The WEll-dressed Gentleman

[Guest guest]

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya

nama:

 

 

 

The Well-dressed Gentleman

 

 

 

Most of us are very particular about our dress. We would never

wear a dress that is rumpled or soiled. A person wearing such apparel is liable

to be construed to be down at the heels. We know how a well-dressed person

elicits respect and regard even from strangers, while one who sports inelegant

wear draws only derisive glances, though he might otherwise be deserving of

regard. Thus dress considerably enhances one's impact, though it may not

disclose the true nature of the wearer.

 

 

 

If we reflect on wherefrom we inherited our penchant for sartorial

elegance, analysis leads us to the conclusion that it is indeed from the Lord.

It is He who has set an example, by sporting impeccable outfits. In fact, we

might even call Him a dandy; so particular He is about His costume. Everyone who

is acquainted with Him says He is extremely finicky about His gear and always

wears the best. " YuvA suvAsA: pariveeta AgAt " says the Shruti, attesting to His

sartorial elegance (Paradoxically, this mantra is uttered when those officiating

in a ShrAddha are offered new clothes!).

 

 

 

The Lord is clothed in the finest of silks, says the Vishnu

Sahasranama Stotram-

 

" peeta kousEya vAsam " . Though there are colours aplenty, everyone would agree

that yellow silk has a beauty of its own. With an unerring eye for the best in

clothes, much like a lady, the Lord too is robed in yellow silk- " sa peeta

vastram " . He looks verily like the pleasing Moon, attired as He is in these

yellow robes. That these are His habitual wear is attested by Sri Periazhwar-

" peetaka Adai pirAnAr " , " udutthu kaLainda nin peetaka Adai " etc. Sri

Krishnashtakam says that He is ever resplendent in silken yellow

costumes- " peetAmbara susObhitam " . Sri Alavandar loses himself to the brilliant

combination of the bright yellow silk and the beautiful black tirumEni of the

Lord- " virAjamAna ujjvala peetavAsasam " . Swami Desikan brings to our mind the

beautiful thighs of Sri Rangaraja, which are clothed in yellow silk- " Kshouma

Aslishtam kimapi KamalA Bhoomi NeelA upadAnam " (Sri Bhagavat DhyAna SOpanam)

" PeetAmbarENa parivAravatee sujAtA " (Sri Devanayaka Panchasaat).

 

 

 

Sri Tiruppanazhwar differs from others. To this Azhwar, the Lord appears

to be wearing red silk and not the customary yellow one. Perhaps He wanted a

change, perhaps He put on new, colourful clothes to welcome Azhwar- whatever it

might have been, Azhwar is very specific about His sporting red silk around His

midriff-'arai sivanda adayin mEl chendradam en sindayE " . The cloth itself is so

bewitching that it captures the senses, preventing Azhwar from proceeding

further with the enjoyment of other parts of the Lord's handsome tirumEni. Sri

Nammazwar, steering clear of the colourful controversy, merely mentions that He

is clothed in silk, without indicating its hue- " pAngu thOndrum pattum nANum

pAviyEn pakkatthavE " .

 

 

 

When the Lord sets His mind on beautiful clothes, He gets to wear

them by hook or by crook. Thus, in Sri Krishnavatara, while entering Mathura

(for the purpose of slaying Kamsa), Sri Krishna wants to shed His

cowherd-clothes and adorn Himself with robes befitting a Prince. When He goes to

war, the Lord takes care to see that He is impeccably attired. Sri Krishna and

Sri Balarama encounter a washerman bearing clothes freshly washed and pressed,

for use by the King (Kamsa). When the dhobi doesn't part with the clothes

voluntarily, Sri Krishna fells him with a blow and appropriates the regal robes.

In so doing, He puts on the yellow one, leaving the blue one to His brother. We

must really admire the Lord's dress code-He knows full well that yellow would

sit well on His black body, as would blue on His fair brother's. Imagine Kamsa's

indignation when the boy he detests comes to fight with him, dressed in his own

clothes.

 

 

 

However beautiful the cloth, if the wearer doesn't have

the figure to go with it, the end result would be unimpressive. Conversely,

however humble be the apparel, if the person for whom it is intended is of

exceptional beauty, the combination is a treat to the eyes. This is what

happens, when Sri Rama leaves on his fourteen-year exile to the forests.

Readying himself for the life of a forest-dweller, Raghava relinquishes his

princely robes for the ones made of deerskin and tree-bark. The citizens of

Ayodhya, watching the heart-rending spectacle of the Prince assuming the

demeanour of a vanavAsi, are hardly surprised to find that the robes of skin and

bark suit Sri Rama to a T, giving Him a serene look of austerity and penance.

 

 

 

Sorry as they are to see Sri Rama in modest clothes, it is

when Sri Mythily is called upon to wear such apparel, that the AyOdhyAvAsIs,

including the famed Vasishtta, rise up in protest. When She is handed over the

garments of deerskin, Sri Janaki hardly knows how to wear them, being

unaccustomed to anything but the softest, finest and the best of silken wear.

Wouldn't the delicate body be bruised beyond tolerance by the clothes of tree

bark She was required to wear, wonder the grieving ladies of Ayodhya. What a

cruel woman that Kaikeyi must be, to demand that the Princess wear such coarse

clothes, a Princess hardly into Her teens and used to a sheltered life of

creature comforts! Rushing valiantly to the rescue of His beloved, who holds the

sackcloth in Her hand, knowing not how to wear it, Sri Raghava drapes the coarse

cloth around Her upper and lower body, over the clothes She is wearing. At this,

the eyes of all on-lookers fill with tears of anger and grief and they demand

that at least Sri Vaidehi be permitted to retain Her normal garb.

