Kanninunsiruththambu

madurakavi AzhwAr aruLi Seida

kaNNinuN SiruttAmbu

In mudalAyiram this prabandha is the last one. Sreeman nAdamuni has arranged it this way. Before and after chanting nammAzhwAr’s tiruvAimozhi, this prabandha is chanted.

This prabandha is the one which enabled Sreeman nAdamuni to get all the four thousand pASurAs from nammAzhwAr in his yOga avasta. nAdamunihaL chanted these pASurAs so many thousand times in his yOga when nammAzhwAr came and taught him four thousand prabandhas of all AzhwArs. From that day onwards these prabandha came to be popular. This prabandha as well as tiruvAimozhi are not chanted on the streets. The tamizh poet kambar, who wrote rAmAyaNa in tamizh, has written SaDagOpa nooTTrandAdi following the style of kaNNinuN SiruttAmbu prabandha. He himself has revealed this fact.

taniyan

1. avidita viSayAntara SaThArEh
upaniSadAm upagAnamAtra BOga |
apicha guNavaSAt tadEkaSESi
madura kavir hrudayE mama Avirastu || One ||

Sreeman nAdamunihaL
madurakavi AzhwAr had never showed any interest in knowing anything else other than nammAzhwAr; had never sung anything else other than nammAzhwAr’s prabandhas; had never considered anyone else as his master other than nammAzhwAr attracted by his guNAs. Let this madurakavi be in my mind always.

2. vEronrum nAn ariyEn vEdam tamizh Seida
mAran SaDagOpan vaN kuruhoor Eru engaL |
vAzhvAm enru Ettum madurakaviyAr emmai
AzhvAr avarE araN || Two ||

Sreeman nAdamunihaL

madurakavi always feels ‘nammAzhwAr alone is my life force; he alone is known to me; he alone has done vEda in tamizh. He is called mAran who is the chief tirukkuruhoor. madurakavi always says he is our rakShaka and our master.

kaNNinuN SiruttAmbu

1. kaNNinuN SiruttAmbinAl kaTTuNNa
paNNiya peru mAyan ennappanil |
naNNi ten kuruhoor nambi enrakkAl
aNNikkum amudoorum en nAvukkE || One ||

AzhwAr says it is like amruta to my tongue to chant his names rather than BagavAn’s. Then why should he begin the pASura with the description of kaNNa? – because he is going to speak about tastier subject later on. So he thinks ‘let me first start with the lesser taste and then go on to a better taste’. Then why should he say ‘en appan’ with regard to BagavAn? – in order to being joy to nammAzhwAr who is fond of kriSNa. If AzhwAr’s joy is his goal he shouldn’t say ‘i am going to renounce Him’. No. It is not his intention as will be shown later on. Of all the avatArAs nammAzhwAr had more love towards kriSNa especially His stealing of butter. Didn’t he swoon saying ‘uraLinODu iNaindu irundu Engiya eLivE’? madurakavi had even more liking towards AzhwAr than the latter had towards kaNNan.

kaTTuNNa paNNiya peru mAyan – not using the word ‘kaTTuNDu’ (was bound) says ‘kaTTuNNa paNNiya’ (made Himself bound) revealing His swatantratva. mAyan – the rope which was very short (Siru) – not even enough for one round – was enough to have three rounds.

ennAvukkE – the name of nammAzhwAr is sweet as amruta to ‘my tongue’ not to others who don’t know AzhwAr’s greatness.

2. nAvinAl naviTTri inbam eidinEn
mEvinEn avan ponnaDi meimmaiyE |
dEvu maTTrariyEn kuruhoor nambi
pAvin inniSai pADi tirivanE || Two ||

AzhwAr says he is serving nammAzhwAr with three kAraNAs -
mEvinEn avan ponnaDi – he sought his tiruvaDi (action)
pAvin inniSai pADi – i shall sing his praises (speech)
inbam eidinEn and dEvu maTTrariyEn – i feel the joy and i don’t consider any one as equal to him (mind)

What i say is the absolute truth. i shall sing the pASurAs till i die.
meimmaiyE – i fall at his feet only. i shall not worship any archA moorti. It is he who is rAma and kriSNa to me.

3. tiri tandAhilum dEva pirAnuDai
kariya kOla tiru uru kANban nAn |
periya vaN kuruhoor nahar nambikkAL
uriyanAi aDiyEn peTTra nanmaiyE || Three ||

He said ‘dEvu maTTrariyEn’ in the last pASura. Now he says ‘deva pirAnuDai ---------- kANban nAn’. madurakavi says ‘i seek dEva just because AzhwAr seeks Him. If i seek Him myself i feel i have committed a sin. Since i seek Him because of AzhwAr and through AzhwAr i feel it is proper’.

4. nanmaiyAl mikka nAn maraiyALarhaL
punmaiyAha karuduvar Adalin |
annaiyAi attanAi ennai ANDiDum
tanmaiyAn SaDagOpan en nambiyE || Four ||

madurakavi AzhwAr feels very grateful to nammAzhwAr. ‘Before meeting him i was a worldly guy. i was neglected by all vaidikAs. Now after meeting him i am having a support, a rakShaka, a philosopher who loves me and guards me. What all my relations would do he does it alone to me. i was a useless fool; AzhwAr made me a purposeful man out of his sheer grace. Hence he is my guru, my swAmi and everything.

