64 arts

August 29, 2007

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

While I was going thru the sreemadh bhaagavatham translation work by

Anand Aadhar Prabhu, the note added to chapter 45, caught my attention [which tells about what all our kutti krishNa learnt under guru saandheepani as a student].

This note lists out what are the '64 kalaigaL' – in tamil we say 'aaya kalaigaL 64'- many a times we do not come across the list of those 64 kalaigaL.

That kuRai theera idhO andha 64 kalaigaL list – see how comprehensive it is.

The Lords Krishna and balaraama learned:

1. geetham – singing;

2.

vaadhyam - playing on musical instruments

3.

nrithyam – dancing

4.

naaTyam – drama

5.

aalEkhyam – painting;

6.

vis

Eshaka-cchEdhyam - painting the face and body with colored unguents and cosmetics;

7.

tandula kusuma bali vikaaraa: - preparing auspicious designs on the floor with rice and flowers;

8.

pushpaastharanam - making a bed of flowers;

9.

das

ana vashanaanga-raagaa: - coloring one's teeth, clothes and limbs;

10.

maNi bhoomikaa karmaa - inlaying a floor with jewels;

11.

sayyaa rachanam - covering a bed;

12.

udaka vaadhyam - ringing water-pots;

13.

udhaka ghaatha: - splashing with water;

14.

cithra yOgaa: - mixing colors;

15.

maalya grathana vikalpaa: - preparing wreaths;

16.

sekhara aapeeda yOjanam - setting a helmet on the head;

17.

nEpathya yOgaa: - putting on apparel in a dressing room;

18.

karna pathra bhangaa: - decorating the earlobe;

19.

sugandha yukthi: - applying aromatics;

20.

bhooshana yOjanam - decorating with jewelry;

21.

aindhra jaalam – jugglery – [magic?]

22.

kouchumaara yOga: - the art of disguise;

23.

hasta laaghavam - sleight of hand;

24.

chithra s

aakaapoopa bhakshya vikaara kriyaa: - preparing varieties of salad, bread, cake and other delicious food;

25.

paanaka rasa raagaasava yOjanam - preparing palatable drinks and tinging draughts with red color;

26.

soochee vaaya karmaa - needlework and weaving;

27.

soothra kreedaa - making puppets dance by manipulating thin threads;

28.

veenaa damaruka vaadhyaani - playing on a flute and a small X-shaped drum;

29.

prahElikaa - making and solving riddles;

30.

(29a) pratimaalaa - capping verses, or reciting poems verse for verse as a trial of memory or skill;

31.

dhurvaachaka yOgaa: - uttering statements difficult for others to answer;

32.

pusthaka vaachanam - reciting books;

33.

naaTika aakhyaayikaa dhars

anam - enacting short plays and writing anecdotes.

34.

kaavya samasyaa pooraNam - solving enigmatic verses;

35.

paththikaa vEthra baaNa vikalpaa: - making a bow from a strip of cloth and a stick;

36.

tharku karma, spinning with a spindle;

37.

thaks

aNam - carpentry;

38.

vaasthu-vidhyaa - architecture;

39.

roupya rathna pareekshaa - testing silver and jewels;

40.

dhaathu vaadha: - metallurgy;

41.

maNi raaga jnaanam - tinging jewels with various colors;

42.

aakara-jnaanam - mineralogy;

43.

vriksha aayur vEdha yOgaa: - herbal medicine;

44.

mEsha kukkuTa laavaka yudhdha vidhi: - the art of training and engaging rams, cocks and quails in fighting;

45.

suka

saarikaa pralaapanam - knowledge of how to train male and female parrots to speak and to answer the questions of human beings;

46.

uthsaadhanam - healing a person with ointments;

47.

kEs

a maarjana kousalam - hairdressing;

48.

akshara mushTikaa kathanam - telling what is written in a book without seeing it, and telling what is hidden in another's fist;

49.

mlEcchitha kutharka vikalpaa: - fabricating barbarous or foreign sophistry;

50.

dhEs

a bhaashaa jnaanam - knowledge of provincial dialects;

51.

pushpa s

akaTikaa nirmithi jnaanam - knowledge of how to build toy carts with flowers;

52.

yanthra maathrikaa - composing magic squares, arrangements of numbers adding up to the same total in all directions;

53.

dhaaraNa maathrikaa - the use of amulets;

54.

samvaachyam - conversation;

55.

maanasee kaavya kriyaa - composing verses mentally;

56.

kriyaa vikalpaa: - designing a literary work or a medical remedy;

57.

chalithaka yOgaa: - building shrines;

58.

abhidhaana kOs

a cchandhO jnaanam - lexicography and the knowledge of poetic meters;

59.

vasthra gOpanam - disguising one kind of cloth to look like another;

60.

dhyootha vis

Esham - knowledge of various forms of gambling; (so) aakarsha-kreedaa - playing dice;

61.

baalaka kreedanakam - playing with children's toys;

62.

vainaayikee vidhyaa - enforcing discipline by mystic power;

63.

vaijayikee vidhyaa - gaining victory;

64.

vaithaalikee vidhyaa - awakening one's master with music at dawn.

Only that 29 and 29 a are not in close proximity. Then it becomes 65 arts – instead of 64. if you combine 21, 22, 23, into two the magic jugglery and disguise perhaps you get 64 and they are also close.

Of course some member who have a similar list can comment.

Dhasan

Vasudevan m. g. -- Vasudevan MG