Pasuram 4.8.3

Tamil text and transliteration:

மட நெஞ்சால் குறைவு இல்லா மகள்தாய்செய்து ஒரு பேய்ச்சி,
விட நஞ்ச முலை சுவைத்த மிகு ஞானச் சிறு குழவி,
பட நாகத்து அணைக் கிடந்த பரு வரைத் தோள் பரம்புருடன்,
நெடுமாயன் கவராத நிறையினால் குறைவு இலமே.

maṭa neñcāl kuṟaivu illā makaḷtāyceytu oru pēycci,
viṭa nañca mulai cuvaitta miku ñāṉac ciṟu kuḻavi,
paṭa nākattu aṇaik kiṭanta paru varait tōḷ parampuruṭaṉ,
neṭumāyaṉ kavarāta niṟaiyiṉāl kuṟaivu ilamē.

English translation of verse 4.8.3:

My sense of modesty I shall abjure if it attracts not
The Lord Supreme, of wondrous deeds unlimited,
Of shoulders, huge and hefty, resting on hooded serpent-bed,
Who, as the little babe with Knowledge great, sucked the life out,
Of the demoness that played the mother perfect
And suckled Him with deadly poison on her breast.

Notes

(i) In the preceding song, the Nāyakī disowned her mind, on the ground that it failed to attract the Lord and become the object of His affection. And now, she is prepared to abjure her sense of modesty, which had kept her under restraint so long, thinking that the Lord would come to her of His own accord. What is the good of her modesty, after she has been discarded by the Lord who had once lavished on her all His affections?

(ii) The little Babe with knowledge great

Pūtanā, the demoness played the perfect mother and Kṛṣṇa, the Omniscient Babe also played the perfect babe, and sucked her breasts, coated with deadly poison, without the reservation usually shown to strangers and, in the bargain, sucked her life out. Thence forward, even Yaśodhā was awakened to the realisation that it was not a mere babe and began to look upon it with great awe. That is why Śrī Kṛṣṇa is referred to, in this song, as the Omniscient Babe, ‘the little babe with great knowledge’, even as the Lord’s devotees have been referred to elsewhere as the ‘little big men’, that is, men of great prowess moving about, in frail physical frames.

(iii) The Lord Supreme (Parampuruṭaṉ): It is only when He reclines on Ādiśeṣa, the Lord looks the Supreme Sovereign that He is, like unto the gem, well set on the foil.