the enemies for the gopas? Those who act

against Krishna. The enemies of the Lord and His devotees. Kamsa was

the enemy of both because he destroyed the brahmins and the sacrificial

works thinking that the Lord can be destroyed thus.

 

 

 

Thiralaziya- the idea is to destroy the power and not the individual.

 

 

 

senrucheruccheyyum- to go where the enemies are and destroy them. In

dharmayuddha the armies meet only outside the city in a common battle

ground like kurukshEthra in order to save the women and children.

 

 

 

kuttramonrillAdha- blemishless

 

 

 

Porgodi- You are like a golden creeper which needs the support of the

pole called Krishna to survive.

 

 

 

Puttraravalgul-The long tresses of the girl is spread like the serpent

which comes out of its abode and spreads its hood and also it looks

like the tail of feathers of a peacock.The quaintness of expression is

seen in mentioning the serpent along with its enemy the peacock.

 

 

 

kattrukkaravai are the upanishads and kaNangal pala

karandhu-----cheruccheyyum refers to the acharya who milks the cow of

the upanishads and gives out the meaning to the disciples like milk.This

may also denote the Lord, the Gopalanandhana who milked the upanishads

and gave them in the form of the milk of the Gita.'sarvOpanishadhO gAvO

dhOgDHA gopalanandhnah.'

 

 

 

porkodi is the prapanna who has surrendered to the acharya or the Lord

Himself as a creeper seeks its support. 'kOl thEdi Odum KozundhE pOl mAl

thEdi Odum manam,'

 

 

 

Puttraravalgul punmayil is the paramaikAnthi who is compared to the

serpent in its abode as he will not display his knowledge or greatness

and like the peacock which dances on seeing the rain-cloud he will dance

at the sight of the Lord.

 

 

 

sittrAdhe pEsAdhE -without agitation and without talking anything else

but should be occupied with the spiritual pursuits only. Once

surrendered to the Lord it becomes His responsibilty to protect us. When

we never worry about our birth or death why should we worry about the

inermediate stage of sustenance!The Lord takes care of the prapanna who

is like selvapendAtti, dear wife to Him.

 

 

 

This pasuram has reference to BhoothatthAzvAr who styles himself as a

creeper in his work and the term kuttramonrillAdha may refer to all the

three mudhalAzvars, viz.bhoothattthAzvar, pEyAzvAr and poigai AzbvAr

who did not have mortal birth but were found as such.Kovalar may very

well mean ThirukkOvlur, the place of origi of BhoothtthAzvAr.

Puttraravalgul is his extreme bhakthi and suttratthu thOzimAr are the

other two. ChettrAr thiralaziya etc. refers to his intention to convert

the hearts of the enemies of the Lord through guidance and instruction.

 

 

 

 

 

Pasuram12-kanaitthiLam kattrerumai

 

 

 

kanaitthiLam kattrerumai kanrukkirangi

 

ninaitthu mulaivaziyE ninru pAl sOra

 

anaitthillam sErAkkum narselvan thangai

 

panitthalai veeza nin vAsalkadaipattri

 

sinandhingu thennilangai kOmAnai chettra

 

manatthykku iniyAnai pAdavum nee vai thiravAi

 

initthAn ezundhirAi eedhenna pErurakkam

 

anaitthu illatthArum arindhElOrempAvai

 

 

 

You, the sister of the rich man in whose house the buffaloes let out

abundant of milk on account of the memory of their calves and the whole

place is wet and marshlike with the milk,open your mouth and answer

us.We have come here at your doorstep and stand with dew drops falling

on our heads. Wake up , why is this long sleep? Come and sing of the

Lord who wrathfully vanquisherd the lord of Lanka.

 

 

 

In the last pasuram the glory of the father of the girl who was being

awakened was mentioned and in this, the brother of the girl, who is

called, is praised. There is an opinion that this brother mentioned has

reference to the close friend of Krishna, named Sridhama.

 

 

 

KanaittiLam kattrerumai- The buffalo which has been let out to graze on

the wet grass as mentioned in the pasuram "keezvanam." It is making

sound 'kanaiitthu' remembering its calf , which alone is enough to make

the milk flow, unlike the cow which gives milk only in the presence of

the calf.

 

 

 

sinandhingu----komanaicchettra- reference is to Ramavathara and Ravana

is mentioned as thennilangaikkOmAn to indicate that Rama did not destroy

Lanka because he has already given it to Vibheeshana and only killed

the king of Lanka.

 

 

 

Manatthukku iniyAn- Rama was described by Valmiki as

'sOmavathpriyadarsanah,' because by looking at him the heart gets joy as

by the sight of the moon. He is a delight to all the senses and to the

mind.

