Guest guest Posted September 3, 1997 Report Share Posted September 3, 1997 This short post was triggered by a conversation with Dileepan yesterday morning. One of the things prospective parents put the most thought into is what to name their newborn baby. Periyalvar [Andal's father] has some strong suggestions of his own, at least when it comes to a baby boy. [The analogue for a female child naturally follows.] This set of ten paasurams comes from periyaazhvaar thirumozhi 4.6.x. Addressing his words openly to the people of the world, he dissuades them from naming their children after trivialities, for the sake of money, a sari, or a handful of this and that. The Alvar probably observed many people naming their child after a minor divinity or earthly monarch with the hope that the family and child would prosper accordingly: kaasum kaRaiyudaik kooRaikkum angOr kaRRaikkum aasaiyinaal angavaththap pEridum aadhar_kaaL! kEsavan pErittu neengaL thEnith thiruminO naayakan naaraNan tham annai narakam pukaaL. Name him "Kesava" and rejoice, O people of the world! Lord Narayana will never push such a person's mother into hell. >From a very practical standpoint, I think this is Periyalvar's way of establishing a particular connection with the Supreme Lord at the very onset of life. Is not naming the child after Him and His the simplest and quickest way of beginning the infant's ascent from mere mortality to its rightful position as a spark of the Divine, of and belonging to the Lord Himself? Mani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 1997 Report Share Posted September 3, 1997 On Wed, 3 Sep 1997, Mani Varadarajan wrote: > > This set of ten paasurams comes from periyaazhvaar > thirumozhi 4.6.x. Addressing his words openly to Sri Sadagopan in fact provided translations to these ten paasurams recently (July 10 posting) on a posting on nAma mahimai. govind rengarajan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 1997 Report Share Posted September 3, 1997 > Sri Sadagopan in fact provided translations to these > ten paasurams recently (July 10 posting) Yes! I don't know how I overlooked this posting earlier. I found it and read it now. Thanks, Mani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 1997 Report Share Posted September 3, 1997 Mani Varadarajan wrote: > > This short post was triggered by a conversation > with Dileepan yesterday morning. > > One of the things prospective parents put the > most thought into is what to name their newborn > baby. Periyalvar [Andal's father] has some > strong suggestions of his own, at least when > it comes to a baby boy. [The analogue for a > female child naturally follows.] > > This set of ten paasurams comes from periyaazhvaar > thirumozhi 4.6.x. Addressing his words openly to > the people of the world, he dissuades them from > naming their children after trivialities, for > the sake of money, a sari, or a handful of this > and that. The Alvar probably observed many people > naming their child after a minor divinity or earthly > monarch with the hope that the family and child > would prosper accordingly: > > kaasum kaRaiyudaik kooRaikkum angOr kaRRaikkum > aasaiyinaal angavaththap pEridum aadhar_kaaL! > kEsavan pErittu neengaL thEnith thiruminO > naayakan naaraNan tham annai narakam pukaaL. > > Name him "Kesava" and rejoice, O people of the world! > Lord Narayana will never push such a person's mother > into hell. > > >From a very practical standpoint, I think this is > Periyalvar's way of establishing a particular connection > with the Supreme Lord at the very onset of life. Is > not naming the child after Him and His the simplest > and quickest way of beginning the infant's ascent from > mere mortality to its rightful position as a spark > of the Divine, of and belonging to the Lord Himself? > > Mani ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Mani, Many thanks for this posting. I had acquired a Tamil booklet on the names to give Muslim children, and I have recently come by one on the names for Christian children. I'd love to compile one of my own, though 'bAlAji' (supposedly signifying tiru-vEnkaTam-uDaiyAn) would not be in my compilation. No body could succeed in establishing that tiru-vEnkaTam-uDaiyAn is NOT perumAL, but the puerile and unscholarly snipings continue, despite the numerous evidences (inter alia of SilappadhikAram, the Tamil post- sangham classic, from a non-vaishNava author) affirming the Lord only as vishNu. The next thing to do, when you are not succeeding, is to obscure or confuse the issue. 'bAlAji' as a name is the very absurd gimmick on this issue. Not a single classical author has taken note of this 'name' and it is evident that it is not worth researching on its origin. Best wishes from T.S. Sundara Rajan, @ Memphis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 4, 1997 Report Share Posted September 4, 1997 Re: bAlAji I have learned on good authority that in the "vaDa-dESam", i.e., North India, "bAlA" was a name that some devotees called Krishna. Naturally, adding the honorific, this became "bAlAji". In South India, the name has unfortunately been reverse engineered so much that some think that Tirupati Srinivasar actually represents a female personage! (bAlA = girl in Sanskrit) Mani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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