Periya Tiruvandadi 41 · verse 2625 of the four thousand
Meaning
The wrestlers came to face You, thinking 'we are strong', and You seized them and shattered their hard heads. With Your mighty hand that holds the golden discus You strike such foes down, and so this earth stands firm for many days, without breaking apart.
Word by word
- valiyam eṉa niṉaintu
- thinking 'we are strong'
- vantu etirnta mallar
- the wrestlers who came to confront Him
- valiya muṭi iṭiya
- so that their hard heads were smashed
- poṉ āḻik kaiyāl
- with the hand holding the golden discus
- puṭaittiṭuti
- You strike
- kīḷātē
- without breaking apart
Periya Tiruvandadi 42 · verse 2626 of the four thousand
Meaning
They say He swallowed the earth, brought the earth out again, dug up the earth, measured the earth, and before all that made the earth a place to live. If He Himself is also that place, whose place is it then but His? These deeds can never be counted as anyone else's.
Word by word
- pār uṇṭāṉ
- He swallowed the earth
- pār umiḻntāṉ
- He brought the earth out again
- pār iṭantāṉ
- He dug up the earth, as Varaha
- pār aḷantāṉ
- He measured the earth, as Trivikrama
- muṉ paṭaittāṉ
- first created it
- ār iṭamē?
- whose place is it?
Periya Tiruvandadi 43 · verse 2627 of the four thousand
Meaning
When the gods came to Him thinking 'You are our refuge', He cooled the distress that had come upon them. For those who do not set Him on high in a mind free of doubt and praise Him, is there any way at all to end the sorrow of the mind?
Word by word
- avaiyam eṉa niṉaintu
- thinking of Him as their refuge
- curarpālē
- towards the gods
- navaiyai naḷirvippāṉ
- He who cools their distress
- kavai il
- free of doubt, undivided
- uyara vaittiruntu
- holding Him high
- maṉat tuyarai māykkum vakai?
- a way to end the mind's sorrow?
Periya Tiruvandadi 44 · verse 2628 of the four thousand
Meaning
People have a good heart fit for this, and a mouth with a tongue. Even if these do not fully take to Him of themselves, these people reason at great length and still stay without praising Mal. Is this not the very deed by which they shape what lies ahead for them?
Word by word
- vakai cērnta nal neñcum
- a good heart fit for the purpose
- nā uṭaiya vāyum
- a mouth that has a tongue
- mika āyntu
- reasoning at great length
- mālait tām vāḻttātu
- without praising Mal
- mēlait tām
- for their own future
- ceyyum viṉai?
- the deed they do
Periya Tiruvandadi 45 · verse 2629 of the four thousand
Meaning
Fearing the cruel heat that my sins strive to bring upon me, and never thinking of straying even a millet-grain's width away, I have praised in words the golden feet of the Lord whom the heavenly ones worship and bow to.
Word by word
- viṉaiyār tara muyalum
- that the sins strive to bring
- vemmaiyai añci
- fearing the cruel heat
- tiṉaiyām ciṟitaḷavum
- even a millet-grain's width
- vācakattāl ēttiṉēṉ
- I praised in words
- vāṉōr toḻutu iṟaiñcum
- whom the heavenly ones worship and bow to
- poṉ aṭikkaḷ
- golden feet
Periya Tiruvandadi 46 · verse 2630 of the four thousand
Meaning
What I have to say is only this. Day after day, O heart, think on the red-eyed Mal whose form is like the swelling waters of the sea: to keep you from falling into the cruel hell, that great end from which there is no leaving, He is your refuge. Think on Him.
Word by word
- nāṉ kūṟum kūṟṟāvatu
- what I have to say
- tēṅku ōta nīr uruvaṉ
- He of form like the swelling sea
- nīṅkāta
- from which there is no leaving
- mā kati ām
- which is a dreadful end
- nī kati ām
- He is the refuge
- neñcē niṉai
- think, O heart
Periya Tiruvandadi 47 · verse 2631 of the four thousand
Meaning
Do not even imagine that people will think of You, bow down and ask You for something. What is their measure, and where do they stand, to think of You directly and bow to You? O Mal, is even that much within us at all?
Word by word
- māṉiṭavar
- human beings
- oṉṟu irappar
- will beg for something
- nērē niṉaittu iṟaiñca
- to think of You directly and bow
- ev aḷavar?
- what is their measure?
- ev iṭattōr?
- where do they stand?
- ev aḷavum uṇṭō emakku?
- do we have even that much?
Periya Tiruvandadi 48 · verse 2632 of the four thousand
Meaning
We have already secured for ourselves the abode that is the very summit of the heavenly world. Is not this the way to it: holding in our minds Him who, for the sake of the soft-shouldered one whose arms are lovely as bamboo, killed all seven fierce-horned bulls at once?
Word by word
- viṇ nāṭṭukku uccamatu
- the summit of the heavenly world
- vīṭṭai
- the abode, liberation
- amaittiruntōm
- we have already secured
- amaip polinta
- lovely as bamboo
- meṉ tōḷi
- the soft-shouldered one, Nappinnai
- vem kōṭṭu ēṟu ēḻ
- the seven bulls with fierce horns
Periya Tiruvandadi 49 · verse 2633 of the four thousand
Meaning
The rain cloud, the great dark mountain, the vast sea, the deep darkness, the kaya flower never left by the bees: whenever we see any dark form like these, our heart runs off and leaves us, saying 'That is Kannan's great form!'
Word by word
- koṇṭal
- the rain cloud
- māl varai
- the great dark mountain
- kūr iruḷ
- deep darkness
- vaṇṭu aṟāp pūvai
- the kaya flower never left by bees
- kār uruvam kāṇtōṟum
- whenever we see a dark form
- neñcu ōṭum
- the heart runs off
- pēr uru
- the great form
Periya Tiruvandadi 50 · verse 2634 of the four thousand
Meaning
My heart has parted from me; it looks at nothing else and wanders about, following behind Him. Yet He does not turn even once and say 'Ah, ah!' in pity for it. Alas, is the heart of Him who split open the horse's mouth so hard?
Word by word
- pirintu
- having parted from me
- oṉṟu nōkkātu
- looking at nothing else
- tirintu uḻalum
- wandering about
- āā eṉa iraṅkār
- He does not say 'ah, ah' in pity
- valitēkol
- is it so hard?
- mā vāy piḷantār
- He who split the horse's mouth, Kesi
Verse text: the word-separated e-text of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham by Project Madurai, checked verse by verse against its second edition. Meanings are simple renderings in the light of the acharyas' commentaries, written for this site, and are awaiting a scholar's review.