oru kuRaLAy

Periya Thirumozhi

oru kuRaLAy

(thirukkAzhich sIrAma viNNagaram)

oru kuraLAi iru nilam moovaDi maN vENDi
ulahanaittum eeraDiyAl oDukki-onrum
taruha enA mAvaliyai Siraiyil vaitta
tADALan tALaNaiveer takka keerti |
arumaraiyin tiraL nAngum vELvi aindum
angangaL avai Arum iSaihaL Ezhum
teruvil vali vizhA vaLamum Sirakkum kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Men! You want to seek the tiruvaDi of emberumAn—who begged only three feet of land from this vast earth from the asura king mahAbali; who measured the upper and lower worlds with His two steps and asked for a place for His third step; with the third He sent mahAbali to pAtALa lOka in prison—go and seek Him in kAzhi SeerAma viNNaharam—where there are vaidikas who chant four vEdas, teach six vEdAngas, do five maha yajnas and sing the hymns with seven swaras; where there is nitya utsava in every house and temple.

nAn muhan nAL mihai tarukkai irukku vAimai
nalam mihu Seer urOmaSanAl naviTTru nakkan
oon muhamAr talaiyoTTooN ozhitta endai
oLi malar SEvaDi aNaiveer uzhu SEyODa |
Soon muhamAr vaLaiyaLai vAi uhutta muttai
tol kuruhu Sinai ena Soozhndu iyanga engum
tEn muhamAr kamala vayal SEl pAi kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Friends! If you want to seek His tiruvaDi—who removed the cause of naked sin who roamed with kapAla as his begging bowl; who subdued the pride of brahma who was begging his longevity through rOmasa maharShi—seek Him at kAzhichcheerAma viNNaharam—where the oxen plough the lands where the snails drop their pearls (eggs) in their holes. The cranes think these huge balls as their eggs. Therefore they guard over them carefully standing nearby. Since the field is muddy the lotuses bloom shedding honey in the pond. The fish hump and play in this sweet water.

rOmasa maharShi—There is a story in purANa about rOmasa maharShi. He was called so because he had rOma (hair) all over his body. Once he asked BagavAn who came before him pleased by his tapas and asked what boon did he want. The riShi said that he should live longer than brahma so that he can worship Him till his death. BagavAn gave him the boon that when brahma’s life ends one hair from his body will fall. so he will live till all the hairs on his body falls.

vaiyaNainda nudi kOTTu varAham onrAi
maNNellAm iDandu eDuttu madangaL Seidu
neyyaNainda tikiriyinAl vANan tiNDOL
nErndavan tAL aNaihirpeer neidalODu |
maiyaNainda kuvaLaihaL tAm tam kaNhaL enrum
malar kumudam vAi enrum kaDaiSimArhaL
SeyyaNaindu kaLai kaLaiyA tErum kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Wise men! You want to seek the tiruvaDi of emberumAn—who took varAha avatAra and lifted the submerged Boomi from the ANDa Bitti with His tusk; who chopped off the arms of bANAsura with His sharp-edged chakrAyudha—go to kAzhi SeerAma viNNaharam. The city is beautiful with fields where lotuses, karuneidal flowers and kumudam flowers grow as weeds. The women see the resemblance of their eyes in karuneidal flowers, the lips in the red kumuda flowers. Hence they don’t have mind to pluck them as weeds. They go back home. If such is the beauty of the lowest caste women, what to talk of the high caste maidens!

panjiya mellaDi pinnai tirattu munnAL
pAi viDaihaL EzhaDartu ponnan paimbooN
nenjiDandu karudi uha uhirvEl ANDa
ninmalan tALaNaihirpeer neela mAlai |
tanjuDaiya iruL tazhaippa taraLam AngE
taN madiyin nilAkkATTa pavaLam tannAl
SenjuDar veyil virikkum azhahAr kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Wise men! If you want to seek the tiruvaDi of emberumAn—who subdued the might of seven wicked bulls for the sake of nappinnai pirATTi; who split open the chest of hiraNya with His sharp nails as the spear; who is pure as crystal—go to kAzhi SeerAma viNNaharam—where the huge mansions are inlaid with sapphire (black as night) pearls (cool like moon) and corals (red like the dawn)—a divya dESa where He resides.

AzhwAr’s poetical fancy make impossible a possible phenomenon!

devvAya mara mannar kurudi koNDu
tirukkulattil irandOrku tirutti Seidu
vevvAya mA keeNDu vEzham aTTa
viNNavar kOn tAL aNaiveer vikirta mAdar |
avvAya vAL neDungaN kuvaLai kATTa
aravindam muham kATTa aruhE Ambal
SevvAyin tiraL kATTum vayal Soozh kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Men! If you want to seek His tiruvaDi—who killed the kShatriya kings as paraSurAma and did tarpaNa to his race with their blood; who killed kESi (a horse asura); and pulled out the tusk of kuvaLayApeeDa; who is the chief of nityasooris—go to SeerAma viNNaharam—where there are fields which have lotuses etc. as weeds. The lotuses look like the faces of women of that city, the karuneidal—their eyes, the Ambal, their red lips.

