Periya Thirumozhi 3.6-maNNaLandha thaaLaaLaa! thaN KUDANTHAI naga raaLaa

From the Bhakti List Archives

• May 25, 1999


Sri:

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

ThirumangaiAzhwAr wished to hug the lotus feet of Emperumaan in the last ten
and since it did not materialise, AzhwAr gets into nAyikA bhAvam and starts
lamenting asking the birds to go as her messengers to the Lord. She finds 
after 4 pAsurams, that the Lord is in her front and starts bursting out to
Him 
narrating her sufferings she had been undergoing so long.. 
The words, the rhythm, the tune is all superb again by AzhwAr, (not to
mention 
the lovely meanings).

1.	Oh little small vaNdE! (bee), with dark and white lines on your
	body; with your never separating yourself from your mates, with
	your legs stepping on those fully bloomed flowers, with your
continuous
	drinking of the honey from those flowers! Please go and tell of my
	pitiable state of sufferings for Him, to the Lord of Thiruvaali,
where
	great scholars who without fail, and any blemishes, perform Yaaghams
	offering lots of ghee to the well lit agni (fire) reside there. 

2.	Oh six legged vaNdE! (bee), the one who always sucks the honey from
	fully bloomed flowers, sitting with your mate! I do not know the
action or
	thinking of the Lord of Thiruvaali, which is surrounded by beautiful
canals 
	all four sides and flowers bloomed around the fertile fields. You go
immediately
	and faster and tell Him the "pasalai" disease that spreads on my
body (due to 
	the separation from Him) and my terrible sufferings due to viraha
thaapam.

3.	SarvEshawran the One who is Antharyaami in all Five elements (fire,
water, space
	Air and the Earth) has not given me His thulasi maalai that He wears
on 
	His Chest. I can survive only with that garland of thuLasi. Oh small

	Kurugu" bird! The one who lives in the beautiful Thiruvaali! Go and
get to
	know what He thinks of me in order to make me live.   

4.	Though He does not think of me Himself, on His own, I have been 
	languishing with love for Him, with terrible sufferings. Is He 
	causing me excruciating pains to make me thin down with such 
	torments? Oh the sweet soft spoken, striped bee! Go and tell my 
	illness and sufferings to KaNNapiraan, the Chief of Thiruvaali and 
	let Him know of  my diseases..

5.	(read this pAsuram! What words!
	What a rhythm! How many times "aaLaa" is so nicely used..)
	"vaaLaaya kaN panippa menmulaigaL ponnarumbha/
	naaNaaLum nin ninainthu naivERku* Oh maNNaLandha/
	thaaLaaLaa! ThaN KUDANTHAI nagaraaLaa!! Varaiyeduttha/
	thOLaaLaa!* enRanakkOr thuNaiaaLanaagaayE./

	Oh Lord, the One who has the Feet that had measured the whole
	Universe, that day! Oh Lord who reclined in THIRUKKUDANTHAI! 
	(Don't forget to sign the cheque for the Kaimkaryam). The Strong
	shouldered One, which lifted the huge Govardhana mountain! You shall
	come to me as my unparalleled ONLY support and rescue me, the one
	who suffers with (love sick) pasalai disease spreading on those
tender breasts,
	and tears incessantly rolling down from the eyes, thinking of You
only
	at all times day in and day out. 

6.	The Lord- He is my Swami; The One, who has lovely strongest Divine
Chest
	which is flooded with honey due to the bees that drink the honey
from 
	thuLasi maalai and roams around; -  who broke the tusk of
Kuvalayaapeetam
	elephant that stood in front of Him to fight with Him and kill Him,
	when He was entering Kamsan's palace; who has Garuda as His
Vaahanam;
	Such greatest Lord is my Swami. He is dark Divine Bodied
KaNNapiraan,
	The Cowherd boy; The One who resides always permanently at
Thiruvaali, where
	the chariots run on the wide streets; Will He steal my golden
bangles also
	that simply fall off from this suffering girl's wrists? (He has
already stolen my
	heart? He should come to me now to steal my bangles too!)
	 
7.	On ThiruvananthAzhwAn, the Lord reclines like a huge mountain on the
wavy, 
	ThiruppaRkadal (Milk Ocean); He is the One who is so wonderful to
appear 
	as a small Boy to beg from mahabhali and then took huge form to
measure the
	Universe and all three worlds, (in order to get back from Bhali). Oh
Such most
	 wonderful Lord! Oh Mater! The One who stays at Thiruvaali, where
there is full
	of trees and gardens! You have snatched away the sleep from my
eyes.. Now., do 
	I have to lose my bangles too?

8.	Oh the Lord who resides at Thirukkudanthai! the One who dances with
the pot!
	Will I, the sleepless eyed one, keep suffering thinking about You
only for ever and ever?
	By looking at the beautiful young moon, (where rabbit dances- AzhWar
may be referring
	the form of rabbit that is seen on the Moon from the earth, if I am
not wrong) my mind
	gets more exhausted and languishing, losing my bangles, oh The Lord
of Thiruvaali! 
	When I am suffering like that (having lost my bangles, my sleep),
can you torment me
	more by letting me lose my beautiful fair complexion too (my body
gets
	more pale due to languishing)

9.	(AzhwAr's lovely play of words with so many "aaLaa" again! 
Read this pAsuram! Enjoy!
"nilaiyaaLaa! nin vaNanga vENdaayE yaagilum,en/
mulaiyaaLa orunaaLun agalatthaalaaLaayE/
silaiyaaLaa! marameydha thiRalaaLaa! Thirumeyya/
malaiyaaLaa, neeyaaLa vaLaiyaaLa maattOmE/
(WoW! adadaaa! enna ahzghu konjum thamizh....) Words simply
rush to AzhwAr and sit comfortably in its place.. 

Oh Lord! the One who has the Bow in Your Hand! The One who aimed 
the arrow through seven trees! The One who shows Himself at Thirumeyyam
mountain!
Even though You had not desired to let me hold on to You without expecting
any other fruits, all that I desire for is: You should rule me and take me
at least 
one day, and hug me with Your broad Divine Chest to let my tender breasts be
ruled by You. You should take me for Yourself. Then, I need not have to
bother
about my bangles and sleep. (means: After He takes us, we need not bother
about
any sufferings/loss ; i.e. There will be none.)

10.	The Lord- SarvEshwaran, (who has the Divine ChakrA, the brightest
one like
Ghee laden fire, in His Hand,) who resides at Thiruvaali, where black lovely
kuvaLai flowers bloom everywhere, is sung in this ten pAsurams by AzhwAr
who has the sharp spear in his hand. Those who recite these Tamil songs 
(sung by Kaliyan who has seen the Lord) and know the meanings fully 
will never ever get any sin approaching them at all.

ThirumangaiAzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Narayana Narayana
Narayana dAsan Madhavakkannan