SrI:
SrImatE rAmAunjAya nama:
SrImath varavara munayE nama:
In the 13th pAsuram, AndAL wakes up the great bhAgavathOththmai, “pOdhari kanninAy”. While the AzhwArs glorify the beauty of emperumAn, AndAL, here, glorifies the beauty of the devotees of the Lord. In addition, among all vyAkhyAthAs, nAyanAr alone uncovers a distinctive meaning in his vyAkhyAnam and does so in class. Below are glimpses of thiruppAvai vyAkyAnam explaining the two.
prathyanka shObhai & lAvaNya shObhai
There are two types of beauty- prathyanka shObhai and lAvaNya shObhai. prathyanka shObhai (also known as avayava shObhai) refers to the discrete beauty of the limbs. lAvaNya shObai refers to the complete, cohesive beauty of the entire body. The word lAvaNyam finds its origin in the Sanskrit word ‘lavaNam’- salt. Salt, when added to water, dissolves uniformly thus making it unable to separate the salt particles from water. Similarly, the beauty of emperuman’s thirumEni, right from His thirumudi to thiruvadi, is uniformly distributed. lAvaNya shObhai is also called samudAya shObhai. In the 11thpAsuram, katru karavai, AndAL wakes up the girl “kOvalar tham porkudi”. ‘porkudi’ denotes samudAya shObhai. In the 13th pAsuram, AndAL’s waking up of “pOdhari kanninAy” is illustrative of the glorification of avayava shObhai of the eyes of the bhAgavathOththamI.
In thiruppAn AzhwAr’s amalanAdhipirAn, after 8 pAsurams of describing the beauty of each part of emperumAn’s thirumEni, he describes the lAvaNya shObhai of emperumAn in one pAsuram and this is captured in the word “nIla mEni”.
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| The beautiful Sri rAma |
Our AchAryAs, in the context of SrI rAmAyaNa, beautifully explain the avayava and lAvaNya shObhai of SrI rAmappirAn. Upon seeing srI hanumAn, sIthai asks him to describe the qualities of srI rAma. When describing to sIthai, haumAn says, “rAma: kamala patrAksha: sarva bhUta manO hara: rUpa dAkshiNya sampanna: prasUtO jAnaka AtmajE”. In the vyAkhyAnam, it is shown that the word ‘rAma:’ denotes ‘sarvAnga sundaran’ (one who’s entire thirumEni is beautiful) and ‘kamala patrAksha:’ denotes the beauty of the His eyes (avayava shObhai); nampiLLai describes SrI rAma’s eyes as a beautiful dent (suzhi) in the angam. hanumAn says, “sarva bhUta manO hara:”- the thirumEni of SrI rAma gives pleasure to all; the humility personified thiruvadi says that if a monkey can enjoy the beauty of SrI rAma, what about the rest of the world! Further, kambhan explains that one who fixes his eyes on any angam of SrI rAma cannot take his eyes off.
The pratyanka and lAvaNya shObhai of emperumAn is also beautifully described by swAmi nammazhwAr in his pAsuram, “mudi chchOdhiyAy unadhu mugachchOdhi malarndhadhuvO?” (thiruvAimozhi 3-1-1)-
முடிச்சோதியாய் * உனது முகச்சோதி மலர்ந்ததுவோ? *
அடிச்சோதி நீ நின்ற * தாமரையாய் அலர்ந்ததுவோ? **
படிச்சோதி ஆடையொடும் * பல்கலனாய் * நின் பைம்பொன்
கடிச்சோதி கலந்ததுவோ? * திருமாலே! கட்டுரையே
The glories of the eyes
The gOpikai “pOdhari kanninAy” is glorified for the beauty of her eyes. This is compared to the following-
sIthai’s eyes enlighten thiruvadi
Our AchAryAs explain that sIthai’s beauty was such that if, on a beam scale, 1/16th of sIthai’s beauty was kept on one pan and the beauty of SrI rAmA and the 3 worlds were kept on the other, the one holding a fraction of SrI sIthai’s beauty would go up.
