first ten second thirumozhi (part I of 2)

Summary

Yasoda is enchanted by the extraordinary beauty of
Krishna and His childhood activities. She invites her
lovely friends to come and see how beautiful Krishna looks.
AzhwAr knows that the child is the great Lord who had
accomplished astounding feats in His various avatars
and now He is just pretending to be an innocent child.

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(1)
Seethakkadal uLLamuthanna dEvaki
kOthaik kuzhalaaL asOthaikkup pOththandha
pEthaik kuzhavi pidiththuch chuvaiththuNNum
paathak kamalangaL kaaNeere pavaLavaa yeervandhu kaaNeerE.

Purport

Devaki, who is an aspect of the Devi residing in
the cool Thirupparkadal (milky ocean), dispatches
child Krishna to Yasoda, the beautiful lady with her
lovely hairs decorated with flower garlands. Yasoda
beholds the spectacular scene of Krishna chewing His
lotus like legs. Vedas exclaim that the Supreme Lord's
Thiruvadi (sacred feet) have flood of honey in them.
Learned scholars say that He, in whose stomach is
contained all the worlds, wished to bless the
worlds by symbolically doing this act.

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(2)
muththum maNiyum vayiramum nanponnum
thaththip pathiththuth thalaippeythaaRpOl engum
paththu viralum maNivaNNan paathangaL
oththittirundhavaa kaaNeerE oNNudha leervandhu kaaNeerE

Purport

Yasoda decorates all the ten little toes of Krishna's
feet with the colors of nine precious gems
(such as diamond, coral etc) and gold. This color
arrangement was perfectly matching with Krishna's body
color of pearl (maNi vaNNan). Krishna was radiating
brilliantly with this decoration. Yasoda invites the
ladies gathered there, with brightly decorated
foreheads, to witness this spectacle.

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(3)
paNaiththO LiLavaaychchi paal paayndha kongai
aNaiththaara uNdu kidandhaip piLLai
iNaikkaalil veLLith thaLainin Rilandum
kaNaikkaal irundhavaa kaaNeerE kaarikai yeervandhu kaaNeerE

Purport

Yasoda's beauty is described here. She, as a young lady,
has beautiful bamboo like shoulders and breasts full of milk.
Baby Krishna embracing her breast with his hand, sucks
as much milk to fill his stomach and goes to sleep.
Enjoying this blissful moment, Yasoda simultaneously
notices how beautiful silver bracelets are looking on His legs.
She immediately summons her beautiful lady companions
to come and witness this for themselves.

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(4)
uzhandhaaLnaRuney OrOr thadaavuNNa
izhandhaaLerivinaa leerththu ezhilmaththin
pazhandhaampaalOchchap payaththaaithavazhndhaan
muzhandhaaL irundhavaakaaNeerE mugizhmulaiyeer vandhukaaNeerE

Purport

With great difficulty, Yasoda had gathered milk from
the cows, made them into curd, churned the butter out
of them, made them into ghee and stored them in a
number of containers. When nobody was around, Krishna
grabbed the opportunity and ate all the ghee without
leaving a trace. On seeing this mischief, Yasoda became
angry and at the same time she was gripped with fear that
Krishna might fall sick consuming such huge quantity of ghee.
She took a strong stick with the intention of beating the child.
Krishna became afraid on seeing Yasoda's anger and started
crawling on His knees to escape. This dramatic event melted
Yasoda's heart. She immediately called the other ladies,
beautiful with full breasts, to come and witness the scene.

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(5)
piRangiyaPeychchi mulaisuvaiththuNdittu
uRanguvaanpOlEkidandha ippiLLai
maRangoLiraNiyan maarbaimun keeNdann
kuRanguvaLai vandhu kaaNeerE kuvimulaiyeer vandhu kaaNeerE

Purport

Long time ago, in Narasimhaavathaaram, he tore open the
chest of the evil minded Hiraniya kashipu and killed him.
On another occasion, demon named poothanaa, instigated
by Kamsa, came in disguise as a beautiful lady to feed
Him breast milk. Acting as if He wanted to suck milk
from her breast, Krishna sucked the life out of her and
made her perish. Oh, ladies of exquisite breasts, come
and look at the stupendous thighs of baby Krishna,
who is sleeping as if nothing had happened!

