Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.1 · verse 3354 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The Alwar speaks as a cowherd girl, sulking with Krishna, who comes late to their play after being with other girls.) Before those lightning-waisted girls who wear Your favour, I am afraid to be seen with You. O wondrous One, who burned the fortress of Lanka and its king! I know all Your tricks; what use are they to me now? Give me back my ball and my playing beads, Nambi, and go.
Word by word
- miṉ iṭai maṭavārkaḷ
- girls with waists slender as lightning
- niṉ aruḷ cūṭuvār
- who wear Your favour
- ilaṅkai araṇ kāynta
- who burned the fortress of Lanka
- cuṇṭāyam
- tricks, wiles
- pantum kaḻalum
- my ball and my playing beads
- pōku nampī
- go away, O Nambi, perfect One
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.2 · verse 3355 of the four thousand
Meaning
Go away, Nambi! Your pair of lotus-like eyes and the smile on Your red lips throw us into turmoil; it seems we did penance only to be ruined. Those girls, lovely as plumed peacocks, who wear Your favour, will rise the moment the sound reaches their ears. So let the cows wander off, go and sit over there, and play Your flute for them.
Word by word
- tāmaraipurai kaṇ iṇaiyum
- Your pair of lotus-like eyes
- cevvāy muṟuvalum
- and the smile of Your red lips
- ākulaṅkaḷ ceyya
- causing turmoil
- aḻitaṟkē nōṟṟōmē
- did we do penance only to be ruined?
- tōkai mā mayilārkaḷ
- girls like plumed peacocks
- kuḻal ūtu
- play Your flute
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.3 · verse 3356 of the four thousand
Meaning
Go and sit over there, and tell Your stories to those who do not know Your cunning. Nambi, Your red lips like a ripe fruit and Your eyes have turned against us these days. Who are they, those girls with shoulders broad as bamboo, who will receive this grace from the Lord who churned the great dark sea?
Word by word
- puḷḷuvam
- cunning, deceit
- vāy iruṅ kaṉiyum
- lips like a great ripe fruit
- viparītam in nāḷ
- turned contrary these days
- vēy irum taṭam tōḷiṉār
- girls with broad shoulders like bamboo
- mā irum kaṭalaik kaṭainta
- who churned the vast dark sea
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.4 · verse 3357 of the four thousand
Meaning
Long ago You swallowed the seven worlds and lay on a single long banyan leaf. Even the gods on high do not understand Your wonders; how then can they be within our reach? You who can tend Your cattle while hanging about the places where girls with eyes broad and sharp as spears are at play, do not try Your clever words on us.
Word by word
- āliṉ nīḷ ilai
- the long leaf of the banyan
- ēḻ ulakum uṇṭu
- swallowing the seven worlds
- mēlai vāṉavarum aṟiyār
- even the gods above do not know
- iṉi em paramē?
- how could that be our burden?
- vēliṉ nēr taṭam kaṇṇiṉār
- girls with broad eyes like spears
- kaḻaṟēlē
- do not press Your words on us
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.5 · verse 3358 of the four thousand
Meaning
Stop Your talk, Nambi! Earth and heaven both know Your deceit well, You who bear the strong discus and the ancient shining weapons. Let me tell You one thing. While those honey-tongued girls who wear Your favour stand waiting, their hearts drooping, do not come here coaxing our chattering mynas and our parrots.
Word by word
- kaitavam
- deceit, trickery
- tiṇ cakkara
- the strong discus
- niḻaṟu tol paṭaiyāy
- You with the shining ancient weapons
- maḻaṟu tēṉ moḻiyārkaḷ
- girls of soft, honeyed speech
- maṉam vāṭi niṟka
- while they stand with drooping hearts
- kuḻaṟu pūvaiyoṭum kiḷiyōṭum
- with our chattering mynas and parrots
- kuḻakēlē
- do not play fond with them
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.6 · verse 3359 of the four thousand
Meaning
You play sweet with us, take our little toy and lord it over us, and nothing good comes of it. Are we to live, growing used to such favours? There are many beauties fit to be queens of all three worlds. Do not climb into our little gathering, Nambi; this business is beneath even You.
