Desikasthothramala- Dasavatarasthothram

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4. gopayeth aniSam jaganthi

kuhanaapothree pavithreekrtha

brahmaandaH pralayormighoshagurubhiH

ghoNaaravaiH ghurghuraiH

yath dhamshtraagrakotighaaDa ghatanaa

nishkampa nithysThithiH

brahmasthambamasoudhasou bhagavathee

mustheva viSvambaraa

 

May

the Lord who assumed the disguise of a boar, by whose `ghur ghur' sound from His nostrils, resembling the sound

of the waves at deluge, purified the

cosmos and clinging tightly to the tip

of whose tusk the earth goddess, like a root bulb , created the universe from

Brahma down to the blade of grass, protect the worlds.

 

Kuhanaapothree- the Boar, pothree,

who was not real, but deluding, kuhanaa, meaning that the Lord assumed the

disguise of a boar,

ghoNaaravaiH ghurghuraiH-

the sound `ghur, ghur coming out of His nostrils, ghoNaravaiH, (ghoNaa

means nose or snout and rava is the

noise.)

 

pralayormighoshagurubhiH- great like the sound of the waves, oormighosha, at Pralaya,

 

pavithreekrtha brahmaandaH-which purified the cosmos

 

gopaayeth

– may protect (from gup to protect)

 

aniSam

always

 

jaganthi-

the worlds ( Nominative plural of jagath )

 

 

yath dhamshtraagrakoti to whose tip, agrakoti, of the tusk,

dhamshtra,

 

ghaataghatanaa- clinging tightly

 

nishkampa nithyasThithiH- ever motionless

 

mustheva-

like a root bulb,

 

asou bhagavathee- The goddess

 

viSvambharaa- who bears the universe

 

asoudha-

gave birth to

 

brahmasthhambam- everything from Brahma till the blade of grass

 

Desika

looks upon all the incarnations of the Lord as being disguises to deceive the

wicked because as He said in the Gita, avajaananthi

maam mooDaaH maanusheem thanum aasritham, those who lack the knowledge of

His real identity take His incarnations as being real and that He assumes the

prakrthi and creates Himself by His own maya, prakrthim svaam aDhishTaaya sambhavaami aathmamaayayaa. The

bhakthas are not deceived, says Desika, by referring to the great Boar as kuhanaapothree, as he called Krishna as miThyaagopa

in Gopalavimsathi and kapatakesaree

in Kaamasikaashtaka.

 

The

Varaha is described in Srimadbhagavatha as bhagavaan

yajnapurushaH jagarja agendhrasannibhaH, the Varaha, who is yajnapurusha,

roared looking like the king of mountains. And He searched for the earth which

was hidden under the ocean by Hiranyaksha and though His tusk was frightening,

His looks were the opposite, karaala

dhamshtro api akaraala dhrshtyaa, His eyes were soft towards His devotees, says Srimadbhagavatham. This is the

reason why Desika calls Him kuhanaapothree.

His most fierce form as Narasimha which is decribed by Desika in kamasikashtaka

as sarojasadhrSaadhisaa,

the eyes like lotus.

 

His

ghur ghura , the sound made from His

nostrils purified the three worlds , says Desika. This is because He was vrshaakapi, the embodiment of Dharma

and the sound emanating from Him was vedaghosha since His is yajna varaha.

 

When

He emerged from the waters carrying the earth , it looked like a musta, root bulb digged out by the Boar

, which gives an indication of the size of the Boar. In Srimadbhagavatham the

size of Varaha is indicated by khuraiH

kshurapraiH dharayan thadhaa aapaH, He was stirring the waters of the ocean

with His sharp hoofs, which shows that the sea was like goshpadhee, a puddle made by the hoof of a cow for Him.

 

The

Earthgoddess clung to His tusk steadily

while He was emerging out with great speed. Desika says the Bhoodevi who gave

birth to all beings in the whole universe, from Brahma to a blade of grass was

infinitesmal on His tusk like a mustha. Bhoodevi here means the divne consort

of the Lord who created even Brahma and

hence she is described as ViSvambhara , the one who bears all from Brahma to

the blade of grass. It should not be imagined as the globe of the earth which

is seen in the pictures of Varaha, on His tusk.