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KANNAPIRAAN PERRA VENNAIK KALVI-3

From the Bhakti List Archives

L&T-ECCG-Buildings & Factories • December 24, 1999 


Dear Srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

Though Sri krishNaa learnt his lessons nicely "vennai vizhungi" and "ammam
undu" [read in the earlier posts], the mother yasOdhaa is feeling sorry for
her pet child KrishNaa. She feels bad for other aaippaadi ladies complain
about krishna, beat him, while he eats butter and learns his lessons. 

Of course, for any learning, it is to be under the strict guidance of a
guru. The guru will do the sikshai (this word sikshai means both learning as
well punishment). Here  aaichchiyar are the gurus for krishnaa and they do
the sikshai (in both the meanings of term). Who has the guts to beat the
king nandhaa's son? May be some aaichchi -the guru-in the aaippaadi has.
This also -I feel - may not be for the loss of butter what she suffers, but
for the mischief the child krishnaa creates or brings with the act of eating
butter and learning his kalvi. 

Please see the complaint from one of the aaichchi - actually a small tussle
krishnaa had with an aaichchi for a small quantity of butter. 
'munthaa naaL anthi nErathil sontham pOla kittE vanthu, vindhaigaL anEgam
seithu viLaiyaadinaan, oru panthu aLavaagilum veNNai thanthaal viduvEn enRu
munthaanaiyai thottu izhuththu pOraadinaan' 

meaning- "day before yesterday krishnaa came near me in the twilight time
-sandhyaa kaalam- he came near me as though he is a close relative of me- he
played with me doing many tricks, after that he wanted a ball of butter,
when I refused he said he will not leave me and in saying so pulled my pallu
(see part 2 for what is pallu) and caused trouble for me" says Oothukadu
Venkata subbaier in the very famous song "thaayE yasOdhaa" in raaga thOdi.

Periyaazhvaar do not relish krishnaa being beaten for taking butter and so
he does not write about being beaten, but he refers only the dhamOdharan
episode. But Thirumangai aazhvaar writes krishnaa got the beating from
aaichchi for his acts of stealing butter. See the paasuram
 
poonkOdhai aaichchi kadai veNNai pukkuNNa
aangu avaL aarththu pudaikka pudai uNdu
Engiyirunthu siNungi viLaiyaadum 
Ongu Otha vaNNane- 
10-5-1 periya thirumozhi- thirumangai aazhvaar

Meaning: an aaichchi who was like a creeper, [means having a slim and
beautiful body like a creeper (poonkOdhai)] churned the curd and put the
butter in a pot [or stored many such pots which looked like a shop- to that
extent butter was kept in the house] kadai veNNai pukku [kadai veNNai-
kadaintha veNNai, kadai veNNai-in the shop like place where butter was kept
in large quantities]
*	krishnaa reached the pot and ate all butter- uNNa- there she saw
young krishnaa doing the eating
*	she became angry and started beating krishnaa- aartththu pudaikka
*	pudai uNdu- hey krishnaa- you ate the beating also along with
butter- 
*	this did not deter him - he wanted more butter, started to long for
the butter- Engiyirunthu- but did not get it, so started playing- siNungi
viLaiyaadum
*	Ongu Otha vaNNanE- the boy having colour of the ocean
*	oh krishnaa- says aazhvaar.
So,  the conclusion we derive is he received this kind of sikshai from an
aaichchi for his veNNaik kalvi.
 
See another paasuram
ThaamOruruttith thayir nei vizhungittu
ThamOdhath thavazhvarenRu aaichchiyar thaambinaal
ThaamOtharakkaiyaal aarkkath thazhumbiruntha 
dhaamOOdharaa 
- 10-5-3 periya thirumozhi- thirumangai aazhvaar

In this paasuram, first enjoy the rhyme in the word thaam used in all four
lines and a beautiful thamizh..

Thaam mOr urutti- thaambinaal kattiya mOrp paanaiyai urutti- rolled over the
pot containing butter milk which was tied with the rope for stability and
[or kept in the uri rope hanger], 
-thayir nei vizhungi- swallowed fast curd and ghee [can take it as butter
also]  
-thaam Oda, thavazhvar enRu- the aaichchiyar started running to catch the
boy krishna but he immediately started crawling- because a crawling boy is a
child, so he should not be taken to task for he can not do any big mischief.
Another point here is since the curd butter milk etc are spilled over the
floor, the floor is slippery- so if aaichchi starts running to catch the boy
krishna, she will fall badly in front of the mischievous krishna. So she did
not run but crawled to catch him but he started running.

-aaichchiyar thaambinaal- the lady brought ropes to tie or beat him- for
that is the tools which is easily available to aaichchi [a cane to drive the
cows and calves is another easy tool which aaichchi can reach easily]
-thaamOtharakkaiyaal aarkka- started beating krishnaa with the hands with
rope stains- due to continuous holding of rope during churning of curd, the
hands had become rough for the aaichchi- kaaichchu pOna kaaiyaal adikka

thazhumbiruntha dhaamOdhara- that kind of rope beaten stains are there in
your body - oh dhamOdhara - oh krishna

Another paasuram to prove kaNNan got the sikshai for his veNNaik kalvi.

Due to such tussles the aaichchiyar had the guts to give sikshai to krishnaa
with the cane in his kalvi. Krishnaa received these cane beatings and
returned home silently. But mother saw the cane marks in the body of
krishnaa and followed it with a lament through a song
Pirar mani veNNaikkaaga pirambadi nee pattaal 
ThirumEni varuda en karam irandum thavikkuthadaa
Ural izhuththu maram saaiththu iruvarkku arul koorntha
Uththaman unnaith thazhuvi mechcha manam vizhaiyuthada

[one of the charanams in Smt. Ambujam krishna song "konjum silamboli" in
ragamaalikaa]
Meaning- Hey krishnaa- when you are beaten by other ladies for the butter
belonging to other houses, I want to broach you gently and soothingly [touch
or feel these spots in your body so that it comforts you] (neevi viduthal,
or thadavi viduthal). Oh you the truthful person [a near translation for
uththaman?], I want to embrace you and praise you, who dragged the mortar
between two trees and set free the two gandharvas standing as trees and they
were bestowed with your grace. 

See the mother here- she did not say "you have stolen butter from their
houses so you got their cane charge- which is correct. So here after don't
do, or that beating you got will refrain you from the stealing here after",
but says "why do you long for the butter from other's houses". It can be
understood that same is available in plenty in our house itself. Feel the
"mother" of krishnaa in the song and enjoy the lyrics. 

>From this, one thing is clear- kalvi-learning involves pirambadi even for
krishnaa - like yesteryears when the masters used to impart good education
through judicious use of stick. 

Dasan Vasudevan M.G.