O Ganapati, the bestower of grace, protect me by giving Your helping hands so that I may make and offer a Bridal Garland of Letters worthy of the bridegroom,
Arunachala
karuṇā ākara kaṇapatiyē – Ganapati, Ocean of compassion!
karam aruḷi – Graciously bestowing your hand,
kāppāyē – may
you protect [me],
akṣara maṇa mālai cāṟṟa – to speak (i.e. that I
may speak) the Marital Garland of Letters,
aruṇācala varaṟku
ēṟṟa – such that it is fitting for the Great One / the Bridegroom
Aruṇācala!
--
Paraphrase
Ganesha , Ocean of Compassion, extend your helping hand
and protect me, that I may offer to, and adorn as befits
Him, my Lord Arunachala, my beloved, the best among all
bridegrooms, with this Marital Garland of Letters.
Commentary
Poetic licence has here been employed to change the word
cāttal – to adorn to cāṟṟal – to speak, tell, so as to create a pun
upon the two meanings to adorn and to compose a text.
varaṉ
[can mean] great one or husband, bridegroom. mālai cāṟṟa
[means] to relate a work in the form of a garland.
karuṇākaram
[can also mean] hand of compassion, hand of grace; further
karam [can mean] ray, consciousness.
Split as aruṇācala araṉ [the meaning is] Arunachala Siva. araṉ [Sanskrit hara – the
Destroyer] is a derivative, causal name for Siva, as destroying
the suffering of his devotees. ‘The Lord who, as the Destroyer
[of suffering], bestows grace upon the devotees who follow
Him, when suffering follows on their heels and assails them.’
(Appar, Tēvāram, [5:51, v. 8]).
It was Ganapati [Lord Ganesha] who facilitated the marriage
between Valli and [his younger brother] Skanda [Murugan];
note therefore that this Invocation possesses this special
significance, in addition to the general one of facilitating the
marriage between devotees and his father, Arunachala.