5. nambinEn pirar nan poruL tannaiyum
nambinEn maDavAraiyum munnelAm |
SemponmADa tirukkuruhoor nambikku
anbanAi aDiyEn SadirtEn inrE || Five ||

Previous to meeting nammAzhwAr i was a wicked, cruel man; all vices had their abode in me. i wanted to possesses others’ properties and wives. Thus i was a thief. Fortunately i came to kuruhoor where i met my guru (AzhwAr) and became a changed man. He took me in his possession and made me respectable person. All my foolishness in the form of desire for worldly things is gone; i have become a wise man seeking only him.

6. inru toTTum ezhumaiyum embirAn
ninru tan puhazh Etta aruLinAn |
kunram mADa tirukkuruhoor nambi
enrum ennai ihazhvilan kANminE || Six ||

‘SadirttEn inrE’ – said AzhwAr before this pASura. ‘what is this Sadir?’ ‘how does he get it?’ – these are explained in this pASura. Not only now, for all the times to come he has blessed me to sing his praise. Even if i criticize him he will not disregard me – so much is his love for me. This is the ‘Sadir’.

7. kaNDu koNDu ennai kAri mAra pirAn
paNDai valvinai pATTri aruLinAn |
eNDiSaiyum ariya iyambuhEn
oNDamizh SaDagOpan aruLaiyE || Seven ||

In the last pASurAs he said ‘tan puhazh Etta aruLinAn’. What is that puhazh? The greatness of AzhwAr lies not in Bagavat anuBava but in changing people like me whose pApAs are highly notorious. He removed all my pApAs, which is a feat impossible for me. He did it by his mere grace on me. i shall emphatically announce this action of him to all people of all the worlds.

8. aruL koNDADum aDiyavar inbura
aruLinAn avvaru maraiyin poruL |
aruL koNDu Ayiram intamizh pADinAn
aruL kaNDeer ivvulahinil mikkadE || eight |

emberumAn has given us vEdAs and vEdAntAs. There is no compassion greater than this’ – so say the BAgavatAs. But after nammAzhwAr has given his tiruvAimozhi to the world they say ‘ahA! Even BagavAn has not given us so sweet a granta as this. So for we had been under the impression that there is no one as compassionate as BagavAn; but now we say ‘is there anyone greater than AzhwAr who has given us vEdAs and vEdAntAs in tamizh so that all can go to mOkSha’?

9. mikka vEdiyar vEdattin uTporuL
nirka pADi en nenjuL niruttinAn |
takka Seer SaDagOpan en nambikku
ATpukka kAdal aDimaippayan anrE || Nine ||

nammAzhwAr did upadESa of tiruvAimozhi to me in such a way that even my ever-ignorant mind could grasp it. Out of gratitude i wanted to do kainkarya to him. That very moment my desire was fulfilled. nammAzhwAr wanted to have samslESa with BagavAn. ‘ini yAmurAmai’ but BagavAn did not appear to him. After many days did BagavAn fulfill his desire. But here madurakavi AzhwAr says – the very moment my mind desired the kainkarya, that very same moment the desire was fulfilled. Thus AzhwAr says – the moment i said i am the SESa to You and the moment i desired kainkarya to You and the moment it was fulfilled are not in three different times; it is all simultaneous. Thus AzhwAr reveals the power of ‘BAgavata SESatva’ is more than ‘Bagavat SESatva’.

10. payan anrAhilum pAngalarAhilum
Seyal nanrAha tirutti paNi koLvAn |
kuyil ninrAl pozhil Soozh kuruhoor nambi
muyalhinrEn undan moikazharku anbaiyE || Ten ||

There are two kinds of AchAryAs – anuvrutti prasannAchArya and krupamAtra prasannAchArya. Those of the first category are like tirukkOTTiyoor nambi who made Sree rAmAnuja to seek him eighteen times before he could do upadESa. The other types are those like Sree rAmAnuja, BaTTar, nambiLLai and so on who go behind those samsAris who are averse to mOkSha. nammAzhwAr, says madurakavi AzhwAr, as belonging to the second category. In AchArya hrudaya ‘tAikkum, mahanukkum, tambikkum, ivanukkum, aDi paNindavarkkumE ivai uLLadu’.

tAi – seeta pirATTi; mahan – prahlAda; tambi – viBeeSaNa; ivar – nammAzhwAr; ivaraDi paNindavarkkum – Sree rAmAnuja.

Normally a person helps the other only for some personal benefits. But nammAzhwAr does anugraha not for any selfish gain. He does it for even low creatures and ajnAnis like me – says madurakavi AzhwAr (payaN anrAhilum). AzhwAr has come to earth only for this purpose. So he cannot just but do it whether the samsAris are willing or not.

11. anban tannai aDaindavarhaTku ellAm
anban ten kuruhoor nahar nambikku |
anbanAi madurakavi Sonna Sol
nambuvAr padi vaihundam kANminE || Eleven ||

‘anban tannai aDaindavarhaTku ellAm anban’ can mean madurakavi AzhwAr or nammAzhwAr. If it is nammAzhwAr – he is great in that he takes everyone under his tiruvaDi considering his Bakti to BagavAn. It is the only criterion without caring for their caste or creed. If it means madurakavi AzhwAr – all the Bakti he had towards all the BAgavatAs put together he had towards nammAzhwAr alone.

vaihundam does not here mean paramapada; it means it is paramapada wherever You are.

kaNNinuN SiruttAmbu muTTriTTru

madurakavi AzhwAr tiruvaDihaLE SaraNam