The Scapegoat

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

The Scapegoat

 

 

 

Of all the avataras, the Krishnavatara is the one where the Lord afforded

full play to His penchant for " leelA " . He indulged in all sorts of fun and games

possible, setting a precedent for current day players. More, the little Lord

made mischief His principal occupation. Lying, thievery of milk, butter and

curds, pranks of every imaginable type played upon unsuspecting Gopis and

others-the misdeeds of KannapirAn are indeed beyond enumeration. His mother

Yasoda despaired of ever making the brat conform to socially acceptable

standards of behaviour and resorted to novel modes of punishment like tying Him

to the grindstone, to enforce good conduct. It is one thing to be abused by

one's detractors, but quite another to earn the opprobrium of one's own clan. It

is understandable for asurAs like Ravana, Sisupala ,Hiranyakasipu and

Hiranyaksha to shower abuse on the Lord, as it is their nature (svabhAvam).

However, to be berated by loving Gopis and by one's own mother calls for

misdeeds of a very high order, which were the principal occupation of Sri

Krishna. Hearken to the Gopis roundly cursing the brat (upon discovering the

empty and broken pot which originally contained fresh butter, churned with much

labour from a cauldron of curds)- " VEyinanna tOl madavAr veNnai uNdAn ivan endru

Esa nindra EmperumAn evvuL kidandAnE " . Azhwars have never been known to speak

anything but in superlatives of the Lord. If they themselves speak of Sri

Krishna as a black-hearted knave ( " puram pOl uLLum kariyAn " ) and as a lawless

lout ( " dharumam ariyA kurumban " ), one can imagine the extent to which the Lord

has been guilty of infamous conduct in this avatara.

 

 

 

A thief who gains notoriety for his habitual stealing gets blamed not

only for his own crimes but also for all the unsolved ones happening in the

locality. This is natural, for once he establishes a pattern of misdeeds, people

tend to look no farther for the culprit when there is another theft or burglary,

as it is both convenient and reasonable to blame it on the known offender rather

than search laboriously for a fresh criminal. Likewise, Sri Krishna too gets

unjustly castigated for some mischief perpetrated long before He was born. Sri

Krishna's misdemeanours are so frequent and varied, that people take it for

granted that He is behind all pranks, tricks and petty thefts of dairy products

happening in NandagOkulam. Sri Yasoda is afraid of precisely such a situation

and cautions the little Lord in this regard-

 

" PallAyiravar piLLaigaL ivvooril teemaigaL seivAr

 

ellAm un mEl andri pOgAdu empirAn ingE vArAi "

 

 

 

Sri Yasoda's fears of unjust accusation attaching to her ward are

proved true, when Sri Krishna gets blamed for something, which occurred

thousands of years before He arrived on this earth. And, surprisingly, the

person who fires this salvo is none but Sri Nammazhwar. Here is the beautiful

pasuram-

 

 

 

" MAnEy nokki madavALai mArvil vaitthAi MadhavA!

 

koonE chidaya uNdai vill niratthil teritthAi GovindA!

 

VAnOr sOdi MaNivaNNA! MadhusoodA! nee aruLAi un

 

TEnE malarum tiruppAdam sErumAru vinayEnE "

 

 

 

The line we are concerned with is the second one in the aforesaid

pasuram-

 

" koonE chidaya uNdai vill niratthil teritthAi " . This refers to the Lord's act of

using a sling or catapult for propelling a missile aimed at the hunchback of

Mantara, which causes her considerable pain. This was not done purposefully, but

Mantara came across the line of fire and got hurt accidentally.

 

 

 

As everybody knows, this episode could have happened only during the

Ramavatara, Mantara being the maidservant of KaikEyi. There is not even a remote

connection between Mantara and Krishnavatara. And while recounting this misdeed,

it would have been proper on the Azhwar's part to append the name of Rama-

" koonE chidaya uNdai vill niratthil teritthAi Rama " , or if alliteration and

metre were to be preserved, Azhwar could have plumped for " koonE chidaya uNdai

vill niratthil teritthAi KOdandA! " . Without doing what is normally expected of

him, Azhwar addresses Govindan (another beautiful sobriquet of Sri Krishna)

while mentioning this misdeed, making it appear as if it is Yasoda's brat who is

responsible. As if He hasn't suffered enough ignominy, why lay the blame for

this act of His long-gone predecessor on Sri Krishna?