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(6)
maththak kaliRRu vasudEvar thammudai
chiththam piriyaatha dEvaki thanvayiRRil
athaththin paththaanaaL thOnRiya achchuthan
muththa mirundhavaa kaaNeerE mugizhnagai yeervandhu kaaNeerE

Purport

Achutan (Krishna) was born on the 10th day from
hasta nakshatra to the lovely couple Devaki and
Vasudeva, the latter is known for rearing elephants.
Yasoda invites the ladies, with enchanting
smile on their faces, to come and look at
little Krishna, who was lying naked.

Note:Here commentators opine that AzhwAr avoids quoting
exact nakshatra of Krishna out of fear that evil
minded Kamsa and his associates might try to harm/kill
the child by misusing the nakshatra in black magic.

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(7)
irungai mathakaLiRu eerkkinRa vanai
parungip paRiththukkoNdu Odupara manthan
nerun gupavaLamum nEmaaNum muththum
marungum irundhavaa kaaNeerE vaaNutha leervandhu kaaNeerE

Purport

Kamsa plans to kill Krishna by instigating a rogue
elephant to charge towards Him. The great Lord Krishna
easily plucks the two tusks of the elephant with His
hands and killed both the elephant and its mahout.
Yasoda invites the ladies with brightly decorated
foreheads, to come and see Krishna who was
wearing a lace thread, filled with corals
and pearls, across His beautiful waist.

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(8)
vandha mathalaik kuzhaaththai valiseythu
thandhak kaLiRupOl thaanE viLaiyaadum
nandhan mathalaikku nanRu mazhakiya
undhi irundhavaa kaaNeerE oLiyizhai yeervandhu kaaNeerE

Purport

When playing with other children, Krishna always
stood alone on one side, while other children,
were forced to make a single group against Him
on the other side. He played like a tusked baby
elephant, giving prominence only to His abilities.
Yasoda calls the ladies, decorated with shining jewels,
to come and see Krishna's beautiful navel.

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(9)
athirum kadainiRa vaNNanai aaychchi
mathura mulaiyootti vanchiththu vaiththu
patharap padaamE pazhandhaampaa laarththa
utharam irundhavaa kaaNeerE olivaLai yeervandhu kaaNeerE.

Purport

Krishna, who is of the color of ocean with its
roaring waves, is cheated by Yasoda in a way that
while breast feeding Krishna, she ties an old rope
around His tender waist without His knowledge.
It is well known to everyone that Krishna ransacked
the entire stock of butter, milk, curd, ghee and
other eatablies from the houses of cowherds and ate them.
This act of mischief gave rise to a lot of complaints
raised by the cowherd women against Him. Yasoda had no other
choice but to take the harsh step of tying up Krishna with
a rope around His waist and the other end of the rope
tethered to a mortar. Yasoda invites the ladies with
shining bangles on their hands, to come and see Krishna's
beautiful stomach with a rope still around it.

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(10)
perumaa vuralil piNippuN dirundhu angu
irumaa marudham iRuththaip piLLai
kurumaa maNippooN kulaavith thigazhum
thirumaarbu irundhavaa kaanNeerE sEyizhai yeervandhu kaanNeerE

Purport

Tied to a large morter, Sri Krishna pulled it with
His might and along with it walked between twin arjuna
trees, which resulted in Nalakoobaran and Manigreevan
(sons of Lord Kubera) getting absolved of a curse.
His radiant chest adorned with lovely Koustuba jewel is
so enchanting to the sight that Yasoda couldn't wait any
longer in inviting her lady friends, who themselves were
adorned with brilliant jewels, to have a glimpse of Krishna.

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