irakkaminRi

irakkaminRi

Attachment to Rama Avatar 1 : The asuras who lost to Lord Rama surrender to Him and dance

emberumAn decides to delay AzhwAr’s mOkSha. Therefore He shows His chEShTitas to him. AzhwAr too gets himself absorbed in those actions and forgets his aim for a while.

In this and the next pASura AzhwAr enjoys emberumAn’s victory over the rAkShasas like ravaNa. The wounded soldiers who lie on the battlefield eulogize Sree rAma’s valour etc.,

Each pASura ends with these words ‘taDam pongattam pongO’. Nowhere in the divya prabandha is this phrase used. periyavAchchAn piLLai says—‘probably this is used by the defeated soldiers in the battlefield’.

1. irakkaminri engOn Seidateemai
immaiyE emakku eidiTTru kANeer
parakkayAm inruraitten irAvaNan
paTTanan iniyAvarkku uraikkOm |
kurakkunAyaharhAL iLangOvE
kOlaval villi rAmapirAnE
arakkar ADazhaippArillai nAngaL
anjinOm taDam pongattam pongO|| One ||

The warriors of rAvaNa address the vAnaras, lakShmaNa and Sree rAma talking about their defeat and rAma’s victory.

‘atyutkaTai: puNya pApi: ihaiva Palam aSnutE’—so says the SAstra. If excessive puNya or pApa karma is done, the fruit has to be enjoyed here in this janma itself. The rAkShasas say the statement is proved true in our case.

engOn—Our king rAvaNa

irakkaminri— periyAzhwAr did mangaLASAsana on seeing perumAL and pirATTi together. ‘pallANDu pallANDu pallAyirattANDu tiNDOL maNivaNNa un SEvaDi Sevvi tirukkAppu -------‘. But what did rAvaNa do? He abducted pirATTi and separated them. This is the wickedest act one can do (irakkaminri).

It is interpreted in another way too. rAvaNa had no second thought about abducting seeta pirATTi. He never hesitated and never thought over the consequences. This led to the ruin of the city, the subjects, the warriors and the king himself. The whole rAkShasa race too. Hence it is a merciless sin committed by Him (irakkaminri Seida teemai). The rAkShasas fear even to frankly say that what that offence is. Hence they say ‘engOn Seida teemai’. His sin resulted in our suffering (emakku eidiTTru).

rAvaNan paTTanan—rAvaNa is dead. AzhwAr says in the 7th pASura of this tirumozhi that ‘Ezhaiyai ilangaikku irai tannai engaLai ozhiya kolai avanai’ to mean ‘kill rAvaNa who has sinned not us who are innocent’. It appears rAvaNa is not dead now. The interpretation is—the way rAvaNa is lying on the battle ground it is very sure he is going to die. There is no chance of his becoming alive. He is living dead.

kurakku nAyaharhAL—sugreeva, jAmbavAn, angada, hanumAn and others.

arakkar ADu azhaippAr illai—nanjeeyar was explaining this pASura. He said ‘there is no one to cry like a goat’. nambiLLai explained and corrected him saying—ADu here means victory. Hence the interpretation should be better be ‘there is no one amongst us to claim victory; all of us can claim only defeat; nanjeeyar accepted this explanation.

nangAL anjinOm taDam pongattam pongO—We afraid you will kill us too since we are rAkShasas, the warriors of rAvaNa.

2. pattuneeNmuDiyum avaTTriraTTi
pAzhitOLum paDaittavan Selvam
Sittam mangaiyarpAl vaittukeTTAn
SeivadonrariyA aDiyOngaL |
ottatOLiraNDum orumuDiyum
oruvartam tirattOmanri vAzhndOm
atta emberumAn emmai kollEl
anjinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Two ||

Oh! Sree rAma! Our king rAvaNa had an lawful desire for other women. Hence he had to lose his ten heads and twenty hands. We are now at a loss to know what to do next. We had not sought Your tiruvaDi earlier as viBeeShaNa did. Don’t be angry and please don’t kill us.

otta tOLirANDum—‘indu: induriva SreemAn’—the moon is compared to only the moon and with nothing else. In other words there is no comparison to moon. Similarly Sree rAma’s one hand can be compared to His other hand. There is no other comparison.

