Guest guest Posted January 16, 2010 Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 DID KRISHNA STEAL BUTTER? Part 1 (Anbil Ramaswamy) =========================================================================================== About a fortnight ago, I had the bhagyam of attending 2 Dolai Utsavams to Navaneeta Krishnan at the homes of Dr. Sumati Bharat on 31st December 2009 and Smt. Hema Shrinath on 1st January 2010. As you would have noticed, the former was at the month end plus year end (December + 2009) and the latter was a month beginning and also a year beginning (January + 2010). What was so special about these? Andal commenced her Tiruppavai saying “Maargazhi TingaL madhi nirainda nann naaL”. 31st December was PourNami day. “madhi” means “moon” and “nirainda” means “full”. It was just apt that the full moon day was chosen to celebrate the Dolai of Navaneeta Krishnan. H.H. Azhagiyasingar in one of his KaalakshEpams (in his Poorva Asramam) said “English kaaran romba geTTikkaaran” meaning “English people are very smart” and explained as follows: For the celestials, our one year equals one day and the month of Margazhi is their “Ushat Kaalam” Did not Lord Krishna say “maasaanaam maargaseershOham’? The English people have chosen such a month (of January) that corresponds to our Maargazhi to begin their year! Be that as it may. We are now concerned with “Navaneeta Krishnan”. Poor Krishnan! Almost all the Azhwars in a chorus gleefully label him as the “butter thief” and rejoice in the “anubhavam” of his “Stealing butter”. These anubhavams are as varied as they are colorful - all sung in their excitement over the “Soulabhyam” (compassionate accessibility) of the Lord camouflaging his “Paratvam” (omnipotence). Lord Ranganatha (Periya PerumaaL) is considered as Lord Krishna. Even now, you can smell the scent of butter in Periya PerumaaL Sannidhi, if your olfactory faculty is good enough! There is an interesting story about “The bell and the butter thief” as follows: The gOpis were annoyed with child Krishna’s naughty pranks especially his sneaking into their private apartments and stealing butter. They had stacked butter in the pots kept in safe custody of the ‘Uris’ (pot holders made of coconut fibers) hung from the ceiling at a height that (they thought) was beyond the reach of Krishna. By way of abundant caution, they had tied to the Uri a string of bells made of bell metal. If ever anyone touched the hangers, the bells would go agog ringing in chorus setting an alarm to alert the gOpis of the presence of an intruder! Enter Krishna: the seasoned butter-thief! He knows the contrivance of the gOpis. So, he requests the bells not to ring and betray him. Not content with taking a liberal scoop of butter from the pot, Krishna could not resist the temptation to taste the delicacy. As he put the butter in his mouth, the bells which stood silent during the act of stealing started ringing brisk and loud to the hearing of the gOpis.Krishna asked the bells why disregarding his entreaties not to ring, they had started ringing. The bells replied: What is the purpose (Purushartham) of our being bells, if we do not ring when our Lord is having his feast?" Rest of the scenario is left to our imagination like his being caught red handed, (nay, white-handed) with butter smeared all over his body; his bewitching ‘Navaneetha Naatyam"; the complaints of the gOpis to Mother, Yasoda; his being tied to the mortar earning the sobriquet of “DamOdaran”. ======================================================================================= The million dollar question is: “Did Krishna really steal butter?” We will see the answer at the concluding Part # 3 of this write up. For now, we will savor a few examples of the “anubhavams” of Azhwars that suggest that Krishna stole butter. ================================================================================ NAMM AZHWAR1. Nammazhwar is the Chief among Azhwars and is described as the very personification of ‘thirst for Krishna’ “krishNa thrishNaa tattvam iva uditam” is reported to have slipped into a trance for 6 months on the very thought of how the Supreme lord got tied up by his mother, to a mortar as punishment for stealing butter and earned the sobriquet of “DaamOdaran” (TVM 1.3.1) Vide his Paasuram- "Pathudai Adiyavarkku Eliyavan…" “Mathuru kaDai veNNai kaLavinil ural iDai aappuNdu Ethiram UralinODu iNaindu irundu yEngiya eLivE?” 