Yadhavabhyudhya-Dancing Krishna

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Dancing Krishna

Perhaps the scene opens as the gopis are churning the milk and

Krishna comes there and begs for butter and they tell him to dance if

he wants butter and this is described by Desika as follows:

ya Esha lOkathrayasuthradhArah

paryAyapASthrANi charAcharANi

AnarthayathyadhbhuthacheshtithOasou

nanarthakhElannavaneethakAngkshee

He who is the director of the three worlds causing the movable and

immovable beings enact their role in turn, with His wonderful act,

danced playfully (in front of the gopis) desirous of getting butter.

This Desika names as Navaneetha natyam in his Gopalavimsathi.

AavirbhvathyanibhrthaabharaNam purasthaath

aakunchithaikacharaNam nibhrthaanyapaadham

DHadhnaa nimanTha mukhareNanibaddhathaalam

naatTHasya nandhabhavane navaneethnaatyam

which means,

'Let the vision of Krishna dancing in the house of Nanda, His

ornaments sounding as He dances, with one foot steady and the other

bent , His navaneethnaatya, dance for butter,to the thala of the

churning of milk, appear in front of me'

 

In gokula, keeping close to the churning pot desiring butter, the

body of Krishna is splattered with drops of curd. Desika is reminded

of the form of the Lord splattered with drops of nectar, or milk

while churning the milky ocean.

 

The same idea is expressed by Kulasekhara in Mukundamala where he

says,

 

ksheerasaagaratharangaseekaraasaarathaarakrtha charumoorthaye

bhogibhogasayaneeyasaayine maadhavaaya madhvidvishe namah.

 

Salutations to Madhava ,the killer of Madhu, reclining on the bed of

adisesha, His body charming splattered with the drops from the waves

of the milky ocean, looking as though He is covered with stars.

 

The dance of Krishna desiring butter is described by Leelasuka also

thus:

 

Vadhane navaneethagandDHavaaham vachane thaskarachaathuree DHureeNam

nayanaakuhanaasru asrayetTHaah charaNam komalathaandavam kumaaram

 

Seek the foot of the boy who is dancing gracefully,with His mouth

smelling of butter,His speech showing Him to be the foremost of

cheats, His eyes ( on being told off) full of false tears.

 

The devotees imagine that the reason the Lord left the milky ocean

and came to gokula is because being milky ocean He can get only milk

there and not butter.

 

Perhaps this scene was in the mind of Oothukkadu venkatakavi when he

sang 'AdAdhu asangAdhu vAA kannA.' which is a beautiful song and

rshould be dealt with separately to bring out its beauty.