Word by word
- kuḻaki
- playing fond, coaxing
- kōyiṉmai ceytu
- acting unjustly, lording it over us
- kaṉmam oṉṟu illai
- nothing comes of it
- aḻakiyār
- beautiful women
- tēvimai ītakuvār
- fit to be queens
- kaḻakam ēṟēl
- do not enter our play-gathering
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.7 · verse 3360 of the four thousand
Meaning
Snatching the doll from our hands is not a proper thing to do. O Spotless One, O tall One, who swallowed the sea-girt earth, even for You a wrong is a wrong. You play with us saying only spiteful things. If our elder brothers hear of it, will they call it right? One day it will come to a fight with sticks!
Word by word
- kaiyil pāvai paṟippatu
- snatching the doll from our hands
- niṉmalā
- O Spotless One
- piḻai piḻaiyē
- a wrong is a wrong
- vaṉmamē colli
- speaking only spiteful words
- eṉ aimmār
- my elder brothers
- taṭi piṇakkē
- a quarrel with sticks
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.8 · verse 3361 of the four thousand
Meaning
You make all things and all beings different from one another without fail, and yet You Yourself remain unchanged; You are a form of radiant knowledge, a flood of countless glories. Our friends coaxed us, saying, 'Come and play,' and so we came. If You now corner us and wear us down, what will those who dislike us not say?
Word by word
- yāvaiyum yāvarum
- all things and all beings
- pētiyātatu
- that which itself does not change
- kaṇakku il kīrtti veḷḷak
- a flood of countless glories
- katir ñāṉa mūrttiyiṉāy
- You whose form is radiant knowledge
- em tōḻimār
- our girl friends
- ukavātavarē
- those who do not like us
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.9 · verse 3362 of the four thousand
Meaning
Gleefully, so that our hearts would melt within and we would be caught in the net of Your great lotus eyes, You trampled our play with Your sacred feet. You showed us no kindness. You did not stand and look at our little sand houses and the little rice we cooked, smiling, with Your face aglow.
Word by word
- neñcam uḷ uruki
- our hearts melting within
- aka valaip paṭuppāṉ
- to catch us in Your net
- aḻittāy uṉ tiruvaṭiyāl
- You destroyed it with Your sacred feet
- takavu ceytilai
- You showed no kindness
- ciṟṟilum
- our little sand houses
- ciṟu cōṟum
- the little rice we cooked in play
- muṟuval ceytu
- smiling
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.10 · verse 3363 of the four thousand
Meaning
O You with the shining crown, who with the long victorious axe weeded out the kings twenty-one times; who long ago created the wide world! O dark ruby flame, born today so that this cowherd clan might be saved, we cowherd girls are ever fated only to suffer at Your hands.
Word by word
- niṉṟu ilaṅku muṭiyiṉāy
- You with the crown that stands shining
- irupattōr kāl
- twenty-one times
- veṉṟi nīḷ maḻuvā
- O You with the long victorious axe, as Parasurama
- āyar kulattai vīṭu uyyat
- so that the cowherd clan may be saved
- karumāṇikkac cuṭar
- dark ruby flame
- nalivē paṭuvōm
- we only suffer
Tiruvaymozhi 6.2.11 · verse 3364 of the four thousand
Meaning
Once, over the matter of the butter, the cowherd woman who was His mother grew angry, and He took her anger and wept: He is the Dancer, our Father. Satakopan of Kurugur praised Him in a Tamil garland of a thousand. Those who can recite these ten with music on their tongues will never know poverty.
Word by word
- āycci ākiya aṉṉaiyāl
- by His mother, the cowherd woman, Yashoda
- veṇṇey vārttaiyuḷ
- in the matter of the butter
- cīṟṟa muṇṭu
- taking her anger
- kūtta appaṉ
- the Dancer, our Father
- tamiḻ mālai
- garland of Tamil verse
- nalkuravē
- poverty
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.