Pasuram 2.8.9

Tamil text and transliteration:

எங்கும் உளன் கண்ணன் என்ற மகனைக் காய்ந்து,
இங்கு இல்லையால் என்று இரணியன் தூண் புடைப்ப,
அங்கு அப்பொழுதே அவன் வீயத் தோன்றிய, என்
சிங்கப் பிரான் பெருமை ஆராயும் சீர்மைத்தே?

eṅkum uḷaṉ kaṇṇaṉ eṉṟa makaṉaik kāyntu,
iṅku illaiyāl eṉṟu iraṇiyaṉ tūṇ puṭaippa,
aṅku appoḻutē avaṉ vīyat tōṉṟiya, eṉ
ciṅkap pirāṉ perumai ārāyum cīrmaittē?

English translation of verse 2.8.9:

The son affirmed, ‘Kaṇṇaṉ is everywhere
Shouted back irate Iraṇiyaṉ, “If he be not here?”
And slapped the pillar hard; there and then
The Lord appeared and killed the demon;
Indeed, my Naraciṅka’s glory is beyond deliberation.

Notes

(i) In the preceding Song, the Lord’s immanence was referred to. Perhaps, it didn’t carry conviction with quite a few persons who doubted whether the Lord could pervade all over, in and out. This song is evidently addressed to those persons, warning them not to follow in the foot-steps of Hiraṇya and come to grief.

(ii) Hiraṇya slapped, with his own hand, a pillar built under his own supervision. There was, therefore, hardly any question of magic or sleight of hand which produced the furious Narasiṅga, right from the bosom of that very pillar, from the very spot on which Hiraṇya slapped that very moment. The points to be pondered over in this context are: Had the Lord not appeared from the crucial spot tapped by Hiraṇya or if His appearance had been delayed by even a split second, His immanence at all places and at all times would be open to question. His omnipresence having been established, His omnipotence needs to be demonstrated. If it is said that Narasiṅga was born, He was not born in the generally accepted sense of impregnation, birth, growth and all that. He jumped out of the ripped-open pillar, as a full- grown adult, a peculiar combination of Man and Lion, more than a match for the formidable Hiraṇya. Strange indeed were the boons conferred on Hiraṇya by Brahmā—the devil was not to meet with death at the hands of a male, female or a hermophrodite, neither by Gods nor by man or beast or any of the five elements, neither by day nor by night, neither in space nor on the ground, neither inside the house nor outside, so on and so forth. The Strange Visitor who sprang forth engaged Hiraṇya, in a hand to hand fight, dragged him on to the door-step, laid him on His lap and tore open his bowels with the finger nails (spear-like claws), at dusk. Hiraṇya, the seemingly impregnable fortress, armed in a thousand and one ways against every conceivable source of danger, crashed, at long last, before the superior might of the Omnipotent Lord. The words in italics, as above, will show that none of the boons granted to Hiraṇya was violated.