presentable krishna - post 2

[Guest guest]

Post 2

 

Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

We saw in the previous post that mother yasOdhaa received lot of gifts from

important personalities. These gifts were very special etc. If all these are put

on my krishNa naturally his "presentable-ity" [which is our topic of discussion]

would have been marvelous. But, please see what this person has to say on

krishNa's "presentable-ity".

 

skanDhaavaara sadhOprajaa: kathipayE gOpassahaayaadhaya:

skanDhaa lambini vathsa dhaamni Dhanadha gOpaanganaa:

srungaaraa girigairikam siva siva sreemanthi bahiNi cha

srungapraahrikayaa thathhaapi thadhidham praahusthri lOkEswaram

- 3 -61 leelaa sukhar in his krishNa karNamrutham

 

Meaning:

1. The people of his sovereign are residing in huts [no bungalows or highly

decorated structures].

2. Few cowherds are the companions [no royal council of ministers and advisers

like sree raama, who had 8 ministers and 8 members of super cabinet consisting

of highly respected rishis].

3. The garland, dangling in the neck and lying on the chest, is the rope used to

tie the calf. [No gold or diamond studded stuff which were received as gifts]

4. The people who pay the royalty to the king are all women cowherds. [no minor

kingdoms or minor kings queuing up to pay royalty except women who pay butter

and milk as the royalty]

5. The facial decoration is done with the red earth like material available in

the hills. The hair decoration is done with peacock feathers [just see - the

king's royal decoration with red earth and peacock feathers - no costly diamond

studded gold jewels or rare materials like ivory and such stuff].

6. The royal weapon is the "stick to drive cows". [no "ratha gaja thuraga

padhaadhi" - no chariots, elephants, horses and men - the 4 types of army

deployed those days - nor the present day "uniformed" defense forces with

sophisticated weapons like present day nuclear missiles etc]

7. Then also this person [or substance] is called the hero [the eeswaran] of all

the three worlds - oh, oh, what a state of affairs?

 

Now this verse gives an impression and leads to few questions.

 

Q no. 1: Does that mean mother [or mother aazhvaar who spelt all those

descriptions] has NOT used all the gifts received on the child to make him

presntable - attractive.

 

Q no 2: Is it that the mother [aazhvaar] has just boasted about her son's glory

to create an impression that he is supreme lord.

 

Q no.3: Is that this bhakthaa is "presenting" the other side of my krishNa.

 

So let us try to analyse by answering these questions one by one.

 

1.For Q 1 the answer is "Mother has definitely used all these gifts.

[Dear bhakthaas - I know you will immediately ask evidence about this. So here

it is].

Point a.

than mugaththuch chutti thoongath thoonga thavazhnthu pOi

ponmugak kiNkiNi aarppa 1-4-1

 

meaning: the chutti head gear, kiNkiNi the sound producing / making bells in

jewels in waist, anklets etc are making noise while he moves here and there

crawling.

 

Point b.

sengamalak kazhalil siRRidhazhpOl viralil sEr thigazh aazhigaLum

kiNkiNiyum araiyil thangiya pon vadamum thaaLa

nan maadhuLaiyin poovodu ponmaNiyum

modhiramum kiRiyum mangala aimpadaiyum thOLvaLaiyum kuzhaiyum

makaramum vaaLigaLum chuttiyum oththu ilaga - 1-5-10

 

meaning: child krishNa crawls or moves with a big list of jewels

* in the legs the anklets,

* in the fingers rings,

* bell inserted jewels in the legs,

* in the waist gold band, that band which also has pomegranate flower shaped

insertions of gold,

* that 5 part jewel named aimpadaith thaali,

* bangles in upper arms,

* ear studs,

* bangles in the fore arms,

* chutti the head gear etc.

 

Point c:

maaNikkak kiNkiNi aarppa marungin mEl

aaNip ponnaal seidha aaip ponnudai maNi

pEnip pavala vaai muththu ilanga 1-6-1

 

meaning: The red ruby studded bells, making jingling sounds in the pure gold

waist band; the small white teeth in the red mouth resembles pearls set in coral

---

 

Point d:

pon arai naaNodu maaNikkak kiNkiNi

than araiyaadath thanich chutti thaazhnthu aada - 1-6-2

 

meaning: the ruby studded bells in the gold loin girdle being worn, the head

gear chutti just dances a little lower near the face - he the krishNa moves.