 

 

 

initthAn ezundhirai- You get up at least now after hearing about Rama

because he is 'vigrahavaAn dharmah,' the embodiment of dharma and

Bharatha, listing the sins that may come to him if he was guilty of

plotting for Rama's exile, mentions the sin of not doing the daily

duties according to sasthras.and hence not to get up in the morning and

worship the Lord is also one of them.

 

 

 

Anaitthu illatthArum arindhu- Every one is here already and hence know

that you are still sleeping.

 

 

 

As the buffalo gives out milk by the mere remembrance of its calf and

its milk flows everywhere at all levels, the Lord remembers us and

makes His mercy flows to us without distinction.

 

 

 

The words 'erumai' and 'narselvan' denote Lakshmi and the Lord

respectively. The word for buffalo in sanskrit is mahishee which also

means the wife usually used to mean the queen. The word 'narselvan'

refers to the Lord as he has Lakshmi with Him and hence rich .

 

 

 

This pasuram has the implication of the dvaya manthra,

'sreemannarayanacharanou saranam prapadhye, sreemathe narayanaya namah,'

as both the Lord and Sri are referred to, .

 

 

 

Sridevi thinks of us, her children and takes pity on us and recommends

our case to the Lord. As sinandhingu mentions Ramavathara the Sita devi

who said "who does not err", 'na kaschithnAparAdhyathi.' is compared to

the buffalo which gives out milk at the memory of its calf. She also

advised Rama about mercy and to Ravana about dharma trying to save him

from his doom. The same divine mother as the bhudevi incarnating as

Andal now instructs us about saving ourselves by saying His name. Thus

the epithet 'kanaitthiLam-----serAkkum' qualifying the word 'thangAi'

instead of 'narselvan' denotes the infinite mercy of the divine mother

and the same in connection with the latter word may mean the infinite

mercy of the Lord. ThangAi is to be taken not as sister in this context

but Lakshmi who is 'hiranmayi', thangAi meaning thangam or gold.

 

 

 

Lanka is the sarira .and the word sinam here may mean the chinnam (

there is no difference between cha and sa in Tamil script) meaning the

marks of shanku and chakra on those who have done saranagathi through

the acharya. With this mark one wins over the KomAn, the monarch of the

sarira , namely the ego.The word 'pErurakkam' means denoted the

sarirAthma buddhi, the identification of oneself with the body.

 

 

 

By the grace of the divine mother giving out the milk of her mercy

thinking about the plight of her children , that is, us, the heart

becomes marshy with devotion. Then such a person is narselvan, one

owning real riches in the form of bhakthisamrajya.

 

 

 

'vAsarkadai' means doorstep and here it denotes the indhriyas, sense

organs which are the gateways of experience. When the senses are engaged

in the thought of 'Sinandhingu----mantthukku iniyAn,' the shower of dew,

in the form of self knowledge falls on the head, 'panitthalai veeza.'

 

 

 

The reference is to poygai AzvAr, as he was born on a lotus in a lake

open to dew drops.He is compared to 'kanaitthiLam kattrerumai' as he was

the first of the three mudhalAzvArs to sing on the Lord (kanaitthu) and

gave out his experience at the darsan of the Lord or the sake of all out

of mercy

 

 

 

Pasuram 13.-puLLin vAi keendAnai

 

 

 

puLLin vAi keendAnai pollA arakkanai

 

kiLLikkalaindhAnai keerthimai pAdippoi

 

piLLaigal ellAtrum pAvaikkaLam pukkAr

 

veLLi ezundhu viyAzam urangittru

 

puLLum silan mbinakANpOdharikkaNNinAi

 

kuLLakkuLira kudaindhu neerAdAdhE

 

paLLikkidatthiyO pAvai nee nannALal

 

kaLLam thavirndhu kalandhElOrempAvAi.

 

 

 

You with lotus like eyes, all the girls have gone to the place of pavai

nonbu singing about the glory of Him who killed Bakasura by plunging his

hand into the beak and who plucked off the ten heads of Ravana.. The

Jupiter has set and venus has risen. See, the birds are chirping. and

instead of bathing in the cool waters of the river you are pretending to

sleep.

