Name the Lord!

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On giving children the name of God

Thu, 4 Sep 1997 10:42:30 -0700 (PDT)

Mani Varadarajan <mani

bhakti, usdeiva

 

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

------

Origin of Balaji Wed, 17 Sep 1997 07:45:28 -0400 (EDT)

Tatachar bhakti

 

I recently heard this interpretation on why the lord of Thirumalai is

referred to as Balaji-especially bt people of Veda Desham (North India).

The episode goes back to the Bala Dhruva. When Dhruva, a 7 yr. old

Bala, asked his mother as to who his father was, she instructed him to

go to forest and ask for father. Dhruva with great certainty that the

father would answer, yelled out for his father on the Thirumala Hills.

Finally Vishnu appeared. He resides their as the lord of Bala Dhruva

(Balaji). Apparently Vishnu resides with Dhruva as well in Dhruva

Nakshatram.

 

Dasan, Tatachar (K. Sreekrishna), Tatachar

========================================================================

 

NAME FOR TIRU-VENKATAM-UDAIYAN.

~~ a Note.

[written by T.S. Sundara Rajan].

 

It has become trendy to refer to 'tiru-vEnkaTam-uDaiyAn' by the name

'bAlAji'. Even in SrIvaishNava families the children have been given

this name. The following submissions are in the nature of a humble

and objective inquiry in this respect, and are in no way meant to

disconcert those who bear this name or their parents.

 

Sri Mani Varadarajan had reported that 'bAla' was "a name that some

devotees called Krishna" in northern India; "adding the honorific, this

became bAlAji". ~~ I apologise to Manivara [= 'precious stone'] for

putting this in quotes.

 

Sri Tatachar K Sreekrishna relates another folk tradition which holds

that the Lord came to be known as 'bAlAji' after the ['bAla' or]

child-devotee dhruva.

 

'tiru-vEnkaTam-uDaiyAn' and 'tirumalai-appan' are the beloved names of

the Lord occurring in the SrIvaishNava 'sampradAya' classics, and

'bAlAji' is NOT A NAME NOTICED IN ANY OF THE SRIVAISHNAVA OR EVEN

SECULAR CLASSICS. The Telugu work 'SrIvEnkaTesa-vachana-Satakamu'

[which has been published in Sanskrit translation also] could be an

important document for the purpose. This was written by SrI

annamAchArya's grandson, SrI pedda-tirumalAchArya.

 

There is an assumption on the part of the Tamil SrIvaishNava-s that the

name bAlAji would readily identify perumAL at tiruvEnkaTam hill

for the devotees all over the northern parts of India; which is NOT the

case at all. I have lived in New Delhi for 35 years and had also

travelled extensively in the northern States, and can testify that

bAlAji is not such a well-known 'cognomen' for the perumAL as is

assumed. The northeners refer to the 'divyadESam' as 'trupti' [not to

fault them for tripping over tamizh names] and the Lord simply as

SrIvEnkaTESvar.

 

The name seems to have been brought into a vogue during the fairly

prolonged management of the tirumalai temple dEvasthAnam by the

'mahant' who, eventually, was superseded by the Government of the

Presidency of Madras some time in 1930's. [The 'presence' of the

'mahant' continues in tirumalai, if not in the temple administration;

and no guess as to why the mahant of the time thought of the name

bAlAji. We would certainly get yet another story if someone spent time

consulting with the present-generation of the mahant.] I heard of the

possible 'mahant' role in this respect, from the family elders who had

known my father's elder brother, R. Rangasvami Aiyangar, during his

tenure as the first Commissioner of the dEvasthAnam committee set up

after the 'mahant' was removed.

 

The name 'bAla' for SrIkr*shNa.

 

Aside from the 'mahant', let us for a while consider whether 'bAla' is

per se and at all the north-Indian word-name for 'child'; the Hindic

word for child is 'bacchA' [from the samskrta 'vatsa'; can we relate it

also to the Georgian-Russian 'vitch', as in Vladimir Iliano-vitch Lenin,

meaning son of Ilianov?]. 'bAla' is child-male and 'bAlA' is

child-female, the feminine gender leading to irresponsible iconic

guesses; and here Manivara is worth quoting: "the name has unfortunately

been reverse engineered so much that some think that Tirupati Srinivasar

actually represents a female personage!"

