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nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII kaNNan ennum karum deyvam 2

From the Bhakti List Archives

Kalyani Krishnamachari • January 19, 2003 


                                                      
                      SrI:
     SrI ANDAL samEta SrI raÂ’ngamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

         nAcciyAr tirumozhi XIII– kaNNan ennum karum deyvam
 
pASuram 13.2 (thirteenth tirumozhi-pAsuram 2 pAl Alilaiyil)

pAl Alilaiyil tuyil koNDa paraman valaip paTTu irundEnai
 vElAl tunnam peydARpOl vENDiRRu ellAm pESAdE
kOlAl nirai mEittu AyanAik kuDandaik kiDanda kuDam ADi
nIlAr taNNam tuzhAi koNDu en neRi men-kuzhal mEl SUTTIrE

A.	From SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise

In the second pAsuram, ANDAL does mangaLASasanam to
ArAvamudan, who is lying on AdiSeshan in tirukkuDandai
on the banks of hEma pushkariNi.

Once this emperumAn was lying on a tender banyan leaf,
tasting His own toe and doing mAyA jAlam as if He is
ignorant of everything else that is going on around
Him.  I am caught in the net of this paraman  and
there is no way for me to escape. Do not use words as
you please that painfully pierce my body like spears.
That kaNNapirAn who played the role of a cowherd boy
and played the kuDak-kUttu when He was in AyarpADi, is
reclining in tiruk kuDandai on the AdiSeshan.  Go
there and have the darSanam of ArAvamudan/hEmarangan
and then tell Him this. “Oh kaNNA, who performed the
kuDak-kUttu!  We have come all the way from
srIvilliputtUr in the interests of gOdaiÂ’s welfare;
she has become unconscious because of unsurpassable
love for You; she wants us to get from You the
beautiful, green, cool, tulasi garland that you are
wearing, and put it on her thick, soft hair.  By this
alone can she be saved.”

B.	Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

pAl Alilaiyil tuyil kONDa: pAl ilai refers to the
young tender sprouting leaf.  
tirumangai AzhwAr also says in periya tirumozhi
2-10-1,. “Alin mElOr iLantaLiril kaN vaLarnda ISan”.

This wonder is described in  BhAratam AraNya kANDam 188-94:

“katham nvayam SiSuh Sete loke nASam upAgate |
  SAkhAyAm vaTavRkshasya pallavE tu sucismita:  ||

(Even after the whole world is destroyed, how is this
baby with the sweet smile, lying down on the young
leaf of the banyan tree?).

tuyil koNDa: He is sleeping just as He was when yasOdA
put Him to sleep in a safe crib.  Anyone else would
have been scared to lie on a young leaf thinking what
is going to happen next; but, He is sleeping on this
tender banyan leaf that has no support, without the
slightest fear whatsoever. 

paraman:  This vaTa patra SAyI is far above par when
compared with the aghaTita ghaTanA sAmarthyam of
yaSodAÂ’s kaNNan.    It is true that yaSodAÂ’s kaNNan
did a lot of unbelievable things such as killing
pUtanA, SakaTAsura, bearing the govardhana, etc.   But
what are those things compared to this young child
sleeping peacefully on a tender, unsupported banyan
leaf, after swallowing all the seven worlds?  

poigai AzhwAr describes this wonder thus in mudal
tiruvandAdi 69: “bAlan tanaduruvAi EzhulaguNDu Alilaiyin mElanRu nI
vaLarnda mei enbar – AlanRu, vElai nIr uLLadO viNNadO
maNNadO” – It is said that you were truly floating on
the lonely tender banyan leaf, even though everything
had been swallowed by You and nothing was left except
this banyan leaf.  We wonder whether this banyon leaf
was supported by the waters, the earth, or the air.

valaip paTTu irundEnai:  She is the daughter of
peiryAzhvAr, who sang “pallANDu” to perumAL when there
was no reason for him to be worried about His safety
and welfare.  Befitting this connection to periAzhvAr,
 gOdai is worried about the safety of this Alilaip
perumAn - who is lying on an Alilai that has no
stability, and there is no one to sing “pallANDu” to
Him.  Since her heart is with this perumAn, she is not
able to take her thoughts anywhere else and is thus
entrenched. 

vElAl tunnam peydARpOl : Making it painful, as if by
making a hole (causing a wound) with the vEl (spear). 

vElAl tunnam peidArp pOl: (SrI T. S. Rajagopalan
comments that pouring tamarind extract on a wound will
only cause a severe burning sensation, but drilling on
the wound with a sharp pointed spear will also make
the wound bigger, in addition to causing severe pain.) 