 

 

 

puLLin vAi keendAnai pollAvarakkanai-kiLLikkaLaindhAnai- refers to

Krishnavathara and Ramavathara respectively.Krishna killed the asura who

came in the form of stork.He extended his hand into the mouth of the

stork and tore the beaks and killed the asura. Rama killed the

evilminded Ravana(pollAvarakkan) by cutting his head as easily as

plucking it with nails. Some say that this may also refer to Narasimha

as the Lord killed Hiranyakasipu with his nails and kiLLi may refer to

this act. But arakkan means rakshasa while Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksha

were asuras, the half brothrs of suras,devas..Still, from the words of

Kamban '' irakkam enru oru poruL illAdha nenjinar arakkara enru uLar

silar aratthin neenginar," the arakar , rakshasa are those who have no

pity and follow adharma, the word arakkan may even refer to

Hiranyakasipu. Also if the word 'pollAvarakkan' is split as pollA

+varakkan, it may refer to Hirayanyakasipu who got his powers through

'vara,' boon.

 

 

 

There is an alternative explanation also which takes the phrase

'puLLinvai-----kiLLikkalaindhanai as one long adjective qualifying Rama

only. Here puLL means Jatayu and 'vAi keendAnai pollA arakkanai' refers

to Ravana who killed Jatayu and kiLLikkalaindhan is Rama who killed him.

 

 

 

pOdharikkaN- means eyes like flower or pOdhu+ari, that is, like the bee

in a flower, describing the pupil inside the flowerlike eyes.

 

 

 

kuLLa------nannAlal- In this auspicious day of Margazi, one should not

sleep but should get up early and take bath in the river before

worshipping the Lord. The words 'paLLikkidatthiyO' instead of using the

term 'urangal ' implies that she is only pretending sleep and hence she

is asked not to be deceitful 'kaLLam thavirndhu.'

 

 

 

'veLLi ezundhu viyAzam urangittru' means the setting of ignorance and

the rise of knowledge.

 

 

 

kuLlakkuLira kudaindhu netrAttam is explained as follows:

 

NeerAttam = think of the Lord.

 

kudaindhu neerAttam= to worship Him in archavathara.

 

kuLira neerAttam= worship Him in His incarnations.

 

kuLlakkuLira neerAttam=to worship Him in Vaikunta.

 

 

 

This pasuram has reference to Thondaradippodi AzvAr as he was born on

this day of Margazi. KaLLam thavirndhu kalandhu and kudaindhuneerAdAdhE

paLLikkidatthiyo implies the days when he forgot the Lord and his

reawakening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pasuram 14- ungaL purakkadai

 

 

 

ungal purakkadai thOttatthu vAviyuL

 

senkazuneer vai neg izndhu Ambalvai koombina kAN

 

sengal podikkoorai veNpalthavatthavar

 

than gaL thirukkoil sangiduvAn podhandhar

 

engalai munnam ezuppubvAn vai pEsum

 

nangAi ezundhirai nANAd hai nAvoudaiyay

 

sangoduchakkaram endhumthadakkaiyan

 

pangayakkaNNAnai pAdElorempAvai

 

 

 

In the pond in your backyard the lilies are closing and the senkazuneer

flowers are blossoming.The ascetics wearing ochre robes and having white

teeth go towards their temple to blow the conch for morning worship.Are

you not ashamed of your bragging about waking us up as you are still

not awake. Wake up and come to sing the lotus-eyed Lord who wields the

disc and the conch in His broad hands.

 

 

 

sengazuneer------koombinakAN- the flower known as senkazuneer seems to

smile happily with the expectation of adorning the body of the Lord and

for the same reason the lily seems to be closing down with

disappointment.

 

 

 

sengarpodi------thavatthavar-those ascetics who have the duty of blowing

the conch signifying the opening of the temple.

 

 

 

nANAdhai nAvudaiyAy- After saying "are you not ashamed " they want to

pacify her by saying nAvudaiyaAy which may mean loud -mouthed as well

as one of good speech or singing ability. So they call her to come out

and sing about the Lord.

 

 

 

UngaLpurakkadai- the back yard of the house, means the samsara and the

thOttam, garden, is the satrira. Senkazuneer denotes the atmagunas,

ahimsa, sense control,mercy to all, patience,jnana, thapas, dhyana and

sathyam. These are blossoming when one awakes from the slumber of

ignorance on the rising of awareness of the Lord. Ambal refers to the

kamakrodhadhi which close or cease to trouble the one who has

experienced the presence of the Lord in the heart.

 

 

 

nANAdhai- implies that one should not feel shy of singing the name of

the Lord.

 

 

 

nAvudaiyai-one who has a tongue, meaning speech.Only the one by whose

words the world redeemed is fit to be called nAvudaiyay and in which

the wisdom and learning shine.

 

sA jihvA syath yayA sarve jeevanthi prANinah bhuvi

 

sA jihvA yathra rAjanthE vidhya hrdhyA chathurdasA

 

 

 

nArAyananE- the E-kara denotes that Narayana is the only one who grants

our wishes.

