Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
The Case of the Criminal Crow
Kol kondu vaa-ak kaakkaai
Kaakaashi nyayam
My co-passenger asked the air hostess how far it was to Mumbai from Coimbatore.
The lady replied, " It is..kilometres, as the crow flies". Though I knew that
the idiom "as the crow flies" is often used to indicate distances by air, yet,
when I thought about it, it sounded a bit funny. Why the reference to the crow
and not to any other bird? After all, the crow is not known for its speed or
coverage of long distances. In fact, you could think of a dozen other birds
which are known fliers of long hauls at a good pace-the vulture, for instance.
Not finding a ready answer to this idle question, I turned my thoughts to other
aspects of the crow. Indeed, there didn't seem much to think about the bird,
nor did it seem attractive enough in any way to be worth anyone's thoughts.
Since I didn't have any interesting reading material on hand except the
airline's house magazine (which, incidentally, even a crow wouldn't touch) I
let my imagination loose and tried to discover whether anything of significance
could be said about the crow.
When I shared my rather disparaging thoughts about the bird with my daughter,
she came up with a spirited defence of the bird. "Have you forgotten the
hapless crow's Saranagati at the lotus feet of Sri Raghava, which is among the
principal events in Srimad Ramayanam portraying the efficacy of Prapatti?'
enquired she. How indeed could I have forgotten the episode?
The Kaakaasura Saranagati demonstrates for us several significant tenets about
the concept of Prapatti. Though everyone knows the episode, it is worth
recounting. During their jungle sojourn, Sri Rama and Sita stayed in the
enchanting environs of the Chitrakoota Parvatam. To the northeast of the
foothills was the Mandakini River with crystal clear waters, in which Mythily
loved to bathe. Once, after playing for long in the dense and cool groves on
the river banks, Mythily rested, happy but tired, sitting on Sri Rama's lap.
(You may wonder-would a mature, married woman indulge in playing! If you do,
you have to remember that Sri Sita at that time had probably just entered her
teens and was still practically a child). It was then that a crow materialized
apparently from nowhere and started pecking at Sri Janaki's chest with cruel
and lewd intentions. Though She tried to drive it away with a stone, it was
very persistent, flying away when the stone was thrown, but returning time and
again to resume its nefarious activity. The usually amicable Sita was driven to
anger by the despicable crow's dastardly deed. And adding insult to injury, Sri
Rama, who was watching all this, made fun of Vaidehi ("with typical male
insensitivity", adds my wife, who is looking over my shoulder as I compose
this) for being unable to defend Herself against a mere crow. Driven by shame,
anger and distress, Sita cried, and as many a girl does, slipped into the arms
of comforting sleep. When She woke up, She found Sri Rama too asleep, with His
head in Her lap. Just when She heaved a sigh of relief at having got rid of the
crow, it returned with a vengeance and started pecking again at Her chest,
drawing blood. The free flow of blood from the open wound fell on Sri Raghava,
waking Him up. When He saw what was happening to His dear Vaidehi, Rama's anger
knew no bounds. He perceived the crow to be no ordinary bird, but the son of
Indra come to harass Sri Janaki with vile intentions. His eyes blazing with
anger, He plucked a darbha grass from the ground, (since He did not have His
bow and arrows handy) empowered it with the Brahmaastra mantram and threw it at
the crow (it is perhaps this incident that has given rise to the Tamizh saying,
"Vallavanukku pullum aayudham"). The trivial blade of grass turned into a
deadly missile spitting fire and pursued the fleeing crow.
