Tiruvaymoli (Thiruvaimozhi): English translation

by S. Satyamurthi Ayyangar | 388,514 words

This is the English translation of the Tiruvaymoli (or, Thiruvaimozhi): An ancient Tamil text consisting of 1102 verses which were sung by the poet-saint Nammalvar as an expression of his devotion to Vishnu. Hence, it is an important devotional book in Vaishnavism. Nammalvar is one of the twelve traditional saints of Tamil Nadu (Southern India), kn...

Tamil text and transliteration:

முனியே! நான்முகனே! முக்கண்ணப்பா என்பொல்லாக்-
கனிவாய்த் தாமரைக்கண் கருமாணிக்கமே என்கள்வா!
தனியேன்ஆர்உயிரே! என்தலை மிசையாய் வந்திட்டு
இனிநான் போகல்ஒட்டேன் ஒன்றும்மாயம் செய்யேல் என்னையே. (2)

muṉiyē! nāṉmukaṉē! mukkaṇṇappā eṉpollāk-
kaṉivāyt tāmaraikkaṇ karumāṇikkamē eṉkaḷvā!
taṉiyēṉāruyirē! eṉtalai micaiyāy vantiṭṭu
iṉināṉ pōkaloṭṭēṉ oṉṟummāyam ceyyēl eṉṉaiyē. (2)

English translation of verse 10.10.1:

Oh, Lord of fruit-like reddish lips and lotus eyes, You are the sage,
Contemplating the ways of creation; Internal Controller of all, You stay
Inside the four-headed Brahmā and Rudra, the triple-eyed; Your Form exquisite,
Like virgin sapphire, You did unto me exhibit
And covertly won me over, dear unto me exclusively like life,
You have on my head alighted and I shan’t let You go off;
Play not your wily pranks on me, in love with you, so deep.

Notes:

(i) The Āḻvār pleads lustily that the Lord should no longer keep him in bondage, after having spontaneously induced in him God-love and God-hunger of this magnitude. The Lord is addressed, in this song, as the Sage (Muni), Who contemplates and conceives the projects pertaining to the creation of the Universe, its sustenance and dissolution and gets the work of creation and dissolution, discharged by Brahmā and Rudra respectively, permeating their souls as the Internal Controller. There is absolutely no question of parity among Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Rudra and, at any rate, the Āḻvār would be the last person to think in terms of such parity and, much less, throw the slightest hint or suggestion to this effect, seeing that he has already expounded indubitably the supremacy of Lord Viṣṇu, in I-1, II-2 and IV-10. If the Lord has been addressed in this song (as per the original text) as, “Oh, four-headed Brahmā,” “Oh, triple-eyed Rudrā,” it only connotes the body-soul relationship of the Lord and His subjects, the entire Universe and all beings therein constituting, as it were, His bodies, Himself pervading them all, as the Inner Controller, the Super Soul, c.f. also VI-9-1 where the Āḻvār has referred to the Lord as pervading the five elements, Sun and Moon, Śiva and Brahmā, as the Inner Controller of them all.

(ii) The Lord’s ‘Viśvarūpa’ (Universal Form) apart, the Āḻvār dotes on His unique Form (Divya Maṅgala Vigraha) of exquisite charm. It is by exhibiting this enchanting Form that the Lord enticed the Āḻvār and made him God-bent, a great gesture of spontaneous grace, bestowed on the Āḻvār, unasked and unsolicited, at a time when he was least inclined towards God. And now, the Āḻvār, so transformed, cannot subsist without Him and he will have nothing to do with the worldlings either, in whose wretched company he was wallowing all along. He would, therefore, be neither here nor there, if the Lord too gave him up, after having kindled in him God-love of such astounding proportions that he is seen to possess.

(iii) “I shan't let You go off”: “Ofcourse, not at this stage, when You have weaned me away from my erstwhile plight as a ‘Samsāri’, earth-bound and sense-buried and, on the top of such reclamation, made me partake of the supreme bliss of intimate intercourse with you. Well, you have also been pleased to bring within my comprehension the heavenly bliss and the exhilarating route leading to Heaven. You shall not give me up, any more.” The Āḻvār thus compels and binds the Lord, by reason of his inordinate longing for Him and His inescapable obligation to redeem him. c.f. Bharatā’s behaviour in Citrakūṭ, in an all-out effort to induce Śrī Rāma to curtail his exile and go back to Ayodhyā, to take over the reins of the kingdom.

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