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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00111 Feb 2004

 
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Post 2

Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

We saw in the previous post that mother yasOdhaa received lot of gifts 
fromimportant personalities. These gifts were very special etc. If all these 
are put on my krishNa naturally his "presentable-ity" [which is our topic 
ofdiscussion] would have been marvelous. But, please see what this person has 
to say on krishNa's "presentable-ity". 

skanDhaavaara sadhOprajaa: kathipayE gOpassahaayaadhaya:
skanDhaa lambini vathsa dhaamni Dhanadha gOpaanganaa:
srungaaraa girigairikam siva siva sreemanthi bahiNi cha 
srungapraahrikayaa thathhaapi thadhidham praahusthri lOkEswaram 
- 3 -61 leelaa sukhar in his krishNa karNamrutham

Meaning: 
1.      The people of his sovereign are residing in huts [no bungalows or 
highlydecorated structures]. 
2.      Few cowherds are the companions [no royal council of ministers and 
advisers like sree raama, who had 8 ministers and 8 members of super cabinet 
consisting of highly respected rishis]. 
3.      The garland, dangling in the neck and lying on the chest, is the rope 
used to tie the calf. [No gold or diamond studded stuff which were received as 
gifts]
4.      The people who pay the royalty to the king are all women cowherds. [no 
minor kingdoms or minor kings queuing up to pay royalty except women who pay 
butter and milk as the royalty]
5.      The facial decoration is done with the red earth like material 
availablein the hills. The hair decoration is done with peacock feathers [just 
see - the king's royal decoration with red earth and peacock feathers - no 
costly diamond studded gold jewels or rare materials like ivory and such 
stuff]. 
6.      The royal weapon is the "stick to drive cows". [no "ratha gaja thuraga 
padhaadhi" - no chariots, elephants, horses and men - the 4 types of army 
deployed those days - nor the present day "uniformed" defense forces with 
sophisticated weapons like present day nuclear missiles etc] 
7.      Then also this person [or substance] is called the hero [the eeswaran] 
of all the three worlds - oh, oh, what a state of affairs?

Now this verse gives an impression and leads to few questions.

Q no. 1: Does that mean mother [or mother aazhvaar who spelt all those 
descriptions] has NOT used all the gifts received on the child to make him 
presntable - attractive. 

Q no 2: Is it that the mother [aazhvaar] has just boasted about her son's glory 
to create an impression that he is supreme lord. 

Q no.3: Is that this bhakthaa is "presenting" the other side of my krishNa. 

So let us try to analyse by answering these questions one by one.

1.For Q 1 the answer is "Mother has definitely used all these gifts. 
[Dear bhakthaas - I know you will immediately ask evidence about this. So here 
it is].
Point a. 
than mugaththuch chutti thoongath thoonga thavazhnthu pOi
ponmugak kiNkiNi aarppa 1-4-1 

meaning: the chutti head gear, kiNkiNi the sound producing / making bells in 
jewels in waist, anklets etc are making noise while he moves here and there 
crawling.

Point b.
sengamalak kazhalil siRRidhazhpOl viralil sEr thigazh aazhigaLum 
kiNkiNiyum araiyil thangiya pon vadamum thaaLa 
nan maadhuLaiyin poovodu ponmaNiyum
modhiramum kiRiyum mangala aimpadaiyum thOLvaLaiyum kuzhaiyum
makaramum vaaLigaLum chuttiyum oththu ilaga - 1-5-10

meaning: child krishNa crawls or moves with a big list of jewels  
*       in the legs the anklets, 
*       in the fingers rings, 
*       bell inserted jewels in the legs, 
*       in the waist gold band, that band which also has pomegranate flower 
shaped insertions of gold, 
*       that 5 part jewel named aimpadaith thaali, 
*       bangles in upper arms, 
*       ear studs, 
*       bangles in the fore arms, 
*       chutti the head gear etc.

Point c: 
maaNikkak kiNkiNi aarppa marungin mEl 
aaNip ponnaal seidha aaip ponnudai maNi 
pEnip pavala vaai muththu ilanga 1-6-1

meaning: The red ruby studded bells, making jingling sounds in the pure gold 
waist band; the small white teeth in the red mouth resembles pearls set in 
coral ---

Point d: 
pon arai naaNodu maaNikkak kiNkiNi 
than araiyaadath thanich chutti thaazhnthu aada - 1-6-2

meaning: the ruby studded bells in the gold loin girdle being worn, the head 
gear chutti just dances a little lower near the face - he the krishNa moves.

