PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi 2.7-KaNNA! Come to adorn your head with fragrant flowers!

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

In 2.4- YasOdhA gave a wonderful bath to Kutti. Then in 2.5- she asked (in

order to divert Kutti's attention andcrying while comobing the long black

tresses) crow to come near and comb the hairs. Kutti believes that crow

actually is combing. :-)

 

In 2.6- Kutti is seeing other boys going behind cows and calves for rearing

them with sticks in their hands. Kutti is excited at that and tries to get

up asking for a stick. YasOdhA appeases Him by again calling the crow to

bring a stick for Kutti KaNNan.

 

Now Kutti is all dressed up. YasOdhA wants to decorate the freshly combed

tresses of the Lord with fresh and fragrant flowers. The restless son looked

out of the window and saw His playmates getting ready to take the cattle to

their grazing places . KrishNA was in a big hurry to join His playmates on

their trip to the forest . He asked His

mother for the shepherd's crook (stick ). YasodhA once again

tricked Him to keep Him at home to enjoy His company.

 

She said " Oh my son ! The Crow that came to help me comb Your hair has

run off with Your crook . Let me call it back and ask it to bring back Your

crook . KrishNan is persuaded to wait until the crow

brought the stick .

 

After her cheating game went on , YasOdhA invited KrishNA to stay still so

that she can enjoy decorating her Lord's shiny black hair with many kinds of

fresh flowers . In decad 2.7 known as pUcchUttal , PeriyAzhwAr transforms

himself into the fortunate mother , YasOdhA , and enjoys the experience of

touching the silky hair of the Lord and decorating it with Jasmine , red

lilly , Hibiscus and other beautiful flowers .

 

aaniraimEykkan^eepOdhi arumarundhaavadhaRiyaay

kaanakamellaamthirindhu un_kariyathirumEnivaada

paanaiyilpaalaipparukip paRRaadhaarellaamsirippa

thEniliniyapiraanE! seNbakappoochchoottavaaraay. (2) 1.

 

Oh most merciful, Parama upakArakA! great helper, who is sweeter than honey

and jaggery ! The people of this world do not realize Your grace

(anugraham ) is the sole curing medicine for destroying the disease of

Samsaram and the elixir as well for the enjoyment of the nithya sUris in Sri

Vaikuntam . My neighbors make fun of You for drinking fresh milk stored in

their pots right out of them and yet they are delighted that You blesed them

with Your visit to their houses . Oh the most beautiful one ( SukumArA ) ,

You are ready to run off and follow the cattle in the forest through the

rough and tumble and are going to be

exposed to the harsh rays of the mid-day Sun . Let me first decorate first

Your hair with freshly picked CheNpakA flowers . Please come here and

stand still until I complete the decoration .

 

karuvudaimEkangaLkaNdaal unnaikkaNdaalokkumkaN_kaL

uruvudaiyaay! ulagEzhum_uNdaakavandhupiRandhaay!

thiruvudaiyaaLmaNavaaLaa! thiruvarangaththEkidandhaay!

maruvimaNamkamazhkinRa mallikaippoochchoottavaaraay. 2.

 

Oh my beautiful one ! When I enjoy Your unsurpasable beauty with my eyes ,

they become cool as if I am looking at the water-laden rainy clouds . Oh

Lord with the incomparable beauty of eyes ! Oh my Swami who redeemed this

world with auspiciousness through Your incarnation ! Oh the auspicious

principle behind your consort , who is the embodiment of all

auspicousness ( MangaLAnAM MangaLam , Thiruvukkum ThiruvAhiya selvA ) ! You

are resting at Sri Rangam in response to Your dear consort, MahA Lakshmi's

prayer to rescue the samsAris of this world ( LeelA VibhUthi ) . Please come

near and wear the jasmine

flowers of everlasting fragrance .

 

machchodumaaLikaiyERi maadhar_kaLthammidampukku

kachchodupattaikkizhiththuk kaampudhukilavaikeeRi

nichchalumtheemaikaLseyvaay! neeLthiruvEngadaththu_endhaay!

pachchaiththamanakaththOdu paadhirippoochchoottavaaraay. 3.

 

Oh GovindhA who stands on top of the lofty peak of Thirumalai ! Oh my dear

one , who engages daily in so many pranks such as climbing the upper stories

of neighbor's mansions and tearing to shreds the upper garments( kacchu) and

gold borderd , silk sarees of young girls stored in the women's quarters !

Please come here and permit me to decorate Your freshly combed hair with the

ever green maruk kozhunthu and the red paathiri flowers .

 

theruvin_kaNn^inRu iLavaaychchimaar_kaLaiththeemaiseyyaadhE

maruvumthamanakamumseer maalaimaNamkamazhkinRa

puruvamkarunguzhaln^eRRi polindhamukiRkanRupOlE

uruvamazhakiyan^ambee! ugandhivaisoottan^eevaaraay. 4.

