Pasuram 4.10.8

Tamil text and transliteration:

புக்கு அடிமையினால் தன்னைக் கண்ட மார்க்கண்டேயன் அவனை
நக்க பிரானும் அன்று உய்யக்கொண்டது நாராயணன் அருளே
கொக்கு அலர் தடம் தாழை வேலித் திருக்குருகூர் அதனுள்
மிக்க ஆதிப்பிரான் நிற்க மற்றைத் தெய்வம் விளம்புதிரே

pukku aṭimaiyiṉāl taṉṉaik kaṇṭa mārkkaṇṭēyaṉ avaṉai
nakka pirāṉum aṉṟu uyyakkoṇṭatu nārāyaṇaṉ aruḷē
kokku alar taṭam tāḻai vēlit tirukkurukūr ataṉuḷ
mikka ātippirāṉ niṟka maṟṟait teyvam viḷamputirē

English translation of verse 4.10.8:

‘Tis the grace of Nārāyaṇaṉ Whom Nakkapirāṉ (Śiva) did invoke
That succoured Mārkkaṇṭēyaṉ (from Yama’s yoke)
And made the latter peep into His stomach and have a look
(At Śiva) inside; the Lord Supreme now stands enshrined
As Ātippirāṉ, in Kurukūr with lovely hedges, white as the crane;
Why then do you at all about other deities mention?

Note

Some persons would appear to have objected to the Āḻvār under-rating Śiva, despite his fame as Mārkaṇṭēya’s Saviour, who successfully resisted Yama’s attempt to take away the devotee’s life, at the tender age of sixteen. The Āḻvār now disabuses them of their wrong notions about that episode by giving them the correct perspective in this regard. Sage Mṛkaṇḍu’s ardent prayers for the grant of a son were heard by Brahmā who, however, asked the Sage to opt for either a son, deformed and devilish, with a long life or one brilliant and beautiful, but short-lived, his term of life not extending beyond sixteen years. The Sage having indicated his preference to a son of the latter category, he was gifted with the gem of a son, Mārkaṇḍeya. As the little lad was approaching the end of his brief tenure of life, the parents were throbbing with painful anguish. The young one, however, placated them by asserting that he could surely overcome the ordeal through the good offices of Śiva whom he worshipping intensely. At the zero hour, when the boy completed sixteen years of age, Yama’s hordes came down to snatch him away but the aura of his piety for Śiva was such that they could not get anywhere near him. They went and reported this strange phenomenon to their boss who sent his Minister Kālaṉ who fared no better. The infuriated Yama himself came and threw his life-snatching cord along, which, however, encircled the idol of Śiva also, Mārkaṇḍeya was then embracing tight. Śiva meditated on Śrīman Nārāyaṇa and with His grace, he emerged forth from inside the idol, kicked yama out and blessed Mārkaṇḍeya with perpetual life and perennial youth. Although the superficial reader takes it that it was Śiva who rescued Mārkaṇḍeya from Yama’s clutches, the truth of the matter is that it was Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, as the Supreme Lord and Internal Controller of Śiva, among others, who did the job, as narrated by Mārkaṇḍeya himself to Yudhiṣṭira, (see Maha Bhārata, Āraṇya Parva, chapter 192^[1] that he (Mārkaṇḍeya) sought refuge in Śrīman Nārāyaṇa. This is also corroborated by the eighth chapter of the twelfth Skanda of Śrī Bhāgavata which clearly says^[2] that by propitiating Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, Mārkaṇḍeya defied Yama and conquered death.

As a matter of fact, Śiva who was immensely pleased with Mārkaṇḍeya’s devotion, wanted to reward him suitably and, therefore, put him on to Śrīman Nārāyaṇa, Whom he (Śiva) himself was worshipping. Mārkaṇḍeya, blessed with immortality, prayed intensely to Śrīman Nārāyaṇa that he might be allowed to witness the Deluge (Mahāpralaya). Swimming across the vast expanse of water, he could not merely have access to the Lord reclining, as a mere babe, on a tender fig-leaf afloat but he was also allowed to peep inside the Lord’s stomach. Seeing inside the Lord’s stomach, one and all, including Śiva, whom he had been worshipping for long, Mārkaṇḍeya had no longer any doubts about Śrīman Nārāyaṇa’s Supremacy. He took refuge in Him and was admitted by the Lord unto His fold.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Pitrubhaktosi Viprarṣe! māñcaiva śaraṇaṃ gataḥ.

[2]:

Ārādhayan Hṛṣīkeṣam jigye mṛtyuṃ sudurjayam.