 

'bAla' is, of course, exclusively 'bAl-kishan' and 'bAl-mukund' in

northern India [for the most endearing experience of God as Child],

though 'bAla' is rarely used as a 'compleat' name in itself. 'bAlA'

in feminine form as THE name of dAkshAyaNI-pArvatI-umAdEvI does not seem

warranted by any of the commonly accepted works. If one is not looking

for the authority ['pramANam'] of authentic works, one would gladly

accept fancy explanations and fancier etymology; like 'mAtA' or 'ambA'

or 'dEvI' or the Tamil 'AttA', each of which could be picked up by one

or the other of the hill-trekking devotees of vaishNO-dEvi near Jammu,

or santOshI-mA of very fuzzy origin, or the concrete-n-scarlet-n-raucous

mEl-maruvattUr deity, etc. One who contemplates on the exalted epithet

"bahu-SObhamAnAm umAm hAimavatIm" of kEnOpanishad for umA-dEvI would

feel totally lost in this scramble of labelling and mislabelling. One

instance of mis-naming: The large and surpassingly beautiful

ananta-nArAyaNa reclining in a tank under the open sky, about 12 km to

the west of kAThmaNDu in Nepal is referred to as the 'budhA nIlkanth' by

the locals; but they are obviously not right. Just wrong tags!

 

SrIkr*shNa in Northern India.

 

Well, what else do they call kr*shNa in northern India? 'kr*shNa' is

always 'kahnaiyA', and 'lAl', quite often 'mErE lAl', the equivalent of

'mon ch`ere'. In the ceremonial 'rAjwAdi' ballads of the Rajasthan

royalty, 'kr*shNA' is also 'jas' [from the upanishad 'tasya nAma

mahad-yaSah']. The four-armed nArAyaNa/vishNu in standing pose is

nowhere referred to as 'kr*shNa' [or by the supposed northernism of

'bAla']. Even in the two most 'kr*shNa' divya-dEsam of mathurA and

dvArakA, the Lord is in the classic form of 'vaishNavam' [referred to as

such in nATyam, and] described in drAupadI's

prayer-in-distress:"Sankha-chakra-gadA-pANE...gOvinda

puNDarIkAksha...",and is referred to as 'dvArakAdhIS'. In jOshImaTh en

route badarikASramam, it is vAsudEv, in vishNupAda-mandir, gayA, it is

gadAdhar [the original name of svAmi vivEkAnanda's teacher

rI-rAmakr*shNa]; nArAyaN in piThOrAgarh in uttar-pradES near Indo-Tibet

border; jagat-SirOmaNi in the famed amEr ['Amber'] fort of jaipur

Rajasthan.

 

Little reason that the northerners should call 'tiru-vEnkaTam-uDaiyAn'

as 'bAla' to mean 'kr*shNa'.

 

'uDAiyavar' and Lord Srinivasa.

 

uDAiyavar had a partiality for the name 'SrInivAsa', among the names of

the Lord, vide the dhyAna-slOkam of SrIbhAshyam,

"Sruti-Sirasi vidIptE brahmaNi SrInivasE..."

 

uDAiyavar's association with tiru-vEnkaTam-uDaiyAn is so well known that

the name 'SrInivAsa' has become specific ['ruDhi'] to Him. [A discursive

thought is that it is to uDAiyavar, tirumangai mannan, and nammAzhvAr

that we owe the dear names SelvappiLLai/SampatkumAran, deivac-chilaiyAr,

and vAnamAmalai.]

 

dhruva in tiru-vEnKaTam?

 

To identify dhruva as 'bAla' and transpose the name to 'tirumalai appan'

is also not worth a scrutiny. The 'bhAgavata-purANam' says the

'matsyAvatAram'occurred in river 'krtamAlA' which is a tributary of

'vAikAi' flowing by Madurai. The 'bhAgavatam' yields absolute pearls

in the context of the dhruva episode: the twelve-syllabled vAsudEva

mantram which drew the Lord in epiphany to the child devotee. Here is

dhruva's ecstatic tribute to the immanent spirit and innner director

['antar-yAmi']:-

 

"yO/(a)ntah praviSya mama vAcham imAm prasuptAm

sanjIvayati akhila-Sakti-dharah sva-dhAmnA

anyAmScha hasta-charaNa-SravaNa-tvak-AdIn

prANAn namO bhagavatE purushAya tasmAi."

 

[i salute bhagavAn ~ of six prime excellences! He permeates my Self

in entirety; his majesty arouses my speech which hitherto had been

slumbering. And activates the other faculties: my hands and feet, my

hearing and my sensing skin; all of these and my very breath of life.

He is the purusha!]

 

Such beauties there are in the 'bhAgavatam' episode, but the celebrated

'purANam' does not locate dhruva's penance in tirumalai. This is

therefore an unauthenticated account. Hence, no 'dhruva-bAlA-ji'.

 

'sthala-purANam' [sP], and the SrIvaishNava divya-dESam:

 

Of the SrIvaishNava divya-dESam(s), it is only of Srirangam that there

are 'SP' references in the entire run of aruLiccheyal/divyaprabandham',

viz., vibhIshaNa AzhvAr establishing 'periya perumAL' on the Srirangam

island ["tan-aDiyAr tirattakattut-tAmaraiyAL", periyAzhvAr], and chandra

cleansing himself through penance performed at the 'tIrtham' known

[after him] as 'chandra-pushkariNI' in SrIranganAtha-svAmi temple

["tEmbal iLan-tingaL siRai viDuttu", last decad of periya-tirumozhi].

