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KANNAPIRAAN PERRA VENNAIK KALVI-6

From the Bhakti List Archives

L&T-ECCG-Buildings & Factories • January 20, 2000 


Dear Srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

In part 5 we saw learning and practical sessions by krishna in his vennaik
kalvi. At what age he did all these. The answer is "thavazhum paruvam"
crawling stage- may be, he became expert in his kalvi and added frills to
his education later, by learning the arts of dancing, music, stealing as
part of his veNNaik kalvi. How is this conclusion arrived at? 

See periyaazhvaar in his 1-2-4 where he describes krishnaa's muzhanthaaL-
the knee- 
UzhanthaaL narunei Or Or thada uNNa izhanthaaL erivinaal eerththu ezhil
maththin pazhanthaambaal Ochcha bayaththaal thavazhnthaan muzhanthaal
kirunthavaa kaaNeerE- see his knees- with lot of trying (uzhanRu
-muyarchiyudan kaaryam seithu-doing an act with lot of initiative) -when he
ate the butter and mother started beating with old ropes used for churning,
he started crawling on the knees, out of fear - such a child's knee- oh
gopees please come and see- invites aazhvaar. 

[Of course one can argue that the young krishna was walking only, but just
to escape from the reach of mother's sing of rope he started crawling. This
argument holds water. But this paasuram has been included in seethakkadal
group of paasurams, where in the child krishna's beauty is described from
foot to head. So logically it can not be included in this group if he is
grown up. Hence it is concluded child krishna in crawling stage].

Leela sukhar also adds weight to the above conclusion by stating
Aakunchitham jaanu karam cha vaamam 
nyasya kshithow dhakshina hastha padhmE!
AalOkayantham navaneetha kantam 
baalam mukundham manasaa smaraami!! 3.92

I hold my mind in meditation on that krishna, 
*	who is standing on the knees, putting the left hand on the floor as
support, 
*	whose lotus like right hand holding the butter ball, 
*	whose beautiful eyes are looking on that butter ball.

Please add following also to the "aLaithal" references covered in part 4

Aaichchiyar seri aLai thayir paalundu pErththavar kaNdu pidikkap pidiyundu
vEith thadanthOlinaar veNNaik kOL maattaathu- 2-10-5- periyaazhvaar
Meaning- "krishna ate milk, curd which was well churned with his hands
(kaiyinaal aLainthu), he was caught while he was eating by young ladies who
had shoulders like beautiful slender bamboo, krishna escaped from the
beating with big wooden spoon (rod) used for taking out butter (agappai to
be precise- made of coconut shell and bamboo)" says aazhvaar. 

See another aazhvaar- MoovulaGodu aLai veNNai undaan than adiyiNaiyE adai
nenjE 6-9-3 Thirumangai aazhvaar 
Meaning: aazhvaar asks his mind to reach the feet of the person, who ate the
three worlds during the maha praLayam and butter well agitated with his own
hands [who else it can be except my beloved krishna].
 
Now let us go and see krishna's navaneetha naatyam [which is the theme of
this part]- a feast and delight to both eyes and ears.

Swami desikan in his gopaala vimsathi slokam 4 says- 
Aavirbhavath vaniBhrutha aaBharaNam purasthaath 
Aakunchithaika charaNam niBhrythaanya paadham!
Dhadhnaa nimantha mukharENa nibadhdha thaalam
Naathasya nandha bhavanE navaneetha naatyam - 4 

Meaning: Let that krishna's dance appear before me - 
*	Which is taking place in King nandha's palace, 
*	Where krishna's one leg folded and another leg just stops without
movement, 
*	The jewels on krishna and yasOdha producing jingling sounds, 
*	There is noise pervading around due to the churning of curd, 
*	Those sounds serving as thaaLam for his dance. 

Comments: jewels producing sounds- krishna is manivannan- adorned with
jewels-  kaalinil salangai koncha, kai vaLai kulunga, muthu maalaigal asaiya

YasOdha- king's nandha's wife- sarvaabharaNa booshithi- she herself is
carrying out the churning- due to the physical movement, the jewels she is
wearing produce musical sounds- these sounds are thaaLangal. Besides the
movements of yasOdha in churning is also a dance

The "chaLa buLa" sounds due to the churning of curd also produces sounds.
That is another music.

