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AMALANATIPIRAN - Translation and notes by Satyamurthi Ayyangar Swamin


Song Two:

Preamble: In the opening song, mention was made of the entry of Lord Ranganatha's lotus feet (shedding honey aplenty - Visnoh pade parame madhvautsah), on their own, into Pan Perumal's eyes. The taste of ultra-mundane honey from the Lord's blissful feet trickled down to his mind and kindled in him the yearning to move upwards and have a taste of the limbs, higher up, one by one. And so, the mind switched on to the radiant robes, flowing down to the ankles. This movement of the Alvar's mind is described in this song. The Commentator draws a parallel to this, as follows: Unlike the human babe, the calf, just yielded by the cow, can see the mother's teats, all right but it does not know that it has to suck them for getting milk, the source of its sustenance. And so, the mother introduces the the young one to the technique by inserting teats into the mouth of the calf and allowing it to suck. Having once tasted the sweet milk, the calf wishes to have more and more of it and dashes towards the mother's teats even though the mother signals, at times, her disinclination to feed the calf by kicking her hind legs.

Text:

Uvanta ullattanay ulakamalantantamura
Nivanta nilmutiyan anru nernta nicacararaik
Kavarnta venkanaikkakuttan katiyar polil
Arangattamman araic
Civanta ataiyinmel cenratam ena cintanaiye ||2||

Translation:

Fine! My thought moved on the robes, red and radiant,
Of our Sire grand in Arangam enshrined, among orchards
fragrant,
Who spanned the universe; the jubilant one, sporting the
crown tall,
Kakuttan *, the warrior invincible, aiming lethal
arrows, dreadful,
Who the other day slew the attacking Raksasas, one and
all. ||

[* Lord Rama, who slew, single-handed, the Raksasa hordes, fourteen thousand strong, who attacked Him at Janasthana, in an amazingly short period].

Notes: Uvanta ullattan: The Lord was mighty glad because (1) He could reclaim a devotee of the excellence of Pan Permal, overcoming his 'naichya' (self-denouncing humility) and (2) when He set foot on His subjects, one and all (high and low, the devout as well as the diabolic), while spanning the sprawling universe, as Trivikrama, none of them thought in terms of moving so as not to have the Lord's feet on their heads. In this song, Lord Ranganatha is identified with Lord Trivikrama.

Nil mudiyan: The tall crown worn by Lord Ranganatha, symbolishes His Supreme Sovergnity, the overlordship of Brahma, Rudra, Indra and the rest.

Anru nernta nicacarar: The other day, when during exile, the trio, Rama, Sita and Laksmana were camping at Janasthana, Khara, Dusana and Trisiras and their army, fourteen thousand strong, charged toward Rama, courting disaster like the fireflies rushing to fire and perishing in it.

Kavarnta venkanai Kakuttan: Lord Rama, whose arrows never missed their target, deadly as they were, literally scorching the enemy, vanquished the Raksasas, pitted against Him in such great strength, effortlessly, unaided, in an amazingly short period of a 'muhurt'. Of the twin aspects of the Lord's operations, this episode highlights the second namely, the elimination of the obnoxious (ansta nivrtti), the first being the succour of the Rsis (devout, in general - ista prati). Earlier on, Lord Ranganatha was identified with Trivikrama and now, He is identified with Lord Rama.

Arangattamman: This signifies at once, Lord Ranganatha's Supremacy as well as Simplicity, the latter denoting His intimate link with His subjects, in every conceivable manner, His multiple kinship and multi-faceted benefaction.

(To be continued)

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