Guest guest Posted October 29, 1999 Report Share Posted October 29, 1999 Dear Sri Vaishnava perunthagaiyeer, Sri lakshmi nrusimha divya paadukaa sEvaka SrivaN satakOpa Sri Vedaanta desika yateendra mahaa dEsikaaya namah: In the previous parts 1-14 we enjoyed the "kuzhal kodu oothina podhu" effects of my beloved krishna, for aazhvaar he is gOvindan. We will see now how periyaazhvaar described the flute player Krishnaa, not the different names aazhvaar used, which we saw in part 1, but how he describes the face, the fingers, mouth, eyes, hairstyle, etc, while krishna played the flute and enjoy every bit of his poem, krishnaa's pose, twists and styles. Please see how starts: Thooya vaayil kuzhal Osai - 3-6-1 IdavaNarai yidaththOlodu saiththu, iru kai koodap, puruvam nerinthu Era, kuda vayiru pada vaai kadai kooda gOvindhan kuzhal - 3-6-2 SiruviralgaL thadivip parimaara, senkan kodach, cheyya vai koppaLippa, kuruveyar puruvam koodalippa gOvindhan 3-6-8 ThiraNdezhu thazhai mazhai mugil vaNNan senkamala malar soozh vaNdinam pOlE suruNdu iRunda kuzhal thaazhntha mugaththaan 3-6-9 KarungaN thOgai mayiRpeeli aNinthu katti, nanku uduththa peethakavaadai, arunkala uruvin aayar perumaan avan oruvan - 3-6-10 Kuzhal iruNdu suruNdEria kunji, gOvindanudaiya kOmaLa vaayil -3-6-11 The body parts are described one by one: Face and shoulders: IdavaNarai yidaththOlodu saiththu aNar is thaadai- cheek the left cheek is inclined along with the left shoulder, while playing the flute- means the head is inclined towards the left side to facilitate easy playing Hands and fingers: iru kai kooda- both hands are brought together to hold the flute SiruviralgaL thadivip parimaara: siruviralgaL- the little beautiful tender fingers- because the young boy krishna is playing [kutti kaNNan as described quite often by Sri Madhavak kannan of simhapuri-singapore] see the words thadavi- he just touches or slides his fingers over the flute- the bamboo- no pressure- no force. Actually, if you closely observe, certain musicians, while playing the instruments, will exert so much that their face, hands and body will move so much, as though, they are doing a physical exercise. Here for emperumaan, aazhvaar says simply, "thadavi parimaara"- he slides his fingers and produces the wonderful music. [to enable aazhvaar give arpudham after arpudham]. "parimaara"- serve- what? The music or the arpudham or both? Eyes and eye brows: puruvam nerinthu Era- the eye brows are moving in wavy pattern in line with the music flowing out- the music river is flowing- when river flows there should be waves in the water- here that kind of wavy movement is in the eye brows. so puruvam nerinthu Era- aha- the word selection is excellent. kuruveyar puruvam koodalippa- the lalaatam in samskrit is neRRi- the nuthal in tamil- the face - cresent shaped forehead is sweating in the physical strain of playing. Eyebrows are the ridges for the plains of the nuthal. These ridges collect the sweating fom the plains or help easy collection in drops (kuru veyar), then drain it through the edges of the brows- so kuruveyar puruvam. As already said, the eyebrows also join together in the wavy movement. While enjoying music, the brows make all sorts of movements. One such is joining- hence movements are described as koodalippa. senkaN kodach- senkaN has two meanings- red coloured eyes and semmaiyaana kaN- regular and nicely shaped- lotus eyed- pundareekaakshan- so no wonders to use word senkaN- the red eyes go to one end and comes back along the line of the flute holes so that the fingers follow the eyes easily and produce that effective music. [but when fingers do only "thadavi"- which is very soft will the face do sweat and all thus showing up the strain in playing the music. No, I opine aazhvaar exaggerates a little more than necessary to add taste]. Mouth: thooya vaayil- the pure mouth- [when father vishNu chiththar says it is thooya vaai, daughter aaNdaaL just follows and wants the vaayamudham- no wonder -vamsaavali is trained in a particular way only] cheyya vai koppaLippa- the beautiful and regularly shaped mouth bellows out the air. (cheyya vai- chemmaiyaana vai, kariyaththai cheyyum vallamai uLLa vai- so cheyya vai) - the mouth expands and contracts to push the air into the bamboo- vamsa-. Vaai kadai kooda - the lips join together and blow the air out into the bamboo - this appears as though the mouth has got twisted, hence described as vaai kadai kooda. gOvindanudaiya kOmaLa vaayil- govindaa's mouth is like a lotus [shape or colour or both?] Enjoy the selection of words for mouth. Stomach: kuda vayiru pada- the belly is like a pot- because of eating butter and milk in large quantity, the belly is like a pot. Further, while playing music, the air is to be inhaled and exhaled in a controlled manner- due to this also the abdomen makes movements in and out - hence kuda vayiru pada. Hair style: KarungaN thOgai mayiRpeeli aNinthu katti- the dark blue green and black colours nicely mixed in the feathers of peacocks, such feathers are mixed up to make a bunch and as a kreetam- crown