 

( KaNNan responded to His mother's complaint about entering other people's

houses and tearing up the garments of young girls. He said that he was never

there , but was standing in the corner of the street

playing with his friends . How come You accuse me falsely was the response

of the " innocent One " ? This paasuram is YasOdhA's response to her son "

not pleading guilty " ) .

 

Oh my precious one ! It is at these street corners , You chase the girls and

make them suffer with Your pranks . Please do not kick and destroy their

sand castles constructed during their play hours. Please do not deprive them

of their toys and cease teasing them . Oh ParipUrNa Sundara RajA ! ( the

perfect embodiment of beauty) noted particularly for Your matchless dark

brows , enchanting forehead and

black wavy tresses of hair ! This garland made up of Maru and Tamanakam is

rich with fragrance . It is waiting to join Your tresses and be blessed by

that union . I dearly long to decorate You with this garland . Please come

here !

 

puLLinaivaaypiLandhittaay! porukariyin_kombosiththaay!

kaLLavarakkiyaimookkodu kaavalanaiththalaikoNdaay!

aLLin^eeveNNeyvizhunga anchaadhu_adiyEn_adiththEn

theLLiyan^eerilezhundha sengazhun^eersoottavaaraay. 5.

 

Oh Powerful One , who tore apart the beaks of the asuran (BakAsuran ) , who

lay in wait for You to kill You at the banks of YamunA river ! Oh

victorious One , who pulled out the tusks of the royal elephant of Kamsan

and killed it during the occasion of the sports at the court of the

deceitful uncle , Kamsan , who wanted to see You destroyd by his mighty

elephant ! Oh Just One, who cut off the nose of the insulting SoorpaNakA

and the heads of her brother RavaNA , when they offended You with their evil

acts ! Oh my Lord , What a terrible injustice have I done . While waiting

to see You enjoy eating the stolen butter, I was overcome with anger at Your

brazen act and hit You . Fie me ! After hitting You and suffering for my

rash act , I wanted to protect You from

slander through Your engagement in similar butter stealing pranks in other

people's houses. I want now to make up for my rash act and with overflowing

affection for You , I am holding this lovely garland made up of red lilly

flowers . Please do not be angry at me , come near and wear this special

garland on Your tresses .

 

erudhukaLOduporudhi Edhum_ulOpaaykaaNn^ambi!

karudhiyatheemaikaLseydhu kanchanaikkaalkodupaayndhaay!

theruvin_kaNtheemaikaLseydhu sikkenamallar_kaLOdu

porudhuvarukinRaponnE! punnaippoochchoottavaaraay. 6.

 

Oh Lord who did not pay heed to the softness of Your limbs while You were

intensely involved in gaining the hand of Nappinnai through Your subjugation

of the seven mighty bulls ! You did not care at that time about what happens

to Your limbs or life . Oh Lord who has been

fulfilled though Your matchless love for Nappinnai ! You responded to Your

uncle Kamsan's ill deeds and kicked him out of his throne with Your powerful

feet .On the way to killing Your uncle , You killed the

washerman , who insulted You and took possession of the lovely clothes that

he had frshly prepared for Kamsan . You broke the bow of Kamsan , killed his

royal elephant and smashed the mighty wrestlers of Kamsan's court , who

wanted to harm You . At that time of Your mighty encounters at kamsan's

court , Your valor shone like freshly melted gold . I want to join that

golden body of Yours with the gold-colored Punnai flowers . Please come near

and let me decorate Your tresses with this

lovely yellow flowers .

 

kudangaLeduththERavittuk kooththaadavalla_em_kOvE!

madangoLmadhimukaththaarai maalseyyavalla_enmaindhaa!

idandhittu_iraNiyann^enchai irupiLavaakamun_keeNdaay!

kudandhaikkidandha_emkOvE! kurukkaththippoochchoottavaaraay. 7.

 

{ when the wealth of the Brahmins increases , they will show their joy by

conducting Yaj~nAs for the well being of the universe and its beings . When

the wealth of the shepherds increases , then they celebrate that blessing

with " pot -dance (kudak kUtthu ) " . They place earthern pots on their

head , hands and shoulders and dance with skillful steps without dropping

the pots . This is a celebratory event ) .

 

Oh Lord who made the cowherd colony be blessed with undiminishing wealth

through Your association with them ! You placed a row of pots on Your head ,

held one pot in each of Your hands and threw them up in the air and caught

them while engaged in sporting intricate steps .

Who can match Your dance that surpassed all the rules of Bharatha Naatyam ?

