command begging

[Guest guest]

Dear SrivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

Generally, when we expect a favour from somebody, that somebody being

a peer, somewhat higher or sometimes even to a lower level person,

either known or unknown to us, we have to

· wait for that person to be in a good mood and then ask for

that favour,

· be submissive to that person,

· plead to him repeatedly to do that favour,

· go to the extent of even begging [beg at least till the

favour is done to us].

 

If, this pleading is to the lord, then we have to be utmost careful,

not only while praying for that favour, but also in the procedural

aspects of that asking also. That is why we have to undergo some

physical strain like

· climbing up the hills,

· undergoing upavaasam, vratham etc.

May be, that is why, many of the holy shrines are kept atop hillocks

or deep inside forests those days. Places like sholingur, ahobilam,

simhaachalam are good examples.

 

But, with my krishNa, no such hardships be undertaken. He

is `sulabhan' – person full of soulabhyam – easiness - a person easy

to approach. In fact, you can even command him, not only him, but

also his mother yasOdhaa. See here in this krithi, how sri

annamaachaarya commands, mother yasOdhaa to favour the bhakthaas

through his son, my Krishna, for the sake of "FAME TO HIM".

 

See here, and dear bhakthaas, you decide whether it is

· a recommendation seeking from mother to ask Krishna to do

something to protect us,

· pleading to the lord's mother indirectly so that at mother's

instructions krishNa will do that protection without any sort of `no'

to it

· a command to his mother, hey ask your boy to do that

· is it an accusation that he is NOT doing anything to us, so

ask him to do something to protect us

· for `his fame only, so if he is famed or not, we are NOT

concerned' sort of thing

· a new style of asking a favour?

 

Now the krithi: raagam: dhEvagaandhaari thaaLam: aadhi

 

pallavi

yasOdhaa nee bidda nEmandhumu

raasikekka mammu rakshinchu manavO [yasOdhaa nee]

 

Meaning: Oh, YasOdhaa! What can we say about your kid [krishNaa]?

Advise Him to protect us, so that, He can gain some glory by such act.

 

charaNam 1

vutlameethatanu unna paalu vennaa

jatla thOdanE saadhimchee

gotlu gottuchu gOpaaLulu dhaanu

atlu thOdanE yaaragincheeni [yasOdhaa nee]

 

Meaning: He is coming in groups and extracting butter and milk from

the "uRi". Patting themselves on their backs and sides (mudhugil

shottu thanakku thane koduththuk koNdu] the gOpaalakaas and, He, that

krishNa, ate all the butter, milk, and sweets.

 

[uRi – in tamil, "vutti" in telugu - those rope hangers, hung from

the roof members, carrying pots of milk, curd, butter, etc, to avoid

the cats ants rats etc in villages.

"atlu" means appam – rice pan cakes, sweet in nature, fully fried in

oil – to describe the sweet in American parlance].

 

charaNam 2

 

jitlu gaakuNta chilu paalu dhEne

thedlathO dhinee dhEvi dhEvi

gutla koladhi kOri mesaguchu

dhidla kanthala dhirugaadeenee [yesOdhaa nee]

 

Meaning: They have eaten / drunk all milk and honey placing them in

leafy cups [or leaf bowls dhonnai – leafs folded to form a cup like

shape] without leaving a single drop. They were making sounds of

eating well. They are eating heaps of butter with great interest and

simply roaming.

 

[while drinking liquids from dhonnai, it is usual that sucking act of

drinking is accompanied by the whirring noise – ur ur – uRinchi

saappiduthal – this is seen sometimes while using the saucer for

drinking tea or coffee also instead of the cup].

 

charaNam 3

paNdlu gaayalunu baanalu veethula

dhoNtlu gaajEsi dhobbi dhobbi

baNtla sree vEnkatapathi alamEl mangathO

yiNdliNdla vaagiNdla nEgE radhivO [yesOdhaa nee]

 

Meaning: They have stolen fruits, tasty vegetables and milk, butter

from the pots, again and again [repeatedly from various houses. pots

= baanalu, pot = baana]. Sri venkatapathi, [who is krishNa to mother

yasOdhaa] belongs to His servants (bantlu), is going to each house,

each doorstep [vaasal], along with Sridevi in doing all these. [oh,

yasOdhaa, advise]

 

Points: 1. Actually these gOpikaas have come to complain that krishNa

along with his friends came, ate all the sweets, drank milk, curd,

honey, ate butter etc, all those kept in the rope hangers. But, see

the style of putting it across. Hey yasOdhaa, ask your Krishna to do

some thing to protect us and not cause damage like this, so that he

gets "name and fame", but not this kind of name and fame of "stealing

butter" – "navaneetha chOran" title etc - which gets him an adverse

publicity. Is it a sympathy on kaNNan? Or is it some thing wanting

from him? Or is it a way of enjoying his leelaas? Oh krishNa ---

 

Point 2. Reference to this uRi is in periyaazhvaar thirumozhi – the

tamil srimadh bhaagavatham at –2-9-9

kannalil attuvaththOdu seedai kaar eLLin uNdai kalaththil ittu

ennagam enRu naan vaiththup pOnthEn ivanpukku avaRRaip peRuththip

pOnthaan

pinnum agam pukku uRiyai nOkkip piRangu oLi veNNaiyum sOdhikkinRaan

un magan thannai yasOdhai nangaai koovik koLLaai ivaiyum silavE

 

see here another point – kannalil attuvaththOdu- kannal is karumbu –

the sugarcane – attu is appam,– the sweet made out of sugar from that

cane – that has become atlu in telugu which annamayya also uses.

seedai – vella seedai [rounded balls of rice flower with sweetness]

 

another ref for uRi – mother yasOdhaa says

karantha naR paalum thayiRum kadainthu uRi mEl vaiththa veNNai

piRanthathuvE

mudhalaagap peRRariyEn empiraanE! periyaazhvaar 2-4-7

 

point 3: on this uRinchudhal – again periyaazhvaar 2-9-3

thiruvudaip piLLaithaan theeyavaaRu thEkkamonRumilan thEsudaiyan

uruga vaiththa kudaththOdu veNNai uRinji udaiththittup pOnthu ninRaan

 

see here "uruga vaiththa veNNai kudaththOdu uRinji udaiththittu" –

the pot containing the ghee – clarified butter – kept in the uRi –

krishNa drank that by sucking and making that `ur ur' sound –

whirring sound while eating – also broke the pot.

 

Point 4: Another reference is there for this `appam' in 10 –5- 5

thirumangai periya thirumozhi

"soththena ninnaith thozhuvan varam thara pEichchi mulai uNda piLLaai

periyana

aaichchiyar appam tharuvar avarkkaagach"

 

kEvalam anRu un vayiRu vayiRRukku naan aval appam tharuvan

karuvaLaip – 10-5-6 thirumangai periya thirumozhi

[this naan aval appam has two or more variants – naan valavappam,

naavalavappam – meaning naaval pazham? and appam and as stated above]

 

Now see the slOkam of sreemadh bhaagavatham slokam 30 chapter 8

dhasama skandham

 

hasthaagraahyE rachayathi vidhim pithakolookhalaadhyais

chidhram hy antar-nihitha-vayoonah sikya-bhaandEshu thadh-vith

dhvaanthagaarE dhrtha-maNi-gaNam svaangam artha-pradheepam

kaalE gOpyO yarhi grha-krthyEshu suvyagra-ciththa: ||

 

meaning: hastha-agraahyE - when the destination is out of the reach

of His hands;

rachayathi - He arranges to make;

vidhim - a means;

pithaka - by wooden planks piled together;

ulookhala-adhyaih - and by overturning the stone mortar for grinding

spices;

chidhram - a hole;

hi - indeed;

antha-nihitha - about the contents of the pot;

vayoona: - with such knowledge;

sikya - hanging by a swing;

bhaaNdeshu - in the pots;

thath-vith - expert in that knowledge, or in full knowledge;

dhvantha-agaarE — in a very dark room;

dhrtha- maNi – gaNam - because of being decorated with valuable

jewels;

sva-angam - His own body;

artha-pradheepam - is the light required for seeing in darkness;

kale - after that, in due course of time;

gOpyaa: --the elderly gopis;

yarhi - as soon as;

grha-krthyEshu - in discharging household affairs;

suvyagra-chiththa: - are busily engaged.

 

Meaning: When the milk and curd are kept high on a swing hanging from

the ceiling and Krsna and Balarama cannot reach it, They arrange to

reach it by piling up various planks and turning upside down the

mortar for grinding spices. Being quite aware of the contents of a

pot, They pick holes in it. While the elderly gopis go about their

household affairs, Krsna and Balarama sometimes go into a dark room,

brightening the place with the valuable jewels and ornaments on Their

bodies and taking advantage of this light by stealing.

 

More or less the above slOkam is translated into tamil as by

periyaazhvaar – 1-9-7

 

poththavuralaik kavizhththu adhan mElEri thiththiththa paalum

thadaavinil

veNNaiyum meththa thiru vayiru aara vizhungiya aththan -

 

Meaning: The mortar, which has a hole in the centre, is turned upside

down, and used as a stool to reach the rope hanger. Then milk, butter

are swallowed nicely contained in these pots. [in the villages over

the ural a stone ring called vayOdu is used. This is to increase the

flexibility of operation and to avoid spillage of materials in dry

condition. When wet grinding is done this extra piece is kept aside.

That piece is used by Krishna as stool because it is of less weight

and a child can also handle it.]

 

But as per annamayya who is that who has done all this – it is sree

vEnkatapathi – that thirumalai appan – sree nivaasan - goes to each

and every house with that `sree' `dhEvi' in his vaksha sthalam and

does all this.

 

Oh what a great krithi - if I say, annamayya has done a telugu

translation of sreemadh bhaagavatham slokam given here as a krithi,

will it be too much?

 

Dhaasan

 

Vasudevan m.g.