SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction)
Though AzhwAr’s prabandhams have equality of being upabruhmaNam, to inform that the greatness which is present for this AzhwAr’s prabandhams is not present for purANams which are Arsham (given by rishis), setting out to explain the cause of creation for both purANams and dhivyaprabandhams, he first explains the creation of purANams by rishis.
chUrNikai 55
kalpAdhiyil thORRiRRu varNikkum chathurmukhan chandhassum mOha SAsthra pravarthakan piNachchudalai vendhAr akkum ARum aNindhu ERu ERich chuzhanRAdum Alamamar pichchuth theLindhu thAn vaNangumARu uraikkak kEtta sajAthIyar prasAdhamum ArshamUlam.
Simple Explanation
The root cause of ithihAsams and purANams is the mercy of brahmA who speaks based on his qualities and the students (sages) of rudhra, who is the promoter of mOhaSAsthram (confusing literature) and who is wearing the ashes and the bones from the burnt dead bodies, and tiger skin and river gangA and is riding the bull, who is dancing, and is having poison in his throat and who instructed the sages, after having eliminated his bewilderment.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
That is – as said in mAthsya purANam “yasmin kalpEthu yathprOktham purANam brahmaNa purA thasya thasyathu mAhAthmyam thath svarUpENa varNyathE” (Previously, on the kalpa (day) when purANams were spoken by brahmA, the greatness of the dhEvathAs was spoken according to the particular quality), brahmA, who is bound by the three qualities (sathva, rajas and thamas), has the three qualities present in a mixed manner in different times, and sometimes one of the qualities is predominant;
in the beginning of kalpas (days) which are said to be mixed, sAthvika, rAjasa, thAmasa as said in mAthsya purANam “sankIrNAs sAthvikASchaiva rAjasAs thAmasAs thathA” (being in mixed, sAthvika, rAjasa, thAmasa states), as revealed in the quality which is predominant, as said in mAthsya purANam “agnESchivasya mAhAthmyam thAmasEshu prakIrthitham rAjasEshu cha mAhAthmyam adhikam brahmaNOvidhu: sAthvikEshvatha kalpEshu mAhAthmyam adhikam harE: thEshvEvayOga samhiththA gamishyanthi parAmgathim sankIrNEshu sarasvathyA: pithruNAmcha nikathyathE” (On the days when thAmasa guNam is more, the greatness of agni, Siva are revealed; on the days when rAjasa guNam is more, brahmA’s greatness is known more;
on the days when sathva guNam is more, SrIman nArAyaNa’s greatness is largely spoken;
on the days when there is a mixture of the three qualities, greatness of saraswathi and pithrus (ancestors) is explained), brahmA will explain the greatness of agni, Siva on thAmasa days, his own greatness on rAjasa days, sarvESvaran’s greatness on sAthvika days and the greatness of saraswathi and pithrus on days of mixed qualities;
as said in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 2.30 “machchandhAdhEva thE brahman pravruththEyam saraswathI” (Oh vAlmeeki, the brAhmaNa! These words of yours came from my thoughts), the reason for vAlmeeki’s words is the thoughts of brahmA based on his mercy. chandhas should be considered as thoughts. only chandham indicates thought; see where else chandhas is used to mean thoughts [and understand it the same way].
Thus, the thoughts [blessings] of chathurmukha brahmA helped vAlmeeki.