3. daNDakAraNiyam puhundanru
taiyalai tahavili emkOmAn
koNDupOndu keTTAn emakkingOr
kuTTramillai kollEl kulavEndE |
peNDirAl keDumikkuDi tannai
pESuhinradu en dASaratee un
aNDavANar uhappadE SeidAi
anjinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Three ||

Oh! Sree rAma! You are born in the great ikShvAku kula which never punishes an innocent. You punished and killed our king rAvaNa since He dared to commit a great offence against You who had no enemies. He abducted seeta pirATTi from You who were leading the life of tapasvis. It was done by him alone, we don’t have any part in it. Therefore don’t kill us, who obeyed him because we are his servants. You don’t consider our obeying the master a sin, do You? Ah! Our rAkShasa race find its end because of their weakness for women. Of course, our king had tortured the dEvas who are Your favourites. Hence it is only right that they feel happy in his death. Please spare our lives.

4. enjalil ilangaikkirai engOn
tannaimun paNindu engaL kaNmuhappE
najutAn arakkarkuDikkenru
nangaiyaiavan tambiyE SonnAn |
vinjai vAnavar vENDiTTrE paTTOm
vErivar pozhil mAmayilanna
anjalOdiyai koNDu naDamin
anjinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Four ||

‘viBeeShaNa, the good brother of rAvaNa (who had everything that he wished) ‘Oh! brother! pApi! Why did you bring this pirATTi jAnaki here? Don’t You know she is poison who will destroy in no time our whole kula, city, rAkShasas and all? Even now it is not too late. Take her to her dear husband and beg His pardon.You will be saved.’ But it fell into a deaf ear. He had to experience the fruit of his action by lying dead on the floor (as dEvas wished) Let it be so. Take pirATTi with You and let us live.

vinjai vAnavar – ‘vidya’ in Sanskrit becomes ‘vinjai’ in tamizh. There are groups of dEvas called vidyAdharas who are meant here. But the vinjai here means the whole race of dEvas. They went to Sreeman nArAyaNa and requested Him to save them from the clutches of rAvaNa. BagavAn agreed and did so taking rAmAvatAra.

anjalOdiyai—‘Odi’ means locks of hair; anju means five. The hair should have five characteristics which are—soft, scented, curly, dark and long. Some people substitute thickness for dark.

5. Sembon neeNmuDi engaL irAvaNan
Seedai enbadOr deivam koNarndu
vambulAm kaDikAvil SiraiyA
vaittadE kuTTramAyiTTru kANeer |
kumbanODu nikumbanum paTTAn
kooTTram mANiDamAi vandutOnri
ambinAl emmai konridDuhinradu
anjinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Five ||

Our king rAvaNa used to wear tall diadem studded with gems. He was a proud might king. He kidnapped divine seeta pirATTi and put her in aSOka vana amidst rAkShasis. This caused the death of all the great rAkShasas like kumba and nikumba. We think yama who was not able to exercise his power in rAvaNa’s period, has now the guts to kill everyone after rAvaNa’s death. He has come taking a human form killing all the rAkShasas with great vehemence.

kooTTram mANiDamAi vandu tOnri—rAvaNa secured many boons by his tapas. He had a long list by whom he should not be killed where he failed to include human beings as he considered them as mere worms. But Sreeman nArAyaNa took the avatAra as dASarathi and killed rAvaNa.

6. OdamAkaDalai kaDaindEri
uyarkoL mAkkaDi kAvaiyiruttu
kAdal makkaLum SuTTramum konru
kuDiyilangai malanga verittu |
tooduvanda kurangukkE ungaL
tOnral dEviyaiviTTukkoDAdE
Adar ninru paDuhinradandO
anjinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Six ||

A mere vAnara (hanumAn) crossed the huge sea full of waves; destroyed the beautiful aSOka vana; killed akShaya kumAra, the dear son of rAvaNa and other soldiers, burnt the great city of lanka well protected on all sides. Thus a mere messenger and that too monkey caused so much havoc. We should have wisely thought ‘Well! This monkey is a messenger sent by rAma. If a mere monkey messenger can do so much havoc and be so might how about the sender (rAma) and swAmi of this monkey? ‘But fools as we were, we never thought those aspects. We should have wisely sent back maithili with that monkey. But we failed to do so. See now what has happened! You have ruined and killed everything and everyone. Oh! rAma! Have mercy on us! We are extremely afraid of You. Please don’t kill us.