With the lethal weapon in pursuit, the crow flew high, low, tried disappearing
and used all its wile in evading the killer missile, which, however, stuck to
the crow despite all its tricks, closing in all the while for the kill. Having
tried its best to escape and failed, the crow found itself helpless and flew to
its father, Devendra, seeking refuge and protection. When he heard the story,
Indra realized that it was beyond his powers to save his son, as it was the
Lord who had decided to punish the crow. Throwing up his hands, Indra told his
son that none, absolutely none, including the four-headed Brahma, the
all-powerful Rudra and Indra himself, could save someone whom Sri Raghava had
decided to kill. No power on earth or elsewhere could interfere with the
actions of the Ultimate. The hapless Jayanta turned next to his mother,
believing that she would save him despite his heinous crime against the
Jaganmaata. However, Indraani too, perceiving the horrendous nature of her
son's deed, refused to entertain him, as did other Devatas. Desperate by now
and being pursued by the relentless blade of grass, Jayanta sought protection
in turn from birds of his own feather, from Maharshis and from anyone and
everyone whom he considered powerful. Not only on earth, but in the worlds
above and below too, the crow could not find a saviour and was mercilessly
driven out by even those he considered near and dear.
Finding no protector in all the three worlds, thoroughly exhausted and finding
no respite from the pursuing missile, the crow ultimately decided to fall at
the feet of Sri Raghava Himself. And though the criminal crow richly deserved
the punishment of death for its dastardly deed, the ever merciful Lord, with
His affinity for Prapannas notwithstanding the magnitude, quantum and frequency
of their sins, afforded refuge to the beleaguered crow. However, since the
Brahmastra could not go waste, He asked the crow whether it would offer its
right eye as a target for the potent astra. The crow agreed with alacrity and
escaped with the minor loss of an eye, in the place of its life. Sri Valmiki's
description of the event is extremely evocative-
"Treen lokaan samparikramya tam evam saranam gata:
vadhaarham api Kaakutstha: kripayaa paryapaalayat"
This, then, is the Kaakaasura Vrittaantam recounted by Sri Sita to Hanuman in
the Sundara Kaandam of Srimad Ramayanam.
However, the episode raises a few questions.
1. First and foremost, why did Sri Rama deploy the most powerful and the
ultimate of all astras, the Brahmaastra, to kill a mere crow? Rama had obtained
from Visvaamitra a plethora of astras of varying intensity and power and could
have definitely chosen one suited for the minor task of disposing of a crow,
even if he was the son of Indra. Instead, why did He indulge in overkill, as it
were, and send the Brahmaastra in pursuit of the crow? Would anyone use a AK-47
rifle for shooting down a pigeon?
It was the gravity and monstrosity of the offence that prompted the Lord to
employ a weapon of the caliber of the Brahmastram. The person committing the
crime was the son of Indra, who has time and again been the beneficiary of the
Lord's munificence as well as His Consort's. The crime was against the
Universal Mother. Would anyone harbour inappropriate thoughts vis-à-vis one's
own mother? And how dastardly would it be to entertain the same with regard to
a lady who is acclaimed as the "Jaganmaata" and is the embodiment of maternal
love and mercy!
Sri Rama's choosing the Brahmastram to kill a mere crow also reflects His
intense love for Vaidehi and His intolerance for anyone daring to harass His
beloved. Sri Rama considers Sita to be dearer than His own life--
"mama praanepi gareeyasee"-and it is this boundless affection that causes Him
to overreact, if His action can be termed as such. Nandagopa was said to keep
vigil all night beside Krishna's cradle, his spear at the ready to dispose of
any insect that dared come near the divine boy-"Koor vel kodum tozhilan
Nandagopan". It is this surfeit of affection, adoration and concern, that cause
the loving Rama to react the way He did and send the ultimate of weapons in
pursuit of the offender.
2. Another question that begs an answer is whether Sri Sita was so helpless as
to be unable to defend Herself against a mere crow. A lady who threatens to
reduce Ravana to a heap of ashes cannot be all that weak and feeble as to be
unable to dispose of a crow. Why then did Vaidehi put up with the bird's
torturous attacks till it could draw blood from Her breast?
The episode has a parallel in Sri Mythily not disposing of Ravana and escaping
from Her demonic captors, though, as She Herself proclaims, it would have been
child's play for Her to annihilate the raakshasa and others of his ilk. She
refrains from self-protection as She believes implicitly that it is the Lord's
duty to protect Her. It is this admirable display of "Paaratantryam" or
dependence on Emperuman, even in the face of the grossest of provocations,
which makes Her reluctant to defend Herself, even against a crow.
