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doubt about the nAmam "upEndra"

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Chandrasekaran Venkatraman • September 13, 2000 


Dear Members,
   For a long time, I had this doubt.. I request bhagawathas
to shed some light on this.
   The nAmam "upEndra" is interpreted in two different and opposite
ways. 
1. When referring to Sri vAmanA, upEndra means "younger to Indra"
since He was born to adhithi dEvi as younger son after Indra. 
2. In Srimad Vishnu Puranam, there is an anecdote about Indra waging 
war against Sri Krishna when sathyabhAmA, the consort of latter, 
wished to take the dEva pArijAtha vr~ksham from Indra lOkam and plant
in dwArakA and hence Sri Krishna boards his vimAnam with the vr~ksham 
on his return from Indra lOkA. After Indra gets defeated in this war, 
he himself comes forward and hands over the vr~ksham to Sri Krishna 
and prays to the Lord by addressing him as "upEndra" which here in 
this context means, "above Indra".
   If I am correct, even in Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, this nAmam is
interpreted as per the second meaning above. I couldn't readily 
search Sri Narasimhan Krishnamachari's Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam 
posting on this nAmam.

   My doubt is "a word can be interpreted in two different ways..
but can the two ways be totally opposite as in this case?".. In
tamizh, "upa thalaivar" means a deputy leader.

   Sorry, if this doubt sounds naive.

   Thanks in advance.

   adiyEn,
   chandrasekaran.


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