kapAla-mOksham

[Guest guest]

The gesture of Sri ananta-padmanAbha-p-perumAL patting the 'lingam'

representation of rudra-dEva is explained in the ' tiru-vAi-mozhi ' decad ("

keDum iDAr Aya-vellAm kESavA enna !") . The episode ( ' aitihyam ' ) is

narrated in extenso in the padma-purANam.

 

As it goes, rudra-dEva had, in rage, yanked off one of the heads of

brahma-dEva and forthwith caught the ' fratricide' curse of ' brahma-hatyA '.

The skull ( ' brahma-kapAlam ' ) stuck to his hand and Sri kESava got

Sri-dEvi to drop alms of rice into the skull, and the skull fell off, thus

ending the agony of rudra-dEva.

 

The Lord's grace was manifested in vAraNAsi, where there is a not-well-known

shrine dedicated to Sri kESava, and where Sri-dEvi is known as '

anna-pooraNee '. The spot where the skull dropped off is known (even

to-day) as ' kapAl-mOksh ' ghAT in vAraNAsi. AzhvAr has recalled the

episode in the lines

 

"kumaranAr tAtai-tunnbam tuDaitta emm gOvindanArE !" and

 

"kapAla-nan-mOkkattu-k kaNDu-koNminn !"

 

This episode is also commemorated in the name of the Lord,

hara-SApa-mOchana-p-perumAL in tiru-viNNARRan-karai in the outskirts of

tanjAvUr, a corruption of the Tamil word ' tanjam ' (= refuge) granted to

rudra-dEva. The tAyAr is named ' tanjam ' .

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan, tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan.

 

Wed, 28 Jun 2000 20:16:56 -0000

DeeMurali

Anantha Padhmanabha Swamy

 

Devareer,

 

I need clarification from the learned Bhavathals of this sadhas regarding the

statue of Lingam found under the palm of Sri Anantha Padhmanabha Swamy

moorthis. What is the aidheeham behind it?

 

Adiyen,

Muralidharan Desikachari.

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagawathas,

I have a doubt regarding annapUrnI of vArANasi. I have come across

atleast two instances of slOkAs/compositions on Sri annapUrNI which

connotes that the dEvi is Sri pArvathi. Please don't mistake me. I am

not trying to start an argument in this regard. This is just an

attempt to clear my long doubt. One instance is the slOkA which goes

as "annapUrNE sadhA pUrNE Sankhara prANa vallabhE ....." and ends as

"bhikshAm dhEhI cha pArvathI mAtha" ...

Another instance is a dIkshitar krithi in sAma rAgam.

The anupallavi vAkhyam goes as "pannagAbharaNa rAgni purANi

paramESwari viSwESwari bhAskari" and charaNam ends as "guruguha

sAdharE".. May be knowledgeable members can comment on the inner

meanings behind these two instances.

 

Thanks for your understanding.

adiyEn,

chandrasekaran.

 

 

bhakti-list , Tssundararajan@a... wrote:

> The gesture of Sri ananta-padmanAbha-p-perumAL patting the 'lingam'

> representation of rudra-dEva is explained in the ' tiru-vAi-

mozhi ' decad ("

> keDum iDAr Aya-vellAm kESavA enna !") . The episode ( '

aitihyam ' ) is

> narrated in extenso in the padma-purANam.

>

> As it goes, rudra-dEva had, in rage, yanked off one of the heads of

> brahma-dEva and forthwith caught the ' fratricide' curse of '

brahma-hatyA '.

> The skull ( ' brahma-kapAlam ' ) stuck to his hand and Sri

kESava got

> Sri-dEvi to drop alms of rice into the skull, and the skull fell

off, thus

> ending the agony of rudra-dEva.

>

> The Lord's grace was manifested in vAraNAsi, where there is a not-

well-known

> shrine dedicated to Sri kESava, and where Sri-dEvi is known as '

> anna-pooraNee '. The spot where the skull dropped off is known

(even

> to-day) as ' kapAl-mOksh ' ghAT in vAraNAsi. AzhvAr has recalled

the

> episode in the lines

>

> "kumaranAr tAtai-tunnbam tuDaitta emm gOvindanArE !" and

>

> "kapAla-nan-mOkkattu-k kaNDu-koNminn !"

>

> This episode is also commemorated in the name of the Lord,

> hara-SApa-mOchana-p-perumAL in tiru-viNNARRan-karai in the

outskirts of

> tanjAvUr, a corruption of the Tamil word ' tanjam ' (= refuge)

granted to

> rudra-dEva. The tAyAr is named ' tanjam ' .

>

> aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan, tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan.

>

> Wed, 28 Jun 2000 20:16:56 -0000

> DeeMurali

> Anantha Padhmanabha Swamy

>

> Devareer,

>

> I need clarification from the learned Bhavathals of this sadhas

regarding the

> statue of Lingam found under the palm of Sri Anantha Padhmanabha

Swamy

> moorthis. What is the aidheeham behind it?

>

> Adiyen,

> Muralidharan Desikachari.

[Guest guest]

Sri Chandrasekaran has done well to seek the clarification on the name

'anna-pooraNee'. He has cited two texts to identify the name as that of

pArvati-dEvi, viz.

< the slOkA which goes as "annapUrNE sadhA pUrNE..." and ends as

<"bhikshAm dhEhI cha pArvathI mAtha" ...

and

<Another instance is a dIkshitar krithi ...

