ponnivarmEni

ponnivarmEni

thirunAgai

AzhwAr goes to tirunAhai from tirukkaNNanguDi. Here His name is Sree soundaryarAjan. He is so charming that AzhwAr lost himself and superimposes feminine characters on him. Now parakAla nAyaki speaks these pASuras.

In the first nine pASuras there is no mention of the name of emberumAn neither the name of divya dESa (as in earlier pASuras). Finally in the tenth pASura he says ‘nAhai azhahiyArai’. In other pASuras he says ‘achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA’. So much is ‘her ‘ involvement in His beauty.

As soon as AzhwAr entered the temple and saw Him he saw His effulgent form par excellence. ‘she’ did not know who He was ‘AzhiyODum ponnAr SArngamuDaiya aDihaLai innAr enru ariyEn’. If she could not see Him how can she talk to Him). Hence she addresses her friend and describes Him to her.

ponnivarmEni maragadattin
pongiLam SOdi ahalattAram
min ivar vAyil nalvEdam Odum
vEdiyar vAnavarAvar tOzhee |
ennaiyum nOkki En alhulum nOkki
EndiLam kongaiyum nOkkuhinrAr
annai en nOkkum enranjuhinrEn
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || One ||

parakAla nAyaki tells her friend ‘tOzhee! How lucky i am! Alas! How unfortunate of you that you missed Him’. tOzhee—is that so? What did you see?

parakAla nAyaki narrates her experience of emberumAn of tirunAhai. His form and colour caught her eyes. She says His divya mangaLa vigraha is ‘ponnivar mEni’. She exclaims ‘SuTTuraitta nan pon un tirumEni oLi ovvAdu’—beautiful colour of pure gold.

To those who enjoy His form there is no norm about the colour—it can be golden (ponniram), or ‘karumai niram’ (black) or maNi niram (blue) or even maragada pachchai (green like emerald). The idea is He is extremely beautiful.

piLLai splits the sentence ‘ivar mEni pon maragadattin pongilanjOdi ahalattu Aram min’ as three sentences like ivar pon; mEni marahadattu pongilanjOdi; ahalattu Aram min.

ivar vAyil nal vEdam Odum vEdiyar— ‘annE ivarai arivan marai nAngum munnE uraitta munivan’—(i know Him who earlier chanted four vEdas). Here, some people interpret as, He looks like paramavaidika completely renouncing worldly detachment and looks like some Sree vaiShNava. Some commentators interpret nal vEda to mean sAma vEda.

vAnavarAvar tOzhee—parakAla nAyaki tells her friend ‘Oh! My friend! When i look at His powerful arms He resembles indra; ‘veTTri pOr indirakum indiranE okkumal’. When i see His excellent form He looks like a monarch. When i hear He is like a vaidika brAhmaNa. When i think of His greatness He is like a dEva. In short, i don’t really know who He really is’. The tOzhee asks nAyaki ‘Oh! Friend! Didn’t He see You?’ She says ‘ennaiyum nOkki en alhulum nOkki en ilankongaiym nOkkuhinrAnE’. When He sees me He doesn’t seem to shift His eyes from that portion. This line is interpreted as ‘BagavAn wonders whether AzhwAr has suitable Bakti to enjoy Him.

To enjoy carnal pleasure, beautiful breasts etc., are required. To enjoy BagavadanuBava parabakti parajnAna and parama Bakti are essential.

tOzhee asks her ‘Well! What did You do when He stated at You?’

She replies ‘annai en nOkkkum enru anjuhinrEn’. i too enjoyed His looking at me. But i am afraid what my mother would feel about it.

annai—Is the mother who prevents her adolescent daughter from going out of the house to meet her lover. Here it means the prapatti lakShaNa. A prapanna is one who has totally surrendered himself to BagavAn. Even to desire His kainkarya he expects Bagavat anugraha. Such a one should not go out to see Him. In fact he should wait for Him to come. It is the swAmi who should take care of His property. Hence he waits for the time for Him to come. But a prapanna has ‘tvarai’ (haste) to reach Him somehow. If BagavAn delays His coming He just does not keep quiet. He goes out in search of Him (as ANDAL does). This is meant by the tAyAr preventing the daughter from going out to meet Him. This firm resolve meaning of ‘namah’ of aShTAkShara. This idea is expressed in this pASura.

achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA—achchO is an exclamation of wonder and astonishment. His excellent and extraordinary form is never seen by anyone anytime and anywhere.

