yadhavabhyudhayam-chapter7-govardhanoddharanam

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Chapter 7-GovarDHanOdDHAraNam

 

Indra's anger

 

The gopas worshipped the devatha that appeared in the mountain who was none other than Krishna himself and he also joined them in the worship, thus worshipping himself by himself. By instructing them on worship of Govardhana, he also became their acharya, thus was his delightful leela.

 

Indra became furious on finding the gopas worshipping the mountain instead of him,and decided to send torrents of rain to flood the gokula. Desika says that he is ungrateful because he has been propitiated till then by the gopas and forgot all that and intended to harm them proving that those who are ungrateful show their mean-mindedness. 'krathAnabhijnEshu kim AnrSamsyam.'

 

Indra commanded the group of clouds called samvarthaka which have the power of giving out rain heavy enough to make all the seas merge during the time of deluge. Desika describes the rain that followed thus:

pradheepithAn kOpahuthASa bhoomnA

peethOdhaDHeen vAriDharAyuDHoghAn

maruthbhujEna thvaritham maruthvAn

prAyunktha ghOshAbhimukham saghOshAn

 

Indra sent the samvarthaka clouds which looked like weapons,advancing towards the village of the gopas with tumultous noise, burnt in the fire of anger, dipped in the sea and thrown by the arm of the wind .

 

The clouds, with thoudands of lightning and thunder, presented a picture of Indra himself mounted on the vehicle of the cloud with his bow and vajrAyuDHa advancing with the view of destroying them with eyes like thousand fire.

 

Indra is described as being hidden behind the clouds as though hidden by the trees in the shore of the ocean called the sky in order to hunf the gopas like a hunter. Desika says that he was hiding like a owl afraid of the lustre of the Lord, which shines in all His three abodes, exceeding that of the Sun.The three abodes of the Lord are, 'ambhasya pAre, bhuvansyamaDhye nAkasya prshTE ithi sTHAnathrayam,'(Utthamur Swami) Vaikunta, Milky ocean on Adhisesha and on earth in the form of archavathara.

 

The sound of the vrshti is described as

gambheera garjApatahapraNAdham

prArabDHAjhanjhAnila nAdha geetham

thatidhbhirApAdhitha thANdavam thath

kAlasya sangeetham apoorvam Aseeth

 

The tumultous thunder was the drum,the torrential rain and the stormy wind was the music and the lightnings supplied the dance. Thus it was the music of deluge, never experienced before.

 

The net of clouds woven with lightning in the darkness was spread by Indra due to his mrgayEcchA, desire for hunt.The sky that looked like a sea with bheemapayOdhanakram, frightening whales of clouds, veechigaNAvakeerNam, filled with waves of rain which fell like big serpents, pushed by the forceful wind.

 

All this made the gopas agitated and frightened when Krishna pacified them with his abhayamudra 'ASvasayAmasa karENa Sourih', reassuring hand.He did not stop the rain at the outset because he wished to show the gopas that the mountain which they worshipped will protect them from any calamity. that was why he did not resort to arms to fight Indra.

 

Next comes the description of GOvarDhanOddDhAraNam.