The loss of color in my body, my mental weakness, my defamed femininity, the whiteness in my mouth, the loss of my appetite, my inability to think intelligently - all these will be cured only if I wear the cool, beautiful, tulasi garland that the ocean-hued kaNNan has worn on His body. (Since you cannot do that) at least please take me to the Ala maram (tree) called pANDIravam, where balarAman destroyed pralambAsuran (I can join kaNNan when He is watching His brother's heroic feats).

vAi veLuppum: gOdai's mouth is pale and white because she has avoided the pleasure items such as betel leaves. In NT pAsuram 1-8, ANDAL has made references to a similar list of all that she is going through (mASuDai uDamboDu talai ulari vAippuRam veLuttu oru pOdum uNDu… Note in particular the reference to vAippuRam veLuttu).

uNNal uRAmaiyum: the feebleness that resulted from separating from kaNNan, and the resulting lack of food consumption [since uNNum Soru, parugu nIr, tinnum veRRilai are all kaNNan. Also see the reference to "oru pOdum uNDu" in NT 1-8].

Oda nIr vaNNan enbAn oruvan: All this loss in my beauty resulted because of this most exquisitely beautiful kaNNan (see the contrast). Also the reference to "oruvan" signifies that He is One of a kind and there is no one else equal to Him or above Him.

taN antuzhAi ennum mAlai koNDu SUTTat taNiyum: Just as He is the best among everyone, His tiruttuzhAi mAlai is also the best among garlands in its fragrance, and in its being most cool and beautiful. If this best of garlands is taken from the tirumEni of kaNNan who has none else to compare with, and then put on my body, all the problems I have, such as vaNNam tirivu, manam kuzhaivu, etc., will vanish.

pilamban tannaip paNNazhiya baladEvan venRa pANDi vaDatttu ennai uyttiDumin: balarAman, the elder brother of kaNNan, killed the asuran pralamban. ANDAL is asking her elders to take her to the place where this incident took place.
(pralamban was destroyed by balarAman when the former came to destroy kaNNan while balarAman and kaNNan were grazing the cows in their childhood).

It is sometimes claimed that the pralamAsura vadam done by balarAman was indeed done by kaNNan. periyAzhvAr says "tEnugan pilamban kALiyan ennum" and "karuLuDaiya pozhil marudum kadakkaLiRum pilambanaiyum kaDiya mAvum". In reality, the reason for saying that kaNNan performed those feats is to show the inseparability between the two brothers. AzhvArs' anusandAnam that the SurpaNakA bha'ngam done by iLaiya perumAL is rAmapirAn's feat is in the same spirit.

aDiyEn's note: This inseparability between kaNNan and balarAman is nicely captured in svAmi deSikan's SrI sUkti - SrI daSAvatAra stotram Slokam 9 - kshIram Sarkara eva yAbhih apRthak bhUtAh prabhUtair guNai AkaumArakam asvadanta …" - the two were inseparable especially in their childhood pranks like the inseparability of the sugar dissolved in milk.

The word "oruvan" here can be combined with "oruvan mAlai" to refer explicitly to His mAlai; however, then one can argue that the elderly ladies can bring His mAlai and put the garland on her. Since she wants to see Him and be with Him, this is not her intent. So it is more appropriate to combine "oruvan" with "SUTTa".

With this interpretation, the term "koNDu" can best be explained as "His receiving the mAlai that she has worn on her, wearing it Himself, and then garlanding her with this mAlai Himself". Recall that she is "SUDik koDutta nAcciyAr".

