Pasuram 10.2.8

Tamil text and transliteration:

கடுவினை களையலாகும் காமனைப் பயந்தகாளை
இடவகை கொண்டதுஎன்பர் எழில்அணிஅனந்தபுரம்
படம்உடைஅரவில் பள்ளி பயின்றவன் பாதம்காண
நடமினோ நமர்கள்உள்ளீர்! நாம் உமக்குஅறியச் சொன்னோம்.

kaṭuviṉai kaḷaiyalākum kāmaṉaip payantakāḷai
iṭavakai koṇṭatueṉpar eḻilaṇiaṉantapuram
paṭamuṭaiaravil paḷḷi payiṉṟavaṉ pātamkāṇa
naṭamiṉō namarkaḷuḷḷīr! nām umakkuaṟiyac coṉṉōm.

English translation of verse 10.2.8:

Go and behold, my men! the lovely pair of feet of our Lord,
The mighty Sire of Kāman, Who has pretty Ānantapuram as His abode,
Who does on a Cobra with many a hood recline;
That you may be rid of your deadly sins,
I do, unto you all, make this known.

Notes:

(i) Saint Nammāḻvār exhorts the pious Vaiṣṇavas around, to proceed to holy Aṉantapuram and behold the lovely feet of the Lord, reclining there on serpent-couch. The form, this exhortation assumes, is noteworthy; even as people are proceeding towards the holy centre, their deadly sins fall off, this is how the Āḻvār puts it.

(ii) Here is an interesting anecdote; Maṇakkāl Nampi, the preceptor of Āḷavantār (Yāmunācārya) had taught the distinguished disciple all but Yoga Śastra, which was deliberately left over, to be taught by a great Yogi, by name Kurukaikkāvalappaṉ. When Āḷavantār approached the Yogi in question for learning from him the Yogic secrets, the latter fixed up a date on which Āḷavantār was to meet the preceptor again and start receiving instructions in Yoga. The appointed date was duly noted in a small scrap of paper and it was kept by Āḷavantār in safe custody. But then, the ‘Tirumoḷi’ and ‘Tiruvāymoḻi’ festivals, each of ten days’ duration, went on at a stretch in Śrīraṅgam, with the special service of the Arayar, the temple minstrel, in the holy presence of Lord Raṅganātha. Āḻavantār was an active participant, being at the head of the distinguished gathering of listeners. When this particular song was recited with great emphasis by the Arayar, facing Āḻavantār, the latter reacted so well that he at once set out for Aṉantapuram along with his disciples. As Nampiḷḷai would put it, Āḷavantār reacted, as above, because that was the surest way of securing contact, rather, becoming associated with Nammāḻvār, within the meaning of the phrase “My men” (Namarkaḷ), occurring in this song. Well, one of those days, when he was staying in holy Aṉantapuram worshipping Lord Padmanābha, Āḷavantār recollected that he was to meet Kurukaikkāvalappaṉ, the Yoga instructor and looked up the chit, in his custody. It so happened that it was the very day on which he had to meet the Yogi and Āḷavantār heaved a sigh of grief, saying, “What a pity! I have not got a special vehicle to transport me just now!”