Less known is that the great poet kamban extols 'periya perumAL' as the

household deity [ikshvAku-kula-dhanam] of SrIrAma's iksh-vAku ancestry:

 

"piNi-yaranga vinai-akala, neDun-kAlam tavam pENi,

maNi-arangu neDu-muDiyAi ! malar-ayanE vazhi-paTTu,

paNi-arangap perum-pAyal param-SuDarai yAm kANa

aNi-arangam tantAnai aRiyAdAr, aRiyAdAr !"

 

[kamba rAmAyaNam,

kula-muRaik-kiLattu patalam]

 

rshi viSvAmitra introduces the youth SrIrAma and LakshmaNa to

SrI-janaka-mahAraja. Striving to be rid of the debility of action,

brahmA, the spirit of lotus flower, performed a long penance and adored

SrI-ranganAtha. The Lord is Effulgent in reclension over the

multi-hooded couch of 'ananta'. O king of lofty bejewelled crest, it

was SrIrAma's ancestor ikshvAku who brought the Lord from brahmA's

satyalOkam to this earth, so that we (mortals) could look at him with

our eyes. If there be any that do not know of this lineage, they,

alas, know nothing!

 

There is little historic content, poetic beauty, elevating philosophy ,

or devotional inspiration in 'sthala-purANam' [sP] as a genre, which

is being sustained through the oral tradition of 'archaka'/gurukkaL in

the various temples. Most of the SP as such are of recent origin, and

many Saiva SP were written by tiriSirapuram InAkshi-sundaram piLLai

and his better-known scholar-disciple u.vE. svAminAtha aiyar. There

was perhaps a ritual anxiety to claim antiquity for each temple, for

which the SP served as a means. Even in respect of temples constructed

barely yesterday, the SP gets ready before the temples are readied.

The trail of a serpent which led a devotee to the chosen site etc.

The samhitA and vAstu-Sastram do, of course, provide for procedural

inspection and consecration of a temple site, but there is not much

force in insisting that this or that temple was the venue or site or

stage for a specific happening recorded in the purANa literature. To

illustrate, it is accepted that the SrIrAma incarnation occurred in

ayOdhyA, and SrIkr*shNa in mathurA; but it somewhat confuses the tracks

of inquiry to claim that SrI-nr*simha incarnation occurred in nAmakkal

or ahObilam, when the padma-purANam clearly names the incarnation site

as 'mauli-snAn', identified on the northern banks of river sindhu, with

the prophecy that it would be eventually infested with 'mlEccha'

marauders; I verified that the modern city of multAn [in bhawalpur of

to-day's Pakistan Panjab] fills the bill in all respects, and I have

read in the autobiography of Sri T. Prakasam Pantulu-garu that he was

included in the committee deputed by the Indian National Congress party

to visit multan to report on the Muslim-'Hindu' disturbances which

occurred consequent on the wanton destruction of the ancient

SrI-nr*simha temple.

 

The divya-dESam status.

 

The divya-dESam which have been hymned in AzhvAr aruLic-cheyal have this

exalted status, and have thrived without the SP. The passionate

devotion of Sri anantAzhvAn (tirumalai anantANpiLLai), who was chosen

by uDAiyavar to organise the worship for tiru-vEnkaTam-uDaiyAn, had

led him to compose the kAvyam 'SrI-vEnkaTESa itihAsa-mAlA', but this is

not to be regarded as a 'sthala-purANam'.

 

For the SrIvaishNava heart, the most self-sufficient and satisfying SP

could be that the given 'divya-dESam' was hymned by the AzhvAr.

To recite periyAzhvAr tirumozhi,

 

"aravattu amaLi-yinODum azhakiya pARkaDalODum

aravindap-pAvAiyum tAnum akampaDi vandu pukundu

paravat-tirai pala mOdap-paLLi koLkinRa pirAnAi

paravukinRAn viTTuchittan paTTinam kAvaRporuTTE."

 

[The Lord has occupied the city of my heart, the waves (of my love)

lapping at it. His serpent couch is laid out and he reclines on

it. He has moved in (his very dwelling,) the ocean of milk. He and

his consort, aravindA, and all of his retinue!]

 

Be it so with tiru-vEnkaTam, which is invoked in the oldest non-Sanskrit

Indian classic extant, tol-kAppiam, to demarcate the boundary of the

tamizh-speaking region.

 

"Senni-yOngu taN tiru-vEnkaTam uDaiyAi! ulaku

tannAi vAzha-ninRa nambI! dAmOdarA! satirA!

ennAiyum en uDAimAi-yum un chakkarap-poRi oRRik-koNDu

nin aruLE purindirundEn ini en tiruk-kuRippE ?"

 

"vEnkaTESa-samO dEvO na bhUtO na bhavishyati !"

 

~ aDiyEn rAmAnujadAsan T.S. Sundara Rajan.

<usdeiva

 

puraTTASi Sanikkizhamai

(kanyA mAsam, sThira-vAsaram)