2. The next instant, the Azhwar feels he had done an apachaaram to the Lord by calling him a “butter thief” saying that he did so due to his own sin that prompted him to love the Lord so much as to dare calling him names like “thief” etc. “VaLavEzhulagin mudalaaya vaanOr iraiyai aru vinaiyEn kaLavEzh veNNai thoDu vuNDa kaLvaa enban” (TVM 1.5.1) 3. Now, the Azhwar seeks to reason out why the Lord ate butter. He says that, may be, when the Lord swallowed all worlds and spat them out, a tiny portion of the mud remained in his tummy for so long over several incarnations and caused indigestion for which he ate butter as an antidote! (TVM 1.5.8) uNDaai ulagEzh munnamE umizhndu maayaiyaal pukku… …anDaa vaNNam maNN karaiya neyyooN marundO maayavanE?” 4. Again, the Azhwar expresses surprise how even while stealing butter, the Lord never attempted to conceal his act because he came out with his mouth, hands and in fact his whole body fully smeared with butter. Azhwar says that even in the act of stealing, he was upright and never attempted to conceal anything from the gOpis - an act of rectitude even within an act of theft! “And, in the same breath he truthfully mingled with me with my impure, contemptible physical body without any deceit on his part” (TVM 1.8.5) “Vaigalum veNNai kaai kalandu uNDaan Poi kalavaadu enn mei kalandaanE” 5. Azhwar finds another reason for the Lord swallowing butter only after swallowing the worlds along with infinite Jeevas. Because he loved butter so much that if he had chosen to eat butter before the worlds, there might arise some interruption from any Jeevas left behind. So, only after completely swallowing all the Jeevas without exception did he venture to turn his attention to eating butter. Uyirinaal kurai illaaa ulagEzh tannuL oDukki Tayir VeNNai uNDaanai…” (TVM 4.8.11) 6. The question may arise how when the celestials are wide awake all the time and looking at everything, the Lord could manage to “give a slip” and proceed to AayarpaaDi to “steal” butter. Azhwar visualizes the modus operandi adopted by the Lord. He says that when the celestials perform the bath-ritual presenting him with a cloud of fragrant incense, garlands, ornaments etc. In the smoke-screen created by the incense, the Lord gives a slip unnoticed by anyone and makes a beeline to the gOpa homes to steal butter! sooTTu nan maalaigaL thooyana vEndi viNNOrgal nanneer aaTTiya dhoopam taraa nirkavE angu oru maayaiyinaal eeTTiya veNNai thoDU vuNNap pOndumilEtruvan koon kOTTidaiyaaDinai koothu aDal aayar tam kombinukkE (Tiruviruttam 21) The word “thoDu” means “touch” and also “deceit” PERIYAAZHWAR Next only to Namm Azhwar, the one who was wholly immersed in the childhood pranks of Lord Krishna was Periyaazhwar. 7. YasOda laments that ever since Kannan was born she never had a chance to get even an iota of ghee, warmed up milk, solidified yogurt and all that she got was a the bewitching smile of Kutti Kannan that was enough to compensate! Vaitha neyyum kaainda paalum vaDi Tayirum, naru veNNaiyum Ithanaiyum petrariyEn empiraan! Nee piranta pinnE Ethanaiyum seyyap petraai Edum seyyEn kadam paDaadE Muthu anaiya muruval seidu mookurinchi mulaiy uNaayE (Periyaazhwar Tirumozhi 2.2.2) 8. While she calls Kutti Kannan to take bath, she employs all ploys to persuade him but he refuses to yield. She finally employs a trick that he could not ignore. What is that trick? Kutti Kannan was so fond of his childhood pal, Nappinnai and Yasoda uses her name to cajole him saying “I might enjoy your being dirty with all dust on your golden body but people who see you in this state would blame you. Will you remain shameless? Let alone others; if your dear friend, Nappinnai sees you in this condition, she will laugh at you derisively” This works magic and Kannan immediately hastens to take bath! PooNit thozhuvinil pukkup puzhudi aLainda pon mEni kaaNap peridum ugappan, Aagilum kaNDaar pazhippar, naaN ethanaiyum ilaadaai! Nappinnai kaaNil sirikkum, MaaNikkamE! Enn maNiyE! manjanamaaDa nee vaaraai (Periyazhwar Tirumozhi 2.4.9) 9. The gOpis complain to YasOda: “After completely emptying out the pot filled to the brim with melted butter in one gulp, he broke the pot and left. Is this proper behavior on the part of your son?” Urugua vaitha kuDathODu veNNai urinji uDaithiTTu pOndu ninraan… Varuga enru unn magan tannai koovaai, vaazha voTTaan madhu soodananE (Periyazhwar Tirumozhi 2.9.3) ===================================================================================== (To Continue) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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