Thirumaalai-68

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

“ Mattrondrum vEinda Maname Madhilarangar

Kattrinum meitha kazhalinai keezh- uttra

Thirumaalai paadum seer Thondaradipodi Emperumaanai

Eppozhudum peesu”

 

“ Srimat Krishna samahvaya Namo yaamuna soonave

yetkadAkshai kalakshyAnAm sulabha: Sridara: sadaa”

 

Pranams,

 

Paasuram-45 (Last paasuram)

 

“valavezhum tavalamAda madurai maa nagaranthannul

kavalamAl yAnai kondra kannanai arangamAlai

tuvalath thondAya tholseer thondaradi podi sol

elaiya pun kavidhai yElum empirArkku eniyavArE.”

 

valavezhum tavalamAda madurai maa nagaranthannul: The leelAs of emperuman are

unpredictable by ordinary people. In the last paasuram alwar talked about

bhagavan coming running to the call of an elephant, gajendran. Immediately

alwar remembers about another elephant, which was killed by bhagavan,

kuvalayApeedam, during the krishnAvatAram. In this paasuram he talks about the

same. Krishna was the eighth child of Devaki. According to the asereeree voice

kamsan heard on the wedding of devaki, this child will kill him. So kamsan

planned to kill krishna before he could grow up. So kamsan arranged for a danur

yAgam and invited Krishna and balarama also to the festival. He had actually

planned to kill the two boys during the festival.

 

First kamsa kept a furious elephant at the entrance and ordered the keeper to be

alert. When Krishna and balaram came the elephant should pounce on them and

kill them. But the reverse happened. For sometime, Krishna played with the

elephant and then finally he killed it and Krishna and balaram entered the

festive ground with the tusk of the elephant in their hands held over their

shoulders.

 

Mathura even today has its speciality since it was the birthplace of our kutti

kannan. Alwar says, ‘tavalamAda’ –the palaces in madurai were made of marbles.

It was a big and rich city.

 

kavalamAl yAnai kondra kannanai arangamAlai: The big elephant which was

standing fully decorated and eating the sugarcane put for it was actually a fake

instrument to kill Krishna and balaram. Gajendra was a bhAgavatan so perumal

came running to save him. But this elephant was a cheat and wanted to kill

perumal and hence perumal killed it even before it can try doing anything. That

is the nature of bhagavan. If we show love towards him he reflects the same but

at the same time if we show hatred he becomes furious. Arjunan fell under

krishna’s feet so he did everything to save him but duriyOdhana put a false seat

to Krishna (pandava dhoodha) and hence Krishna played all tricks to make

duriyOdhana loose.

 

While telling about the elephant alwar says, “valavezhum tavalamAda madurai maa

nagaranthannul kavalamAl yAnai” but the same alwar doesn’t explain much about

how Krishna killed it because how much ever big the elephant may appear to

others Krishna is capable of killing it just in a second and hence alwar just

finishes saying, “kondra”. It was killed, that’s it. Such a big work has been

done so easily. That is natural for bhagavan. Even after seeing this great

work, the paratvam of bhagavan alwar doesn’t say perumal or bhagavan etc he says

only “kannanai”. Our alwars and acharyas when they talk about Sri rAma piran,

never utter his name even by mistake. They either say perumAl or chakravarthi

thirumagan. But when it comes to krishnAvatAram they never even by mistake say

perumal they call him only as Krishnan, kannan, kutti kannan etc. This is due

to the sowlabhyam showed by Krishnan. Even when they say, Sri nandagOpa kumaran

the ‘Sri’ is only for nandan and not Krishnan.

 

Let us enjoy the last part of the last paasuram in the final posting in this

series.

 

(To be continued)

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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