 

Oh Lord of our kulam ! Oh my son who can enchant all the girls brimming

with the beauty of full moon !O powerful One , who tore apart the mighty

chest of HiraNyakasipu " protected " by the boons of lesser

Gods ! Oh GOpAlA resting as ArchA mUrthy at Thirukkudanthai to bless us ,

who came after Your VibhavAvathAram as KrishNA ! Please come and

wear this garland of Kurukkatthi flowers .

 

seemaalikanavanOdu thOzhamaikoLLavumvallaay!

saamaaRu_avanain^eeyeNNich chakkaraththaalthalaikoNdaay!

aamaaRaRiyumpiraanE! aNiyarangaththEkidandhaay!

EmaaRRam_ennaiththavirththaay! iruvaatchippoochchoottavaaraay. 8.

 

( Sri Maalikan was a boyhood friend of KrishNan and learned the handling

of all kinds of weapons as a play mate.He became arrogant over his skills in

the use of weapons and caused harm to people .

KrishNA was angry at him and at the same time did not wish to kill his

friend . One day Sri Maalikan complained to his friend that He had not

taught him how to handle the chakrAyudham . KrishNa replied that it is a

tricky business and He Himself is not sure some times about how to handle

that particular weapon .

 

Sri maalikan insisted however on being taught the use of Sudarsanam . The

Lord decided then that it was the most appropriate occasion to punish his

friend for his erstwhile offenses . KrishNan threw the chakram in the air

and received it back with one finger and

warned His friend about the inherent dangers in handling that powerful

weapon . Sri Maalikan did not heed the warning , threw the rotating chakram

into the air and got ready to receive it on his finger just like his friend

demonstrated. He held however his finger too close to his neck .The

returning Sudarsanam landed on his finger, but cut off his head that was too

close to the receiving finger . PeriyAzhwAr

recalls here , the deft way in which the Lord protected His asritha janams

and punished the offenders ) .

 

Oh Lord who taught a lesson to the offending friend , Sri Maalikan ! You cut

off His head with Your chakram . Oh Lord resting at the beautiful temple at

Srirangam and engaged in the bhaktha samrakshaNam and dushta nigraham (

protection of Your devotees and the destruction

of their enemies ) ! You chose the great kshEthram of Srirangam , where the

righteous people live . With that choice of Srirangam as Your place of

residence , You allayed my anxieties over any harm coming Your way . Please

come and wear this freshly blossomed

IruvAtchi flowers and make me happy !

 

aNdaththamarar_kaLsoozha aththaaNiyuLLangirundhaay!

thoNdar_kaLn^enchiluRaivaay! thoomalaraaLmaNavaaLaa!

uNdittu_ulakinaiyEzhum OraalilaiyilthuyilkoNdaay!

kaNdun^aan_unnaiyukakkak karumukaippoochchoottavaaraay. 9.

 

Oh Lord seated in splendorous Sri VaikunTam in the company of NithyasUris

and Muktha Jeevans ! Oh Emperor , who rules over all the worlds ! Oh dear

One who prefers the hearts of Your devotees as even a better place for Your

eternal residence compared to the glorious

Sri VaikunTam ! Oh Lord of MahA Lakshmi seated on the Lotus flower ! Oh

MaayAvi who hid the Universes in Your tiny stomach and floated on the waters

of the ultimate deluge ( PraLayam ) as a little baby resting on a pupil leaf

! Please come near me and make me happy by accepting

this KarumuhaippU garland for Your dark tresses .

 

seNbakamallikaiyOdu sengazhun^eer_iruvaatchi

eNpakar_poovumkoNarndhEn inRu_ivaisoottavaavenRu

maNpakar_koNdaanai aaychchimakizhndhuraiseydha_immaalai

paNpakarvillipuththoorkkOn pattar_piraan_sonnapaththE. 10.

 

Oh Lord I have assembled the SeNpaka flower that blossoms at early dawn ,

the others that blossom after sunrise ( Senkazhu neer and IruvAtcchi et al )

and the Jasmine flowers that blossom in the evening .

I have assembled all these flowers prescribed by saasthrAs for Your

alankAram . I am desirous of decorating You, who took away the earth and

the sky from MahA Bali through a ruse during Your incarnation as

VaamanA and triviktramA .

 

I would like to enjoy the bliss of Your mother YasOdhA Piratti at

AayarpAdi, when she decorated Your beautiful hair . The fruits of reciting

these ten verses of mine --celebrating the anubhavam of YasOdhA decorating

her son's tresses with beautiful flowers-- are the gaining of the blissful

experience ( RasAnubhavam ) of the blessed foster-Mother of our Lord GOpAlan

.. [sri Satakopan mama had written in 1997 and I had only reproduced his

wonderful translation of the same- Thanks for his permission]

PeriyAzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

 

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