KANNAPIRAAN PERRA VENNAIK KALVI-3

[Guest guest]

Dear Srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

 

Though Sri krishNaa learnt his lessons nicely "vennai vizhungi" and "ammam

undu" [read in the earlier posts], the mother yasOdhaa is feeling sorry for

her pet child KrishNaa. She feels bad for other aaippaadi ladies complain

about krishna, beat him, while he eats butter and learns his lessons.

 

Of course, for any learning, it is to be under the strict guidance of a

guru. The guru will do the sikshai (this word sikshai means both learning as

well punishment). Here aaichchiyar are the gurus for krishnaa and they do

the sikshai (in both the meanings of term). Who has the guts to beat the

king nandhaa's son? May be some aaichchi -the guru-in the aaippaadi has.

This also -I feel - may not be for the loss of butter what she suffers, but

for the mischief the child krishnaa creates or brings with the act of eating

butter and learning his kalvi.

 

Please see the complaint from one of the aaichchi - actually a small tussle

krishnaa had with an aaichchi for a small quantity of butter.

'munthaa naaL anthi nErathil sontham pOla kittE vanthu, vindhaigaL anEgam

seithu viLaiyaadinaan, oru panthu aLavaagilum veNNai thanthaal viduvEn enRu

munthaanaiyai thottu izhuththu pOraadinaan'

 

meaning- "day before yesterday krishnaa came near me in the twilight time

-sandhyaa kaalam- he came near me as though he is a close relative of me- he

played with me doing many tricks, after that he wanted a ball of butter,

when I refused he said he will not leave me and in saying so pulled my pallu

(see part 2 for what is pallu) and caused trouble for me" says Oothukadu

Venkata subbaier in the very famous song "thaayE yasOdhaa" in raaga thOdi.

 

Periyaazhvaar do not relish krishnaa being beaten for taking butter and so

he does not write about being beaten, but he refers only the dhamOdharan

episode. But Thirumangai aazhvaar writes krishnaa got the beating from

aaichchi for his acts of stealing butter. See the paasuram

 

poonkOdhai aaichchi kadai veNNai pukkuNNa

aangu avaL aarththu pudaikka pudai uNdu

Engiyirunthu siNungi viLaiyaadum

Ongu Otha vaNNane-

10-5-1 periya thirumozhi- thirumangai aazhvaar

 

Meaning: an aaichchi who was like a creeper, [means having a slim and

beautiful body like a creeper (poonkOdhai)] churned the curd and put the

butter in a pot [or stored many such pots which looked like a shop- to that

extent butter was kept in the house] kadai veNNai pukku [kadai veNNai-

kadaintha veNNai, kadai veNNai-in the shop like place where butter was kept

in large quantities]

* krishnaa reached the pot and ate all butter- uNNa- there she saw

young krishnaa doing the eating

* she became angry and started beating krishnaa- aartththu pudaikka

* pudai uNdu- hey krishnaa- you ate the beating also along with

butter-

* this did not deter him - he wanted more butter, started to long for

the butter- Engiyirunthu- but did not get it, so started playing- siNungi

viLaiyaadum

* Ongu Otha vaNNanE- the boy having colour of the ocean

* oh krishnaa- says aazhvaar.

So, the conclusion we derive is he received this kind of sikshai from an

aaichchi for his veNNaik kalvi.

 

See another paasuram

ThaamOruruttith thayir nei vizhungittu

ThamOdhath thavazhvarenRu aaichchiyar thaambinaal

ThaamOtharakkaiyaal aarkkath thazhumbiruntha

dhaamOOdharaa

- 10-5-3 periya thirumozhi- thirumangai aazhvaar

 

In this paasuram, first enjoy the rhyme in the word thaam used in all four

lines and a beautiful thamizh..

 

Thaam mOr urutti- thaambinaal kattiya mOrp paanaiyai urutti- rolled over the

pot containing butter milk which was tied with the rope for stability and

[or kept in the uri rope hanger],

-thayir nei vizhungi- swallowed fast curd and ghee [can take it as butter

also]

-thaam Oda, thavazhvar enRu- the aaichchiyar started running to catch the

boy krishna but he immediately started crawling- because a crawling boy is a

child, so he should not be taken to task for he can not do any big mischief.

Another point here is since the curd butter milk etc are spilled over the

floor, the floor is slippery- so if aaichchi starts running to catch the boy

krishna, she will fall badly in front of the mischievous krishna. So she did

not run but crawled to catch him but he started running.

 

-aaichchiyar thaambinaal- the lady brought ropes to tie or beat him- for

that is the tools which is easily available to aaichchi [a cane to drive the

cows and calves is another easy tool which aaichchi can reach easily]

-thaamOtharakkaiyaal aarkka- started beating krishnaa with the hands with

rope stains- due to continuous holding of rope during churning of curd, the

hands had become rough for the aaichchi- kaaichchu pOna kaaiyaal adikka

 

thazhumbiruntha dhaamOdhara- that kind of rope beaten stains are there in

your body - oh dhamOdhara - oh krishna

 

Another paasuram to prove kaNNan got the sikshai for his veNNaik kalvi.

 

Due to such tussles the aaichchiyar had the guts to give sikshai to krishnaa

with the cane in his kalvi. Krishnaa received these cane beatings and

returned home silently. But mother saw the cane marks in the body of

krishnaa and followed it with a lament through a song

Pirar mani veNNaikkaaga pirambadi nee pattaal

ThirumEni varuda en karam irandum thavikkuthadaa

Ural izhuththu maram saaiththu iruvarkku arul koorntha

Uththaman unnaith thazhuvi mechcha manam vizhaiyuthada

 

[one of the charanams in Smt. Ambujam krishna song "konjum silamboli" in

ragamaalikaa]

Meaning- Hey krishnaa- when you are beaten by other ladies for the butter

belonging to other houses, I want to broach you gently and soothingly [touch

or feel these spots in your body so that it comforts you] (neevi viduthal,

or thadavi viduthal). Oh you the truthful person [a near translation for

uththaman?], I want to embrace you and praise you, who dragged the mortar

between two trees and set free the two gandharvas standing as trees and they

were bestowed with your grace.

 

See the mother here- she did not say "you have stolen butter from their

houses so you got their cane charge- which is correct. So here after don't

do, or that beating you got will refrain you from the stealing here after",

but says "why do you long for the butter from other's houses". It can be

understood that same is available in plenty in our house itself. Feel the

"mother" of krishnaa in the song and enjoy the lyrics.

>From this, one thing is clear- kalvi-learning involves pirambadi even for

krishnaa - like yesteryears when the masters used to impart good education

through judicious use of stick.

 

Dasan Vasudevan M.G.