Tiruviruttam 71 · verse 2548 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks to her friends.) I never said, 'He who swallowed the seven worlds at the end of the ages.' I only saw a fruit and said, 'the colour of the sea, of the kalam fruit.' From that alone my mother says, 'Is she so bold?' and 'She has spoken the colour of Him who swallowed the earth.' O friends, tell me, why does my mother keep hovering around me?
Word by word
- ulaku ēḻum uṇṭāṉ
- He who swallowed the seven worlds
- kaḷām paḻam vaṇṇam
- the colour of the dark kalam fruit
- aṉṉai
- my mother
- nāḻ ivaḷō
- is she so bold?
- ñālam uṇṭāṉ vaṇṇam
- the colour of Him who swallowed the earth
- ammaṉai cūḻkiṉṟavē
- my mother keeps hovering around me
Tiruviruttam 72 · verse 2549 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks.) The lovely baby moon splits the dark, solid mass of the encircling night's unshrinking darkness; let it split me too! Lonely as I am, my heart bowed down before the tulasi blossoms; is this the way my complexion is to live today? This bright white thing has come and risen!
Word by word
- curuṅkā iruḷiṉ
- of the unshrinking darkness
- karun tiṇimpaip
- the dark, solid mass
- tiṅkaḷ am piḷḷaiyum
- the lovely baby moon too
- tāḻkiṉṟa neñcattu
- with a heart that bows down
- tamiyāṭṭiyēṉ
- I, the lonely one
- vāliyatē
- this bright white thing
Tiruviruttam 73 · verse 2550 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The friend speaks.) The white moon, a cow of heaven that pours out pure white moonlight to fill the world, is in full flow this evening. Is this the noble way of the Lord who protects the seven worlds, He who bears the victorious discus shining like the sun's disc, that the lonely girl should droop and fade?
Word by word
- vāl veṇ nilavu
- pure white moonlight
- viṇ curavi
- a heavenly cow, pouring out light like milk
- pariti vaṭṭam pōlum
- like the disc of the sun
- cuṭar aṭal āḻip pirāṉ
- the Lord with the bright victorious discus
- poḻil ēḻ aḷikkum
- who protects the seven worlds
- tamiyāṭṭi taḷarntatuvē
- that the lonely girl should droop
Tiruviruttam 74 · verse 2551 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks.) He sleeps with His holy long eyes, yet is awake, on a bed of waves that come slackening and breaking; He swallowed the world; He rose up and tore out the great hill and lifted it so it was overturned. Alas! The small, fresh south breeze that has played in and fed on the tulasi on His crown has come and roams about me.
Word by word
- varu tiraip pāyal
- a bed of oncoming waves
- tiru neṭuṅ kaṇ
- holy long eyes
- vaḷarntum aṟivuṟṟum
- sleeping and yet awake
- vaiyam viḻuṅkiyum
- swallowing the world
- māl varaiyaik
- the great hill
- ciṟu pacun teṉṟal
- the small, fresh south breeze
- antō
- alas
Tiruviruttam 75 · verse 2552 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The hero speaks to the girls.) Your bright faces have curving brows like cruel bows, that shoot the shining arrows of roving carp, your eyes, straight through our life. Where do you live? Is it Vaikuntham, where dwell the devotees of the Lord who rests on the ocean bed, where curved conches are tossed by the fish-scented sea? Or is it this world?
Word by word
- ulākiṉṟa keṇṭai
- roving carp, the eyes
- āviyai ūṭuruvak
- piercing straight through my life
- veñcilai vāḷ mukattīr
- you of bright faces with brows like cruel bows
- kuṉi caṅku iṭaṟip
- tossing the curved conches
- puṇari am paḷḷi ammāṉ
- the Lord who rests on the ocean bed
- num nilaiyiṭamē
- your dwelling place
Tiruviruttam 76 · verse 2553 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks.) O my simple heart, pining for the garland of blossoms of the lovely, cool tulasi of Him who spread across all space and measured this world! Is it any wonder that the white moon spreads like poison over our white bangles? It makes the blooms in the wide lotus ponds close, while it makes the soft water-lilies open.
Word by word
- iṭam pōy virintu
- spreading across all space
- vaṭam pōtu
- a garland of blossoms
- iṉaiyum maṭa neñcamē
- O simple heart that pines
- veḷ vaḷaikkē
- upon our white bangles
- viṭam pōl virital
- spreading like poison
- mel āmpal alarvikkum
- makes the soft water-lilies open
Tiruviruttam 77 · verse 2554 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks.) This mean evening, while the baby moon wails, stands shrinking on the red battlefield where the king of the just sceptre, the sun, has fallen. Taking as its ally the tulasi of our Lord of the celestials, who made southern Lanka a fierce field of battle, it has come and appeared, to take away our colour, and it torments me.
Word by word
- tiṅkaḷ am piḷḷai pulampa
- while the baby moon wails
- ceṅkōl aracu paṭṭa
- where the king of the just sceptre fell
- ceṅ kaḷam
- the red battlefield, the sunset sky
- puṉ mālai
- the mean evening
- teṉpāl ilaṅkai
- southern Lanka
- māmai koḷvāṉ
- to take away our colour
Tiruviruttam 78 · verse 2555 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks.) The strength and greatness with which He destroyed Naraka the tormentor and cut off Bana's mighty arms are beyond our telling. My simple heart, pining for the flowers of the lovely tulasi worn by the Lord whose form shines like a dark mountain, has gone to Him and left me only this anguish.
Word by word
- naliyum narakaṉai
- Naraka, the tormentor
- vāṇaṉ tiṇ tōḷ tuṇitta
- who cut off the strong arms of Bana
- yām collum nīrttu alla
- not such as we can tell
- mai varai pōl
- like a dark mountain
- meliyum maṭa neñciṉār
- my simple heart, which pines away
- vētaṉaiyē
- this anguish
Tiruviruttam 79 · verse 2556 of the four thousand
Meaning
He is the Veda, wearing the white sacred thread; the Lord who stands praised by the celestials; the One with no master above Him, who swallows the world; He whose feet stride across the world; the cool One who graciously reclines on the serpent bed in the Milk Ocean. Those who worship Him alone are more excellent even than those who dwell in heaven.
Word by word
- vētaṉai
- Him who is the Veda
- veṇ puri nūlaṉai
- Him who wears the white sacred thread
- viṇṇōr parava niṉṟa nātaṉai
- the Lord who stands praised by the celestials
- anātaṉai
- the One with no master above Him
- ñālam tattum pātaṉai
- Him whose feet stride across the world
- cītaṉaiyē
- the cool, gentle One
- viṇṇuḷārilum cīriyarē
- more excellent than those in heaven
The word-separated edition loses or misplaces the first letters of some lines here; they are restored from the Project Madurai edition by K. Kalyanasundaram.
Ask Sri Paduka about this pasuram →Tiruviruttam 80 · verse 2557 of the four thousand
Meaning
(The girl speaks.) Like an earthly king who ruled in glory, made his just sceptre run for some days and then passed away, the sun has set. O great King who measured the earth! O King of our heaven! O peerless King who left us and deceived us, be gracious! It has come as darkness and is upon us.
Word by word
- cīr aracu āṇṭu
- ruling in glory
- pār aracu ottu
- like an earthly king
- maṟaintatu nāyiṟu
- the sun has set
- pār aḷanta pēr aracē
- O great King who measured the earth
- nīttu vañcitta
- who left us and deceived us
- iruḷāy vantu uṟukiṉṟatē
- it has come upon us as darkness
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.