 

 

 

sengalpodi----------thavatthavar-denotes the prapannas with thirumaN and

srichoorNam and white cloth with red border.

 

 

 

thangal---pOdhandhAr-The temple is their heart where the Lord resides

and they are meditating on Him

 

 

 

senkazuneer vAi negizndhu-senkazuneer refers to the word namah in the

ashtAkshara manthra . When the ashtAkshara is chanted the parathanthrya

jnana dawns, that is the awareness of belonging to the Lord whcih is

signified by the opening up of senkazuneer (vAi negizndhu) and the

closing up of Ambal means the giving up of svAthanthrya buddhi, that

one is an independent agent of his actions.The word sengalpodikkoorai

refers to the seshathvajnana.

 

 

 

This pasuram refers to ThiruppANAzvAr, who is addressed as nANAdhai, one

who has no nAN,ego, and as nAvudaiyAy his being born in the family of

bards.

 

 

 

Pasuram-15-ellE iLamkiLiyE

 

 

 

elE iLmkiLiyE innam urangudhiyO

 

chillenrazaiyEnmin nangaimeer pOdharginrEn

 

vallai un katturaigaL pandE unvayaridhum

 

valleergal neengalE nanE than Ayiduga

 

Ollai nee pOdhai unakkenna vErug daiyai

 

ellArum pOndhAro pOndhAr pOndheNNikkoL

 

vallAnaikkonrAnai mAttrAni mAttrazikka

 

vallANai mAyanai pAdelorempAvai

 

 

 

Oh you young one are you still sleeping?

 

Don't be harsh.I will come presently.

 

Of course we know your eloquence and clever words.

 

Only you people are so. Ok let me be so if you insist.

 

Why don't you come now? Where is the necessity to change your dress?

 

Has evryone arrived?

 

Of course thety have.Come and see for yourself.

 

Come and sing about the one who killed the wild elephant and valiant

enough to vanquish all His enemis and is enchanting.

 

 

 

This pasuram is in the form of playful banter between the callers and

the gilrl sleeping inside.This one is younger than the others but very

clever in arguing.

 

 

 

The superficial meaning of the verse is clear enough. The Lord is

referred to as vallAnAikkonrAnai mAttrAnai mAttrazikka.vallan. Thia has

been explained as follows:

 

vallAnai is KuvalayApeetam, the wild elephant arranged by Kamsa to kill

Krishna and Balarama which Krishna killed (vallAnaikkonrAn) the word

mAttrAnai means the other elephant Gajendhra whose enemy (mAttru), the

crocodile was destroyed by the Lord (azikka vallAn).

 

 

 

This pasuram has been extolled by the devotees as being the one meant

to awaken us who are imprisoned in the cage of sarirathmabhava,

identifying ourslves with the body and bound by the sensual pleasures

like a parrot which is inside a cage with its wings clipped. We are

asleep overpowered with the ignorance of our real nature and the word

'innam urangudhiyo' denotes the long duration of the ignorance of

several lives.

 

 

 

The reply 'chillenrazaiyEnmin nangaimeer pOdharginrEn' is the state of a

worldly being who does not want to get disturbed in enjoying the sense

objects. Such an individual keeps on postponing his spiritual awakening

giving excuses

 

nangaimeer pOdharginrEn-he says I will come later when I become detached

from the worldly desires.

 

 

 

vallai-----vAyaridhum- A clevr person can talk convincingly as to why

he cannot do what should be done as in the case of Arjuna who Krishna

said 'prajnAvAdhAmscha bhAshasE,' talkd vet ry cleverly defending his

view.

 

 

 

valleergal neengalE nanEdhAn Ayiduga-This indicates the humility of the

one who surrenders to the Lord. All the saints without an exception has

beseeched the mercy of the Lord disparaging themselves as being unworthy

of His grace. The suffering is not ordained by the Lord but only due to

one's own doing and the redemption come out of His infinite mercy.

 

 

 

ollai ----vErudaiyai- Here vErudayai is the thought other than that of

the Lord.When one thinks of postponing his entry into the path of

devotion waiting for his attachments to cease will never bre able to do

so as the one waiting to enter the sea once the waves stop.

 

 

 

ellarum-----eNNikkoL- these words emphasise the value of sathsangam and

persuades the aspirant to come and join them.

 

 

 

mArttAnai mAttrazikka - He will dstroy only the mAttru , the

bhedhabuddhi of the mAttrAn the one who does not think of the Lord and

engages himself in worldly pursuits.

 

 

 

This pasuram refers to Thirumangai azvar who calls himself a parrot in

one of his pasurams and ak lso because he followed the argumentative

method to establish the path of devotion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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