Tiruviruttam 31 · verse 2508 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks to the clouds.) When I plead, 'Agree to carry my message,' you do not agree. If I bow my head before you and plead again, will you be moved at all? You clouds that have set out on your way to flash your lightning over the strong-rooted peaks of Thiruvenkatam, where fine gold and great gems flash lightning in every direction!
Word by word
- icaimiṉkaḷ tūtu
- agree to carry my message
- icaiyilam
- you do not agree
- am poṉ mā maṇikaḷ
- lovely gold and great gems
- ticai miṉ miḷirum
- flashing like lightning in every direction
- vaṉ tāḷ cimayam
- peaks with strong foundations
- vaḻikkoṇṭa mēkaṅkaḷē
- O clouds that have set out on your way
Tiruviruttam 32 · verse 2509 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks to the clouds.) O clouds, tell me: how did you gain the good fortune of looking like the sacred form of Tirumal? Was it the grace you won by penance, wandering through all the skies, carrying good water to give life to the world, and making your own bodies ache?
Word by word
- mēkaṅkaḷō uraiyīr
- O clouds, tell me
- tirumāl tirumēṉi okkum
- resembling the sacred form of Tirumal
- yōkaṅkaḷ
- good fortune
- uyir aḷippāṉ
- to give life, to sustain living beings
- mākaṅkaḷ ellām tirintu
- wandering through all the skies
- ākaṅkaḷ nōva
- making your bodies ache
- tavam
- penance
Tiruviruttam 33 · verse 2510 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The friend speaks to the Lord.) With Your gracious holy discus You uphold Your just rule over the wide sky and the earth, so that dark deeds may be destroyed. Yet here, is it scorn, thinking, 'Is a woman of any account?' Or do You think she lies outside these worlds? We cannot understand it, You who lie on the serpent bed: her fair complexion is being ruined.
Word by word
- aruḷ ār tiruc cakkarattāl
- with the gracious holy discus
- iruḷ ār viṉai keṭa
- so that dark deeds may perish
- ceṅkōl naṭāvutir
- You uphold Your just rule
- poruḷō eṉum ikaḻvō
- is it scorn, asking 'is she of any account?'
- aravaṇaiyīr
- You who lie on the serpent bed
- māmai citaikkiṉṟatē
- her complexion is being ruined
Tiruviruttam 34 · verse 2511 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The mother speaks to the Lord.) She is still a child, who rages at the sea, saying, 'The sea is spoiling my sand houses,' and kicks it with her little feet, with all a child's pride. Yet her whole heart throbs to wear the cool, lovely tulasi woven thick into Your cool garland, O Tirumal! What is to be done for such a girl, I do not know.
Word by word
- citaikkiṉṟatu āḻi
- the sea is spoiling (her sand houses)
- āḻiyaic cīṟi
- raging at the sea
- taṉ cīṟaṭiyāl utaikkiṉṟa
- kicking it with her little feet
- nāyakam taṉṉoṭu
- with her childish air of command
- mālē
- O Tirumal
- maṉamāyp pataikkiṉṟa
- throbbing with her whole heart
- aṟiyēṉ ceyaṟpālatuvē
- I do not know what is to be done
Tiruviruttam 35 · verse 2512 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks.) It is evening, when the lady of the west, having lost the day, wails with the baby crescent moon, milk at its mouth, on her hip. And into it a cold north wind has come, roaming about, as if to recount all it has done to those whose hearts are set on the tulasi of Tirumal, who measured the worlds.
Word by word
- pāl vāyp piṟaip piḷḷai
- the baby crescent moon with milk at its mouth
- okkalaik koṇṭu
- carrying on her hip
- pakal iḻanta
- having lost the day
- mēlpāl ticaippeṇ
- the lady of the western direction
- pulampuṟu mālai
- the evening that wails
- ulaku aḷanta
- who measured the worlds
- paṉi vāṭai
- the cold north wind
Tiruviruttam 36 · verse 2513 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The friend speaks.) Because the darkness is long and dense, too thick to grope through, He does not send His cool garland. Even now, when an endless age has risen, He feels no pity that she here suffers a long, unfailing sorrow. Alas, these are the cruelties of the Lord who razed the clustered tall mansions of Lanka!