 

 

 

It would appear as though the Azhwar is unable to bring the haloed name of Sri

Rama into the context, because it is impossible for him to associate the

Chakkravartthi Tirumagan with any infamous act, even an accidental occurrence.

And the moment Azhwar comes across any misdemeanour, he is automatically

reminded of the lawless brat Krishna and attributes the catapult episode too to

the much-maligned Yasodai iLam singam, more as a spontaneous reaction than due

to any premeditated plan to lay the blame at the cowherd's doorstep, rather than

at that of the Ayodhya palace.

 

 

 

The Eedu MuppatthArAyirappadi has an interesting story to narrate here, with the

remark, " teembu sEruvadu KrishnanukkE AgayAlE pOm pazhi ellAm amaNan talaiyOdE

ennumA pOle avan talayil Erittu solludal " . The vyAkhyAtA says that all mischief

is usually attributed to Sri Krishna, just as the Digambar (nude) monk was made

to bear the blame for somebody's death. For those who are curious, here is the

story:-

 

 

 

A Brahmin built a compound wall at the rear of his house to keep out midnight

marauders. The very day the wall was built, even before it could dry and firm

up, a thief tried to enter the compound. The wall, still wet and infirm,

collapsed, killing the burglar in the process. The thief's wife, who came to

know of this, went to the King's court, holding the Brahmin responsible for her

husband's death and seeking punishment for the offender and compensation for

herself.

 

This king was a rank idiot and quite a stranger to concepts like justice,

fairplay etc. When the strange case came up for hearing, the King ordered the

Brahmin to be executed for the offence of causing the burglar's death. Alarmed,

the Brahmin told the king that it was really the fault of the mason for having

left the newly constructed wall wet, without ensuring its safety. " Off with the

mason's head! " cried the foolish king, whose habit it was to rush to conclusions

without any thought. The mason, when brought to the King's court, blamed his

assistant for having poured too much water during construction, which led to the

wall remaining wet and unset. Sentenced to death immediately, the mason's helper

in turn blamed the potter for having made the pot too big, as a result of which

the helper had unwittingly poured more water than necessary. When the King

condemned the potter to capital punishment, he in turn blamed a young woman who

had kept walking this way and that, distracting his attention and resulting in

the pot becoming oversized. In the game of Pass the Buck, the lady held the

washerman (to whom she had entrusted clothes for cleaning and who failed to

deliver on time, making her visit his shop twice or thrice) responsible. When

the washerman was bound hand and foot and brought to the court for receiving

sentence, he in turn told the King that a nude monk had been sitting unmoved on

the washing stone, impeding the washing process. The monk was then brought

before the King, who held the former squarely responsible for the burglar's

death. As the monk was observing a vow of lifelong silence, he didn't reply to

the ridiculous charge and was ultimately executed on the orders of the idiotic

ruler.

 

 

 

This is a story narrated to indicate that blame often attaches to the most

innocent of bystanders, who has had absolutely nothing to do with the crime, as

did the guilt, for hitting Mantara's hump with a catapulted missile, to Sri

Krishna, though the Prince of Ayodhya was the real, albeit unwitting perpetrator

of the act. Though Sri Valmiki doesn't narrate the incident, Kamban does- he

makes Sri Rama recount the occurrence and the disastrous effect it had on His

coronation which was effectively stopped by a vengeful Mantara, who took the hit

from the catapult literally to heart and worked through a gullible Kaikeyi to

banish Sri Rama to fourteen long years of exile-

 

 

 

" siriyar endru igazhndu nOvu seivana seyyal mattru in

 

neri igandu yAn Or teemai izhaittalAl uNarcchi neeNdu

 

kuriyadAm mEniyAya kooniyAl kuvavu tOLAi!

 

Veriyana eidi noidin ventuyar kadalin veezhndEn "

 

 

 

There are any number of such gems strewn over the vast mine of Divya Prabanda

commentaries, which can be had for the asking and await discovery by the

connoisseur of Bhagavat anubhavam.

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan