Thiruppavai 24-anRu ivvulagam aLandhaai

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Pasuram24-anru ivvulagam

 

anru ivvulagam aLandhAi adi pOttri

chenranguthennilangai chettrAi thiral pOttri

ponracchagaam udhaitthai pugazpottri

kanru kuNila erindhai kazal pOttri

kunrukudaiyai edutthAi guNam pOttri

venru pagai kedukkum nin kayil vel pOttri

enrenrum un sEvagamE EtthipparaikoLvAn

inru yAm vandhOm irangElorempavai

 

Glory to your feet ! You measured this world once.You went and conquered Lanka, we praise your valour. You kicked the cartwheel, glory to you. You killed the asura who came as a calf by using him as a catapult.Praise to your feet! We praise your mercy in holding the hill as an umbrella. The spear in your hand be praised for its vanquishing the enemies.We have come today to serve you ever and obtain your grace Have mercy on us.

 

When the Lord arrived and is seated on his throne, offered by the devotion of Andal, she forgot to talk about 'vandha kAriyam,' for which she entreated Him to listen in the prevoius pasuram and started praising Him offering mangalASAsanam, saying pOtri,pOtri. After all she is the daughter of Periazvar who sang PallAndu for the Lord. The episodes mentioned here praise the glory of His feet and the mangalASAsana seems to be the talisman for the trouble His feet underwent.

 

1. anru ivvulagam aLandhAi- The episode of Mahabali is mentioned here.The Lord had promised that He will not kill any descendant of Prahlada and hence punished Mahabali by sending Him to pAthAla.Moreover Bali was not wicked but only arrogant with power. He was pious and a devotee as well. That is why he got what was not given to anyone, namely the touch of the feet of the Lord.

 

2.senrangu thennilangai chettrai- If Rama wanted to kill RavaNa he could have done it from AyodhyA itself and need not have taken the trouble of going to the forest at all. But He went to dhandakaraNya in order to give refuge to the rshis there.So the feet which walked all the way to DhandakAraNya are praised here. Thennilangai chettrai does not mean that Rama destroyed Lanka because he did not. He has given Lanka to VibheeshaNa already and would not harm it.The word means, then=beautiful , nilam = country, kai= kaikkonda , one who had it in his hands, that is, Ravana. So the phrase means ' praise be to you who destroyed Ravana.'

 

3. ponracchgadam udhaitthai-Another feat of the feet, kicking the wheel of the cart, to kill the asura who was disguised therein.Srimadbhagavatham says that YasOdha did not believe the words of the boys who said that the cart went to pieces because Krishna kicked it and she felt his feet to ensure that it was not hurt.

 

4. kanru kunilA erindhAi-It was the arms which threw the asura who came in the form of a calf but Andal praises his feet, kazal pOttri, because when he threw up the calf, the posture he was standing in drew the attention to his graceful and lotus-like feet.

 

5. kunru kudaiyai edutthai- Here also his feet are to be praised because it is the feet the gopas surrendered when oppressed by deluge-like rain.Krishna held the mountain as an umbrella which means that he grasped it with all his fingers and inverted it like an umbrella. The words in Bhagavatha 'cchathraakam iva ' like an umbrella has been taken to imply that He inverted the mountain, by Desika and Azvar. Krishna tells 'yathopajosham visatha girigartham sagodhanaah,' meaning , enter into these hollows or caves of the mountain along with the cattlae etc. and live there. So the beings of gokula were not standing under the mountain but lived comfortably in the caves as in their houses.Unless the mountain was upturned this is not possible as they could not have climbed up the top which was under the rain. So there is ample evidence apart from the azvar and Desika sukthis that Krishna indeed upturned the mountain and He held it with one hand and not with little finger.

 

In srimadbhagavatha the lifting of the mountain is described thus. 'Ithyukthvaa ekena hasthenakrthvaa govardhanaachalam dhadhaara leelayaa krishnah cchathraakamiva baalakah' Krishna lifted the mountain by one hand playfully like an umbrella. The same is described by Vedanta Desika beautifully thus. 'Sa leelayaa merumiva dvitheeyam govardhanam gopakula pradheepah navaprroodam nihithaika hastho naago nalasthambham iva ujjahaara.' The light of the Yadavas,(krishna) lifted playfully the govardhana mountain like a second Meru ,placing it in one hand like an elephant lifting a lotus stalk. He upturned the mountain 'adhomukhaavasthitham' and held it with its bottom up, 'udhanchayath sathvaram oordhvamoolam.' Periazvar describing this incident by 10 verses says that the hand of Krishna looked like adhisesha holding the earth.'padangal palavumudai paambaraiyan padarbhoomiyai thaanga kidappavan pol' as the fingers resembled the hoods of the sesha with his hand opened wide, 'thadangai viraindhum malara vaitthu.' Desika further describes the hand thus: His hands red like lotus were like the base of the opened umbrella, 'abugnarakthaanguli panjaram' and the rays of the rings on His fingers forming the rods 'ratnormikaarasmi salaakamanthah,' it looked like a huge cchathra, umbrella supported by the staff of His arm. Let us also enjoy the words of Periazvar- seppaadudaiya thirumaalavan than senthaamarai kaiviral aindhinaiyum kuppaaga edutthu mani neduntholl kaambaaga kodutthu kavittha malai.' The Lord upturned the mountain 'kavitthu,' holding it withy His five fingers of His lotus-like hand, with His arm as the supporting stick of the umbrella,aninedum tholl kaambaaga.'The streams of water falling around looked like the pearl strings round the umbrella,'parandhizi the llaruvi muthuvadam.', All these show without doubt that the Lord held the mountain with His hand and not His little finger, which must have been the modification for the sake of dramatic element.

 

The word pOttri repeated six times denotes that Krishna is none other that Narayana who has six gunas that define the word BhagavAn, namely, jnana, bala, aisvarya,shakthi, thEjas and veeryam.

 

According to vaishanva sampradhaya this word pOtri repeated six times denote the six angas, constituents of saranagathi. These will be elaborated in the commentary of the pasuram 'malE maNivaNNa.'

 

anru----alandhai- the whole world has the stamp of His foot to which the devotee do parapatthi, that is, saranagathi.

 

Senrangu thennilangai chettrai-then=beautiful, nilam- field, khethram which means the body, as mentioned in the Gita, 'idham sariram kounthEya kshEthramithyabhidheeyathE, this sarira is called kshethram.' kai denotes the mind which has sarira in its control. The Lord subdues the mind and leads it along the right path which is meant by chettrai.

 

ponracchagadam udhaitthAi- The wheel of karma which He destroys (ponra)

 

kanru kuNila erindhai-He throws away the sins which come is succession like calving.

 

kunrum kudaiyai edutthai-He protects with His grace like an umbrella from the shower of sins .

 

Nin kaiyil vEl- his will is like the spear removes the obstacles to His service.

 

All this is achieved by surrendering to His feet.