Word by word
- neṭum cūḻ iruḷ
- long, enveloping darkness
- taṇ tār atu peyarā
- does not send His cool garland
- eḻā neṭu ūḻi
- a long age that never ends
- vaḻā neṭun tuṉpattaḷ
- she who suffers a long, unfailing sorrow
- iraṅkār
- He does not pity
- kuḻā neṭu māṭam iṭitta
- who razed the clustered tall mansions
- koṭumaikaḷē
- these cruelties
Tiruviruttam 37 · verse 2514 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The mother speaks of her daughter, gone with her beloved.) The thick forest my young doe has gone into rings with the clamour of drums of young men, hunters with cruel bows, raiders of cattle, swift of foot and fierce in killing. She whose waist bends at a touch is the child that I, of hard fate, won by praising for so long the long flower-feet of Kannan.
Word by word
- koṭuṅ kāl cilaiyar
- men with cruel, curved bows
- niraikōḷ uḻavar
- those whose work is raiding cattle
- tuṭi paṭum kavvaittu
- full of the clamour of drums
- nīḷ malarp pātam paravip peṟṟa
- obtained by praising His long flower-like feet
- toṭuṅkāl ociyum iṭai
- a waist that bends at a touch
- iḷamāṉ
- young doe, the daughter
- cūḻ kaṭamē
- the dense forest
Tiruviruttam 38 · verse 2515 of the four thousand
Meaning
Leaving the wild tracts behind, entering great ponds by the strength of their own stalks, and standing in the water for many days: is this the penance by which these blue lilies came to resemble the form of the Lord who danced with the pots, and who measured the worlds so that this earth and heaven shook?
Word by word
- kaṭam āyiṉakaḷ kaḻittu
- leaving the wild tracts behind
- taṉ kāl vaṉmaiyāl
- by the strength of their own stalks
- nīr nilainiṉṟa tavam
- the penance of standing in water
- kuṭam āṭi
- dancing the pot-dance
- kuluṅka ulaku aḷantu
- measuring the worlds so that they shook
- nīlaṅkaḷē
- these blue lilies
Tiruviruttam 39 · verse 2516 of the four thousand
Meaning
Like great wide lotus pools on a dark blue mountain, they shine for us wherever we look: the beauty of the eyes of our Lord. He is Lord of the earth girt by the swelling sea, Lord of heaven, Lord of all good souls, the Lord whose form is dark, my Lord.
Word by word
- nīlat taṭa varaimēl
- upon a great dark blue mountain
- puṇṭarīka neṭun taṭaṅkaḷ
- great wide lotus pools
- ellā iṭattavum
- seen everywhere
- nallōr pirāṉ
- Lord of the good
- kōlam kariya pirāṉ
- the Lord whose form is dark
- kaṇṇiṉ kōlaṅkaḷē
- the beauty of His eyes
Tiruviruttam 40 · verse 2517 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks to her friends.) The single splendid elephant of the day, the sun, has gone down behind the hill, and all the elephants of blue night have crowded in, spreading in herds. O you of fine jewels! When will the day come when our mothers fittingly adorn our curling tresses with the tulasi of the bridegroom of the golden Lady of the earth, and look on us with joy?
Word by word
- kōlap pakal kaḷiṟu
- the splendid elephant of day, the sun
- nīlak kaṅkul kaḷiṟu
- the elephants of blue night
- nēriḻaiyīr
- O you of fine jewels
- ñālap poṉ mātiṉ maṇāḷaṉ
- the bridegroom of the golden Lady of the earth
- ēlap puṉaintu
- adorning fittingly
- eṉṉaimār
- our mothers
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.