 

In order to consider a text, theological interpretation or an episode,

the source is to be clearly identified, and that from a critical edition of

historically and linguistically correlated, corroborated and empirically

verified facts. I believe that 'the slOkA which goes as "annapUrNE..."'

is attributed to Sri Sankara-bhagavat-pAda, but I go by the reasoned

conclusion of Winternitz and RD Bhandarkar (one should be able to

look up their works in a good library) that Sri bhagavat-pAda's

commentaries on 'prasthAna-trayam' and vishNu-sahasra-nAmam

alone constitute his genuine works that are available.

The second reference, the 'kr.ti' of deekshitar, is not a basis of

verification at all, being a populist and eclectic composition.

Going by the purpose and limitations of the 'bhakti-list' postings,

I desist from further comment on these two references.

 

It is possible that a large number of people to-day identify the name

'anna-pooraNee' with pArvati-dEvi, rather than with Sri-dEvi as

identified in padma-purANam. There is the same popular belief that

'naTa-rAja' connotes rudra-dEva, rather than kr.shNa who is known

as 'naT-var-laal madana-gOpaal' in north India. I had once to point out

in a discussion that Sanskrit literature was rich with lyrical accounts of

the dance of kr.shNa, as was the classical sangham and post-sangham

Tamil literature which are anterior to the Later Cholas (of the tenth

and eleventh centuries, especially Rajaraja) who were the ones to

evolve the (deservedly famous) metal iconography of rudra-naTarAja.

 

To revert to 'anna-pooraNee', there is no support from the large book

of ' kASee-khaNDam ' (included in the skanda-purANam, the most

massive of the eighteen purANam-s) for attributing the name to

pArvati-dEvi. Nor does this purANam (if my memory does not fail me)

link 'naTarAja' with rudra-dEva or identify skanda with su-brahmaNya,

the name included in the vishNu-sahasra-nAmam, the only authentic

hymn of its kind.

 

I offer these references just to re-inform the 'bhakti-list' friends like

Sri Chandrasekaran Venkatraman of what they would already know.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan, tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thu, 29 Jun 2000 19:44:26 -0000

"Chandrasekaran Venkatraman" <vchandra

Re: kapAla-mOksham

 

Dear Bhagawathas,

I have a doubt regarding annapUrnI of vArANasi. I have come across

atleast two instances of slOkAs/compositions on Sri annapUrNI which

connotes that the dEvi is Sri pArvathi. Please don't mistake me. I am

not trying to start an argument in this regard. This is just an

attempt to clear my long doubt.

One instance is the slOkA which goes as "annapUrNE sadhA pUrNE Sankhara prANa

vallabhE ....." and ends as "bhikshAm dhEhI cha pArvathI mAtha" ...

Another instance is a dIkshitar krithi in sAma rAgam. The anupallavi vAkhyam

goes as "pannagAbharaNa rAgni purANi paramESwari viSwESwari bhAskari"

and charaNam ends as "guruguha sAdharE".. May be knowledgeable members

can comment on the inner meanings behind these two instances.

 

Thanks for your understanding. adiyEn, chandrasekaran.

 

bhakti-list , Tssundararajan@a... wrote:

> The gesture of Sri ananta-padmanAbha-p-perumAL patting the 'lingam'

> representation of rudra-dEva is explained in the ' tiru-vAi-mozhi ' decad

>("keDum iDAr Aya-vellAm kESavA enna !") . The episode ( ' aitihyam ' ) is

> narrated in extenso in the padma-purANam.

>

> As it goes, rudra-dEva had, in rage, yanked off one of the heads of

> brahma-dEva and forthwith caught the ' fratricide' curse of ' brahma-hatyA

'.

> The skull ( ' brahma-kapAlam ' ) stuck to his hand and Sri kESava got

> Sri-dEvi to drop alms of rice into the skull, and the skull fell off,

>thus ending the agony of rudra-dEva.

>

> The Lord's grace was manifested in vAraNAsi, where there is a

>not-well-known shrine dedicated to Sri kESava, and where Sri-dEvi is known

>as ' anna-pooraNee '. The spot where the skull dropped off is known

>(even to-day) as ' kapAl-mOksh ' ghAT in vAraNAsi.

>AzhvAr has recalled the episode in the lines

>

> "kumaranAr tAtai-tunnbam tuDaitta emm gOvindanArE !" and

>

> "kapAla-nan-mOkkattu-k kaNDu-koNminn !"

>

> This episode is also commemorated in the name of the Lord,

> hara-SApa-mOchana-p-perumAL in tiru-viNNARRan-karai in the

> outskirts of tanjAvUr, a corruption of the Tamil word

> ' tanjam ' (= refuge) granted to > rudra-dEva. The tAyAr is named '

tanjam ' .

>

> aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan, tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan.

>

> Wed, 28 Jun 2000 20:16:56 -0000

> DeeMurali

> Anantha Padhmanabha Swamy

>

> Devareer,

>

> I need clarification from the learned Bhavathals of this sadhas

> regarding the statue of Lingam found under the palm of

> Sri Anantha Padhmanabha Swamy moorthis. What is the aidheeham behind it?

>

> Adiyen, > Muralidharan Desikachari.

[Guest guest]

bhakti-list , "Chandrasekaran Venkatraman"

<vchandra@a...> wrote:

> Another instance is a dIkshitar krithi in sAma rAgam.

> The anupallavi vAkhyam goes as "pannagAbharaNa rAgni purANi

> paramESwari viSwESwari bhAskari" and charaNam ends as "guruguha

> sAdharE"..

 

A minor correction.

 

I am advised that the Dikshitar kriti sahityam reads "... paramEswari

viswEswari bhAsvarI".

 

Thanks and Warm Regards,

 

LS