The womenfolk try to advice godai against her wanting to go to kaNNan. They ask her: "Why are you pining for this kaNNan who has the livelihood of just looking after cows, who was born in the caste of cowherds living in the forest and away from home, and who got caught stealing butter and got punished by being tied to a mortar". This makes godai very mad and she chides them in return: "Oh, sinners! Why are you looking at His guNams as faults? That is all what your intelligence level is. Do not get any more chidings from me. Instead, please take me to the gOvardhana malai that He held like an umbrella to save the cows and Ayar kulam from the wrath of indra".

kaRRinam mEykkavum …. Agap peRRAn: In truth, He is the Prince who is served and looked after by nitya sUris; He is "vAn iLavarasu" (periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 3-6-3). But, as tiruvAimozhi 10-3-10 declares, He is "tivattilum pasu nirai meyppu uvatti senganivAi engaL Ayar dEvE" - He appeared in tiru AyypADi and loved the grazing of the cows more than being in parama padam. Just as tiruneDum tAnDakam 16 declares ("kanRu mEyttu inidu uganda kALAi"), He felt immensely happy looking after the cows which were incapable of looking after themselves. As if to remove the "deficiency" that He was never born, He took birth in the Ayar kulam, and went looking for grass and water in the forests and spent time with the cows.

At least in rAma avatAram, when Lord rAma ended up living in the forest, those who wanted to make adverse comments on Lord rAma could say that "He was driven away from the country by His father". In my kaNNan's case, even this cannot be said, and His life in forest was His own choice.

paRRi ural iDai Appum uNDAn: In truth, He is the One who binds the jIva-s in samsAra, and the Only One who can relieve them from this bondage also, as declared in the upanishads:

(He is the swAmi for prakrti and the jIva; He is full of countless auspicious qualities; He is the paramAtmA who is the cause of the bondage of samsAra or release from it).

But He decided to get Himself be tied to a mortar by an Aycci, and pretended that He could not relieve Himself from that, just to please her.

He longed for the butter that had been touched by people who loved Him, and when He did not get it directly, He decided to take it Himself, and let Himself be tied and beaten. All this is His mahA guNam, and you ignorant beings consider all these as His blemish.

pAvigAL: Every single thing that you count against Him is in fact an example of His mahA guNam. What great sinners you are that you are not able to realize this simple fact!

ungaLukku Ecchu kolO: Since you think of good traits as bad ones, it looks like you are all born in the same muhUrtam as SiSupAlan. Instead of being like ones born in our kuDi, who faint at the very thought of His being bound to the mortar - (tiruvAimozhi 1-3-1 "ettiRam uralinODu iNaindu irundu Engiya eLivE), you are defaming Him instead!

kaRRana pESi vaSavu uNAdE: Don't use all your "knowledge" to heap blame on Him, and get return-chidings from me.

kAligaL uyya mazhai taDuttuk koRRak kuDaiyAga Endi ninRa: In order to protect the cows that do not even realize that they are being protected and the equally ignorant cowherds from the incessant rains, He took the mountain and held it as an umbrella; without thinking of His strain, He was bent on protecting the others! [[ He is "kunRu eDuttu Anirai kAtta pirAn" - periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 3-4-4 and He is "kunRam Endik kuLir mazhai kAttavan" - tiruvAimozhi 3-3-8; ANDAL pays tribute to "kunRu kuDaiyAi eduttAi guNam pORRi" in tiruppAvai 24]].

koRRak kuDaiyAga Endi ninRa gOvarttanattu ennai uyttiDumin: Take me to the location of the gOvardhana mountain which He is holding single-handedly, so that I can give Him a hand and thus assist Him.

"With your poor knowledge, all you can see is that He looked after cows, He lived away from home and in forest, that He was caught stealing butter and was tied to a mortar and beaten up. Since you are great sinners, you are not able to realize that even while looking after the cows, He easily destroyed vatsAsuran, He lifted the govardhana mountain with His one finger, and He killed the two asura-s who appeared in the form of two trees as when He was just of crawling age. He corrected the gokulam residents who were spending all their wealth in worshipping other dEvatA-s and made them do gOvardhana pUjA and thus worship Him alone instead. Perhaps, He makes sure that sinners like you will not see His greatness by design, by His mAyA".

SrI UV also gives an interpretation to the words in the first two lines that serves as ANDAL's rebuke to the folks who are finding fault with His looking after the cows, His living in the forest, and His being tied to the mortar. He achieves this by interpreting the first few words as "kaRRinam meykkavum Eykkap peRRAn", and by giving specific interpretations to the word Aga in "Agap peRRAn", and to the word paRRi in "paRRi ural iDai".