Since, rudhra is desirous of becoming great, he prayed for a boon as said in “anyam dhEhi varam dhEva prasidhdham sarvajandhushu marthyO bhUthvA bhavAdhEva mAmArAdhaya kESava mAm vrushNIshvacha dhEvEcha varam maththO gruhANa cha yEnAham sarvabhUthAnAm pUjyAth pUjyatharO palam” (Oh lord! Oh kESava! Oh lord of the dhEvathAs! You should worship me as a human; you should accept me as the lord;
you should pray for boons from me and accept the same; by the boon with which I will become greater than the worshippable ones, kindly grant that boon to me);
such rudhra, having the command of bhagavAn as said in “thvancha rudhra! mahAbAhO mOhaSAsthrANi kAraya” (Oh rudhra who has mighty shoulders! Create SAsthram which bewilders people), who propagated mOhaSAsthrams such (Saiva) Agama, who is said to be abundant with thamas and hence having inferior activities as said in periya thirumozhi 2.6.9 “piNangaLidu kAdu adhanuL nadamAdu pinjagan” (rudhra, the destroyer, who dances in the cremation ground where corpses are burnt), periya thirumozhi 10.1.5 “sudalaiyil sudunIRan” (one who applies ash from cremation ground), periya thirumozhi 1.5.8 “vendhAr enbum sudu nIRum meyyil pUsi” (rudhra who considers himself to be great, applied on his body, the bones of those who were cremated and the ashes which resulted from those burnt bodies), periya thirumozhi 9.6.2 “akkum puliyin adhaLum udaiyAr” (One who wears bones and tiger skin), periya thirumozhi 6.7.9 “ARum piRaiyum aravamum adambum sadai mEl aNindhu” (Having river gangA, crescent moon, snake, adappam flower on his matted hair), iraNdAm thiruvandhAdhi 63 “ERERi” (Riding the bull), periya thirumadal “suzhanRu Adum konnavilum mUvilai vEl kUththan” (one who was himself dancing with a spin, one who has the weapon sUlam (spear), which has three leaves [sharp edges], which indulges in the occupation of killing, one who is famously called as a dancer), mudhal thiruvandhAdhi 4 “Alam amar kaNdaththu aran” (Siva, who has poison in his throat);
as said in “unmaththavath anunmaththa: prabhu: prabhuvathAmapi, rAthrau SmaSAnEbyadasi thath kimEthath thavESvara:” (Oh ISvara! Though you have no bewilderment and are the lord of lords, why are you engaged in lowly acts such as roaming in the crematorium in the nights?), he remained in a manner where his wife pArvathi asks him “Why do you roam around in crematorium and engage in such lowly acts?”, applying ashes from dead bodies all over his body, wearing garland made of bones, wearing tiger skin as garment, decorating his matted hair with river gangA, moon and snakes, just as sarvESvaran would roam around riding garudAzhwAr who is embodiment of vEdham, matching his omniscience, rudhra would roam around riding the ignorant bull matching his ignorance, just as intoxicated person would joyfully dance, he would dance around spinning, would consider himself to be superior to others due to holding poison in his throat;
becoming free from such bewilderment, having sathva guNam rising in him, since sathva guNam will reveal vishNu clearly, he meditated upon sarvESvaran who is agadithagatanA samarthan (one who can unite contradictory aspects) and instructed about the same to the four sages viz agasthya, pulasthya, dhaksha and mArkaNdEya as said in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi 17 “AlmEl
vaLarndhAnaith thAn vaNangumARu – nAlvarkku mElai yugaththuraiththAn” (the path by which he worships emperumAn who lay on the tender banyan leaf – in earlier yuga, rudhra discoursed to four great sages). pulasthya who is one among those rishis (sages) and is sathva nishtar (focussed on sathva guNam) blessed a boon to SrI parASara bhagavAn as said in SrIvishNu purANam 1.1.25 “purANa samhithA karthA bhavAn vathsa bhavishyathi, dhEvathA pAramArthyancha yathAvath vEthsyathE bhavAn” (Oh child parASara! You are going to be authoring purANas and samhithAs;
you will understand who is the real supreme lord). Thus the mercy of rishis is the reason for the prabandhams authored by rishis.
In the case of SrI vAlmeeki bhagavAn, brahmA who blessed him was from different species (vAlmeeki was human and brahmA was celestial). But in the case of parASara rishi, the one who blessed him was also pulasthya rishi, hence they can be said to be born in same species. If we analyse the source of other ithihAsas and purANas, they will be in this manner only and one cannot see direct bhagavath prasAdham (bhagavAn’s mercy) in any of the cases. That is why nAyanAr has mentioned together all of these as “Arsha mUlam” (Sourced from rishis).
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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