krishna the mother

[Guest guest]

Dear SrivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

Mother feeding the child with breast milk is not at all a wonder or

that matter is not news-worthy. But since the number of mothers

feeding the children with breast milk came down because certain

fashion and their beauty considerations. Realizing that mother's milk

has large medicinal value etc, now a campaign goes on

canvassing `breast feeding'.

 

But when Krishna as mother feeds me with her breast milk [or his?],

is it not `newsworthy'. Please read this interesting bit of `news'.

 

uNNa uNNath thevittaadhE – ammai

uyir enum mulaiyinil uNarvu enum paal.

vaNNam uRa vaiththu enakkE en than

vaayinil koNdu oottum Or vaNmai udaiyaaL

 

kaNNan enum peyar udaiyaaL – ennaik

katti niRai vaan enum than kaiyil aNaiththu

maN enum than madiyil vaiththE – pala

maayam uRum kadhai solli manam kaLippaaL.

 

Meaning or a simple English version: My mother's milk will never go

sour even after repeatedly drinking it for that breast is her life

and her feelings are that milk. She has the capacity [or power] to

feed that milk into my mouth making it colorful for me. She has the

name as kaNNan [krishNa], she embraces me with her all encompassing

sky hands and puts me in the earth lap of hers and she enjoys telling

me many stories of magic.

 

Oh dear bhakthaas of krishNa – this is something totally different –

is it not. When I just started looking for something of a new item,

in annamayya krithis or ooththukkadu mahaan's krithis, suddenly a

flash came. SubramaNia bharathy is also a staunch krishNa bhakthaa

and enjoyed krishNa as his friend, child, king, guru, et al. Above

lines are his, with krishNa as "mother" something unique.

 

Perhaps aazhvaars might have showed bhaarathi, the way to enjoy

krishNa as mother, but to my `mara maNdai' - wooden head - nothing

strikes. Experts in 4000, like padmanabhan swamy and other

bhagavathaas to guide me by bringing out such verses where Krishna is

described as mother.

 

The second part of the verse above is something fantastic. Those who

are familiar with tamil language can enjoy more. Other please stretch

your imagination with version given in English. For it has lot of

philosophy also.

 

Now let us go with aazhvaars who as mother yasOdha calls krishNa the

child to get fed in her bosom. Periyaazhvaar, who sang piLLaith

thamizh, [the child's growth from birth] gives 10 verses

in `aravaNaiyaai' padhigam 2-2-1 to 11. In 8 verses he says `mulai

uNaayE' and in first `parugidaayE' and in 8 `irundhu uNaayE'.

Thrumangai aazhvaar who follows periyaazhvaar in singing krishNa as

child also gives 10 verses in 10-4- 1 to 10.

Kulasekara aazhvaar in his perumaaL thirumozhi 7-7 weeps like dhEvaki

as mother missed some great thing while breast-feeding that krishNa

as her child.

 

Since we had a good translation of these verses, courtesy sri

madhavak kaNNan swamy, we now see a krithi by annamaacharya in the

raagam – aanandha bhairavi wherein this feeding of krishNa with milk

is the subject. Of course it is not clear in the krithi, whether it

is breast feeding or simply feeding.

 

pallavi:

itti muddhulaadu baaludhEdhavaadu vaani |

patti thechchi pOththaniNda paalu vOyarE ||

 

meaning: What a lovely boy, where is he? Bring him, fill his belly

with milk! [may be an elderly gopee is giving orders to her daughter

or daughter in law]

 

CharaNam 1:

kaamidhai paaridhenchi kaagEdhi vennalOna |

chEma poovu kadiyaala chEyi petti |

cheema guththenani thana chekkita kanneeru jaara |

vEmaru vaapOvu vaani veththuvettarE ||

 

meaning: He came in a hurry, put his hand which has the wrist

ornament with the golden "chEmanthi" flower, in the boiling butter.

As he did that, he started crying, saying that ants bit his hand,

with tears falling from his eyes onto his cheeks. Bring him and

pacify him!

 

ChaaraNam 2:

muchchuvale vachchi thana mungita murugulachEyi |

thacchedi perugulOna thagavetti |

nochchenani chEyidheesi nOrunella jollugaara |

vochcheli vaapOvuvaani nooradhincharE ||

 

meaning: He came stealthily, put his hand in the pot where curd is

being churned, this time his hand having another wrist ornament

called murugu (yasOdhaa is rich!). Then he removed his hand, started

crying complaining pain, with mouth-water falling all around (called

jollu in tamil – watery flow from open mouth of kids or another word

chonga in telugu, usually what happens for kids). Bring him and

pacify him!

 

CharaNam 3:

 

eppudu vacchenO maa yillu jochchi peththelOna |

chepparaani vungaraala chEyi petti |

appadaina vEnkatEsudasapaalakudu gaana |

thappakuNda bettivaani thalakettarE ||

 

meaning: When he came to our house, nobody knows. He put his hand

with rings adorning his fingers into our belongings, which he is not

supposed to do (chepparaani – he is doing mischievous things that

cannot be said). Once you find Krishna - our father Lord Venkatesa is

that krishNa - catch hold of him, imprison him in a box, and lift him

on the head! (then go to yasOdhaa and make a complaint.)

 

Some points on these two songs, we will see in next post.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.