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Re: chitranchiru kaale!!

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TCA Venkatesan • September 19, 2002 


Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Dear BhAgavatas,

I disagree with the notion that "kAlE" refers to the
leg of Sri Krishna. It goes against a number of things:
the context of the pasurams thus far, the style of
Azhvars pasurams, as well as linguistically it does 
not jive. And finally, it is not in line with our 
acharyas vyakhyanams on the pasuram.

The context of the Thiruppavai pasurams thus far
clearly talks about waking up very early and 
worshipping Lord Krishna in the wee hours of the 
morning. And, siRRam siRu kAlai is a very commonly 
used phrase to refer to the time just before dawn 
(the false dawn - siRu kAlai).

I don't recall seeing any pasuram of Azhvars where 
they directly address a limb of the Lord. There are 
countless references to His lotus feet in the context
of Saranagati, of course, but even then not a direct
call toward the feet. Even Thiruppanazhvar and
Periyazhvar who describe Him from feet to head, do 
not use the vocative case for the limbs. If anyone 
has seen anything to the contrary, please educate us.

Linguistically, let's analyze the pasuram as it flows.
Let's skip the first part as it is the one under
question. Andal starts by refering to His golden lotus 
feet - poRRAmaRai adi (even here, adiyE is not 
used in the vocative sense). She refers to someone's 
lotus feet - un poRRAmaRai adi. Who is this "un"
she is talking about? Is it the leg? No, it is the 
one who was born in the clan of cattle herdsmen 
(peRRam mEyththuNNum kulaththil piRanthu nee). If
kAlE was used in vocative, then un and nee would have
to go with it. And, I don't think Andal would refer 
to Krishna's leg alone as one born in the herdsmen 
tribe. Finally, to rest all doubts as to who she is 
refering to, she calls Him Govinda (this is where the 
vocative call is used). So, usage of kAlE in the 
vocative sense does not gramattically merge into the 
flow of the pasuram at all.

Lastly, to settle matters once and for all, our 
acharyas whose ability to read and interpret tamil 
pasurams is unmatched have not used "kAlE" in the 
vocative sense at all. This should put to rest any 
and all doubts on this matter. Sri Mani, I know that
I am repeating what others have said in this last
point. Nevertheless it is an important one for all 
of us. We should read the meanings (not necessarily 
the vyakhyanams) of these pasurams as written by our 
elders before attempting to write their meanings on
our own. Interestingly the vyakhyanams address the 
issue of the use of the word kAlE, but with reference 
to the more appropriate word which is kAlaththil.

In passing, let me also point out the usage of the
phrase "small services" for kuRREval is not a good
idea as it could lead to poor interpretations. The
smallness of the service arises from the fact that
He is of such immense magnitude and we are so small.
However, the services are still large to us; it's the
best and complete service that we can provide. It is 
just that He has so many more providing far greater
services to Him, that ours becomes very minute. The
use of the line "liberal dosage of our small services"
could lead some to a dangerous conclusion that we have 
larger services to give but we are reserving them for 
another time/person. In translating a verse from one 
language to another, particularly when it comes to
compound words such as kuRREval, one has to be careful 
so that even the possibility that the original meaning 
gets corrupted be strictly avoided.

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
TCA Venkatesan
http://www.acharya.org

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