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Gita in Nalayiram, also thanks for dvipam discussion

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Vasudha Narayanan • July 3, 1997 


Dear Members of the Bhakti group: Forgive me if this question has been
answered already.  I get the digest version of the bhakti discussions and
then read it slowly. I just read Sri Desikan Narayanan's question on the
Gita.  In addition to the extensive information and discussions alluded to
by Sri Sampath Rengarajan, I may add that there are several verses which
allude to Lord Krishna being the chariot driver of Arjuna.  (I can give the
whole list if someone is interested).  Furthermore, in Nanmukan Tiruvantati
v. 71, there is an allusion to "anRu Otiya vAkku" which most teachers take
as a reference to the Bhagavad Gita. Again, I apologize if all this a
repetition and this has been discussed already in yesterday's postings.
If anyone is interested in concordances: one spring break, about 11 years
ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down and cataloging all the major
incidents from Puranas, itihasas etc., plus all the major names of the Lord
alluded to by the alvars in the Nalayiram.  This eventually formed a long
appendix in my book _The Way and the Goal: Expressions of Devotion in the
Early Srivaisnava tradition_ (1987).  It may be of limited help to people
who are interested in tracking down all (or most, since it is hard to be
comprehensive) references to particular incidents.  The book will probably
be in many university libraries.  There are also some incidents unique to
the alvars bhakti/wisdom.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sri Sadagopan, Sri
Vijayaraghavan and Sri Sudarhan for responding to my question on the dveepam
and Mount Meru.  Do I take it that the Buffalo temple says Mero dakshine
parsve?  I am also intrigued that the place associated with Murugan in
Puranas (Krauncha dveepam) is the name given to this continent.
With best wishes and many thanks, Vasudha