Thiru arimEya viNNagaram - kudamaadu kooththar in aazhwaar paasurams part 2 of 3

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HIS name kudak koththaadu has 2 meanings ie

 

kudak kooththa - as one who danced with the metalic vessels "kudam"

stacked in some order

or

kudakkoththa - as one who danced in joy with the umbrella govardana

giri.

 

Thus "Kudamaadu kooththaadu" is primarily conceived as Krishna

lifting and bearing the gOvardana giri with his little finger and

dancing in joy.

 

However, Periaazhwaar in his paasuram on amuthan of thiruk kudanthai

 

 

kudangaLeduththERavittuk kooththaadavalla_em_kOvE!

madangoLmadhimukaththaarai maalseyyavalla_enmaindhaa!

idandhittu_iraNiyann^enchai irupiLavaakamun_keeNdaay!

kudandhaikkidandha_emkOvE! kurukkaththippoochchoottavaaraay. 7.

periyaazhwaar thirumozhi on amuthan

 

 

declares that HE is capable of stacking up all the kudangals or vessels

and climb on them and dance in joy by saying "kudangaLeduththERavittuk

kooththaadavalla_em_kOvE!". Incidentally this song is also one of the

select group of songs on poochhodal for KaNNan as the 8 varieties of

flowers that are most suitable for vishnu worship is narrated in these

ten songs. (Sri Vijay Srinivasan please note)

 

However strengthening the meaning that this kudai aaNdal further

observes in her paasuram

497:

anRu iv ulagam aLandhaay adi pOtri

senRanguth then ilangai setraay thiRal pOtri

ponRach chakatam udhaiththaay pugazh pOtri

kanRu kuNil aaveRindhaay kazhal pOtri

kunRu kudaiyaay eduththaay guNam pOtri

venRu pagai kedukkum nin kaiyil vEl pOtri

enRenRum un sEvagamE Eththip paRai koLvaan

inRu yaam vandhOm irangElOr embaavaay

 

thirup paavai

that "kunRu kudaiyaay eduththaay guNam pOtri" and confirms that Lord

Arangan took the govardangiri hillock "kunRu" as his umbrella "kudai".

Hence this Lord in arimEya viNNagaram who is known as kudamaadu

kooththaadi is none other than govardana nathan HIMself and hence the

name kudamaadu kooththar is conceived as one of the inner meanings by

many srivaishnavas and pundits in 4000.

 

In kerala, there is a DD known as thiruk kadiththanam. This DD used to

have festivities in which keralite women used to perform their

traditional dance with kudai, symbolizing the Lord of govardanagiri. It

is not sure if this festival is still observed with

this dance and some one from kerala can confirm this. Nammaazhwaar in

his thiruvaaymozhi

 

3622:

kOyilkoN taan_dhan thirukkadith thaanaththai,

kOyilkoN taanatha NnEtumen NneNYchagam,

kOyilkoL theyvamel laamthoza, vaikundham

kOyilkoN tagutak kooththavam maanE. 8.6.5 thiruvaaymozhi

 

praises this Lord of thiruk kadiththanam as kudak koththa ammanE by

observing this special festival, by the words "kOyilkoN tagutak

kooththavam maanE". though it is not customary in srivaikundam to dance

with kudankal, it is believed that this happened in gokulam using

govardanagiri in srikrishna avathaaram and even this date this is being

observed in some of our traditional dances. The word in tamil "kudai"

is also known in malayalam as "kodaa". Nammaazwaar also in an other

paasuram

 

 

3070:

paravi vaanava rEttha ninRa

parama NnaipparaNY sOthiyai,

kuravai "kOttha kuzaka NnaimaNi

vaNNa Nnaikkudak kootthanai",

arava mERi yalaika dalama

rumthu yilkoNda aNNalai,

iravum nanpaga lumvi daathenRum

Etthu thalmanam vaimminO. 3.6.3

Thiruvaaymozhi

 

In this namaazhwaar observes HIS as kOttha kuzaka NnaimaNivaNNa Nnaik

"kudak kootthanai", symbolizing Krishna's lifting the kudai and dancing

under govardana giri and also within the same paththu again.

 

3074: ezumaik kumena thaavik kinnamu

thaththi Nnai_E Nna thaaruyir, kezumi yagathirc sOthi yai"maNi

vaNNa Nnaikkudak kootthanai", vizumi yavama rarmu nivarvi

zungum kannal kaniyinai, thozumin thooyama Nnattha raayiRai

yum_nil laathuya rangaLE. 3.6.7

Thiruvaaymozhi

in which he reiterates "maNi vaNNa Nnaik"kudak kootthanai"", as one who

dances under the umbrella. Unlike periaazhwaar who took the meaning in

explicitly separated words as kudangaL and eduthth ERa vittuk

kooththaadavalla koMaanE, nammazhwaar uses it in one word and this

gives room for us to derive that this is kudai and not kudam.

 

In his paasuram on nanthipura viNNagaram, thirumangai declares that

1438:

theethaRunNi laththoderi kaalinodu neerkezhuvi

sumbu mavaiyaay,

maasaRuma Nnaththinodu Rakkamodi Rakkaiyavai

yaaya perumaaNn,

thaayseRavu Lainthuthayi ruNdukuda maaduthada

maarvar thagaisEr,

naathanuRai kinRanNagar nanthipura viNNagaram

naNNu manamE (5.10.1)

 

thirumangai confirms that

"thaayseRavu Lainthuthayi ruNdukuda maaduthada

maarvar"

 

 

Finally, aazwaar in one of the paasuram on arimEya viNNagarm itself

1245:

kanRadhanaal viLaveRinNdhu

kaniyudhirttha kaaLai

kaamaruseer mugilvaNNan

kaaligaLmun kaappaan,

"kunRadhanaal mazhaithadutthuk

kudamaadu kootthan

kulavumidam" kodimadhiLgaL

maaLigaigO burangkaL,

thunRumaNi maNdabangkaL

saalaigaLthoo maRaiyOr

thokkeeNdith thozhudhiyodu

migappayilum sOlai,

anRalarvaay madhuvuNdaNG

kaLimuralu nNaangkoor

arimEya viNNagaram

vaNangkumada nNeNYchE! 3.10.8

 

uses this phrase for kundru as kudai in

"kunRadhanaal mazhaithadutthuk

kudamaadu kootthan

kulavumidam"

 

Further some of the Srivaishnava tamil experts feel that kudangal

eduththu adduthal is HIS leela vinOtham and kundru kudaiyaay eduththu

aduthal is HIS vaathsalyam. There are couple of more references for

this usage of kunRu as kudai. Sri Badri's question on madal was such

that did the aazwaar fell in love due to this dancing beauty of the

Lord? It is quite possible. However what type of dance makes it whether

he fell for it or sought it. If it is kudam aadu he might have fallen

for it. However, since he already fell for the beauty of thirunaRaiyoor

perumal, it is be my humble content (please forgive me if I am

wrong and correct it if required so that this part of thala puraaNam

can be updated)that aazhwaar sought this union with Krishna in which HE

uses kunRu as kudai and in which HE performs this eternal cosmic dance. The

reason that this union is sought can be derived from the concept sri krishna

prEma which is dealt in the next part in some basic way.

 

Sri amrith kada valli thayaar samEthara sri kundrai kudameduthttha kooththar

sri govardanagiri nathan thiruvadikaLE saraNam

 

Sampath Rengarajan