Pasuram 9.2.10

Tamil text and transliteration:

கொடுவினைப்படைகள் வல்லையாய் அமரர்க்குஇடர்கெட, அசுரர்கட்குஇடர்செய்
கடுவினைநஞ்சே! என்னுடைஅமுதே கலிவயல் திருப்புளிங்குடியாய்
வடிவுஇணைஇல்லா மலர்மகள் மற்றைநிலமகள் பிடிக்கும்மெல்அடியைக்
கொடுவினையேனும் பிடிக்கநீஒருநாள் கூவுதல்வருதல் செய்யாயே.

koṭuviṉaippaṭaikaḷ vallaiyāy amararkkuiṭarkeṭa, acurarkaṭkuiṭarcey
kaṭuviṉainañcē! eṉṉuṭaiamutē kalivayal tiruppuḷiṅkuṭiyāy
vaṭivuiṇaiillā malarmakaḷ maṟṟainilamakaḷ piṭikkummelaṭiyaik
koṭuviṉaiyēṉum piṭikkanīorunāḷ kūvutalvarutal ceyyāyē.

English translation of verse 9.2.10:

My Lord, reposing in Tiruppuḻiṅkuṭi amid fields fertile,
Your valiant weapons are unto Asuras deadly and do the Devas succour;
You, my Nectar, may you beckon me or draw unto me near.
Just one day, that I may stroke your feet tender,
Your lotus and earth-born Spouses of peerless beauty press gently.

Notes:

(i) It may be recalled that the gnostic Mother of Parāṅkuśa Nāyakī had referred to the latter, in VI-5-10, as the proto-type of the three Divine Spouses, Mahālakṣmī, Mother Earth and Nappiṉṉai. And now, the Āḻvār requests the Lord that he may be granted an opportunity to massage His tender feet which even His delicate Spouses of matchless charm handle with great care and press gently. For this purpose, the Lord should either beckon the Āḻvār to where He is or come down to his place.

(ii) No doubt, the Lord is, according to His own admission and the verdict of the Vedas, absolutely impartial to one and all, bereft of love and hatred to any—“Samoham sarvabhūteṣu nadveṣyośti na priyaḥ.” “Devānām thānavānāñca sāmānyamathi Deivatam” etc. If it is still mentioned here that He is a veritable poison unto the Asuras, unleashing on them His lethal weapons of enormous power and succours the Devas unto whom He is sweet as nectar, there is hardly any contradiction. Did not the Lord bestow His grace and affections on Prahlāda and Vibhīṣaṇa of Rākṣasa clan? Did He not try His utmost to bring round such a heinous offender as Rāvaṇa, who deserved to be slain with a single arrow, even as the far more powerful Vāli was done away with? If the ungodly Asuras rush to their doom, even as the flies get burnt out by the glowing lamp and people fall into tanks, dug for common good and commit suicide, surely, it is no blot on the Lord’s impartiality. Verily, one man’s food is another’s poison. Here then is the Nectar of the Āḻvār, reposing in Tiruppuḻiṅkuṭi, got at without going through the arduous process of churning the deep ocean and all that.

(iii) For the fulfilment of his wish, the Āḻvār suggests that the Lord could either send for him or come down to him. In point of relative importance, the Lord’s condescending visit to the Āḻvār is indeed more important than His beckoning the Āḻvār and the two should have been more appropriately mentioned in the reverse order. Nampiḷḷai’s thought-provoking explanation for the present order of mention is that the Āḻvār would prefer being sent for, so that he could witness and enjoy the grand setting in which the Divine Spouses engage themselves in massaging the Lord’s tender feet with meticulous care, a setting, the Āḻvār dared not disturb by making the Lord’s visit to him. as his first choice.