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KANNAPIRAAN PERRA VENNAIK KALVI- 4

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L&T-ECCG-Buildings & Factories • December 28, 1999 


Dear Sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer

In the third post, we saw kaNNan received cane charge (pirambadi) and
beating with rope (thambu adi) while he learnt his veNNaik kalvi. In the
second thirumangai aazhvaar paasuram 10-5-3
"ThaamOruruttith thayir nei vizhungittu
ThamOdhath thavazhvarenRu aaichchiyar thaambinaal
ThaamOtharakkaiyaal aarkkath thazhumbiruntha 
DhaamOdharaa" 
I considered the meaning of the word "aarkka" as beating- adiththal.
Actually the word has the meaning of "kattuthal"- binding, leading to the
"dhaamOdharan" thiru naamam. 

There is reference available kaNNan got beating with thayir kadaiyum kayiRu
- churning rope. Please refer "Ezhil koL thaampu koNdu adippadharku eLgu
nilaiyum" in kulasekara perumaaL thirumozhi- aalai neeL karumbu 7-8
paasuram. So I feel it may not be completely wrong and out of context to
consider the adiththal meaning. [We will see "dhaamOdharan" part separately
in this veNNaik kalvi series, where again this paasuram will be referred
with more meaning].

Did yasOdhaa beat kaNNan or some other aaichchi. Swami nammaazhvaar is very
clear to say, it is mother yasOdhaa. See lines 5-10-3 of his thirumozhi-
"NeyyuN vaarththaiyuL annai kOl koLLa, nee un thaamaraik kaNgaL neer malga
paiyavE nilaiyum vanthu en nenjai urukkungalE"
Aazhvaar requests the lord to enact before himself the old happenings, so
that he can drown himself in that sukhaanubhavam. 

Aaichchiyar came with a big list of complaints like, he did this, he did
that, etc. One such complaint is that he ate all butter and ghee in her
house- viz. neyyuN vaarththai (as part of his veNNaik kalvi instead of
veNNai it is nei). So mother got angry- she wanted to punish in front of
others, so that, this playful krishnaa will at least feel shy and will learn
his kalvi properly. She goes into the next room than where he is standing to
bring a cane- uL annai kOl koLLa- uLLE senRu annai oru kOl eduththu vara".  

Between the time she went in and came back, krishnaa exhibited his learning,
the  lessons he learnt, realised he is going to beaten - so started weeping-
his lotus eyes were full of tears- un thaamaraik kaNgaL neer malga-
adippatharku munnEyE azhugai- of having realised the mistake and repenting
for that? Or paasaangu?  Mother saw the crying baby- she was moved because
of her piLLaip paasam- she is now in a dilemma- to beat or not. 

Oh! What a scene? Let this scene slowly emerge in front of me -paiyavE -
nilaiyum vanthu- and let me get into that mould of thoughts- drown myself in
this aanantha anubhavam- en nenjai urukkungaLE.   

May be that is why Swami Desikan says kaNNan is "kuhanaa" in his gopaala
vimsathi. 

Kulasekhara perumaal also enjoy this- "azhugaiyum anji nOkkum annOkkum aNi
koL senchiru vaai neLippathuvum thozhugaiyum ivai kanda yasodhai"- 7-8 of
perumaal thirumozhi. He begs before mother not to beat him- to avoid getting
beaten. azhugai- weeping- anji nOkkum an nOkkum- with lot of fear in his
eyes he sees mother- aNikoL senchiru vaai neLippathuvum- due to fear the
lips are shivering in fear and goes to sides in a twist-  mother sees all
this -what she can do except enjoy the drama by krishnaa and leave krishnaa
without beating.

Generally the children are fed by mothers, or other elders in the house,
till they learn to eat themselves. This is also a learning- uNkalvi. While
learning to eat food on their own, the children scatter a lot of food
(aLainthu, iraiththu, sidhaRi). They enjoy such scattering also. Actually
they are eager to play with food and not so keen in the eating. [aLainthu
viLaiyaada]. The pleasure, they derive, while scattering and learning to
eat, is to be seen to believe. Please do not consider the economics in the
wastage of food. 

Similar scenes are there with kaNNan also. He learnt eating [Unkalvi] by
scattering food [not made of rice or wheat grains like normal children] but
using butter, curd, and milk. Periyaazhvaar starts his neeraattam pathikam
(10 verses) with 
"VeNNai aLaintha kuNungum viLaiyaadu puzhuthiyum kondu thiNNenavivuraa unnai
thEiththuk kidakka naan ottEn"! -2-4-1

The child has to be brought to the bathroom by the mother. The child is a
tough little guy, will not yield so easily. So a lot of cajoling- patting
-ego boosting? - you are a good boy etc. See how he looks- VeNNai aLaintha
kuNungum - he has butter scattered in his body and that has given a sort of
smell- kuNungu. Over that butter viLaiyaadu puzhuthiyum kondu - the street
mud- the dust due to village open surfaces nicely covered with cow dung and
dented with cow hoofs- so dusty. 

Krishnaa enjoys playing with butter- aLaithal-similarly- same periyaazhvaar
enjoys kaNNan thirumEni as "puzhuthi aLaintha ponmEni" in same neeraattam
pathikam. He enjoys butter aLaithal and same way in the mud - so the mother
calls hey krishnaa come- for bathing. 
 
See Kulasekharap perumaal KP in his thirumozhi- "Muzhudum veNNai aLaindu
thottu uNNum Mugizh iLam chiru thamaraik kaiyum" Perumal Thirumozhi ch.7
titled "aalaineeL karumbu" paasuram 8. The hands of krishnaa are fully
immersed in the pot containing butter. The room is scattered with butter and
the floor is just slippery. Child krishna, the cloud coloured lord, appears
in a mixture of colours 
*	white butter, 
*	yellow dress, 
*	blue body, 
*	peacock feathers in head, 
*	ponniyal kinkini -jingling anklets and oddiyaanam in waist. 

KP says Muzhuthum vennai alainthu - the butter is churned with his hands- he
also occasionally tastes the butter -thottu unnum - just the satisfaction of
having tasted the butter- not eating it. aLainthu vilaiyaaduthal is the main
aim. How is that hand- mughiz iLam thamaraikkai -the tender lotus shaped
hands fully covered with butter- due to that play with butter.

Thirumangai aazhvaar also refers krishnaa as "aLai veNNai
aappuNdirunthavanE' in  his 10-6-1 to 9. All paasurams in 10-6- 1 to 9 end
with the above line.  Again in his 6-9-3 same aazhvaar calls "moovulagOdu
aLai veNNai uNdaan than adiyiNaiyE adai nenjE". The same krishnaa ate all
the 3 worlds and kaiyaal aLaintha veNNai- oh my mind please meditate on that
krishnaa.


In his 10-5-7 again thirumangai aazhvaar refers "thoonguRi veNNaiyai aLLIya
kaiyaal"- the person who has hands filled with butter taken from the rope
hanger [uri] alliya kai- with a mind to play- viLaiyaada -not to eat. So
from these it is clear that kaNNan enjoyed veNNai aLaithal.

The theme of this lesson 4 is vennai aLaithal. Before I conclude will touch
on few more references from periyaazhvaar on this krishnan veNNaik kalvi-
and next theme will be veNNaik kaLavu.
MaththaLavun thayirum vaarkuzhal nan madavaar vaiththana nei kaLavaal vaari
vizhungi orunkoththa iNai marutham unniya- 1-5-5 says periyaazhvaar and we
will see the meaning and more references in next post.

Dasan Vasudevan M.G.