kooththaadi

[Guest guest]

kadan kalantha van kari marupposiththu Or poykaivaay

vidam kalantha paambin mEl nadam payinRa naathanE

kudam kalantha kooththan aaya koNdal vaNNa! thaN thuzhaay

vadam kalantha maalai maarpa! kaala nEmi kaalanE!

 

You broke the tusk of the elephant !

You danced on top of the poisonous snake !

Oh cloud coloured Lord, You danced on a pot !

You have thulasi garland in Your chest!

You hold the disc in Your hand that is like death to Your enemies!

 

- thiru mazhisai aazhvaar (thiruch chandha viruththam 38)

 

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Azhvaars praise Sri Krishna by remembering all his pastimes in

childhood. I remember a few of them, having read them a long back in

Srimad Bhagavatam and in Azhvar pasuram recounted more vividly.

 

A few weeks back, while discussing the madal, we came across the

expression 'kudak kooththu' (a type of dance performed on top of

metal(?) pots). Divyap Prabandham is full of references to 'kooththu'

by kaNNapiraan. periyaazhvaar, aaNdaaL, thiru mazhisai aazhvaar

(above), thiru mangai aazhvaar and nammaazhvaar... all refer to his

'kooththu' in general, and 'kudak kooththu' in particular.

 

Also, is there any reference in Bhagavatham about the equivalent of

'kuravaik kooththu' ? This is another form of dance where several

children hold hands together and form a circle, facing each other.

During the dance, without breaking the chain formed, they have to flip

inside out so that they all face outside and keep on flipping back and

forth. Ideally 7 to 9 people form a circle while dancing this dance.

There is a mention of this kind of dance performed by Krishna,

Balarama and nappinnai in silappadhikaaram. [This chapter on

silappadhikaaram (aaychchiyar kuravai) also has a very moving peace in

praise of Sriman Narayana which rivals that of Azhvar poetry in the

depth of emotion conveyed and the language used. Several of the

expressions used in this chapter is found wholesale in the

prabandham. I do not want to start another controversy:-) According to

the dates accepted by historians, silappadhikaaram should be

considered earlier than the prabandham. However, GPBs mention kaliyuga

as the time period of the Azhvars].

 

It appears that these 'kooththu' are full-fledged events in themselves

from the way they find mention in 4000. These dances seem to have a

specific purpose. In particular, in thiru mangai aazhvaar's madal, the

'kudak kooththu' causes parakaala naayaki to fall in love with the

Lord, and that sets of in motion the entire poem.

 

Can more knowledgeable people recount this particular pastime of

Krishna where he performed this 'kudak kooththu' ? Why did He dance

this dance (or any other form of kooththu, for that matter)?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

--badri

 

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Badri Seshadri

Graduate Student

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Cornell University

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