 SrI PVP gives an alternate interpretation:   Taking
Al to mean “on top of” or “place”, it can mean “making
a hole on the body of a sharp spear that has already
penetrated the body, and that is lodged inside the
body – thus causing even more intense pain.   In the
last pAsuram, gOdai talked about “hurting the wound
more by placing tamarind on it”. 
In this pASuram, she is describing the pain as even
more severe – the pain of piecing the wound with a
spear instead of just pouring tamarind extract on it. 
Here she is, worrying sick about His floating
listlessly with no one to care for Him, and all that
the old women folk do is talk whatever comes to their
mind, unconcerned about her state of mind.  That is
causing her even more intense pain and suffering.  

kOlAl nirai meyttu AyanAi:  Instead of asking me to
forget about Him, you should be comforting me, as I am
concerned about His safety, by reminding me that He is
His own Protector.  After all, when He was protecting
the cows in the forest, no one was protecting Him
except Himself.  He did not even have a bow and arrow
like rAma when He was protecting the sages in the
forest. 

kuDandaik kiDanda kuDam ADi: My kaNNan also performed
kuDam ADu kUttu, and 
let everybody enjoy His beauty, and to rest after the
playing, He went to tirukkuDandai (kumbakONam) and is
resting there on AdiSeshan.  His kuDam ADu kUttu is
described in SiRiya tirumaDal: “sIrAr kuDam iranDu
Endic cezhunteruvE ArAr enac colli ADum”.
 
nIlAr taNNam tuzhAi koNDu en neRi men-kuzhal mEl
SUTTIrE:  Go and get the tirutttuzhAi from His
tirumEni from tiruk kuDandai, and place this fresh,
green tiruttuzhAi on my hair. The reference to “green”
implies that the tiruttuzhAi has been offered to Him
by those that seek no benefit from Him in return.  SrI
PVP distinguishes between three categories of
tonDargaL – toNDar, SIrttoNDar, and mikka SIrttoNDar.
 
1.	toNDar – those who love emperumAn for some favor in
return – “kUzhATpaTTu ninRIrgaL” (tiruppallANDu 3).  
2.	sIrttoNDar – upasaka-s who practice bhakti in order
to obtain mOksham.
3.	 mikka  sIrttoNDar – those devotees like
periyAzhwAr who do not even think about mOksham and
sing pallANDu to perumAL.


SrI PVPÂ’s anubhavam is that ANDAL is referring to the
“nIlAr taNNan tuzhAi”, that can be fresh and green
only when it is offered by the mikka SIrttoNDar, or
the likes of periAzhvAr.  If it had been offered by
someone less,  such as the ones who make the offering
with the attitude of “I will offer You this, and You
give me that in return” -  

 “dEhi mE dadAmi tE” ( yajur vEdam 5.3) (I will give
you havis; give me the fruits of my labor),

then the flaw associated with that kind of offering
would have already tarnished the tiruttuzhAi, and it
wonÂ’t be fresh and green anymore.  

neRi men-kuzhal: The term “men” can mean either soft
(menmai), or lean (melliya) -   1. Dense, soft hair or
2. The hair that has become thin because she did not
take care of it due to her neRi (kaRpu).


C.	Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

pAl  Alilai: Even if the leaf was a thick, mature one,
it would have been impossible for anyone to lie on it
and make sure that it does not drown. This child is a
Wonder that is lying on a very soft, young, tender
leaf. 

paraman:  He is paraman because He is Only One who
remains after everything else is destroyed, and He is
paraman because He is the Only One who has periya
pirATTiyAr as His Consort – One who is equal to Him in
all respects.

taN tuzhAi:  Since the tuzhAi has the ability to
remove her tApam, it is “cool”.

Abbreviations:
------------------
PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai
PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr
UV  = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyeti samarpayAmi.

aDiyAL,
kalyANi kRshNamAcAri


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