Point e: 
thodar sangiligai salaar pilaar ennath thoongu pon maNi olippa padu mummadhap 
punal sOra vaaraNam paiya ninRu oorvadhu pOl udan koodik kiNkiNi aaravaarippa 
udaimaNi paRai kiRanga - 1-7-1

meaning: the chains which are hanging in the neck are making noise like salaar 
pilaar - because he moves crawling - so chains move sideways etc makingnoise. 
The gold bells which otherwise sleeps when he is not moving also makes noise, 
how the elephant moves when he is in madham - with the flow of that madha neer 
- similarly krishNa also drips water from mouth since he issmall child crawling 
- the kiNkiNi - the bells make jingling sounds, the bells in attached to the 
cloths also makes jingling noise because of the bells attached. Oh what a scene 
child krishna black in colour moving -
 
Point f:
akku vadam uduththu aamaith thaali pooNda anantha sayanan 1-7-2

meaning: that ananth sayanan - naaraayanan who has come as krishNa with 
thebangles in upper arms, the aamaith thaali ia another jewel in the chest. 

Point g:
kiNkiNi katti kiRi katti kaiyinil kangaNamittu kazhuththil thodar katti - 1-9-2

meaning: the jewel making sound is adorned, kiri is a bangles with corals, 
kankanam is bangles, chain in the neck is called thodar here.
 
Point h: 
mother claims an exclusive identity - if this sound or noise is raised by 
somebody coming then it is my son - 
Oda Odak kiNkiNigaL olikkum Osaip paaNiyaalE paadip paadi varuginRaayaip 
paRmanaabhan enRu irunthEn - 2-2-10

As the child krishNa moves, the noise from the bells attached to kiNkiNi makes 
a unique sound which identifies that krishNa alone is coming - referredas 
padhmanaabhan - one who has a lotus flower in his naval.
 
Point i:
valli nuN idhazh anna aadai koNdu vasai aRath thiruvarai viriththu uduththu 
palli nuN paRRaaga udai vaaL saaththip paNaik kachchu undhip pala thazhai 
naduvE 
3-4-2

meaning: the dress worn by krishNa is like a leaf in a tender creeper, thatit 
is no nicely dressed into folds etc, in the kachchu - the cloth worn like abelt 
has a small knife, which is so close and firmly attached in the folds that it 
is like a lizard hanging in a wall, also added is a top cloth - kachchu - 
further this also folded in layers so nicely. 

Dear bhakthaas - all these show that the mother has used the gifts receivedto 
decorate my krishNa so nicely. But it is all when the child is crawlingand not 
while walking or running here and there - for now every body in the village 
lifts him and takes away. Further he also has started walking into forests with 
the aim of grazing the calves while seniors are grazing the cows. 

So it is not a boasting on her part. So Q 2 is also answered. 

So same mother now says
vElikkOl vetti viLaiyaadu vil ERRI
thaalik kozhunthaith thadam kazhuththil pooNdu
peelith thazhaiyaip piNaiththup piragu ittu
kaalip pin pOvOrku Or kOl koNdu vaa
kadal niRa vaNnaRku Or kOl koNdu vaa 2-6-1

meaning: mother says to the crow - he has a small stick in Y shape to use as a 
bow, a green creeper is worn as a garland in the chest, the peacock feathers 
are in the head like a kreetam - crown, this person also goes behind the calves 
- so bring a stick, hey crow - bring a stick [to this person]. 

Now the story is very clear - oh - this bhakthaa who described the krishNa in a 
different tone as stated in the beginning of this post has taken cue from here. 
So nothing new - he is not presenting a new thing but what the mother aazhvaar 
- periyaazhvaar has said only - is put in the poet's own style - nindhaa 
sthuthi.

So, krishNa in whatever dress - his "presentable-ity" is in the person and not 
in the materials worn by him. That point is amply clear. 

Also krishNa in any form adorable praise worthy for his bhakthaas. So let us 
also join these bhakthaas in enjoying such a "presentable krishna".

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.




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