pangaN viral Semmuhattu vAli mALa
paDar vanattu kavandanODum paDaiyAr tiNkai
vengaN viral virAdan uha vil kunitta
viNNavarkOn tALaNaiveer verpupOlum |
tunga muha mALihai mEl Ahangoorum
tuDiyiDaiyAr muhakkamala SOdi tannAl
tingaL muham pani paDaikkum AzhahAr kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Men! If you want to seek the tiruvaDi of Sree rAma—who killed vAli, the monkey king with red eyes and fall; who killed virAda (an asura) and kabanda who created many weapons—go to kAzhi SeerAma viNNaharam—where there are tall mansions with balconies touch the moon on the top of which beautiful girls speak with each other whose faces make the moon feel shy and hide himself behind the clouds.

poruvil valamburi arakkan muDihaL pattum
paTTrum arindana pOla puvimEl Sinda
Seruvil valamburi Silaikkai malaittOL vEndan
tiruvaDi SErndu uihirpeer tirai neer teLhi |
maruvi valamburi kaitai kazhi ooDADi
vayal naNNi mazhai taruneer tavazh kAl manni
teruvil valamburi taraLam eenum kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Men! If you want to seek the tiruvaDi of chakravarti tirumahan—whose bow and arrow caused the ten heads of rAvaNa to collapse on the ground like an anthill (is collapsed); who has mountain like shoulders on which He holds the bow—go to kAzhi SeerAma viNNaharam where the shells want to leave the sea goes to kAzhi SeerAma viNNaharam where at first they go round the ‘tAzhai’ bushes and then to the fields and from there to the fields and from there to the rain water canals (which are already filled with rain water) and from there to the streets of the city where they get settled when the rain water dries. Thus the city looks beautiful with shells pearls scattered every where.

paTTaravu Erahal alkul pavaLa SevvAi
paNai neDundOL piNai neDungaN pAlAm inSol
maTTavizhum kuzhalikkA vAnOr kAvil
marangoNarndAn aDiyaNai veer aNilhaL tAva |
neTTilaiya karungamuhin SengAi veezha
neeL palavin tAzh Sinaiyil nerungu peena
teTTa pazham Sidaindu maduchchoriyum kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Men! If you want to seek the tiruvaDi of emberumAn—who brought the karpaga tree from the garden of indra when satyaBAma want it—she who has hips like the hoods of a serpent with a silk saree, who has red coral-like lips, round bamboo-like arms, long doe-like eyes, sweet milk-like speech, wearing honey-laden flowers on her hair—and planted it in her garden—go and seek Him in kAzhi SeerAma viNNaharam—where squirrels jump from branches causing the fruits of areca nut trees to fall on the jack fruits resulting the breaking of jack fruits making the honey flow on the ground.

teTTa pazham—It is said once Sree rAmAnujAchArya could not find the exact meaning of this word to explain his SiShyas. Once when he had gone to this divya dESa he heard some boys calling the others on the tree ‘to drop teTTa pazham’. He asked the boys what the word means the boys said it means ‘well ripe fruits’. rAmAnujAchArya wondered at AzhwAr’s knowledge of the dialect of the region.

pirai tangu SaDaiyAnai valattE vaittu
piramanai tan undiyilE tOTTruvittu
karai tanguvEl taDangaN tiruvai mArbil
kalandavan tAL aNaihirpeer kazhu neer kooDi |
turait angu kamalattu tuyinru kaitai
tODArum podi SOTTru chuNNam naNNi
Sirai vaNDu kaLi pADum vayal Soozh kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE SErmin neerE ||

Oh! Men! If you want to seek the tiruvaDi of emberumAn—who has Siva who wears crescent moon on his matted hair on His right; the creator brahma on His nABi kamala and periya pirATTi on who has beautiful spear-like eyes on His tirumArbu- -go to kAzhi SeerAma viNNaharam where the bees mates in sengazhuneer flowers, sleep in lotuses, get up roll in the pollen grains of ‘tAzhai’ flower, get intoxicated and sing joyfully flying over the fields.

Sengamalattu ayan anaiya maraiyOr kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE en SengaN mAlai
angamala taDa vayal Soozh Ali nADan
aruL mAri araTTamukki aDaiyAr Seeyam |
kongu malar kuzhaliyar vEL mangai vEndan
koTTravEl parakAlan kaliyan Sonna
Sanga muha tamizh mAlai pattum vallAr
taDangaDal Soozh ulahukku talaivar tAmE ||

tirumangai AzhwAr—who is the chief of Ali nADu (having plenty of lotus ponds), who is philanthropic like rain clouds, who subdues his enemies in wars, who is like a lion to his foes, who is the favourite of beautiful women, who is the chief of tirumangai and who holds spear in his hand, a yama to the wicked—has sung these ten tamizh pASuras which even the sangam poets praise. Those who read them with interest and trust will be the chief of the world surrounded by the seas.