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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00069 Nov 2003

 
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 ANDAL'S ENVY -CONCH'S PRIDE

Sri sadagopan Iyengar's posting on the bamboo instrument was thought provoking. 
He had queried whether we had read or seen the Lord playing any other 
instrument. The flute has the privilege of being near the Lord, near His lips. 
However, despite all its credentials, it does not enjoy the place of the conch. 
Why so? The Lord's conch, namely pAnchajanyam, also has the privilege of being 
with the Lord, adorning His broad shoulders and tasting His mouth. It is a 
weapon and does not produce magnifying music and the consequential effect of 
the flute. It definitely does not have a magical impact on the living or 
non-living things when related to the Lord's flute. It does not make living 
things to become like non-living things-ezhudhu chithiram pOle ninRanavE- or 
make the seemingly non-living burst into life i.e. behave like living 
things-marangaL ninRu madhu dhAraigaL pAyum.Then, how can we conclude that It 
is better placed as compared to the flute ?

First, let us see what AzhwAr mentions about the conch. It is said that when 
Lord krishNA put His mouth unto the conch at the outset of the kurukshEthrA 
war, and the warriors were terrorised mercilessly, as a stentorian effect. This 
is clearly spelt out in thiru voi mozhip pAsuram :

"vari vaLaiyAl kuRaivillA - peru muzhakkAl adangArai, eri azhal ampuga 
vUdhi..." thiru voi mozhi 4-8-8.
vari vaLai- the conch with lines on it.
kuRaivillA peru muzhakkAl = With substantial big sound;
peru muzhakku = The great sound emanating from the pAnchajanyam. The 
maha-dhwani of the pAnchajanyam. 
peru muzhakkAl- adangArai eri azhalam puga vUdhii= The opponents were pierced 
with scorching sound of the conch which entered the hearts and petrified them.

The point here is that, the noise from the conch terrorises the opponents. 

sri AndAL has also voiced the same view in thiruppAvai:

" valam puri pOle ninRadhirndhu" thiruppAvai 4 and in

27th pAsuram " gnAlathai ellAm nadunga muralvana" the opponents in the universe 
are shocked with awe and fear.

periAzhwAr also has mentioned this in periAzhwAr thiru mozhi 3-3-5
"paRRAr nadunga mun pAnchajanyathai vAi vaitha, pOr ErErE..." 
For the sake of pAndavAs Lord krishNA used the conch to create the big bang 
noise which terrorised the duryOdhanA and his warriors with alarm and great 
fear.

The conch- pAnchajanyam is seen as a weapon in the Lord's hands and instills 
enormous fear psychosis the minds of the opponents.

is that all?
( to be continued)
vanamamalai padmanabhan


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




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