stamping 2

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Stamping 2

 

Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

We are studying the paasuram -

oru kaalil sangu oru kaalil chakkaram uLLadi poRiththu amaintha

iru kaalum koNdu angu ezhudhinaarpOl ilachchinai pada nadanthu

perugaa ninRa inba veLLaththin mEl pinnaiyum peidhu peidhu

karu kaark kadal vaNNan kaamar thaadhai thaLar nadai nadavaanO

1-7 6 - periyaazhvaar thirumozhi – thodar sangilikai padhikam

 

My doubt no 6. Is that the study of `rekai saasthram' and `forensic

science based on these rEkais' developed with this study about the

lord's feet and the marks it contained?

 

In the first line aazhvaar has said `uLLadi poRiththu amaintha iru

kaalum koNdu angu nadanthu'. Here `angu' means where Krishna is – the

palace of nandha – or the place where he is trying to walk.

 

Sangu chakkaram poriththu amaintha iru kaalum koNdu angu ilachchinai

pada nadanthu – that conveys full meaning. The word ilachchinai

itself conveys that beautiful stamping. Why to add one more

word `ezhudhinaarpOl'. This leads us, there is something more to

that `poriththu'. That gives indication that some more marks are also

written along with these two `poriththu amaintha ilachchinai' marks.

 

Then what are these? That is doubt no 7.

 

The stamp marks appearing on child krishNa's feet are

like `ezhudhinaarpOl' – means the stamping is so clear - like written

by an artist? An artist of super capability. Who is that super

artist? That is doubt no 8.

 

If so what are these marks apart from the two already mentioned –

that is doubt no 9.

 

I read elsewhere `the lord's feet has 24 marks'. If so, what are

they? That is doubt no 10.

 

`ilachchinai' – is a stamp mark which is unique – may be unique to a

king – arasa ilachchinai. Like the fish for paaNdiyaas, tiger of

chOlas etc.

 

[Please recall mOdhira ilachchinai in tamil history – or mudhdhirai

mOdhiram – `ring' stamp of the king – may be this is the basis for a

round stamps, now we use - that is being stamped in the letters

exchanged between kings, those days. Bhakthaas who have visited

selaiyur camp of ahobila mutt will recall, there is a big copper ring

kept as ilachchinai mOthiram of the mutt.]

 

Now, to go into bhaagavatham – on the kaaliyan's [snake] head, the

lord krishNa danced and thus his head got these feet marks stamped

on. KrishNa, himself, says to kaaliyan, `since you have my feet's

marks on your head, garudan, your enemy, will not do any harm to you,

when you go back to the ocean so leave this place'. As such the

stamping has the guarantee for life of kaaliyan. The exact slOkam is

 

dhveepam ramaNakam hithvaa hradhamEthamupaasritha:

yadhbhayaath sa suparNasthvaam naadhyaanmathpaadhalaanchitham

 

meaning: Afraid of Garudan, you abandoned the island Ramanaka and

took shelter of this pool [near gOkulam]; but now that you are marked

by My feet, he will not devour you.'

[Dhasama skandham canto16 slokam 63]

 

On the raamaayaNam side, when jataayu died, while his life is getting

separated from his body, jatayu's thoughts are fixed on raamaa's

feet, which have these `stamp marks'. Raama, while searching for

seethaa, saw jataayu lying dead, with thoughts on raamaa's feet with

the special characteristic marks. Thus describes thulasidhasa in his

ramacharithmaanas, doha no 9 after choupaayee 29 in aaraNya kaanda.

 

While commenting on this doha, the commentator gives what are the

details of these marks says - 24 nos are written there on each feet

and lists out those. Let us see the doha and then what these 24 are

 

poorana kaama raama sukha raasi manuja charitha kara aja abhinaasi

aagE paraa geeDhapathi dhEkhaa sumaritha raama charana jinha rekhaa

 

Meaning: [after raama has asked all the trees birds, animals in the

forest the disappearance of seethaa and her whereabouts behaving like

a mortal man] further on they [raama and lakshmaNa] saw the king of

vultures lying dead, with his thoughts fixed on sri raamaa's feet

which bear the characteristic marks on their soles.

 

Now the list: on the Left feet

1. oordhva rekha – vertical line

2. a svasthika

3. an ashta kONam – two squarescutting each other

4. goddess lakshmi represented in the form of a golden coil

described in two and a half concentric circles

5. a plough

6. a pestle

7. a sesha – serpent god

8. an arrow

9. the sky – in the form of cipher or zero

10. a lotus

11. a chariot

12. a thunderbolt

13. a grain of rice or barley

14. the karpaga tree – the wish yielding tree

15. a goad

16. a flag

17. a crown

18. the discuss

19. a throne

20. the staff of yama the god of death – sengOl – or dharma dhanda

21. a chourie

22. an umbrella

23. a human

24. a wreath of victory

 

Right feet:

1. sarayu river

2. a cow's hoof

3. the earth

4. a pitcher

5. a small flag

6. a jambu fruit

7. the crescent

8. the conch

9. a shat kONam – a hexagon made by two crossing triangles

10. a triangle

11. a mace

12. a jiva – a human form illustrated by its atomic size – means

appoint

13. bindu – in the form of point

14. sakthi – represented by a semi circle and forming the base of

the bindu

15. a reservoir of nectar – amrutha kalasam

16. 3 horizontal lines like folds of belly

17. a fish

18. full moon

19. a lute

20. a flute

21. a bow

22. a quiver

23. a swan

24. an ornament for the head of a lady

 

Can somebody give the authentication for the list above? [may be some

vEdhic lines or puraaNa lines?]. [taken from ramcharithmanas of gita

press gorakhpur web site].

 

Added information is that seetha also has these 48 marks in the

reverse order – viz – raama's right footmarks are found on her left

foot, raamaa's left footmarks on her right foot.

 

Thus the `angu ezhudhinaarpOl ilachchinai' has, in addition to the

sangu and chakkaram marks, all these marks listed above. Like

jataayu, let us also think raamaa's feet in our mind now itself. So

the mind gets trained to remember those specially marked feet of my

krishNa.

 

Dhaasan

 

Vasudevan m.g