Fw: Fun with a Pun

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- sadagopan

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Friday, August 26, 2005 9:13 PM

Fun with a Pun

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Fun with a Pun

 

All of us envy poets. They are facile communicators, often converting

prosaic matters into exciting ones. What the rest of us say in pages

of verbose prose, these gifted poets manage to convey in a few

well-chosen words. On the other hand, the simplest and shortest of

tales is often spun out by them into works of epic proportions,

adding to the enjoyment and entertainment of readers. Exaggeration,

embellishment, flowery styles, ornamentation—all these are poets’ own

strategies, which endear them to connoisseurs of literature.

 

If these are the accomplishments of even mundane poets, need we say

anything about the distinction of divine bards? Sri Valmiki, the

venerated Azhwars, Acharyas from Sri Alavandar to Swami Desikan and

Sri Manavala Mamunigal, have all resorted to poetry to portray their

devotion and to enlighten ignorant mortals. What sounds good in prose

sounds even better and appealing in poetry, as any litterateur would

attest.

 

While poets employ numerous creative strategies to capture the heart

of the reader, the one adopted by Sri Venkataadhvari Kavi of

Arasaanipaalai, is indeed interesting. He creates two fictitious

characters in his “Visva Gunaadarsa Champoo”, two Gandharvaas by name

Krisaanu and Visvaavasu. These celestials travel in the skies,

commenting upon various places and people of interest they observe on

different parts of earth. Krisaanu is a die-hard cynic, finding only

black spots in whatever and whomever he sees, while Visvaavasu sees

only the positive side of things. Together, the pair serves to bring

out various facts about people and places, with Krisaanu listing out

their shortcomings and Visvaavasu their plus points. The tirades of

Krisaanu the disparager, often serve to emphasize the good things in

men and matters.

 

Let us enjoy what the pair has to say about Sri Krishna, while the

Gandharvas’ flight takes them over Mathura.

 

Speaking of the Yamuna, Visvaavasu pays obeisance, to the river which

has been sanctified by the embrace of Sri Krishna (“tooya peru neer

Yamunai turaivan”), to the Gopis inhabiting the sand dunes of the

river, waiting patiently for Krishna to come and hold them in His

strong arms, and to Sri Krishna Himself, who is the object of these

Gopis’ undying adoration.

 

Intervening, the detractor Krisaanu tells Visvaavasu to halt his

praise of Krishna, who is at best a terrible thief and cheat, a

Casanova trifling with the affections of Gopis. To illustrate

Krishna’s duplicity, Krisaanu quotes two instances, where He took

advantage of word play, to do exactly the opposite of what He was

told to do.

 

Sri Krishna has the habit of barging into other people’s homes,

appropriating for His own use the pots of butter, milk and curds

gathered by Gopis with considerable strain and labour. Adding insult

to injury, He not only consumes all these delicacies, but also bangs

down the empty pots with considerable force, shattering them to

pieces. His raids are not only nocturnal, but carried out brazenly in

broad daylight too, when the inhabitants of the selected house are

away or asleep. And the damage caused is substantial, as the brat

always moves about in gangs, of which the other unholy members too

have no less an appetite for butter and curds. To avoid the little

monster from accessing dairy products, clever Gopis fashion slings

and suspend the pots of butter and curds from the ceiling, far beyond

the reach of the short Krishna. However, this hardly stops the

ingenious infant, who fashions a human ladder to climb and reach the

pot. He puts His beautiful hand inside the vessel, scoops out a

handful of butter and stuffs it into His pearly mouth.

 

The long-suffering Gopi, who is the day’s victim, returns much before

anticipated and catches Krishna and His accomplices red-handed. She

marches Krishna to His mother, with tell-tale smears of butter very

much in evidence on all parts of His black tirumeni, making it

impossible for the devious brat to deny His crime.

 

The pained Yasoda asks Krishna, “Have I not told you not to pilfer

dairy products from others’ houses? If I have told you once, I have

told you a hundred times—“Maa navaneetam luntee:” (“Maa”—Don’t,

Navaneetam—Butter, “luntee”—steal----Don’t steal butter). The wily

Krishna says, “Mother! I did exactly as you said”. The astounded

Yasoda scolds her brat, “What do you mean? I told you not to steal

butter and You have done exactly the opposite. On top of it, you have

the temerity to tell me that you have done what I said!”. Krishna

reiterates, “Indeed, I did exactly as I was told, Mother. You said,

“Maanava neetam luntee:” (“Maanava neetam”—that obtained by humans,

“luntee:”—steal). Thus, it was you who told me to steal that which

was obtained by Gopis and I did exactly that!”.

 

Thus, by splitting and realigning the words in Yasoda’s dictum, “Maa

navaneetam luntee:”, representing an injuction not to steal butter,

Krishna turned the sentence into “Maanava neetam luntee:”, which He

conveniently interpreted as an approval for pilfering dairy products.

 

“It is such wily one that you want to adore!” says Krisaanu,

highlighting Krishna’s dexterity at wordplay. The detractor goes on

to quote another instance of Krishna’s play with words, to extricate

Himself from an extremely inconvenient situation.

 

Yasoda has warned Krishna to be home by sunset and not to overstay.