Of the three ‘soudarya, vadikatva and paratva’ only soundarya has caught my eyes—says parakAla nAyaki.

tODavizh neelam maNangoDukkum
Soozhpunal Soozh kuDandai kiDanda
SEDar kolenru darikkamATTEn
SenjuDarAzhiyum SangumEndi |
pADaha mellaDiyAr vaNanga
panmaNimutttoDu ilangu SOdi
ADaham pooNDu orunAngutOLum
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || Two ||

‘Oh! tOzhee! i think He is the one who lies in tirukkuDandai or is He not? i don’t really know for certain who He is! i shall describe Him to You. Listen to me. He has an extraordinary bright form with four beautiful hands carrying SanKa and chakra. He is very young and charming. He is worshipped by damsels. He dresses Himself well to please them who come to see Him. He wears variety of bright jewels studded with gems and pearls. His soundarya is beyond imagination and words.

i don’t know whether He is tirukkuDandai emberumAn of tirunAhai perumAn. As i said earlier He appears as a vaidika brAhmaNa and a king. He has a form like Sreeman nArAyaNa. i am sure He is nArAyaNa. But will He reveal Himself to us samsAris? Hence my doubt about who He is.

vEyirum SOlai vilangalSoozhnda
meyyamaNALar ivvaiyamellAm
tAyina nAyakarAvar tOzhee
tAmaraikkaNhaL irundavAru |
Seyirum kunram tihazhndadoppa
SevviyavAhi malarndaSOdi
Ayiram tOLoDu ilangupooNum
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || Three ||

parakAla nAyaki continues her dialogue with her friend. (Oh! tOzhi! His beauty is excellent. The eyes are simply superb and beyond language. He is aptly called puNDareekAkSha. His shoulders are like mountains from which four arms spring forth carrying SanKa and chakra decked with ornaments. i think He is the emberumAn residing in tirumeyyam. i think He is the one who measured all the worlds with His tiruvaDi.

periyavAchchAn piLLai—In the last pASura parkAla nAyaki said He has four arms. Now she says He has thousand arms. When it is difficult to describe the beauty of four arms, how can i do so of thousand arms? It may also mean, the four arms appear as thousand arms like the expression ‘nambiyai kANa nangaikku Ayiram nayanam vENDum (the girl requires thousand eyes to see the beauty of the lover).

vambavizhum tuzhAi mAlai tOLmEl
kaiyana Azhiyum SangamEndi
nambar nammillam puhundu ninrAr
nAharihar perudumiLaiyar |
SembavaLamivar vAyin vaNNam
dEvarivaraduruvam Sollil
ambavaLa tiraLEyumoppar
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || Four ||

parakAla nAyaki continues—‘tOzhi! i shall tell You His guNa—both paratva and soulaBya. First of all He is wearing a beautiful fragrant tuzhasi mAla over His shoulders. He carries a SanKa and chakra in both His hands like lotuses. This paratva alankAra reveals His supremacy and simply beyond our reach. But look at His soulaBya! He has come here to stay in this diyva dESa for our sake? Indeed He has come in search of His Baktas! Oh! Look at His soundarya!—youthful form, red coral lips, His form just like a heap of corals! He has really no comparison! Simply marvelous! Excellent and faultless pure!

nam illam puhundu—illam means house. It can also mean our hearts and this divya dESa.

kOzhiyum kooDalum kOyilkoNDa
kOvalarEyoppar kunramanna
pAzhiyam tOLumOr nAnguDaiyar
paNDivar tammaiyum kaNDariyOm |
vAzhiyarO ivar vaNNameNNil
mAkaDal pOnruLar kaiyilveyya
AzhiyonrEndi OrSangupaTTri
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || Five ||

parakAla nAyaki continues—‘tOzhi! i think He is the one who resides in tirunaraiyoor and ten madurai. He has four mountains like shoulders and His form resembles the deep sea. He carries in both His hands a SanKa and brilliant chakra. i don’t think i have seen Him anywhere. Somehow with difficulty i have tried to describe Him to you. In truth His form is beyond words.

kOzhi—uraiyoor

kooDal—madurai in south

kOvalar-- means gOpAla kriShNa. In split words it means rAjAdirAja. In that case it means, ‘He doesn’t seem to be an ordinary person. He looks like the king of uraiyoor or ten madurai’.

ivar tammai paNDum kaNDariyEn—At first i thought He is very familiar to me. But on closer observation i think He is somebody new and i haven’t seen Him before.

