Periazvar kanda kannan-The twelve names of the Lord

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The twelve names of the Lord

 

Yasodha is calling Krishna for the ear- piercing ceremony in these twelve verses in which all the twelve namas of the Lord are mentioned.

 

Yasodha is expressing her anxiety about the safety of Krishna because his father Nanda is away and Kamsa is waiting for an opportunity to harm him. She says that Krishna roams around with and without his friends freely and hence she is afraid of his becoming a prey to the evil designs of Kamsa, remembering the episode of Poothana. She further says that the ear-piercing ceremony is about to begin and all have assembled for it and calls him to come and get his ears pierced. Azvar as Yasodha calls Krishna as Kesava which is one of the twelve namas

 

Yasodha calls Krishna as Narayana, and asks him to come, wearing coral necklaces, and anklets on his lotus like feet. She says that she will first put a thread inside the hole of his ear and then a gold earring.

 

Perhaps Krishna refused saying that it will be painful and Yasodha coaxes him saying that if he agrees to it then later when the holes in the ears become big she will put a beautiful fish like earring, makarakundalam, on his ears. and promises to give him what all he wants. In this verse Krishna is addressed as Madhava.

 

Krishna did not come when Yasodha praised him and now she shows to him the other shepherd boys who have made the holes of their ears large and were wearing diamond studded ear rings because they heeded the words of their mothers . She now entreats him to come calling him as Govinda, tempting him with milk and jackfruit.

 

Krishna complained that when he came to her last time listening to her entreaties she beat him and Yasodha says that it was because he was playing a long time with the gopis dancing kuravai kootthu. She calls him as Vishnu and tells him that she will give big rice and jaggery cakes to him.

 

Further she refers to the time when he ate mud and she beat him and he cried loudly for all the worlds to hear and she saw the whole universe in his mouth and understood him to be the Lord Himself , the Madhusudhana, and reassures him that he will have no pain but only his ears will fold over for sometime

 

Yasodha told Krishna to come and drink milk and while he was doing so she tried to put the gold earring in his ears . But he refused even the milk and took off the earring and threw it away. and she regrets for not piercing his ears while he was younger so that it would have become big enough by now. Azvar in the role of his mother calls him Thrivikrama, and recalls his holdng up the Govardhana as Krishna and breaking the bow of Siva in his incarnation as Rama.

 

Krishna accused his mother of beating him and showing him to others as having eaten mud which he did not, meaing that she never saw the mud but only the whole universe in his mouth. Yasodha calls him as Vamana and promises him that she would not do so and asks him to come and allow her to put the earring Whereupon he says that he would not trust her as she listened to others and tied him to a mortar for stealing butter while he was innocent. Yasodha then called him as Sreedhara and told him that if he spends time in arguing his ears will become hard to be pierced as the holes will close, and blames herself again for leaving it too late fearing that it may be painful to him and calling him as Hrshikesa, points out to him that all the boys in Gokula have their ears pierced. She further reassures him that she will do it without causing pain and tempts him with jambu fruits and calls him as Padmanabha.

 

Krishna remonstrates saying that his ears will hurt and Yasodha calls him Damodhara and reminds him of his exploits such as killing Poothana and Sakatasura implyng that he is feigning fear.

 

The twelfth verse while mentioning the nama Achyutha, extols the contents of this dasakam in which Azvar as Yasodha wishing to put the markarakundala calls Him by His dvaadhaSanama, the twelve names. These verses portray the enchanting scene in which the Lord is playing his role as a child afraid of getting his ears pierced.