doubt about the nAmam "upEndra"

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Dear Members,

For a long time, I had this doubt.. I request bhagawathas

to shed some light on this.

The nAmam "upEndra" is interpreted in two different and opposite

ways.

1. When referring to Sri vAmanA, upEndra means "younger to Indra"

since He was born to adhithi dEvi as younger son after Indra.

2. In Srimad Vishnu Puranam, there is an anecdote about Indra waging

war against Sri Krishna when sathyabhAmA, the consort of latter,

wished to take the dEva pArijAtha vr~ksham from Indra lOkam and plant

in dwArakA and hence Sri Krishna boards his vimAnam with the vr~ksham

on his return from Indra lOkA. After Indra gets defeated in this war,

he himself comes forward and hands over the vr~ksham to Sri Krishna

and prays to the Lord by addressing him as "upEndra" which here in

this context means, "above Indra".

If I am correct, even in Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, this nAmam is

interpreted as per the second meaning above. I couldn't readily

search Sri Narasimhan Krishnamachari's Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam

posting on this nAmam.

 

My doubt is "a word can be interpreted in two different ways..

but can the two ways be totally opposite as in this case?".. In

tamizh, "upa thalaivar" means a deputy leader.

 

Sorry, if this doubt sounds naive.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

adiyEn,

chandrasekaran.