SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
Another wonderful pastime of krishNa is kudakkUththu. kudakkUththu means holding pots, having a drum tied to the waist, playing that drum and dancing. Usually, this is done in a four-way junction where everyone can see it and enjoy it. This is an important enjoyment for cowherd people. In our pUrvAchAryas’ commentaries, it is mentioned that when brAhmaNas get a lot of wealth, they will perform yAgas and when cowherd people get a lot of wealth, they enjoy this dance with pots.
Before krishNa was born, nandhagOpa was an expert in this dance. But after krishNa was born, he became a greater expert. krishNa mesmerised the girls using this dance only.
AzhwArs have enjoyed this pastime in many places. poygai AzhwAr in his mudhal thiruvandhAdhi says “aravam adal vEzham … kuravai kuda … kOththAdi” (Enjoying the dance of rAsa krIdA and dancing with pots). pEyAzhwAr in his mUnRAm thiruvandhAdhi says “kudam nayandha kUththanAy ninRAn” (emperumAn who incarnated desirously as kaNNan (krishNa) who was fond of dancing with pots). nammAzhwAr in his thiruvAimozhi says “vaigundham kOyil koNda kudak kUththa ammAnE” (emperumAn who is in paramapadham, is the lord who dances with pots). kulaSEkara AzhwAr in his perumAL thirumozhi says “kudamAttum” (dances with pot). thirumangai AzhwAr in his periya thirumozhi says ” thaN kudandhaik kudamAdI” (One who dances with pots and who is residing in the cool thirukkudandhai).
thirumangai AzhwAr in his siRiya thirumadal, beautifully narrates how parakAla nAyaki became mesmerised seeing krishNa’s dance with pots starting with “nIrAr kamalam pOl sengaNmAl enRu oruvan“. Let us enjoy this sequence a little bit.
nIrAr kamalam pOl sengaNmAl enRoruvan
pArOrgaLellAm magizhap paRai kaRangach
chIrAr kudam iraNdEndhi sezhum theruvE
ArAr enachcholli Adum adhu kaNdu
ErAr iLamulaiyAr ennaiyarum ellArum
vArAyO enRArkkuch chenREn en val vinaiyAl
thirumangai AzhwAr’s feminine form is parakAla nAyaki. She had decorated herself and was engaged in her play things. At that time, her friends informed her “The lotus-eyed sarvESvaran in the form of krishNa, in gOkulam, is remaining in four-way junction and is dancing with two pots and playing the drum, giving joy to all”. Due to her powerful sins, she went there to see and enjoy him. After seeing him, she lost her everything to him.
Essence in this incident:
- bhagavAn attracts jIvAthmAs by showing his beauty and leelAs.
- parakAla nAyaki is the jIvAthmA. Her engagement in play things is AthmA’s engagement in worldly pleasures. krishNa is paramAthmA. His dance with the pots is showing his beauty and pastime. parakAla nAyaki’s great sin is her great devotion. parakAla nAyaki losing everything is jIvAthmA becoming totally surrendered to bhagavAn.
Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/09/28/krishna-leela-22-tamil/
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
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