She has told Him to rid Himself of all mischief and misdemeanour, to

turn over a new leaf and to be a good boy with whom none can find

fault—“Maa bhoot aparaadhika:” (“Maa—Don’t, “Bhoot”—become,

“aparaadhika:”—culprit). However, the very next day after delivering

this homily, she finds Krishna missing all night and returning only

the next morning. When an inquiry is held, Krishna again protests

that He was only carrying out orders—“I did exactly as I was told,

Mother!”. Yasoda can never get used to her brat’s wiles, despite

being constantly exposed to them. She asks patiently, “Did I not tell

you to eschew all mischief? Then why do I find you at it again?”

Krishna reiterates, “Mother! You told me to be with Raadha always. I

hence spent the whole of yesterday with her, at her home, as you told

me to. Did you not tell me, “Maa (don’t) bhoot (be) apa (without)

Raadhika: (Raadha)?”. Since you told me never to part company with

Radha, that is what I did, and now you are blaming me for adhering to

your word!”.

 

The word “aparaadhika:” was cleverly split by Krishna into “apa” and

“Raadhika:”, giving Him carte blanche to stay with Radha.

 

Replying, the good Visvaavasu tells Krisaanu, “Stop villifying the

glorious Paramaatma, who is the personification of sanctity,

righteousness and all auspicousness. It is He who has come down to

earth and moves among mortals, for washing away their baggage of sin.

It is He who confers on His devotees happiness and all that is good

for them, and ultiamately ensures their emancipation. You may call

Him a thief—but what He steals is our sin, ridding us of our

accumulated misdeeds of innumerable births”.

 

The dialogue between the two Gandharvas concludes with a glowing tribute to Sri Krishna—

 

“Kamsam dhvamsayate, Muram tirayate, hamsam tathaa himsate

Baanam ksheenayate, bakam laghayate, Poundram param lumpate

Bhoumam kshaamayate, balaat balabhido darpam paraakurvate

Klishtam sishta ganam pranamram avate, Krishnaaya tubhyam nama:”

 

“O Krishna! You destroyed the wicked Kamsa, slayed the terrible Mura,

killed the Hamsa asura, slaughtered Baanaasura, vanquished Poundraka

Vasudeva (who claimed himself to be the true Paramatma, sporting a

conch and discus), killed Narakaasura and cured Indra of his pride

and arrogance. And it is You who afford protection to all those who

surrender to you heart and soul. We bow our heads in obeisance to

You.”

 

No poet considers his words worthwhile, unless he sings the glorious praises of Sri Krishna.

 

Sri Venkataadhvari Kavi was an exceptionally talented poet, who could

make words dance to his tunes. Apart from the “Visva Gunaadarsa

Champoo”, he has authored another remarkable work, “Sri Raaghava

Yaadaveeyam”, in which each sloka sings the praise of not only Sri

Rama, but Sri Krishna too. The uniqueness of this work is that each

verse, when read straight, relates the story of Sri Rama, while a

reversal of the couplet portrays the glories of Sri Krishna. Here is

the first sloka, for a sample—

 

“Vandeham Devam tam Sreetam rantaaram kaalam bhaasaa ya:

Raamo Raamaadhee: aapyaaga: leelaam aara Ayodhye vaase”

 

Read straight, this sloka pays tribute to Sri Rama, who, with His

heart pining for Sri Mythily, travelled across the Sahyaadri Hills,

returned victorious to Ayodhya after slaying Ravana and delighted for

long thereafter in the company of His Consort.

 

If you read the sloka in reverse, that is, beginning with the last

word of the second line of the verse and going on to the first, it

reads as follows—

 

“Sevaa dhyeya: raamaa laalee gopyaaraadhee maaraamoraa:

Ya: saabhaalankaaram taaram tam sreentam vande aham Devam”

 

Read in the reverse, this verse says, “I bow down to Sri Krishna,

whose broad chest is the home of Sri Mahalakshmi, who is to be

contemplated through penance and sacrifice, who delights in the

company of Sri Rugmini and other Consorts, who is the object of

adoration for Gopis, and who is adorned with brilliant and lustrous

ornaments.”

 

What a beautiful and unique compostion! The 30 slokas of this work

“Raaghava Yaadaveeyam” double as 60 if we take the reverse readings

into account and provide a magnificent portrayal of two avataara

purushas simultaneouly. Admittedly, there have been earlier works

too, simultaneouly dealing with the praises of two heroes, but they

mostly employ the double entendre (“slesham”) to achieve their

objective. Sri Venkataadhavari’s work is perhaps the only one using

the “Anulomam” and “Pratilomam” method (straight and reverse

readings) to narrate the stories of two different divine

personalities. The poet’s comprehensive mastery over words, grammar

and metre are evident in each and every verse of the beautiful work.

 

The difference between secular poetry and the devotional, is the

latter’s ability to melt hearts and move even the most hard-hearted

of men. The aforesaid verses are but a small sample of the

exceptionally uplifting literature that is available in all

languages, which has acquired the same sort of immortality as its

subject. Irrespective of what standards men may adopt for defining

literature, only that which deals with the Lord can ever qualify for

the name and stand the test of time—for, He is the only one worthy of

adulation—“Stavya:”—as the Vishnu Sahasranamam says.

 

Srimate Sri LakshmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri

Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

dasan, sadagopan

 

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