mAnkoNda

mAnkoNda

thirunaRaiyUr 5

mAn koNDa tOl mArvil mANiyAi mAvalimaN
tAn koNDu tALAl aLanda perumAnai |
tEn koNDa SAral tiruvEngaDattAnai
nAn Senru nADi naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

emberumAn took a brahmachAri vAmana avatAra, went to mahAbali at his yAgaSAla, begged three feet of land, got them and measured with His trivikrama tiruvaDi. He was searching for me but i was running away from Him. Now i searched for Him but found Him in tirumala. Well, as a person very thirsty finds fresh cool water near where He stands, i found Him, who is far away in tirumalai, very near in tirunaraiyoor.

munneerai munnAL kaDaindAnai moozhttanAL
anneerai meenAi amaitta perumAnai |
tennAlimEya tirumAlai emmAnai
nanneer vayal Soozh naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

He, who took the divine fish (matsya) avatAra when the worlds were submerged in the deluge and controlled the water. This emberumAn of such astonishing facts live in tiruvAli whom i find in tirunaraiyoor. This divya dESa tirunaraiyoor is fertile with lands and abundant water due to His presence.

toovAya puLLoorndu vandu turaivEzham
moovAmai nalhi mudalai tuNittAnai |
dEvAdidEvanai SengamalakkaNNAnai
nAvAyuLAnai naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

Riding on His vAhana called garuDa He came hurriedly to the bank of the lake in order to save His Bakta gajEndra who was caught by a mighty crocodile. He killed him (crocodile) with the chakrAyudha and blessed His Bakta. This dEvAdi dEva, puNDareekAkSha and ‘nAvAiuLAn’ resides in tirunaraiyoor where i see and worship Him—says AzhwAr.

toovAya puL—The garuDa is called toovAya since he is vEda swaroopa.

ODAvariyAi iraNiyanai ooniDanda
SEDAr pozhilSoozh tiruneermalaiyAnai |
vADA malartuzhAimAlai muDiyAnai
nADOrumnADi naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

He who resides in tiruneermalai which is a beautiful place full of flowering trees, is the one who took a unique form of narasimha (not seen anywhere) and tore to pieces the chest of hiraNya since he was torturing his son prahlAda, His Bakta. AzhwAr says he searched for Him everywhere, who wears a tuzhasi mAlai as a mark of Lordship, and after a long search found Him in tirunaraiyoor.

kallArmadiL Soozh kaDi ilangaikkArarakkan
vallAham keeLa varivenjaram turanda |
villAnai Selva vibeeDaNarku vErAha
nallAnai nADi naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

AzhwAr says He found Him in tirunaraiyoor who killed the cruel rAvaNa of lankApuri with His terrible arrows and who is the greatest friend of viBeeShaNa the brother of rAvaNa.

Selva viBeeDaNarku—viBeeShaNa renounced all that belonged to him-wife, children, house, city, kingdom etc. in order to surrender himself totally to Sree rAma. Yet he is called ‘selva viBeeDaNa’ since he has got the wealth of Bagavat kainkarya. vAlmeeki muni says ‘antarikSha gatah SreemAn’. AzhwAr translates ‘SreemAn’ as ‘selva’.

Similarly lakShmaNa left his luxury, wife, palace etc. in order to go behind rAma. He is called by vAlmeeki as ‘lakShmaNO lakShmi sampannah’. The lakShmi is His kainkarya aiSwarya.

gajEndra was caught by the crocodile while he was plucking a lotus to offer it at emberumAn’s tiruvaDi. He was struggling for his life and is called ‘sa tu nAgavarah SreemAn’. The Sree in him is the Bakti which made him still hold on to the flower to offer it to Him before it is dried or before death comes.

viBeeDaNarku vErAha nallAnai—viBeeShaNa came with four of his friends to seek Sree rAma and surrender to Him. The vAnaras objected to his request feeling he is a cheat coming as he is from the enemy camp, being as he is rAvaNa’s brother. But Sree rAma determined to take him. The vAnaras said ‘well, we shall return to kiShkinda in that case’. Sree rAma replied ‘O.K. If you wish to do so, do it by all means. But i shall not go back on my promise’. This is the kind of friendship Sree rAma had towards viBeeShaNa.

umbarulahODu uyirellAm undiyil
vambumalarmEl paDaittAnai mAyOnai |
ambannakaNNAL aSOdai tan Singattai
nambanai nADi naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

AzhwAr says he finally saw Him after a long search in tirunaraiyoor. It is the emberumAn who created dEvas, human beings, animals etc. from His nABi kamala; who has wonderful guNas and chESTitas; who is the lion-like son of beautiful yaSOda pirATTi and who is the trusted friend of all His Baktas.

kaTTEru neeLSOlai kANDavattaitteemooTTi
viTTAnai meyyam amarnda perumAnai |
maTTEru karpahattai mAdarkAi vaNtuvarai
naTTAnai nADi naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

He—who burnt the kANDava vana to offer it to agni; who resides in the divya dESa called tirumeyyam; who planted the karpaga tree in His city dwAraka which satyaBAma desired when she saw it in indra’s vana—is seen in tirunaraiyoor.

kANDava vana is a beautiful garden belonging to indra. Once kaNNan and arjuna was sitting in the garden when a brAhmaNa came ( agni in disguise) and begged food from them. They promised to give him and asked him what did he want. agni revealed his disguise and said he wanted to eat kANDava vana. kriShNa then asked agni to burn the vana (there were rAkShasas and wild animals in the vana which kaNNan wanted to destroy). This episode is found in mahABArata (Adiparva) and villiputtoor Baradani (a tamizh version rendered by villiputtoorAr).

maNNin meeBAram keDuppAn maramannan
paNNin mElvanda paDaiyellAm bAradattu |
viNNin meedEra viSayan tEroorndAnai
naNNi nAn nADi naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

AzhwAr says—i searched for Him who drove the chariot of arjuna in the mahABArata war to reduce the BoomiBAra by killing the enemy kings. (In fact when kaNNan acted as a messenger He decided in favour of war rather than peace. Thus He was instrumental in making them reach veera swarga). i found Him in tirunaraiyoor.

pongEruneeLSOdi ponAzhi tannODum
SangErukOla taDakkai perumAnai |
kongEruSOlai kuDandaikkiDandAnai
nangOnai nADi naraiyooril kaNDEnE ||

emberumAn has SanKa and chakra (whose brilliance flows like flood) in His beautiful hands. He lies in tirukkuDandai, a beautiful city with flowers having honey. i found Him in tirunaraiyoor after a long search—says AzhwAr.

mannumadurai vasudEvar vAzhmudalai
nannaraiyoor ninranambiyai vambavizhtAr |
kannavilum tOLAn kaliyan olivallAr
ponnulahil vAnavarku puittELirAhuvarE ||

vaDamadurai always has Bagavat sambandha. It was at first vAmana who performed a long tapas in siddhASrama; then Satrugna killed his foes and ruled this city; later Sree kriShNa was born in the Ayar kula. Thus madurai has a special significance. He was sung by tirumangai AzhwAr in these pASuras with great love. Those who read them with as much love will reach paramapada and will be honoured by nityasooris.