7. tAzhaminri munneer ajnAnru
tahaindadE kaNDu vanjinuNmarungul
mAzhaimAn maDanOkkiyai viTTu
vAzhahillA madiyin manattAnai |
Ezhaiyai ilangaikkirai tannai
engaLai ozhiyakkolaiyavanai
SoozhumAninai mAmaNivaNNA
SollinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Seven ||

When You built a bridge across the sea with tossing waves, rAvaNa should have thought ‘Ah! rAma has done some impossible feat of building a bridge with only vAnaras as His assistants and i think this is not an act of an ordinary mortal. He should be a dEva to accomplish this i must return maithili to Him and save my life.’

Instead what did he think? ‘Ah! i am the supreme king of the mighty asuras. rAma is an insignificant human being. Who is there to challenge me in these seven worlds?’ Thus with pride he challenged You. Oh! mAmaNi vaNNa! Kill him who is a wicked rAkShasa. Please spare our lives who are his mere servants.

Only Sree rAma should enjoy the beauty of seeta pirATTi. When rAvaNa unlawfully tries to obtain her with force, this is the fate he should have to suffer.

vanji nuN marungul—To possess a creeper-like slender waist is the mark of beauty.

mAzhai mAn maDa nOkki—To show fear and worry for even slightest causes is the nature of chaste women. When seeta saw the aSOka vana she feared and got distressed.

8. manangoNDErum maNDOdarimudalA
angayal kaNNinArhaLiruppa
danangoL menmulai nOkkamozhindu
tanjamE SilatApadarenru |
punangoL menmayilai Siraivaitta
punmaiyALan nenjil puhaveida
anangananna tiNDOL em irAmarku
anjinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Eight ||

Our king rAvaNa had many wives of surpassing beauty including maNDOdari. They were in his harem for him to enjoy all alone. But not caring to look at them, he cast his eyes on seeta pirATTi who was wandering like a beautiful peacock in the forests. He took her away and kept her in the aSOka vana. He thought there was no one to rescue her except these two tapasvis whom he thought are no match to fight with him. But now he is lying in this battle ground with his heart split open by the terrible arrow discharged from the bow of rAmachandra.

tanjamE SilatApadar enru—rAvaNa thought—‘seeta’s beauty deserves a man like me. So i shall take her away. Anyway who is there to save her after fighting with me. These young, handsome human beings leading a tapasvi life are no match to my valour.

9. purangaL moonrum OrmAttirai pOdil
pongerikkirai kaNDavanambil
SarangaLE koDidAi aDuhinra
SAmbavAn uDan nirkattozhudOm |
irangu neer emakku endaipirAnE
ilangu vengadirOn tan SiruvA
kuranguhaTkaraSE emmaikkollEl
koorinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Nine ||

These rAma bANas are more terrible than the bANas of Siva who in a split second burnt the three cities. Oh! jAmbavAn! Please recommend our case to sugreeva, Your king and the son of the sun. Oh! sugreeva! You are the vAnara king. You please order Your army not to harm us or kill us. Please spare our lives!

10. anguvAnavarkku Akulamteera
aNiyilangai azhittavan tannai
pongumAvalavan kalikanri
puhanra pongattam koNDu ivvulahil |
engum pADi ninrADumin toNDeer
immaiyE iDarillai irandAl
tangumoor aNDamE kaNDu koNmin
SATTrinOm taDam pongattam pongO || Ten ||

Oh! BAgavatas! tirumangai AzhwAr has sung these pASuras ‘pongattam pongO’ about emberumAn who destroyed the beautiful city of lankApuri in order to help the dEvas who came to request Him to do so. For their sake He took Sree rAmAvatAra, born as the son of daSaratha, If you sing and dance these pASuras with Bakti and BAva you will not be affected by the duhKas of this samsAra while living and enjoy the bliss of paramapada after death.

AzhwAr, through the mouth of the rAkShasas say Sree rAma came to this Boomi to destroy adharma and establish dharma. It is a war over the evil and the dharma won the battle.