 

 

 

Turning to happier matters, the Lord often assumes the garb of

women, as a matter of sport. We call it the NAcchiar Tirukkolam, where Emperuman

puts on a saree, blouse, bangles and other paraphernalia his Consorts normally

wear. Only those who have witnessed the spectacle can attest to its immeasurable

beauty. All the virile manliness of the Lord just disappears and there is a

total transformation from his normal impressive masculinity, to a bewitching

feminine façade, with a posture and expression to match. To enhance the effect,

the Lord also wears his ample unruly locks in a braid and adorns it with a

choodamani. The cumulative effect makes for such a delightful damsel, that even

the hearts of senior citizens do a somersault when they witness the Lord in this

attire and long-forgotten feelings of romance are rejuvenated. Is it any wonder

then, that the asurAs were mesmerised by Him with His MOhini roopam and readily

agreed to forego their quota of nectar churned out from the sea with so much

effort?

 

 

 

Sri Bhattar, however, refuses to be impressed by this attempt

on Emperuman's part to imitate His better half. He points out derisively that

however much the Lord may try to simulate a maidenly comportment, His eyes give

Him away. After all, they are the inimitable broad, long, black and redlined

eyes of the ParamaPurusha ( " KariavAgi pudai parandu milirndu sevvariodi neenda

ap periavAya kaNgal " ), which can never change, whatever costumes He may put on.

Further, these eyes of the Lord are no match for the beautiful, mercy-filled

eyes of Piratti, with their long lashes. Thus the Lord is unable to impress His

intimate acolytes with such fashion-show attire and can never hope to masquerade

successfully as the Divine Damsel.

 

 

 

Like the consummate actor He is, the Lord uses the most appropriate

costumes suited to His current role. In Sri Vamanavatara, as the bewitching

brahmachari, He was attired in a knee-length cloth and deerskin. As the leader

of the cowherds in Sri Krishnavatara, he sported a flashy red cloth draped

around His head (we can still see this in the Mannargudi Rajagopalaswamy

temple), as the Prince of Vrishnis, He wore nothing but the finest of yellow

silk, and as the exiled Prince of Ayodhya, He wore modest apparel made of

deerskin and tree bark.

 

 

 

If the Lord is adept at wearing clothes suited to the calling, our Acharyas

too, especially those who have embraced the sanyAsa Ashrama, are not far behind.

We hear a lot about the beautiful ochre robes that Sri Ramanuja used to wear.

They were beautiful not because they were of fine material or due to glossy

mercerising, but because they adorned the majestic tirumEni of the Bhashyakara.

They emitted a glow of pride at covering the handsome body of the Yatiraja-

" KAshAya sObhi kamaneeya shikhA nivEsam " . Sri Ramanuja had to revert to the

white robes of a grihasttha briefly, when his life was threatened by the cruel

KulOtthunga ChOza. Concerned disciples of the Acharya compelled him to switch to

a white vEshti in disguise and spirited him away from the clutches of the

insufferable king. This event is re-enacted till date at SriperumbUdUr, the

Saint's birthplace, during the annual festival and is known as the " VeLLai

sAtthuppadi utsavam " .

 

 

 

Though fond of spotless clothes Himself, it was Sri Krishna's favourite

sport to splash mud over the neat and spanking-new clothes the Gopis wore. Not

content with this sort of harassment, He also hid the clothes of the Gopakanyas

bathing in the Yamuna, ensuring that they could not come out of the cold water

without outraging their modesty. He condescended to restore the clothes to their

owners who were half-dead with shame, only after a lot of entreaties and after

extracting numerous promises.

 

 

 

The very same Lord who made the Gopis stand bereft of dress in the freezing

river, rushed to the rescue of Draupadi, when she faced an outrage to her

modesty at the hands of the dastardly DucchAsana. Once she appealed to the

distant Lord, her saree grew and grew in length, till the Kourava trying to

disrobe her fell exhausted in sheer fatigue.

 

 

 

Even in arcchAvatara, the Lord sports the best of clothes at most divyadesams.

At Tirumala, He is adorned with a specially-woven, very long upper cloth and a

lower one ( " MelchAtthu and the uLchAtthu " ), designed to ensure that the Lord's

delicate tirumEni is not scratched by the numerous ornaments He wears. During

cold winters, Sri Parthasarathi sports a dress suit of wool, known as " GabAi " ,

while He doesn't forget His jodhpurs when He goes on a horse ride during

Brahmotsavam. Sri Veeraraghava Swamy of Tiruvallur is adorned with a checked

cloth resembling a bed sheet. At Guruvayur, the kutti Krishna is to be seen with

just a loincloth, in the early mornings. In many of the north Indian temples,

the Lord is found wearing trendy pants and shirts, in keeping with times.

 

If anyone wants new clothes, it is to Emperuman he has to pray-the Emperuman

who turned KuchEla (one wearing torn, ill-fitting garments) into SuchEla

(well-dressed), the Lord who bestowed bountiful supplies of robes to a maiden

battling for her modesty. On birthdays and festive days, when we remember to buy

our children and ourselves beautiful new outfits, do we think of the Lord and of

adorning Him with new clothes? At several divyadesams, when we find Emperuman

dressed in soiled or torn robes, our hearts go out to the Provider, who Himself

languishes uncared for. How wonderful would it be if each one of us were to

adopt a divyadesam, especially one located in the countryside, and undertake to

adorn the Lord and His Consorts with new clothes on His birthdays and on

Deepavali or other festivals! It would make the festivities that much more

meaningful, instead of remaining as orgies of eating and merry-making.

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan