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Post 4

 

Dear sri vaishNavap perunthagaiyeer,

 

In his article `Rope trick' our dear sri sadagopan iyengar swamin of

coimbatore wrote -- quote -- "Here is the beautiful slokam from

YAdavAbhyudayam, with a bewitching pen-portrait of this endearing

episode —

"Aneetam agrE nija bandanArttham dAmAkhilam samhitamapi apoorNam

vilOkya nirviNna dhiyO jananyA: sankOcha shaktyA sa babhoova badhya:"

 

The last two words, "babhoova badhya:" are extremely significant --

Rather than giving Yasoda the credit for tying Him up, Swami Desikan

highlights His soulabhyam, with the indication that He permitted

Himself to be tied-up. It was Emperuman's idea in the first place to

get tied up and thereby display His susceptibility to the Bonds of

Love, says Sri Madhurakavi — "KattuNNa PaNNiya Peru MAyan" — unquote

 

I would like to add, it is just the words of sri sukhar put in swamy

desikan's own style – for many a times swamy followed his poorvars -

literally - as we could see from this srimadh bhaagavatham slOkam -

slokam 19

sva-maathu: svinna-gaathraya visrastha-kabaara-sraja:

dhrshtva parisramam krshNa: krpayaa aaseeth sva-bandhanE ||

meaning: Because of mother YasOdhaa's hard labor, her whole body

became covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were

falling from her hair. When child KrishNa saw His mother thus

fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound.

 

See sukha maharshi says "sva maathu: parisramam dhrishtvaa sva

bhandhanE krupaya aaseeth" swamy desikan says – "jananyA: vilOkya sa

badhya babhoova:". Is there any difference? No sirs and madams.

 

That is further reinforced by next slOkam - Slokam 20 ch 9 10th canto

srimadh bhaagavatham -

na imam virinchO na bhavO na sri: api anga-samsraya |

prasaadham lEbhirE gOpi yath thath praapa vimukthidhath ||

 

meaning: Neither Lord Brahma, nor Lord Siva, nor even the goddess of

fortune – viz - sri mahaa lakshmi, who is always the better half of

the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Personality of Godhead,

the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by

mother YasOdha.

 

Those `krpayaa sva bhandhanE aaseeth' or `sa badhya babhoova' or

something else – words simply pour out that "specialty" of yasOdhaa's

binding of krishNa by rope. See here that act of mother and son – or

is it that son only? – krishNa – for mother is also a tool for him to

prove certain aspects - being described as "dhaamOdhara vaibhavam" –

by that staunch Krishna bhakthaa – ooththukkadu venkata subbu iyer.

 

Now enjoy the krithi and its meaning:

Krithi : dhaamOdhara vaibhavam raagam: dhEva manOhari

thaaLam: aadhi thaaLam

 

pallavi:

dhaamOdhara vaibhavam para thaththuvamOdu niththiyamaana

saththiya neRi sidhDhigaLoDu iNangi niRRadhu thayir kadaiyum

oru kayiRRukkuLLa eyiRRaik - kaattiyum kattup pattadhu -

[dhaamOdhara vaibhavam]

 

meaning: that supreme truth, supreme regulation, [viz. krishNa] with

all its eternal philosophy and realizations agreed to stand by, to be

bound by a rope that is used for churning curd – that rope showing

its teeth in the body of that supreme – oh - this is all "dhaamOdhara

vaibhavam" – the glory of dhaamodharan – one who has rpe marks in the

stomach.

 

anupallavi:

thaamOdum vijayark-koru geethai

avan thambikkuth-thambiyaark-kattuNdadhO kaadhai

nEmaadhigaL Emaarum ippOdhai niRka

vaiththuk-katti vittaaL annai yasOdhai -- [dhaamOdhara vaibhavam ]

 

meaning: A geethaa for his close running mate vijayan – arjunan. Yet

another story is that he, this supreme, was bound by another younger

brother of brother to arjunan [viz. arjuna's younger brother `s young

one – means sahadhevan]. That `time' etc will get tricked by

this `limitless'. YasOdhaa made that `supreme' to stand and bound

with rope. Of what a vaibhavam – grandeur.

 

charaNam:

aravak-kodiyOnum kattip-paarththaan

aghaasuran nenjukkuLLE vaiththaan

kuroorannaik-kalaththinuL vaiththaaL

andhak-kOlaahalam ellaam ik-kuthoohalaththaik-kEttuththaan --

[dhaamOdhara vaibhavam]

 

meaning: aravak kodiyOn – dhuryOdhanan tried to bind. Aghaasuran –

who came as a big snake kept in his throat. That witch mother

poothana kept him in her milk pot – viz- her poisoned breasts. All

these specials are after this only. Of what a vaibhavam – grandeur.

 

[may be the translation is poor- please excuse me for that. Enjoy the

krithi]

 

Points:

1. The raagam is dhEva manOhari - dhEvan is krishNan. manohari –

is a lady who steals the heart of the person standing in front. here

krishna's, the dhEvan's heart is stolen by yasOdhaa – the mother by

her parisramam as sukhar puts it – by her hard and sincere effort to

tie him – the child krishNa. Raagam selection itself is a granduer –

vaibhavam.

 

2. vaibhava in sanskrit means – glory – glory of dhamOdhara here.

See monier williams dictionary gives following meanings for vaibhava

vaibhava n. (fr. vi-bhava) might, power (ifc. f. ā)

• high position, greatness Kāv. Kathās. &c

• superhuman power or might MW

• grandeur, glory, magnificance Kathās

 

3. See the number of superlatives used in identifying krishNa -

or the way the composer OVS identifies krishNa –

para thaththuvam – the supreme philosophy

niththiyam aana – the eternal

saththiya neRi - the truth and dharmam personified

sidhDhigaLoDu – the results which could be perceived

iNangi niRRadhu – all combined and stood simply in unison

– all these superlatives combined together in personification

as Krishna stood in front of that dheva Manohari yasOdhaa

 

4. nema aadhiGal EmaaRum ippOdhai – what is nEma? Again monier

williams gives following

néma mfn. (fr. [na +ima] [?]

• loc. nêmasmin nom. pl. néme and ○mās, cf. Pāṇ. 1-1, 33)

one,

several

• néma-néma, the one-the other RV. (unaccented, vi, 16, 18)

• (ibc.) half (cf. Nir. iii, 20)

• m. N. of a Ṛishi with the patr. Bhārgava (author of RV. viii, 89)

• (only L.) portion

• time

• limit

• boundary

• the foundation of a wall (cf. nemí)

• a hole

• upper part, above

• deceit

• acting, dancing

• evening

• a √

• food, rice ; n. a partic. high number Buddh. [Cf. Zd. naima.]

 

So can we take that `one and several' as the meaning. Perhaps that

suits. Or that time limit etc – all these got cheated now - ippOdhai –

in front of yasodhaa when lord stood – agreed to be bound – what it

means – the limitless being bound to limits – EmaaRum ippOdhu – got

deceived? Yes. Otherwise can you just think of this act of binding

the boundless in a boundary? Oh what a great way to put it across by

the poet. Words come and sit in position to describe that boundless

Krishna being bound.

 

You should not think for the tamil word nEmam why to refer Monier

Williams Sanskrit dictionary. In tamil also nEmam gives the meaning

rule or boundary or limit. May be an adopted word from Sanskrit.

 

5. "Podhu" also means "flowers" – krishNa, that blue flower –

neela malar - ippOdhai niRka vaiththuk-katti vittaaL annai yasOdhai -

this flower was bound with a rope by mother yasodhaa like a garland.

[OVS gives that title - neela malar to krishNa in another krithi –

neela malark kola ezhil kaNdu en nenjam niraivaanadhE in vasanthaa

raga krithi].

Dear sirs, it is not my imagination to give this interpretation for

the word – `pOdhu' as flower – but taken from thondaradip podi

aazhvaar. In thirumaalai he says that

pOdhu ellaam pOdhu kondu un ponnadi punaiya maattEn – thirumaalai -

paasuram 26.

Meaning - I will not do worship to your feet all the time with

flowers.

 

6. Other binding trials from aghaasuran, dhuryOdhanan, poothana

are all trials learnt from this binding only - places the poet. May

be time wise poothana is the first, but poets have liberties to place

them anywhere as they please.

 

That vaibhavam – granduer -of this world – of mother tying my lord

krishNa - is picturised here in a different way – saying that

is "kattuthaRi" – trap or ways and means of binding that young

elephant krishNa -

 

ulookalam vaa yaminaam manO vaa

gOpa anganaanaam kuchakutmalam va |

muraari naamna: kalabhasya noonam

aalaanam aaseeth thrayam Eva bhoomou || 2-56 leelaa sukhar in krishNa

karnaamrutham

 

meaning: One thing is sure in this world – for that calf of the

elephant – named Krishna – these have become the `kattuth thaRi' –

the trap or entangling chain or the place or shed for tying elephant –

viz.

§ the grinding stone

§ the hearts of yOgees

§ the bosoms of the gOpees which appear like blossoming flower

buds

 

Let us all bind that blue flower or young elephant krishNa in our

hearts with our love. [concluded]

 

dhaasan

 

vasudevan m.g.