According to his interpretation, kaNNan took to looking after the cows just to deceive the ignorant ones about His greatness (Eykka - to deceive, to mislead). So the sequence will be "Eykka, kaRRinam mEykkavum peRRAn". Similarly, "Aga, kADu vAzh SAdiyum peRRAn" - Aga - In order to enrich the lives of those who are living in the forest, kADu vAzh SAdiyum peRRAn - He willingly took birth in the race of people who live in the forest. And, "paRRi, ural iDai Appum uNDAn": paRRi - In order to break the two trees in the form of the asura-s; ural iDAi yAppum uNDAn He decided to get bound to the mortar.

koRRakkuDai: this is in remembrance of her father's statement "gOvardhanam enum koRRakkuDaiyE" (periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 3-5)

My pet parrot is always calling "gOvinda, gOvinda". Thinking that it is doing this in order to hurt me by reminding me of Him only because I keep it well fed, if I make it starve, it starts calling "ulagaLandAn" (emperumAn who measured all the worlds). These acts by the parrot are making me more love-lorn for my kaNNan. Before I lose myself in love and do anything to bring shame to myself and to you all, please take me to dwArakA with its tall and beautiful structures.

kUTTil irundu kiLi eppOdum gOvinda! govindA! enRu azhaikkum: When gOdai was suffering alone separated from emperumAn, her pet parrot started saying emperumAn's tirunamams that she had taught earlier; but, she is not in a position to listen to them now. So, thinking that it is torturing her by saying His names only because it is free to roam around, she puts the parrot in a cage. The parrot started saying "gOvinda", "gOvinda".

gOvinda gOvinda: He has names like nArAyaNan also; it is gOdai who proclaimed "nArAyaNanE namakkE paRai taruvAn" (tiruppAvai 1) and she must have taught that name to the parrot. But, the parrot is not saying a name that ascertains His parattuvam; it is saying a namam that shows His soulabhyam and sousIlyam,. Knowing well that gOdai will be enchanted only by that name , it starts saying "gOvinda, govinda", thus causing immense suffering to her soul (SrI T.S. Rajagopalan quotes an appropriate verse "kaNNan nAmamE kuzhaRik konRIr"). This kaNNan - "gOvindan" - is leaving her alone and is going after the cows and taking care of them; hence her pining in solitude; knowing that, the parrot is calling out gOvinda nAmam.

UTTak koDAdu SeRuppan Agil ulagaLandAn enRu uyarak kUvum: gOdai stops feeding the parrot and starves it; it now starts calling out "ulagaLanda perumAnE" in a loud voice. When the parrot was saying gOvinda nAmam, gOdai thought that it was making her suffer because it was kept well fed and was the fat made it do things that caused pain to her. Thinking of the adage "UN aDanga vIN aDangum" (lack of food will result in lessening in murattuttanam ??), she starved the parrot; it happened to be the exact opposite of the adage. During adhyayanOtsavam, araiyargaL starve and apply oil to their throat and sing in a low voice. This parrot has started singing in a loud voice.

uyarakkUvum: it started spreading its voice wherever He spread His tiruvaDigaL; it is saying the tirunAmam that belongs to vAmanAvatAram, which is in many ways equivalent to krshNAvatAram and is torturing me.

nATTil talaippazhi eydi: Your thinking "emperumAn's tirunAmam is a life-giving source for everyone else in the world; the same tirunAmam is making gOdai swoon" is going to cause a big ignominy for you.

ungaL nanmai izhandu talai iDAde: don't spoil your good name and hang your head in shame. The blame on you would be that "gOdai did not follow her svarUpam and wait till He came to her; instead, she started going to her nAyakan's place on her own". That will cause shame on your family and make you not be able to look at anyone's face.

SUTTUyar mADa'ngaL Suzhndu tOnRum tuvarApatikku ennai uyttiDumin: in dvArakai, kaNNan's six thousand dEvi-s have tall palaces; build a palace for me also there and take me there so I can also enjoy like them.

SrI PBA's choice of words for the explanation of "talaip pazhi eydi ungaL nanmai izhandu talai iDAde" is very humorous. He explains [better given word for word in tamizh]: "taDi taDiyAgat tAimArgaL irundum oru peN piLLaikku nanmai seyyAmal teruvilE puRappaDap pArttu irundArgaLE!"