At the riShyamukha parvatam, SrI hanumAn wondered how SrI rAma, who is the master of renunciation and detachment, could be a victim of being so crazy in longing for pirAttiyAr. SrI rAma, the Supreme lord, who understands the minds of all, thus understood the heart of SrI hanumAn. Hence, it is explained that SrI rAma particularly chose SrI hanumAn to take the ring with him when searching for SrI sIthai, thinking that once he would see sIthai, he would obtain the answer for his perplexity. As soon as hanumAn saw sIthai, he said,
“tulya shIla vayO vrttAm tulya abhjana lakshaNAm |
rAghavO arhat vaidEhIm tam cha iyam asItEkshaNA ||”
Amazed at the radiance of SrI sIthai, hanuman says to himself that it is She who is the perfect match for SrI rAmappirAn in all respects. Further, he particularly mentions “asIthEkshaNa”- he glorifies the captivating beauty of Her eyes. He thinks, “how could SrI rAma even sustain his life without sIthai?”. It is pointed that while SrI sIthai tells hanumAn that She will wait for SrI rAma for not more than a month, SrI rAma tells hanumAn that He will cannot live for even a second without SrI sIthai (“na jIvEyam kshaNam api”). Such was the greatness of SrI sIthai’s beauty.
nampiLLai expounds AzhwAr’s nAyikA bhAvam
As nammAzhwAr takes to nAyikA bhAvam, he talks through the mouth of a mother (thAi), maghaL (daughter) and thOzhi (friend). The “unnum sOru” padhigam (thiruvAimozhi 6-7-1) denotes the thAi pAsuram of nammAzhwAr, where AzhwAr verbalizes his anubhavam via the figure of a mother. In this pAsuram, as the mother falls asleep, her daughter quickly leaves in search of the love of her heart, emperumAn; she leaves for the glorious thirukkOvalUr divyadEsam. Looking at this, AzhwAr (the mother) says “thiNNam en iLamAn pugumUr thirukkOLUrE”. thiNNam denotes surety; i.e. her daughter who set out alone surely reached thirukkOvalUr. nampiLLai explains that when a girl, in general, leaves alone, her mother would be worried about her. nampiLLai cites an example that when one sets out on a journey in the seas, he sees nothing but water in all directions and it takes him several thousands of miles to see the shore. Similarly, is this girl’s leaving for thirukkOvalUr a cause of concern? nampiLLai says no, explaining as follows.
“ninaikkilEn dheyvangkAL! nedungkaN iLamAn inip pOy anaiththulagum udaiya aravindhalOchananai”(thiruvAimozhi, unnum sOru- 6-7-10)
The girl is described as “nedunkan iLamAn”- one with wide and beautiful eyes. And, the emperumAn at thirukkOvalUr is described as “aravindalOchanan”- the lotus-eyed Lord. In nampiLLai’s vyAkhyAnam, he cites the example of king janamEjayan. janamEjayan performed a sarpa yAga. In such a yAga, all the serpents of the world would fall into the yAga in a swirling fashion. The snakes which are, in nature, found curled, further coiled up and fell into the yAga (surundu vizhundhudhu). Similarly, while it is aravinda lOchana emperumAn who should have gone to see this beautiful girl, she happened to set forth to see emperumAn, her dear lover. Yet, it is explained that, emperumAn, who is ubhaya vibhUthi nAthan- anaiththulagum udaiya emperumAn, has the entire universe and manifestation under His divine lotus feet. The aravindalOchanan emperumAn who has the ubhaya vibhUthigaL under the purview of His eyessuccumbs to one corner of the eyes of his beloved nAyakI, nedunkan iLamAn. This was the greatness of her exquisite eyes.
periya pirAttiyAr’s eyes instruct emperumAn
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| SrIrenga nAchchiyAr |
bhattar, in his guNaratnakOsham, says “yad bhrUbhangA pramANam”- emperumAn counts on the expressions of pirAttiyAr’s eyebrows (bhrU) to execute His actions of creation, sustenance and destruction. If one were to understand the pastimes of emperumAn, it is the expression of pirAttiyAr’s eyebrows that shall serve as the pramANa (bhrUbhangA pramANam)!
bhattar on seeing namperumAL in nAchchiyAr thirukkOlam finds emperumAn adorned in the ornaments and dress of nAchchiyAr, yet he is quick to comment, “Oh Lord, everything is wonderful just like nAchchiyAr, but your masculine eyes lack the compassion of nAchchiyAr’s”.
In this way, the beauty of pOdhari kanninAy’s eyes is extolled.
nAyanAr’s exclusive contribution to the vyAkhyAnam
“மநத்துக்கினியானைப்பாடவும்” என்று- இவர்கள் சொன்ன பாசுரத்தை அசல் மாளிகையிலே கேட்டுக் கிடப்பாளொருபெண்பிள்ளை, நம்மபராதந்தீர இவர்களுக்கு வார்த்தை சொல்லுவோமென்று, “பெண்காள், இங்கு ராமவ்ருத்தாந்தம் சொன்னாருண்டோ” என்ன; ராமவ்ருத்தாந்தமுஞ் சொன்னோம்; க்ருஷ்ணவ்ருத்தாந்தமுஞ் சொன்னோம்; ஸ்ரீராமாயணமும், பாரதமும், ஸ்ரீபாஞ்சராத்ரமுமகப்படச்சொன்னோ மென்கிறார்கள்.