The meaning is—He is new every time He is seen. ‘eppozhudum nAL tingaL ANDu oozhi oozhi tOrum appozhudaikkappozhudu en ArAvamudamE’—tiruvAimozhi. This is the specialty of BagavadnauBava.

vAzhiyarO—She sings pallANDu to ward off ‘driShTi’.

venjinavEzham maruppoSitta
vEndarkol? EndizhaiyAr manattai
tanjuDaiyALarkol? yAn ariyEn
tAmaraikkaNhaL irundavAru |
kanjanaiyanjamun kAl viSaitta
kALaiyarAvar kaNDAr vaNangum
anjana mAmaliyEyumoppar
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || Six ||

“tOzhi! i think He is the one who pulled the tusk of the angry wild elephant kuvaLayApeeDa which was standing in front of the court in order to kill kriShNa as He enters. But as fate would have it, kriShNa killed the elephant and entered the court of kamsa triumphantly.

Perhaps He is the tirumAl who takes the women’s hearts as His abode. i can't certainly say. But one thing is certain. He is puNDareekAkSha. He is the one who kicked kamsa from His throne and killed Him. He looks like a hero that even foes like rAvaNa who boasted as ‘na namEyam tu kasyachit’ would involuntarily fall at His feet if only they see Him here. He is dark like a coryllium mountain. Oh! tOzhi! His form is simply beyond words’.

piNiyavizh tAmarai moTTalartum
pEraruLALar kol? yAn ariyEn
paNiyum en nenjam idenkol? tOzhi
paNDivar tammaiyum kaNDariyOm |
aNikezhutAmarai annakaNNum
angaiyum pangayam mEnivAnattu
aNikezhu mAmuhilEyumoppar
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || Seven ||

‘tOzhi! Is He the pEraruLALa perumAn who makes the heart lotuses bloom fully! Because on seeing Him my heart does anjali (since it is out of my control it does so involuntarily). You, who are my dearest friend, who know the in and out of my mind, are also unaware of my minds activities. How astonishing is His sankalpa! The amorous gestures and actions of Him are like that of an experienced person? i haven’t seen Him before. He stares at me with His louts-like beautiful eyes. He tries to hug me with His lotus-like hands. His form is as enchanting as a dark rain cloud. Oh! He is simply marvelous!

piNiyavizh tAmarai moTTalarttum—There are two interpretations.

1. He is like the sun who blooms the buds of lotuses.

2. He is the one who removes the piNi (diseases) i.e. pApas of the yOgis in whose hearts He lives.

manjuyar mAmaditeeNDa neeNDa
mAlirumSOlai maNALar vandu en
nenjuLLum kaNNuLLum ninru neengAr
neermalaiyAr kol? ninaikkamATTEn |
manjuyar ponmalai mElai mElezhunda
mAmuhil pOnruLar vandukANeer
anjuraippuLLum onrEri vandAr
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || Eight ||

i think He is the maNALan of tirumAlirunSOlai which is a tall mountain so tall as to touch the moon. He has entered my mind and my eyes. tOzhi! He who left His mountainous abode, refuses to leave them! But i am not sure who He is! He is very charming. Is He the emberumAn of tiruneer malai? He came riding like a huge dark cloud on garuDa who looked like a golden mountain with beautiful wings. Ah! He was wonderful!

manjuyar pon malai mEl ezhunda mA muhil pOnru—‘kAisina paravai oorndu pon malaiyin meemisai kArmuhil pOl’—tiruvAimozhi expresses the same idea.

eNDiSaiyum erineerkkaDalum
Ezhulahum uDanE vizhungi
maNDiyOr Alilai paLLikoLLum
Ayarkol mAyam ariyamATTEn |
koNDal nanmAlvaraiyEyumoppar
kongalar tAmaraikaNNum vAyum
aNDattamarar paNiyaninrAr
achchOvoruvar azhahiyavA || Nine ||

‘tOzhi! As soon as i saw Him i knew He is the great rakShaka. He is the one who kept all the worlds, mountains, seas, etc., in to His stomach to protect them against the paraLaya. Then it was He who lies on the tiny banyan leaf as a baby. He is certainly a mAya, who does impossible things! i don’t understand Him! But His lotus like eyes and mouth and His mountain like cloud-like form drags me towards Him. i cannot come out. i thought He is impossible to approach as He is worshipped by nityasooris still i stood there not able to move out.

annamum kEzhalum meenumAya
Adiyai nAhai azhahiyArai
kanninanmAmadiL mangai vEndan
kAmaruSeer kalikanri kunrA |
inniSaiyAl Sonna SenjolmAlai
EzhumiraNDum Oronrum vallAr
mannavarAi ulahANDu meeNDum
vAnavarAi mahizhveiduvarE || Ten ||

He, who took various avatAras like matsya, koorma, varAha etc., for the sake of Baktas, resides in tirunAhai (nahappaTTinam) as soundaryarAjan. About Him tirumangai AzhwAr has sung beautiful ten pASuras set in music. Those who read and understand this garland of words will rule over this earth and then reach paramapada to enjoy the everlasting bliss.