to suit the black colour lord- so mayir peeli aNinthu katti. Kuzhal iruNdu suruNdEria kunji- the irundu- darkened - black hair locks are curled and hanging in a flowing style. kuzhal and kunji are having same meaning - hair. irundu- darkened means black in colour- the proverb says "mudikku minchina karuppu kidaiyaadhu"- there is nothing more black than the hair. senkamala malar soozh vaNdinam pOlE suruNdu iRunda kuzhal thaazhntha mugaththaan- if it is straight away said kamala mugaththaan- it will look a little odd. since it is just said he is thazhai mazhai mughil vaNNan- how a black man can have a lotus colour face. So the aazhvaar says "how black bees hum around the lotus flower- like that the black curly hanging hair tresses are seen around the lotus face. Dress: nanku uduththa peethakavaadai- the yellow dress is nicely fleeted and dressed up. The wholesome figure and colour: arunkala uruvin aayar perumaan- Arum - this word has two meanings- arumaiyaana- beautiful Arum- ariyadhaana- rare Kalam also has more than one meaning- kalam- body Kalam- ship Kalam- jewels arumaiyaana kalangal- beautiful aabharaNangal soodiya- bedecked with excellent jewels- jewels are selected for the young NandhakkOn prince to match his colour This also means krishnaa has rare jewels on his body. arumaiyaana kalam- beautiful body.. uru- the wholesome figure. He is arunkala uruvin aayar perumaan- he is the god of vrajvaasis- yaadhavaas. Perumaan avan oruvan- the paramaikaanthithvam of aazhvaar has fully comes out in this word oruvan - avan perumaan- avan oruvan- perumaan oruvan- avan aayar perumaan- perumaan krishnan - who else can have arunkala uru - aha- aha - every word just falls in place give added taste. ThiraNdezhu thazhai mazhai mugil vaNNan- the whole body has the colour of rain bearing clouds- the moisture laden clouds cumulate in a place and when ready for dropping their weight they come to low heights- so thiraNdezhu - thiraNdu ezhuntha. Thazhai mazhai- clouds are at a low height or at its low ebb. Mazhai mughil vaNNan- neeradha samaneeyan- black or dark grey coloured krishnan. With this the description of the flute player is complete. In part 5, we saw Saint thyaagaraajaa, the staunch raama bhaktha, describing krishnaa as embodiment of music, in the krithi gaana moorthE in raagam gaanamurthi. Now let us see another song of him. In the samskritha krithi (why I say this specially is most of his krithis are in Telugu but this one is in samskrutham) "saamaja vara gamanaa" in the raaga hindolam the lyrics are a. "Saama nigamaja sudhaamaya gaana visakshaNa guNa seela dhayaala vaala maam paalaya"- Hey krishna - you are the gaana visakshaNa - the ultimate in music. Then how is his gaanam- the saama nigamaja gaanam- that which is born from saama vedham. It is also sudhaamaya- like nectar- ambrosia- amirtham. You are also a guna seela- a man of high virtues. DhayaaLa- the man with lot of compassion - maam palaya- please save me. b. "VEdha sirO maathruja sapthaswara naadhaachala dheepa sweekrutha yaadhava kula muraLee vaadha vinOdha"- the sapthaswara is vedha siro maathruja. The vedha sirah: is saama vedham-the crown among vedhaas is saama vedham. So the sapthaswaras were born from that saama vedham. The naadham or music is composed of the sapthaswaram. Krishnaa the musician is the naadhaachala dheepam- the hill or the achalam is the embodiment of naadham- and krishna the musician is the naadhachala dheepam - kunRin mElitta viLakku- how it will shine like that krishnaa also shines when he plays the saptaswaras. See enjoy the lyrics and also the song- particularly sung by Madurai Mani iyer. In gita also bhagavaan claims vedhanaam aham sama vedhosmi- I am the saama vedham among vedhaas- 10-22. So there is no wonder that the saint describes krishnaa as "VEdha sirO maathruja sapthaswara naadhaachala dheepa' Please recall what Swami desikan said on this. SaamOpapannaan kramasa: svarandhrai: sapthasvaraan saptha bhirudhvamantham! PrachamakramE vaadhayithum vanaanthE vamsam priyO vallava vamsajaanaam!! Slokam 46 Meaning: KaNNan started playing the flute, staying in the forest [vanam- forest (or garden- solai in tamil?)]. This kaNNan is the same person who is liked by all gopees. The flute gave out the seven saama vEdha swaraas, through the seven holes in good array regularly. Compare the words of thyagaraja- VEdha sirO maathruja sapthaswara aadhmaapayaamaasa sa srungamagrayam sankham thathaa bhUthbhikaathma yOgaath! Jagow cha gEyaani bahUni yEshaa gaandharva vedhO api na paaradhasravaa!! Slokam 53 Meaning: The conch (paanchajanyam) has come down on its own and made himself as flute in the hands of kannan. It appeared when he played the flute he was blowing the conch- sankha naadham. He sang so many songs also. Even the kaantharva vedhaam, which is supposed to be the basis for all music, cannot find the limit of sweetness of his music. So is there any wonder the saint calling krishna the gaana visakshaNa. Dasan Vasudevan M.G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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