3. One more question that may arise is whether such a grave and unpardonable
sin, committed that too against the Lokamaata, deserves to be forgiven and
whether Sri Rama was being overgenerous in affording refuge to the criminal
crow. There are some crimes, such as the one committed by Jayanta, which are
beyond pardon-the so-called unforgivable crimes. The Supreme Court of India,
while upholding the validity of capital punishment, laid down that it was to be
applied in the rarest of rare cases, where the offence was of the gravest
nature, not calling for any mercy whatsoever (child rapists, for instance).
In the divine court of the Lord, there is nothing that constitutes an
unforgivable crime. By nature, creatures are errant and it would be difficult
to find spotless and immaculate ones, untainted by sin of any sort-"na kaschit
na aparaadhyati". Taking into account the predilections of His creations, the
Lord adopts an extremely sympathetic attitude towards their peccadilloes,
forgiving them instantly, provided the offender repents and appeals for
clemency, surrendering himself at the Lord's lotus feet. The power of Prapatti
or absolute surrender is such that even if the offence constitutes a cardinal
sin of monumental proportions and even if it is committed repetitively, the
Lord is always ready to forgive and forget. Swami Desikan puts this
beautifully-"etthanaiyenum teera kazhiya aparaadham panninaarayum pokkattru
vizhundaal ..Piraatti sannidhi undu aagayaalum parama kaarunikatvaadigalaalum
Perumal erittu kondu rakshippaar"
While the Lord's propensity is thus to pardon even unpardonable offences, His
Consort surpasses Him in the display of mercy and tolerance towards even
habitual offenders guilty of the grossest of crimes. It is She who, as the
"Purushakaaram", recommends to the Lord that all surrendered souls be pardoned,
despite their accumulated baggage of unpardonable sins. With Her at hand, there
was indeed no chance of the hapless crow being punished for its offence, even
though it was against Herself and committed with the worst of intentions. Thus,
in the unlikely event of the Lord permitting the Brahmaastram to carry out its
deadly errand, Sri Janaki would definitely have interceded in favour of the
offender and ensured his pardon. In fact, there is a version of this episode in
one of the Puranas (Paadma Puranam?), which says that the crow just fell helter
skelter at the feet of Rama, exhausted by its efforts to evade the
Brahmaastram. It was Sri Mythily who turned the crow's head to face the Lord's
lotus feet, converting what was just a providential fall, into a poignant
gesture of Prapatti, thus ensuring that the crow escaped a certain and
richly-deserved death. Sri Valmiki says that the hapless crow's mere act of
falling near His feet was treated by the merciful Lord as an act of Saranagati
and protection was afforded to the bird, which deserved death richly-
"Sa tam nipatitam bhoomou sharanya: sharanaagatam
vadhaarham api Kaakutstha: kripayaa paryapaalayat".
Here are Swami Desikan's beautiful lines from the Abhaya pradaana Saaram,
describing the minimum effort on the part of the distressed crow and
Emperuman's boundless compassion for even the worst of offenders-
"vadhaarhan pokku attru taam irunda idantthile vandu vizhunda maatrame
saranaagati aaga kondu Perumal praanaarti aana ivanukku praana pradaanam panni
rakshittaar"
4. One more question that may arise is as to why Sri Rama permitted the astram
to gouge out the crow's right eye. A pardon, to be worth the name, should be
clean and with no strings attached. Mere reduction in punishment from hanging
to a life sentence cannot constitute a pardon. So, is Prapatti that effective
after all, if all it is capable of doing is to diminish the incidence of divine
retribution? Why then is it touted as the panacea for absolving us of all sin?
The loss of eye for the crow was not intended as a punishment, nor was it
indicative of the Lord's perception that a lesser sentence was called for in
view of the crow having surrendered. It falls under the category of "Nigraha
anugraham"-what appears to the uninformed to be a punishment, was actually be a
blessing in disguise. In the crow's case, the loss of an eye was intended as a
terrifying reminder to the bird to never indulge in similar sin, and not as
retribution per se. For a habitual offender, the temptation to indulge in
repetitive sins is strong, despite any sentence he may receive for one of the
crimes. We often see criminals making repeated visits to the prison, despite
having served sentences earlier for similar crimes. For the crow, the loss of
an eye acted as a constant reminder of what further sin was likely to beget and
functioned as a deterrent, turning the bird from a sinful and wayward lifestyle
into one of conformation with ethics and morals. Swami Desikan puts the matter
succinctly thus-"durabhisandhiyai vittu tirigaikkaaga oru kannai astrattukku
ilakku aakkinaar aaagainaal astrattukku lakshyam koduttapadi aasrita hitamaaga
endru nirneetam"
5. Another interesting question is why the Brahmaastram, which is capable of
instantly achieving its aim, pursued the fleeing crow for so long, content to
remain behind the bird patiently but menacingly, till the crow completed its
tour of the three worlds in search of a saviour. The Brahmaastram is no
ordinary missile but represents the ultimate in weaponry and is capable of
delivering instant death to the target. And we are also told by Swami Desikan
that during its long flight, whenever the crow faced other directions, the
Brahmaastram menacingly pursued the crow from close quarters and when it flew
in the direction of Chitrakootam and the Lord, the astram just followed the
bird from a distance, without closing in. How could this be? Swami Desikan
tells us that the Brahmaastram knew the Lord's intentions well. It understood
that Sri Rama wanted the crow to be merely taught a lesson and not to be
annihilated, that He wanted the offender to reform and not to perish. Hence the
astram pursued the crow but never touched it and ultimately made it fall at the
Lord's feet. Hence it might not be erroneous to draw the conclusion that it was
the Brahmaastram and the Lord's will, more than anything else, that was
responsible for the crow's Prapatti.
If the crow is portrayed as a gross offender in Srimad Ramayanam, the other
epic, Mahabharatam, too shows the bird in a poor light. Once a crow was brought
up by the sons of a wealthy merchant, who fed the bird morsels of rich
left-over food regularly. Growing up on such a rich diet and with its ego
inflated beyond measure by the affection showered on it by the children, the
crow developed false pride and arrogance, considering itself superior to all
others of its ilk. It looked at other crows and birds with ill-disguised
contempt and insulted them with its condescending manner. It was so conceited
that it once challenged a group of beautiful swans, boasting that it could
outfly them in height and distance. Little realizing its limitations and status
in the avian kingdom, the crow failed miserably when called upon to prove its
merit and almost lost its life in the process, surviving only due to the mercy
of the swans. Trying to compete with the swans on their flight over the ocean,
the crow soon grew tired and fell into the deep waters. The swans took pity on
it and gave it a ride back on their backs, telling the crow to realise its
station in life and to have a realistic assessment of its strengths and
weaknesses.
If all this is not enough, we are told by Sri Mahabharata again that the crow
is an inauspicious bird and its flying behind a person is a bad omen-
"Prishttato vaayasa: krishna: yaahi yaahi iti vaasati
While describing bad signs and portents, the same epic includes the
preponderance of crows on trees to be a bad omen, on par with diminishing yield
from cows and trees becoming bereft of flowers and fruits-
"Alpa khseeraa: tathaa gaava: bhavishyanti Janaadhipa!
Alpa pushpa phalaaschaapi paadapaa bahu vaayasaa:"
A crow alighting on the flagmast of a warrior spells doom, we are told again-
"Dhvajeshu cha nileeyante vaayasaa: tat na sobhanam"
Portending the disaster about to befall them, the Kourava army was followed by
another airborne army of crows, vultures and other birds of prey-
"Gridhraa: kaakaa: badaa: syenaa: yaatudhaanaa: shalaaa vrikaa:
Makshikaanaam cha sanghaataa anugacchanti Kouravaan"
The contempt with which Shastras treat crows would be evident from the
Mahabharata, which tells us that only sinners are born as crows-those who
forsake their duties to Devas and forefathers-i.e., those who do not perform
Sandhyavandanam, Pitru tarpanam, Shraaddham, etc. are born as crows-
" Deva kaaryam upaakritya pitru kaaryam athaapi cha
anirvaapya samasnan vai tato jaayati vaayasa:"
If Garuda is considered to be the best of the avian species, the crow figures
at the other end of the totem pole, looked down upon as the worst of birds, as
can be inferred from Sri Janaki's words of contempt addressed to Ravana,
comparing him to a crow and Sri Rama to Vainateya- "yat antaram vaaayasa
Vainateyayo:.tat antaram Daasarate: tavaiva cha".
Sri Tirumangai Azhwar too speaks contemptuously of the crow, comparing it
unfavourably with the rabbit, as far as the taste of its flesh is
concerned-"Eraar muyal vittu kaakkai pin povade!". The comparison here is
between the Arcchaavataram of Emperuman, with its easy accessibility and
sweetness, and His primordial form with which He reigns at the
difficult-to-attain Srivaikunttam. When you can have your eye-fill of the Lord
at the nearby temple (akin to the tasty flesh of a rabbit which is already
captured and skinned), why thirst after the unseen and remote paradise above
(comparable to the tasteless flesh of a crow which is yet to be caught),
enquires Azhwar.
By the way, did you know that the collective noun for a group of crows, in
literary and fanciful language, is murder? Just as we say a flock of sheep, we
are supposed to say a murder of crows! Is that not very suggestive?
>From all the aforesaid, one would be tempted to conclude that the crow is
>indeed a worthless creature. However, there are some redeeming features in the
>bird. As we all know, it is an extremely social bird-the moment it espies a
>morsel of food, it emits a raucous cry, inviting all crows in the vicinity to
>come and share. Unlike man, who believes in secreting everything for his own
>consumption, the crow believes in sharing and caring. It is also closely
>associated with Pitru karmas-all of us who perform shraaddham know well that
>at the end of the ritual, a ball of rice ("Vaayasa Pindam") is submitted for
>the crow's consumption. And even on a daily basis, most of us have the habit
>of putting on the windowsill or terrace some portion of the cooked rice,
>before we ourselves eat, perhaps as part of the "Bhoota Yagyam", which is one
>of the five great yagyas ("pancha mahaa yagyaas") we are supposed to perform
>daily. And it is the preferred vehicle of Sanaischara (Saturn) and is
>propitiated as such. Though people might consider the crow ugly and unseemly,
>Mahakavi Bharati says that the bird's dark feathers remind him of the
>beautifully black complexion of Sri Krishna-"Kaakkai siraginile Nandalaala!
>Undan karia niram tondrudadaa Nandalaala!" sings the inspired poet, who sees
>Krishna in anything and everything.
And leave alone everything else, it is the crow that Sri Periazhwar chooses for
running errands for Sri Krishna. There must definitely be some positive
features to the crow, if Azhwar utters its name in almost 20 pasurams, without
a single word about any other bird. This must indeed be a unique feature in the
entire Divya Prabandam, with a bird's name figuring consecutively and
conspicuously in 20 songs. Azhwar appeals to the crow time and again to come
and comb the unruly black tresses of Sri Krishna and further to bring Vaasudeva
a stick, with which He could control and direct the cows of Gokulam during
grazing. And in the process Azhwar reminds the crow of what happened during
Ramavataram and cautions the bird not to be lax in bringing the stick, as,
otherwise, it might lose its other eye too-
"Potrigazh Chittirakoota poruppadanil
Uttra vadivil oru kannum konda
Kattrai kuzhalan kadian viraindu unnai
Marrai kann kollaame kol kondu vaa
Manivanna Nambikku or kol kondu vaa"
We thus find that not everything about the crow is bad-it does have its
redeeming features.
Srimate Sri LakshmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
dasan, sadagopan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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