At the onset of the 13th pAsuram, nAyanAr alone explains a very important thing in his avathArikai. In the 12th pAsuram, AndAL mentions the thirunAmam of emperumAn, “manaththukkiniyAn”. This thirunAmam refers to SrI rAma. Very spontaneously, reacting angrily, the inhabitants of thiruAyppAdi question why SrI rAma should be sung about in the land where SrI kannan means everything to them. If one went to ayOdhyA, would the residents allow for SrI kannan to be glorified? They always sing the names of SrI rAma- “rAmO rAmO rAma iti prajAnAm abhavan kathA…rAma bhUtam..jagata bhUta rAma…”. The thiruAyppAdi inhabitants thus question what is lacking in SrI kannan that AndAL sings about SrI rAma. To this, AndAL replies, “we sang about SrI rAmAyaNam, we sang about SrI kannan and we also sang about the pAncharAthram”. AndAL had glorified SrI rAma, calling him “manaththukkiniyAn”, she talked about SrI kriShna- “mAvAy piLLandhAnai mallarai mAttiya” and sang about the pAncharAthra as well in her 6thpAsuram- “veLLa tharavil thuyil amarndha viththinai”.
In the AchArya hrudayam, nAyanAr in his sUthram says, “athavA vEdha vEdhya nyAyaththAlE parathva-parapudhu vEdham vyUha vyApthi avataraNangaLil Odhina nIthi kEtta manu patukadhakalAi Aga mUrthyil pannina tamizhAnavArai iththai drAvidamAhach cheydhAr enrum”. This sUthram is briefly explained as follows.
1- The vEda vEdya nyAyam has its origin in the shlOkam-
“vEda vEdyE pare pumsi jAtE dasharathAtmajE |
vEda: prAchEtasAdAsIt sAkshAd ramAyaNAtmanA||”
The Supreme lord celebrated in the vEdAs took birth as SrI rAma and the vEdAs took the form of SrI rAmAyaNam, the author of the SrI rAmAyaNa being SrI vAlmIki. Per this, the vEda vEdya nyAyam is based on the fact that emperumAn manifested as SrI rAma and consecutively the vEdAs manifested as SrI rAmAyaNa.
2- When there is knowledge, there are always three things associated with it. Firstly, it is the pramAthA- one who knows the object. Secondly, it is the pramANa- the way by which he knows the object. Thirdly, it is the pramEyam- that (the object) which is known.
3- emperuman is known to have 5 niLaigaL (forms). nammAzhwAr describes this as “viNmIdhu iruppAy! malaimEl niRpAy! kadal sErppAy! maNmIdhu uzhalvAy! ivatRuL engkum maRaindhu uRaivAy!” (thiruvAimozhi 6-9-5) (“விண்மீது இருப்பாய்! மலைமேல் நிற்பாய்! * கடல் சேர்ப்பாய்! *மண்மீது உழல்வாய்! * இவற்றுள் எங்கும் மறைந்து உறைவாய்!”*) His 5 forms are- para (at SrI vaikunTha), vyUha (at thiruppArkadal), vibhava (avatAram), antaryAmithvam (paramAtma) and archA (vigraha/deity).
4- Per the vEda vEdya nyAyam, just as how emperumAn (the pramEyam) manifests in 5 forms, the vEdAs (the pramANam) manifests in 5 forms.
5- nAyanAr explains the pramANa that corresponds to each of the 5 forms of emperumAn.
-parathvam: the vEdAs explain the parathva form of emperumAn
-vyUha (padaiththaL, kAththal, Azhiththal): the vEdAs manifest as the pAncharAthram to talk about the vyUha form
-vyApti (antaryAmi): the vEdAs manifest as the manu dharma shAstra to explain the antaryAmi form
-vibhava: the vEdAs manifest as SrI rAmAyaNa and SrI mahAbhAratha to describe the vibhava pastimes of emperumAn as SrI rAma and SrI kriShNa.
-archA: nAyanAr, by the vEda vEdya nyAyam, thus beautifully establishes that in a similar manner, the vEdAs manifest as the thiruvAimozhi to glorify the archA form.
Hence, nAyanAr very logically explains that when singing “veLLa tharavil thuyil amarndha viththinai”, AndAL is singing about the pAncharAtram.
TRANSLATED from the works of Mūāyirappadi (swAmi Periyavāchchān Piļļai, Ārāyirappadi (swAmi Azhagiya Manavāļā Perumāļ Nāyanār) and the kAlakshEpams of revered vidvAns.
AndAL thiruvadiklaey sharanam | emperumAnAr thiruvadikaley sharanam
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