Post 4
Dear sri vaishNavap perunthagaiyeer,
In his article `Rope trick' our dear sri sadagopan iyengar swamin of
coimbatore wrote -- quote -- "Here is the beautiful slokam from
YAdavAbhyudayam, with a bewitching pen-portrait of this endearing
episode ?
"Aneetam agrE nija bandanArttham dAmAkhilam samhitamapi apoorNam
vilOkya nirviNna dhiyO jananyA: sankOcha shaktyA sa babhoova badhya:"
The last two words, "babhoova badhya:" are extremely significant --
Rather than giving Yasoda the credit for tying Him up, Swami Desikan
highlights His soulabhyam, with the indication that He permitted
Himself to be tied-up. It was Emperuman's idea in the first place to
get tied up and thereby display His susceptibility to the Bonds of
Love, says Sri Madhurakavi ? "KattuNNa PaNNiya Peru MAyan" ? unquote
I would like to add, it is just the words of sri sukhar put in swamy
desikan's own style ? for many a times swamy followed his poorvars -
literally - as we could see from this srimadh bhaagavatham slOkam -
slokam 19
sva-maathu: svinna-gaathraya visrastha-kabaara-sraja:
dhrshtva parisramam krshNa: krpayaa aaseeth sva-bandhanE ||
meaning: Because of mother YasOdhaa's hard labor, her whole body
became covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were
falling from her hair. When child KrishNa saw His mother thus
fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound.
See sukha maharshi says "sva maathu: parisramam dhrishtvaa sva
bhandhanE krupaya aaseeth" swamy desikan says ? "jananyA: vilOkya sa
badhya babhoova:". Is there any difference? No sirs and madams.
That is further reinforced by next slOkam - Slokam 20 ch 9 10th canto
srimadh bhaagavatham -
na imam virinchO na bhavO na sri: api anga-samsraya |
prasaadham lEbhirE gOpi yath thath praapa vimukthidhath ||
meaning: Neither Lord Brahma, nor Lord Siva, nor even the goddess of
fortune ? viz - sri mahaa lakshmi, who is always the better half of
the Supreme Lord, can obtain from the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
the deliverer from this material world, such mercy as received by
mother YasOdha.
Those `krpayaa sva bhandhanE aaseeth' or `sa badhya babhoova' or
something else ? words simply pour out that "specialty" of yasOdhaa's
binding of krishNa by rope. See here that act of mother and son ? or
is it that son only? ? krishNa ? for mother is also a tool for him to
prove certain aspects - being described as "dhaamOdhara vaibhavam" ?
by that staunch Krishna bhakthaa ? ooththukkadu venkata subbu iyer.
Now enjoy the krithi and its meaning:
Krithi : dhaamOdhara vaibhavam raagam: dhEva manOhari
thaaLam: aadhi thaaLam
pallavi:
dhaamOdhara vaibhavam para thaththuvamOdu niththiyamaana
saththiya neRi sidhDhigaLoDu iNangi niRRadhu thayir kadaiyum
oru kayiRRukkuLLa eyiRRaik - kaattiyum kattup pattadhu -
[dhaamOdhara vaibhavam]
meaning: that supreme truth, supreme regulation, [viz. krishNa] with
all its eternal philosophy and realizations agreed to stand by, to be
bound by a rope that is used for churning curd ? that rope showing
its teeth in the body of that supreme ? oh - this is all "dhaamOdhara
vaibhavam" ? the glory of dhaamodharan ? one who has rpe marks in the
stomach.
anupallavi:
thaamOdum vijayark-koru geethai
avan thambikkuth-thambiyaark-kattuNdadhO kaadhai
nEmaadhigaL Emaarum ippOdhai niRka
vaiththuk-katti vittaaL annai yasOdhai -- [dhaamOdhara vaibhavam ]
meaning: A geethaa for his close running mate vijayan ? arjunan. Yet
another story is that he, this supreme, was bound by another younger
brother of brother to arjunan [viz. arjuna's younger brother `s young
one ? means sahadhevan]. That `time' etc will get tricked by
this `limitless'. YasOdhaa made that `supreme' to stand and bound
with rope. Of what a vaibhavam ? grandeur.
charaNam:
aravak-kodiyOnum kattip-paarththaan
aghaasuran nenjukkuLLE vaiththaan
kuroorannaik-kalaththinuL vaiththaaL
andhak-kOlaahalam ellaam ik-kuthoohalaththaik-kEttuththaan --
[dhaamOdhara vaibhavam]
meaning: aravak kodiyOn ? dhuryOdhanan tried to bind. Aghaasuran ?
who came as a big snake kept in his throat. That witch mother
poothana kept him in her milk pot ? viz- her poisoned breasts. All
these specials are after this only. Of what a vaibhavam ? grandeur.
