kaNNan and veNNai

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dear Sri Vijay and Sri MG Vasudevan,

 

Kutti KaNNan's veNNai eating can not be better expressed in such sweet words

that you both have done. Kutti KaNNan- with huge Kutti yaanai like form,

dark, with His curls falling on His forehead, with the small stout short

limbs and thighs- taking steps, tip toes to steal butter-

 

What a lovely sight! More than that, with all that thayir and veNNai pisukku

(oily skin), He goes out to play on the sand. How dirty it would be! The

Lord, who reclines alone with only His PiraaTTi on AdhisEshan on

ThiruppaRkadal, is here with almost naked body full of veNNai pisukku,

dirty...

 

puzhudhi aLaindha pon mEni...kaNNa peridhum ugakkum.. To see end ejoy it is

GREAT! Peridhum...

 

I am reminded of Swamy desikan's Gopala Vimsathy, slokam 5. "hartthum

kumbhE..

 

KaNNan slowly enters into the kitchen. He looks there; and here; no one is

around. This is the right time. YasOdhA, after getting vexed with the

mischievous butter-stealing acts, keeps the butter in a different container

and at a different place to mislead our Kutti KaNNan. But our Lord- the

sarvEshwaran- Does He not know where the “veNNai” is? Will He get misled?

No.

 

He tip-toes towards the big pot (which is tall as He)- He opens the lid. And

with great effort, puts the whole hand in upto the shoulder and takes a

handful of butter; puts the whole lot into His mouth. Not enough. He dips in

again! Oh My God! YasOdhA has come in! She has seen everything. He is caught

stealing the butter- with His mouth full of butter, - with His hand fully

dipped into the pot. What will He do now? SarvEshwaran- Our Lord Kutti

KaNNan is “scared” of the visible angry mother approaching Him. Will she hit

Him? Will she scold Him? What puishment will she give Him? He is perplexed.

 

Should He run away? He has taken off one foot and is ready to run. At the

same time, He is not able to run away because He is cornered and fully

caught red handed. He is neither standing nor is He running! The little Lord

of ours has decided to close His eyes, unable to see what is going to

happen, thinking that He can avoid the punishment by closing His eyes! The

Universal Lord,- who protects the whole Universe and even beyond, simply and

effortlessly in His Yoga nitthirai on AdhisEshan, with complete awareness

and knowledge of all and every thing that happens everywhere- is having His

eyes now closed to avoid seeing His mother coming towards Him!

 

Vedanta Desikan’s enjoyment is beyond description in words.

 

Kutti KaNNan ThiruvadigaLE anRil maRRaRiyEn..

 

Regards

 

KaNNA! KaNNA!

adiyEn

 

 

____

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[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Vasudevan,

I really liked this posting on kaNNan's veNNai anubhavam. Lemme cite

some of the interesting references...

------

1. AaNdaaL enjoys seeing krishna in brindaavan and calls him

"kuNungu

naari kuttERu"in naachchiyaar thirumozhi 14-2 patti meinthu pathikam-

kutti

Eru smelling the kuNungu- meaning -a small bull smelling butter. Father

of

aaNdaaL calls him to bathe to remove his veNNaik kunungu- smell. But

daughter enjoys him with the smell of butter. Ways are different for

bhakthaas in enjoying the Lord.

---------

Thats an interesting observation. Like nammAzhvAr says,"avaravar

thamathamadhu ...".

 

--------------

KeNadaiyoNkaNmadavaaL oruththi keezhaiyagaththuth thayirkadaiyak kaNdu

ollai

naanum kadaivan enru kaLLavizhiyai vizhiththup pukku vandamar poonkuzhal

 

thaazhnthu ulaava vaanmugam verppa sevvai thudippa thaN thayir nee

kadainthittavaNNam daamodharaa! meyyarivan naanE! 6-2 PerumaaL

thirumozhi.

---------------

 

This is a marvellous pAsuram. I haven't read much of perumAL

thirumozhi. I understand the 7'th thirumozhi, "aalai n^IL karumbu..." is

very interesting and has a new perspective. Hope you could write about

that too.

 

----------

vaanmugam verppa - the clear blue colour sky like face has sweat drops

appearing- again a classy word- vaan mugam- it is said the Lord has

chandran

and suryan as his eyes -chandra suryou cha nEthrE is the dhyaana slokam

of

sahasranaamam- only a vaanmugam can have chandran and suryan as eyes-

aha

-aha- what a selection of word.

------------

I can understand your elation at the choice of words. I am equally

enjoying it. To imagine kutti kaNNan churning with the drops of sweat on

his forehead is so moving.

