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...
Introduction to Section 1.8
In this decad, the Āḻvār brings to the fore the Lord’s quality of ‘Uprightness’ (ārjava or rujuḥ), His transparence in word, deed and thought, free from sophistry, duplicity, mental reservation, mischievous distortion etc. The Lord would not mean one thing, say another and do a third thing. When Sūrpaṇakhā saw Śrī Rāma at Pañcavaṭi and interrogated Him about His personal history, there would have been nothing wrong if He had tactfully withheld the truth from the demoness. But it was not in His grain to do so and hence He gave out the actual fact with remarkable sincerity.
Tirukkurukaippirāṉ Piḷḷāṉ, the earliest glossator on ‘Tiruvāymoḻi,’ holds that this decad highlights the Lord’s wealth (Aiśvarya). The other commentators, Periyavāccāṉ Piḷḷai and Vaṭakku Tiruvīti Piḷḷai, however, prefer to bring into focus the Lord’s ‘ārjava’ in this decad, as stated at the outset.