The reason why gOdai is swooning (after the parrot cries out His name "ulagaLandAn") is that even though the parrot's crying is spreading to all the places where His tiruvaDigaL spread, He is still not coming to her. The parrot is really trying to help gOdai and doing its best. First it kept calling "gOvindA, gOvindA" and made her think about His great guNams. GOdai gets mad thinking that it just keeps saying the same name; in spite of her bringing it up, it is not saying His name so He can also hear. When she stops feeding the parrot, it understands her thoughts and starts crying out loud: "ulagaLandAnE! Do I have to cry out for you who are present everywhere? Only if you come here, I will get some food". What else can a parrot do? It is doing whatever it can. You all belong to me; shouldn't you be doing whatever you can do for me?

In the previous pAsurams, gOdai implied that things belonging to emperumAn will remove her tApam; in this pAsuram, she implies that His nAmam-s will take care of her tApam.

talai iDAdE: getting a blame and foregoing all that is good is the same as your losing your heads.

Through this tirumozhi that we enjoyed, and which is set to music and filled with beautiful words with deep meaning, gOdai who is with loosely hanging hair (because she is not tying them or decorating herself), and who is the daughter of periAzhvAr, the leader of those in srIvilliputtUr that has golden terraced palaces, conveys to her relatives her firm resolve that she should be taken to all the divya dESams associated with kaNNan starting from mathurA and ending with dwArakai. Those who chant these pASurams will live forever in SrIvaikuNTham with emperumAn.

mannu madurai toDakkamAga vaN tuvarApati tannaLavum: godai asks the elders to take her to the divya deSam-s starting from His birth place mathurA and ending in dvArakA, where He gave Himself to sixteen thousand dEvi-s. As far as she is concerned, the world comprises only of divya dEsams that have her kaNNan's sambandham.

mannu mathurai: The term "mannu" is translated approximately as "the place where emperumAn resides permanently - emperumAn nilaittirukkum " by SrI UV in his vyAkhyAnam for "mAyanai" pASuram of tiruppAvai. SrI kRshNasvAmi aiye'ngAr quotes from SrI PVP's mUvAyirappaDi vyAkhyAnam for tiruppAvai (5) to bring out the greatness of mathurAi: "bhagavat sambandham mARAda dEsam. munbu siddhArSramamAi SrIvAmanan neDungAlam tapas paNNi, SatrugnAzhvAn vanniya maRuttup paDai vIDu Seydu, sarvEswaran eppOdum ippaDi avadarittup pOruvadoru dESam" (the mathurA in the north has been a dEsam that has constantly had bhagavat sambandham. Before emperumAn took trivikrama avatAram, He appeared as SrI vAmanan and did penance in siddhASramam - which happens to be the vaDa mathurai. This mathurai was established by Satrugnan (who was sent by Sri rAma to vanquish lavaNAsuran) after killing the asuran".

tannait tamar uyttup peyya vENDi: godai is too weak to walk by herself; She is asking her elders to physically carry her and take her to all these divya deSam-s. This should be kept in mind when we come to "Etta vallArkku iDam vaikuntamE" below.

tAzh kuzhalAL tuNinda tuNivai: She is not taking care of her hair and not keeping it combed; hence her hair is all hanging loose - tAzh kuzhal; she is determined to make Him come to her, and all else is irrelevant for her.

ponniyal mADam polindu tOnRum puduvaiyar kOn viTTucittan godai: The greatness of SrIvilliputtUr is to be enjoyed here - ANDAL's birthplace has gold-laced terraces on all its tall buildings, just like in dvArakA (see previous pASuram -Suttu uyar mADa'ngaL Suzhndu tOnRum tuvarApati).

iDam vaikuntamE: Those who chant these devotional pASuram-s need not plead with anyone to take them to His abode, as ANDAL is doing through these pASuram-s; instead, they will be taken with no effort on their part, to SrIvaikUNtham through the arcirAdi mArgam by His appointed folks and they will enjoy Him and His aDiyArgaL forever after.