Pasuram 5. 1. 2 - kallak kuralai

 

kaLLak kuRaLAi mAvaliyai
vancittu ulagam kaippaDuttu
poLLaik karatta pOdakatttin
tunbam tavirtta punidan iDam
paLLac ceRuvil kayal ugaLap
pazhanak kazhani adanuL pOi
puLLum piLLaikku irai tEDum
puLLam bhUta'nkuDitAnE.

 

A. SRIMAD TIRUKKUDANDAI ANDAVAN:

emperumAn took a deceitful vAmana form; when SukrAcAriAr tried to prevent mahAbali from giving the donation, He made sure that mahAbali was not listening to his guru and obtained three feet of land from him. He re- possessed the lands that mahAbali thought were his. He relieved the elephant in distress. This is the land where that holy emperumAn lives.

AzhvAr then talks about the fertility of the land. Fat fish are playing around in the watery fields; the birds come looking for smaller fish to feed their young ones.

 

B. SRI PVP:

kaLLak kuRaLAi mAvaliyai vancittu –

He took a pretentious short brahmacAri form to deceive mahAbali and

ulagam kaippaDuttu –

took ownership of the worlds

poLLaik karatta pOdakatttin tunbam tavirtta punidan iDam –

He saved the elephant that had a trunk, from its dilemma; this is the divya dESam where that holy lord is stationed

paLLac ceRuvil kayal ugaLa –

fish are jumping around in the low fields

puLLu pazhanak kazhani adanuL pOi – the birds enter the fertile fields

piLLaikku irai tEDum –

and look for gathering food for their young ones

There is a famous tradition that is remembered here. One time, in bhaTTar's kAlakshepa goshThi, a devotee named AlavAyuDaiyAn inquired - “When they are fish jumping around in ecstasy, what is the reason for the birds to go looking for food?” bhaTTar responded, “Study this pAsuram very well. The birds are searching for food for their young ones. Because of the fertility of the land, the fish are all stout like pillars and large roof beams; out of those, the birds had to corner down fish small enough for their kid birds' mouths”.

puLLambhUta'nkuDitAnE –

It is that divya dESam called tiruppuLLambhUta'nkuDi.

 

C. SRI UV:

emperumAn is said to be the owner of the three worlds, not just because He deceitfully yanked them out of mahAbali; as the primordial lord, He owned them from the beginning.

 

D. SRI PBA:

poLLaik karatta pOdakatttin tunbam tavirtta punidan -

Isn't it enough to say - “pOdakatttin tunbam tavirtta”? Why the additional “poLLaik karatta”? poLLai means hole; the elephant's trunk has hole. As long as the trunk does not get submerged in water, there is no danger for the elephant. As soon as the trunk with its hole gets immersed in water, danger is imminent. In order to show that a great danger had befallen, AzhvAr uses this phrase.

tunbam tavirtta -

the tunbam or difficulty here is that gajendran, the elephant is feeling sad that the flower he plucked for perumAL is going to waste without being offered to Him; emperumAn alleviated that pain.

punidan –

what is the holiness for emperumAn here? He emphatically thought of the eradication of the elephant's distress as a dismissal of His own suffering.

 

ADDITIONAL INPUT BY SRI V SADAGOPAN:

"kaLLakkuRaLAi mAvaliyai vancittu ulakam kaipaDuttu": This pAsuram passage refers to the Lord who incarnated as tirukkuRaLappan (vAmanan/Divine dwarf), who took back His aiSvaryam that was stolen by bali cakravarti and gave it back to the devAs. He took on the misleading guise as a kapaTa vAmana brahmacAri and had three feet of land ceded to Him by bali by deceit and then grew gigantically to measure all the three worlds with the three measures of His (Ongi ulakaLanta uttaman's) sacred feet.

poLLai karatta pOdakattin tunbam tavirtta punitan: He rushed to the lake side as the mahA purushan, when the suffering/ drowning gajendran called out for Him as "Aadi mUlam " to protect him from the fierce teeth of the crocodile. He is saluted as a punitan or pariSuddhan. He is indeed the goptA (The saviour of the distressed devotees) and purAtanan (Aadi mUlam). He is puNya SravaNa kIrtanan. He is dushkrtiA (the slayer of the evil doer — the crocodile in gajendra moksham). As "SiSiran", he rushed immediately to the Lake side on hearing the painful cry of gajendran and knew exactly what to do (vidvat- tama:) and removed all the fears of gajendran, who became "vIta bhaya:". All these nAmAs are from SrI vishNu sahasranAmam and releate to gajendra moksham.

 

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