 

Point e:

thodar sangiligai salaar pilaar ennath thoongu pon maNi olippa padu mummadhap

punal sOra vaaraNam paiya ninRu oorvadhu pOl udan koodik kiNkiNi aaravaarippa

udaimaNi paRai kiRanga - 1-7-1

 

meaning: the chains which are hanging in the neck are making noise like salaar

pilaar - because he moves crawling - so chains move sideways etc making noise.

The gold bells which otherwise sleeps when he is not moving also makes noise,

how the elephant moves when he is in madham - with the flow of that madha neer -

similarly krishNa also drips water from mouth since he is small child crawling

- the kiNkiNi - the bells make jingling sounds, the bells in attached to the

cloths also makes jingling noise because of the bells attached. Oh what a scene

child krishna black in colour moving -

 

Point f:

akku vadam uduththu aamaith thaali pooNda anantha sayanan 1-7-2

 

meaning: that ananth sayanan - naaraayanan who has come as krishNa with the

bangles in upper arms, the aamaith thaali ia another jewel in the chest.

 

Point g:

kiNkiNi katti kiRi katti kaiyinil kangaNamittu kazhuththil thodar katti - 1-9-2

 

meaning: the jewel making sound is adorned, kiri is a bangles with corals,

kankanam is bangles, chain in the neck is called thodar here.

 

Point h:

mother claims an exclusive identity - if this sound or noise is raised by

somebody coming then it is my son -

Oda Odak kiNkiNigaL olikkum Osaip paaNiyaalE paadip paadi varuginRaayaip

paRmanaabhan enRu irunthEn - 2-2-10

 

As the child krishNa moves, the noise from the bells attached to kiNkiNi makes a

unique sound which identifies that krishNa alone is coming - referred as

padhmanaabhan - one who has a lotus flower in his naval.

 

Point i:

valli nuN idhazh anna aadai koNdu vasai aRath thiruvarai viriththu uduththu

palli nuN paRRaaga udai vaaL saaththip paNaik kachchu undhip pala thazhai naduvE

3-4-2

 

meaning: the dress worn by krishNa is like a leaf in a tender creeper, that it

is no nicely dressed into folds etc, in the kachchu - the cloth worn like abelt

has a small knife, which is so close and firmly attached in the folds that it

is like a lizard hanging in a wall, also added is a top cloth - kachchu -

further this also folded in layers so nicely.

 

Dear bhakthaas - all these show that the mother has used the gifts received to

decorate my krishNa so nicely. But it is all when the child is crawling and not

while walking or running here and there - for now every body in the village

lifts him and takes away. Further he also has started walking into forests with

the aim of grazing the calves while seniors are grazing the cows.

 

So it is not a boasting on her part. So Q 2 is also answered.

 

So same mother now says

vElikkOl vetti viLaiyaadu vil ERRI

thaalik kozhunthaith thadam kazhuththil pooNdu

peelith thazhaiyaip piNaiththup piragu ittu

kaalip pin pOvOrku Or kOl koNdu vaa

kadal niRa vaNnaRku Or kOl koNdu vaa 2-6-1

 

meaning: mother says to the crow - he has a small stick in Y shape to use as a

bow, a green creeper is worn as a garland in the chest, the peacock feathers are

in the head like a kreetam - crown, this person also goes behind the calves - so

bring a stick, hey crow - bring a stick [to this person].

 

Now the story is very clear - oh - this bhakthaa who described the krishNa in a

different tone as stated in the beginning of this post has taken cue from here.

So nothing new - he is not presenting a new thing but what the mother aazhvaar -

periyaazhvaar has said only - is put in the poet's own style - nindhaa sthuthi.

 

So, krishNa in whatever dress - his "presentable-ity" is in the person and not

in the materials worn by him. That point is amply clear.

 

Also krishNa in any form adorable praise worthy for his bhakthaas. So let us

also join these bhakthaas in enjoying such a "presentable krishna".

 

Dhasan

 

Vasudevan m.g.