 

 

--------

thaN thayir nee kadainthittavaNNam daamodharaa- (here itself KP calls

dhaamOdharan- but MGV reserves this for another part) thaN thayir- chill

 

curd- why thaN thayir- just in front is vaan mugam- that face and eyes

which

showers the whole world all the aruL and karuNai- he is focussing all

his

attention on that curd- the kataaksham is fully on the curd- then what

else

it could be except thaN thayir- chill and cool - nee kadainthittavaNNam

-

the way you churned the curd

----------

The reasoning for "thaN" thayir is so apt. What an awesome vyAkyAnam

by our AchAryAs that adds so many layers of beauty to the original

poetry!

 

----------

meyyarivan naanE- I know the truth- hey krishnaa- I know why you

struggle so

much- hey you want fresh butter only and like it -so you do all this.

Please

have it says KP aaichchi.

--------------

This again is so touching. It is all His. But He took pains of

coming all the way to aayarpaadi, deceive the aayar girl, churn the curd

with his flower like hands, with sweat drops on his forehead and with

his lips twitching.... This is simply beautiful.

 

I am reminded of my thirumaN^gai AzhvAr's description of kaNNan and

veNNai in siRiya thirumadal:

 

-avan kANmin

ooraanirai mEyththu ulagellAm uNdu mizhn^dhum

aaraadha thanmayanAy AN^goru n^AL AyppAdi

sIrAr kalai algul sIradich chen^dhuvar vAy

vArAr vana mulaiyAL maththArap paRRik koNdu

ErAr idai n^Ova eththanaiyOr pOdhumAy

sIrAr thayir kadain^dhu veNNey thiraNdadhanai

vErAr n^udhal madavAL vErOr kalaththittu

n^ArAruri yERRi n^angamaya vaiththadhanai

pOrAr vERkaN madavAL pOn^dhanaiyum poyyuRakkam

OrAdhavan pOl uraN^gi arivuRRu

thArAr thadan^ thOLgaL uLLaLavum kai n^Itti

ArAdha veNNey vizhun^gi - arugirun^dha

mOrAr kudam urutti mun kidan^dha thAnaththE

OrAdhavan pOl kidan^dhAnaik kaNdavaLum

vArAththAn vaiththadhu kANAL -

 

I have separated the words for easier understanding and I didn't

want to write any meanings in between which would obstruct the beautiful

flow of the pAsuram.

 

ooraanirai mEyththu ulagellAm uNdu mizhn^dhum

aaraadha thanmayanAy - Having created the whole world and swallowed it

in its entirety, he wasn't satiated and what did he do? He came down to

AyarpAdi! Look at the sowlabhyam of vibhavam.

 

[...] describes yasOdhai churning the curd

 

vErAr n^udhal madavAL vErOr kalaththittu

n^ArAruRi yERRi n^angamaya vaiththadhanai

Having known kaNNan's tricks, She transferred the butter into a

different container and placed it firmly on a stand (uri, that too

nArAruRi - n^Ar Arn^dha uRi)

 

pOrAr vERkaN madavAL pOn^dhanaiyum poyyuRakkam

OrAdhavan pOl uraN^gi arivuRRu

Our dear kaNNan who was pretending to be sleeping (poy uRakkam),

waited for her to leave and as if he doesn't know anything, approached

the stand (uRi)

 

thArAr thadan^ thOLgaL uLLaLavum kai n^Itti

ArAdha veNNey vizhun^gi

- He himself is so small. Imagine His hands. They will be even

smaller. The butter is inside a huge pot. He started eating butter with

His hands continously that it reached rock bottom. He couldn't reach

anymore. So he tries as far as His shoulders could let him. (The

vyAkyAnam beautifully explains this: Later on His amma comes in and

finds His chAn^dhu marks from his forehead on the brim of the pot. This

would happen only if he had literally tried to 'dive' into the pot!!

thats why 'thadan^ thOLgaL uLLaLavum kai n^Itti')

 

- arugirun^dha

mOrAr kudam urutti mun kidan^dha thAnaththE

OrAdhavan pOl kidan^dhAnaik kaNdavaLum

vArAththAn vaiththadhu kANAL -

 

Having satisfied himself with enough butter, He could've just

retired. Instead He kicked the pot with buttermilk. Who cares for

buttermilk if one had had a sumptuous course of butter! :-) And then, as

if nothing happened, he went back and 'conntinued his 'sleep''.

 

This is such an amazing poetry. We are all so gifted to be able to

enjoy this. Thanks Sri Vasudevan for letting me muse over my dear kaNNan

thro thirumaN^gai mannan.

 

adiyEn

-Viji

(Vijay Triplicane)