Krishna Jayanti Post

Dedicated to அமலனாதிபிரான் (Amalanadipiran - One who is devoid of any impurity).

I was thinking of posting something dedicated to Sri Krishna on Janmashtami. Sri Krishna was born on 'Rohini' star which coincides with the star of Thiruppanazhwar (one of the 12 great saints of Sri Vaishnava tradition). So, I thought it would be fitting to write about Amalanadipiran - a beautiful composition of Thiruppanazhwar.

The charm of Amalanadipiran goes beyond description. This set of 10 short poems (paasurams) describe the beauty of Sri Ranganatha in Sri Rangam. Starting from His Lotus Feet to His Beautiful Eyes, Thiruppanaahzwar sings in praise of His Looks. When it comes to the last poem, he merges with the Lord. The following is the last poem and its translation.

கொண்டல் வண்ணனை கோவலனாய் வெண்ணெய்
உண்ட வாயன் * என் உள்ளம் கவர்தானை *
அண்டர் கோன் அணி அரங்கன் என் அமுதினைக்
கண்ட கண்கள் * மற்றொன்றினைக் காணாவே ||

Translation : He who has the form of a moisture laden cloud, who has the mouth with which He ate butter when born as a yadava, who stole my heart, who is the Lord of the nithyasooris, who rests in Srirangam which is an ornament to this world, who is nectar to me, the eyes which saw Him, will not see anything else.

The appeal of this poem is amplified if one goes through the rest of the poems where he always says "My mind", "My heart" where ever he is engrossed in the beauty of the Lord (this is not despicable, when one is enlightened). But, when it comes to the last line where he completely loses himself to Him, he says "kaNdakaNkaL", instead of "En kaNkal" or "My eyes". There is no longer distinction. Also, Amalanadipiran is unique among the works of azhwars. In the works of every other azhwar, when the compositions are coming to an end, they say so and so praises Him. But, Thiruppanazhwar forgets even that which ascribes full glory to Him. There are other interesting features in Amalanadipiran. The initial three words of first three poems are amalanAthipirAn, uvantha, manthipAy respectively. When we take their first letters we get AUM - the pranava. Similarly, there are continuous stanzas which begins as pAramAya, thundaveNpiRaiyan, kaiynAr and if we take the first three letters they give raise to Pathukai - or the Divine Feet. More than these things, the grandeur of the composition lies in places where he himself finds the Lord beyond description and thus finding it difficult to replace by words, he says "aiyO" (seyyavAy aiyO). In short, Amalanadipiran symbolizes the epitome of Bakthi that mankind can ever comprehend.