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 The 63rd Naamam of SrI VenkatEsa AshtOttharam:
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 DhAmOdharAya Nama:

 One who was tied up with a rope to a pestle by His mother , YasOdhA as punishment .

 DamOdhara nAmam is  associated with the pranks of KrishNa during his infant days. This is celebrated by the opening lines of Madhura Kavi  AzhwAr's dhivya Prabhandham : " KaNNInuNN siRutthAmpinAl  KattuNNappaNNiya  peru Maayan"( The MaayAvi , who helped His Mother to bind him to a husking mortar with knotted and fine sections of coir rope).

 In commemoration of Him being tied up by YasOdhA for His mischief , the Lord still wears a rope of pearls around His midriff says AchArya RaamAnujA , while describing His many pieces of jewelery adorning Him: " MuktA DamOdhara banadhana " .

 The Dasama skandham , Chapter 9 of SrImad BhAgavatham celebrates the glorious incident of the all powerful Lord being bound to  mortar by  His mother to punish Him for His mischief in breaking a pot of curd . First , YasOdhA scolded and threatened her infant . She could not have the heart to hit Him with a stick. She decided to tie Him down to a husking mortar . She took a  string and found that to be two inches too short to to fasten Him to the mortar. She added another string and still  it was two inches short . Any number of additions of strings still left her always short of two inches to tie Him ( the SarvEswaran) up to  the mortar. Our  Lord  took pity on His mother's exertions and allowed Himself to be tied up  (kattuNNa paNNiya peru Maayan). Few minutes later , while His mother was away on household chores , Our Lord with His waist tied with a rope ( DaamOdharan) crawled over and went between two Arjuna trees , who were two gandharvAs cursed by a sage  to takethe form of those trees.He bought those trees down and released the gandharvAs from their curse.

 The adhbhutham of the Omnipotent being tied up by a simple Gopi
 is beautifully described by SrImad BhAgavatham ( 10.9.13-14):

 " He who has neither inside nor outside , who has neither before nor after; who is yet the  before and after , the inside and the outside of the whole universe, nay, who is the universe itself -- Him , the unmanifest and Supreme sporting a human form , the Master of the senses--Him , the Gopi , taking for her child , tried to fasten to the mortar" . With the Lord's help, YasOdha succeded in tying Him up".

 It is this DaamOdharan , who brought all glory to His Mother , YasOdhA says AndAL : " taayai kudal viLakkma seytha DaamOdharanai"

 Swamy  NammAzhwAr wonders at the soulabhyam , which made Parabrahman amenable to being tied up with a trivial rope to the mortar: " yetthiRam uralinOdU iNainthu irundu yEngiya yeLivE ". AzhwAr also salutes "DaamOdharan " as " Tani Mudalvan " and tells us that His glory is indeed unfatomable : " aamO (avan) taram ariya ".

 DhAmOdharan is the presiding deity of one of the Twelve PuNDrams used by VaishNavAs to decorate their bodies as VaishNava chinham. His hue is that of  early morning Sun. His weapons are four paasams on four hands. He protects the inside and outside of the adorner's  body . This PuNDram is worn on the back of the neck.

 It is significant that the ultimate mantrA uttered at the end of each Achamaneeyam is DaamOdarAya nama: .




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