Thirumaalai - Part 24

based on the vyakhyanam of Sri Periyavaccan Pillai
by Smt Sumithra Varadarajan

Paasuram-11
oru villAl Ongu munneeradaiththu vulagangal uyya
seruvilE arakkarkOnai settra nam sEvakanAr
maruviya periya kOil madhil thiruvarangamennA
karuvilE thiruvilAtheer! KAlaththai kazhikkindreerE

oru villAl Ongu munneeradaiththu vulagangal uyya: In this paasuram alwar talks about the rAmAvataram of Emperuman. The word 'oru' in tamil can be used in two ways. It can denote both the meaning of one and only or a thing which has nothing equal to it. Here alwar says that there is no bow equal to Sri rAma's bow. It is equal to only itself. In Ramayana, Sri rAma kept his kodandam(his special bow) down only once. That was when he did saranagathi to the samudhra rajan in darpa sayanam. Now a doubt will arise in all our minds. We are able to accept srivaishnavas doing saraganathi to emperuman because he is our sole refuge and we are incapable to saving ourselves and all other devatas are incapable of giving us the final purushartha, the moksha. But why should the emperuman do saranagathi? In Rama Avatara emperuman stayed like a man. He didn't show his divine powers. That is why the alwars say "manisarukkai padAdhanapattu". He suffered so as to lift us up. When the issue of how to the build the bridge across the sea to go to lanka came, vibheshana who had just joined the rama parivar gave the idea of Sri rAma surrendering to the samudra raja. Though vibheshana joined only then, still rAma gave him the due respects and obliged to his words. But why did vibheshana suggest this method of saranAgathi? That's because he did saranAgathi in the feet of Sri rAma and was saved from rAvana and assured lanka rajyam. So he thought the saranagathi at any place will give the best fruit and hence suggested this. Though there were many others in the side of rAma like hanuman and sugreeva, hanuman talked always at the last after hearing to the others opinion and perumal also listened to all the suggestions and then only gave his decision. But since vibheshana put forward his opinion immediately after rAma's question, "samudram rAghavO raja sharanam ganthumarhathi", and since even perumal felt it to be a good idea he accepted to do saranAgathi on the darpa sayanam. But even after 3 days of fasting the samudra raja never turned up so emperuman who has no experience in doing saranAgathi since he is used to only others doing saranAgathi in his feet lost his patience and called for lakshmana to bring his bow to dry the ocean("sApmAnAya sowmithrE!"). This is not a saranAgatha lakshana since a saranAgathan should never get impatient with the master's silence. But emperuman didn't have the experience to wait for others to accept his saranagathi and hence couldn't tolerate samudra rajan's silence. But then lakshmana knew very well that Sri rAmar was capable of drying the ocean and that it should not occur since it is harmful to the whole world. Sri PVP clearly says in his Thanisloki vyakhyanam how lakshmana reacted to this situation. First he got a ordinary bow alone and perumal then ordered him to get his kOdandam and then lakshmana got only the bow after which emperuman ordered him to get the bow and the arrow. Seeing perumal's anger samudra raja came running and surrendered unto the feet of the emperuman. So alwar here says emperuman for the benefit of the whole world built the bridge across the ocean with the help of his great bow(seeing which in perumal's hand made samudra raja surrender to emperuman's feet).

In his vyakhyanam Sri PVP explains this in the simple way. "upAdhyAyan kaiyilE kasai kandu siru prajaigal kAlilE vizhumA pole Thiruvadigal alavum vandhu vellam kOththAr pOl Ayittru" When a teacher calls a boy with a stick in his hand the boy gets afraid and falls in his feet even before the teacher could beat him. Similarly when perumal got angry with samudra rajan and got ready to hit him with his bow and arrow samudra rajan came running and surrendered to the feet of emperuman.