PAsuram 3.8.2 - mudalait tanimA

mudalait tanimA muraN tIra anRu
mudunIrt taDattuc cenkaN vEzham uyya
vidalait talaic cenRu adaRkE udavi
vinai tIrtta ammAn iDam viN aNavum
padalaik kapOdattu oLi mADa neRRip
pavaLak kozhumkAla painkAl puRavam
madalait talai men peDai kUDu nAngUr
maNimADak kOyil vaNangu en mananE!

 

B. SrI PVP:

anRu –

that day,

mudunIrt taDattu mudalai tanimA muraN tIra –

in order to remove the great animosity of the crocodile that existed in the age old waters of the pond

cenkaN vEzham uyya –

and in order to let the red-eyed gajendran live; elephants do not have red eyes. In spite of the elephant's great strength, it is useless in water and gajendran's eyes are red from the futile efforts of escaping from the crocodile.

vidalait talai –

as soon as the elephant cried his heart out in great pain

adaRkE cenRu udavi –

emperumAn arrived at this place Himself; the elephant was troubled that he was not able to offer to Him, the flower he had plucked; but, He accepted the offer of the flower. In tiruvAimozhi 7.10.8, nammAzhvAr talks about 'Anaiyin nenciDar' (the elephant's distress) - “poigaiyin vAi, ninRu tan nIL kazhal Ettiya Anaiyin nenciDar tIrtta pirAn”.

vinai tIrtta ammAn iDam –

relieved the elephant from its age old karmA; this is that svAmi's tiruppati

viNNaNavum padalaik kapOdattu –

in the tall houses with kalasam-s which reach the heavens, the pigeons form their habitat

oLi mADa neRRi madalait talai –

in the front portions of the brilliantly shining corners of these pillars,

pavaLak kozhumkAla painkAl puRavam –

pigeons that have coral-hued feet with toes

men peDaikUDu –

enjoy mingling with their counterparts

nAngUr maNimADak kOyil –

in tirunAngUr maNimADakkOvil

vaNangu en mananE! –

Oh my mind! Worship this emperumAn.

 

C. SrI PBA:

mudalait tanimA muraN –

so many elephants visited that pond to drink water. That crocodile did not trouble any of those elephants who did not know any bhagavad vishayam and were concerned only about nourishment of their own bodies; gajendran was religiously offering a lotus flower for emperumAn every day in that pond and had come with that purpose again; since the crocodile chose to harm this devotional elephant, AzhvAr is calling this crocodile 'mudalait tani mA muraN'; it was his extreme wickedness to harm bhagavad bhakta-s.

vidalait talaic cenRu –

one meaning is – when the elephant was sad and shivering with sorrow that the flower could not be offered to emperumAn that day, He arrived in a flash.

Another meaning is – in saMskRtam, 'vi' denotes bird; so 'vidalai' refers to the king of the birds, namely, garuDan. He came to the elephant's rescue, mounted on garuDan.

kapOdattu –

'kapodam' in saMskRtam refers to pigeon. But, the term is also used to denote the living spots of the pigeons as 'kabodam', 'kabOdi', 'kabOdai' etc.

 

***

 

PAsuram 3.8.3 - kolaippuN

kolaippuN talaik kunRam onRu uyya anRu
koDumA mudalaikku iDar seydu, kongAr
ilaip puNDarIkattu avaL inbam anbODu
aNaindiTTa ammAn iDam AL ariyAl
alaippuNDa yAnai maruppum agilum
aNi muttum veN camaraiyODu ponni
malaip paNDam aNDat tirai undu(m) nAngUr
maNimADakkOyil vaNangu en mananE!

 

B. SrI PVP:

In the previous pAsuram (3.8.2), AzvhAr talked about how emperumAn provided succour for the helpless gajendran. In this pAsuram, He enjoys the pleasant embrace He gets from His pirATTi for rescuing gajendran.

anRu –

During that day;

kolaippuN talaik kunRam onRu uyya –

in order to rescue the elephant who was capable of killing other lives and who had head injuries from the mahout's spears and who looked like a huge mountain; it is also normal for elephants to fight with each other and thus the injuries might have occurred from those fights also.

koDumA mudalaikku iDar seydu –

emperumAn conferred hardships on the strong crocodile that grasped the elephant's leg to draw him in.

kongAr ilaip puNDarIkattu avaL inbam anbODu aNaindiTTa ammAniDam –

He got presented with the lovely embrace of tAyAr, who lives in the lotus with its honey-laden leaves. That emperumAn lives in this maNimADakkOvil.

When perumAL protects the foes of ASrita-s, pirATTi becomes very pleased and confers gifts on emperumAn. When cakravartit tirumagan vanquised karan, dhUshaNan and the whole gang, sItAp pirATTi embraced rAma as a present for His wondrous valor.

"pirATTi and perumAL"

ponni –

the river kAvEri

AL ariyAl alaippuNDa yAnai maruppum –

brings with her, the tusks of the elephants killed by valorous lions

agilum aNi muttum veN camaraiyODu –

she brings agil trees, beautiful pearls, white cAmaram-s (the tail hair of kavari mAn/deer/yac),

malaip paNDam aNDat tirai undu(m) –

and other things that are in the mountains

nAngUr maNimADakkOyil –

to tirunAngUr maNimADakkOvil

vaNangu en mananE! –

Oh my mind! Worship the emperumAn in that temple

 

C. SrI UV:

In the previous pAsuram 3.8.2, AzhvAr talked about the mating of the male and female pigeons and feels bad that he is not singing about perumAL and tAyAr having the enjoyment of embrace. So, he talks about gajendran's story one more time.

When gajendran offered the lotus flower to emperumAn who came rushing to liberate him, mahAlakshmit tAyAr appeared from that lotus and embraced the lord for having delivered the elephant from danger, and gajendran got to enjoy that delightful darSanam.

Since river kAvEri is mother-in-law for emperumAn [kAvEri as a river, is the wife of the ocean or pARkaDal; mahAlakshmit tAyAr who is the daughter of pARkaDal, is kAvEri's daughter also; thus lord raNganAtha becomes her son-in -law], she brings a lots of gifts (in the form of elephant tusks, precious gems etc) to pirATTi who appeared in the ocean and to Him. May be, that is why the divya dEsam has a lot of maNi mADam-s – tall, bedecked houses.

 

D. SrI PBA:

After kara-dhUshaNa vadam, when sItAp pirATTi gave rAma the pleasure of embrace:

taM dhRshTvA Satru hantAraM maharshINAM sukhAvaham |
babhUva hRshTA vaidehI bhartAraM perishasvaje ||

--- AraNya. 30.40

all the Rshi-s felt ecstatic; even though those Rshi-s did not praise or feel elated about tAyAr embracing emperumAn after gajendra moksham, AzhvAr takes turn in singing about the same - “koDumA mudalaikku iDar seydu puNDarIkattu avaL anboDu aNaindiTTa ammAn”.

River kAvEri does not directly flow into tirunAngUr, but she does flow through the surrounding regions in various branches.

SrIrangarAjastavam (pUrva Satakam, slokam 21) kAvErI varNanam talks about the wealth that kAvErI brings –

ca'ncaccAmaracandracandanamahAmANikyamuktotkarAn |
kAverI laharIkarairvidadhatI paryeti sA sevyatAm ||

(With her flood waters, kAvEri brings for her son-in-law, lord ranganAtha, heaps of camphor, sandal, precious gems, pearls etc)

 

***