[may be the translation is poor- please excuse me for that. Enjoy the
krithi]
Points:
1. The raagam is dhEva manOhari - dhEvan is krishNan. manohari ?
is a lady who steals the heart of the person standing in front. here
krishna's, the dhEvan's heart is stolen by yasOdhaa ? the mother by
her parisramam as sukhar puts it ? by her hard and sincere effort to
tie him ? the child krishNa. Raagam selection itself is a granduer ?
vaibhavam.
2. vaibhava in sanskrit means ? glory ? glory of dhamOdhara here.
See monier williams dictionary gives following meanings for vaibhava
vaibhava n. (fr. vi-bhava) might, power (ifc. f. ā)
? high position, greatness Kāv. Kathās. &c
? superhuman power or might MW
? grandeur, glory, magnificance Kathās
3. See the number of superlatives used in identifying krishNa -
or the way the composer OVS identifies krishNa ?
para thaththuvam ? the supreme philosophy
niththiyam aana ? the eternal
saththiya neRi - the truth and dharmam personified
sidhDhigaLoDu ? the results which could be perceived
iNangi niRRadhu ? all combined and stood simply in unison
? all these superlatives combined together in personification
as Krishna stood in front of that dheva Manohari yasOdhaa
4. nema aadhiGal EmaaRum ippOdhai ? what is nEma? Again monier
williams gives following
néma mfn. (fr. [na +ima] [?]
? loc. nêmasmin nom. pl. néme and ○mās, cf. Pāṇ. 1-1, 33)
one,
several
? néma-néma, the one-the other RV. (unaccented, vi, 16, 18)
? (ibc.) half (cf. Nir. iii, 20)
? m. N. of a Ṛishi with the patr. Bhārgava (author of RV. viii, 89)
? (only L.) portion
? time
? limit
? boundary
? the foundation of a wall (cf. nemí)
? a hole
? upper part, above
? deceit
? acting, dancing
? evening
? a √
? food, rice ; n. a partic. high number Buddh. [Cf. Zd. naima.]
So can we take that `one and several' as the meaning. Perhaps that
suits. Or that time limit etc ? all these got cheated now - ippOdhai ?
in front of yasodhaa when lord stood ? agreed to be bound ? what it
means ? the limitless being bound to limits ? EmaaRum ippOdhu ? got
deceived? Yes. Otherwise can you just think of this act of binding
the boundless in a boundary? Oh what a great way to put it across by
the poet. Words come and sit in position to describe that boundless
Krishna being bound.
You should not think for the tamil word nEmam why to refer Monier
Williams Sanskrit dictionary. In tamil also nEmam gives the meaning
rule or boundary or limit. May be an adopted word from Sanskrit.
5. "Podhu" also means "flowers" ? krishNa, that blue flower ?
neela malar - ippOdhai niRka vaiththuk-katti vittaaL annai yasOdhai -
this flower was bound with a rope by mother yasodhaa like a garland.
[OVS gives that title - neela malar to krishNa in another krithi ?
neela malark kola ezhil kaNdu en nenjam niraivaanadhE in vasanthaa
raga krithi].
Dear sirs, it is not my imagination to give this interpretation for
the word ? `pOdhu' as flower ? but taken from thondaradip podi
aazhvaar. In thirumaalai he says that
pOdhu ellaam pOdhu kondu un ponnadi punaiya maattEn ? thirumaalai -
paasuram 26.
Meaning - I will not do worship to your feet all the time with
flowers.
6. Other binding trials from aghaasuran, dhuryOdhanan, poothana
are all trials learnt from this binding only - places the poet. May
be time wise poothana is the first, but poets have liberties to place
them anywhere as they please.
That vaibhavam ? granduer -of this world ? of mother tying my lord
krishNa - is picturised here in a different way ? saying that
is "kattuthaRi" ? trap or ways and means of binding that young
elephant krishNa -
ulookalam vaa yaminaam manO vaa
gOpa anganaanaam kuchakutmalam va |
muraari naamna: kalabhasya noonam
aalaanam aaseeth thrayam Eva bhoomou || 2-56 leelaa sukhar in krishNa
karnaamrutham
meaning: One thing is sure in this world ? for that calf of the
elephant ? named Krishna ? these have become the `kattuth thaRi' ?
the trap or entangling chain or the place or shed for tying elephant ?
viz.
§ the grinding stone
§ the hearts of yOgees
§ the bosoms of the gOpees which appear like blossoming flower
buds
Let us all bind that blue flower or young elephant krishNa in our
hearts with our love. [concluded]
dhaasan
vasudevan m.g.
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