The young krishna when he moves that itself is a dance, he also sees mother
is doing a kind of dance, the butter doing another kind of dance, he also
starts dancing begging for butter.

The butter gets collected in the top- moiththa veNNai- that appears as
dancing inside the pot and chaLa buLa sound is music for that butter in the
arangam (dancing hall) of the curd pot. This also inspires krishna to dance.
Swami says let that dance appear before me. 

Oh what a navaneetha naatyam- krishna learns dancing while he is asking for
butter- veNNaik kalvi has also becomes natanak kalvi.

Sri naaraayana battaththiri in his magnum opus naarayaneeyam says krishna
not only danced for butter also sang sweetly. Read his words-  
Prathi nava navaneetham gOpikaa dhaththam ichchan
Kulapadham upagaayan kOmalam kvaapi nruthyoon!
Sadhaya yuvathilOkairapitham sarpirarasnan
Kvachana nava vipakvam dhugDhamapyaapibasthvam!!  NaarayaNeeyam canto 45
slokam 8

Meaning: Desirous of fresh butter from the gopees, oh krishna, you would go
about now singing sweetly, now dancing enchantingly, whereupon the gopees
with minds full of tender feelings towards you, would offer you fresh butter
and sometimes freshly boiled milk too, which you would consume with delight.

Please read this simple butter dance song in good tamil- Aadina aravindhap
padham- by Smt. Ambujam krishnaa

thaa thaa enak kazhal silambolikka
thaa thaa enach chevvaai sol isaikka
thaa thaa enach chiram asaiya vizhi kenja
thaa thaa enak karam veNNaik kEtkath
thadheengiNathOm enRu naatyam
thaLar nadaiyittu niRka
thaai yasOdhai mei marakka
dhaaraNiyOr kaNdugakka- Aadina aravindhap padham- 

meaning: thaa thaa enak kazhal silambolikka- the anklet jewel (kazhal) in
the legs of Sri krishna makes sounds of thaa thaa, 

thaa thaa enach chevvaai sol isaikka- the red coloured mouth makes sounds
thaa thaa [one meaning is give give dhEhi dhEhi, another meaning is thaa
thaa thai thai-jathiswaram for his own dance]. see the words thaa thaa ena
sol isaikka- the uttering of thaa thaa by krishna has become music- sol-
word coming through krishnaa's mouth is isai- music- 
[note- MGV feels unless the writer of this song has the full grace of the
lord, words will not come and sit in position like this, to give such
lyrical beauty]

thaa thaa enach chiram asaiya vizhi kenja- the head moves in the dance to
the thaa thaa the mouth sings, [the head movement must be there in the
dance, otherwise it is not dance], eyes follow the hands in that direction
and beg- the aravinda lOchanangaL beg to the mother in front

thaa thaa enak karam veNNaik kEtkath- the hands stretch out in begging to
the mother and asks thaa thaa- veNNai thaa thaa -oh mother, please give
butter, please give butter,

 thadheengiNathOm enRu naatyam thaLar nadaiyittu niRka - the dance has swara
jathi thaa thaa thadheengiNathOm -the child krishna's dances- thaLar nadai
-simple walking- that thaLar nadai is itself a dance and also a walking -
but he is really dancing 

thaai yasOdhai mei marakka dhaaraNiyOr kaNdugakka- the mother yasOdha is
completely amazed and wonder struck in the child's veNNai dance- the people
of world are enjoying the dance of the lord-  butter dance of the krishna-
navaneetha naatyam- such padham is aravindhap padham- lotus feet.

YasOdhai mei marakka- oh yasOdhaa- what a gifted lady you are- to have the
jagat kaaraNan to dance in front of you- enna thavam seidhanai yasOdha engum
nirai parbrahmam un edhiril veNNaikkaaga natanamaada- no wonder in the
"paruvam nirambaamE paarellaam uyya thiruvin vadivokkum" dEvaki to say
"thiruvilEn onRum peRRilEn ellaaam dheyva nangai yasOdhai peRRaaLe" in her
pulambal - krishna - krishna .

Dasan Vasudevan M.G.

PS: I cannot but admire the simplicity in the language and the very deep
bhaavam and krishna bhakthi in Smt Ambujam krishna's songs. This song is in
raaga maalikai.