VaNNa MaadangaL - Krishna Jayanthi Special

As a Janmashtami Special, Adiyen will make a post on Vanna madangal where AzhwAr recognizes ThirukkOttiyUr as Thiru Aayi Paadi and describes the abundant joy of the shepherds of Gokulam(Aayar and Aaycchiyar) in celebrating the avathAram of the Lord in their midst. The scene is one of tumultuous joy. Drums sounded. The people danced out of joy that the Lord was born amidst them in the idaicchEri.

Before we get into the thiru avathara chirappu, I would like to add something that I learnt from Praveen.

Why does periyaazhwar say that Kannan ws born in Thirukkoshtiyoor? Does the aazhwar not know that the Lord was born in Mathura?

The puranas say that Thirukkoshtiyoor is the place where the Lord held counsel with the Devas tormented by Kamsa and He decided to be born as Krishna on the earth.

Since this was the place where the Lord decided to be born, aazhwar says that this was the birth place of Krishna.

Let us get to PeriyaazhwA Thriumozhi:
AzhwAr starts with the beautiful description of ThirukkOttiyUr and visulaizes it as the AaypAdi itself:



vaNNamaadangkaL suuzh thirukkOttiyuur
kaNNan kEsavan nambipiRanthinil
eNNeysuNNam ethirethir thuuvidak
kaNNanmuRRam kalanththu aLaraayiRRE.

The Joyous Aacchiyars and Aayars assembled at ThirukkOttiyUr known for its beautiful , multistoried buildings and went to the palace where utti KaNNan was "born" amidst them. They sprayed scented powder and fragrant oil on each other to celebrate the arrival of their darling and made the courts of the palace slippery with the accumulating paste of oil and the fragrant powder. They were shouting with joy , "KaNNan Kesavan Nambi PiRanthAn".

The tumultuous scene is described further in the second paasuram:

Oduvaarvizhuvaar ukandhaalippaar
naaduvaarnampiraan enkuththaanenbaar
paaduvaarkaLum palpaRaikottaninRu
aaduvaarkaLum aayiRRuaayppaadiyE.

The celebrating party ran from one end of the palace to the other. They slipped and fell in thier rush. They embraced each other. The newly arrived asked about the exact room in which Kutti KaNNan was resting on His Mother's lap "NaaduvAr NampirAn yenguRRAn yenpAr". They sang with joy about the glory of the Lord, who had chosen to be born amidst them. Some danced to the beat of drums. The whole AayarpAdi (ThirukkOttiyUr) floated in a flood of joy during this occasion of the Lord's birth.

Third Paasuram describes the spontaneous outburst of those, who were blessed to see the Parama soundharyam and dhivya tEjas of Kutti KaNNan, who hid His Parathvam and acted just as a beautiful child filled with all SaamudhrikA lakshaNams. Some observed that there is no male that is equivalent to Kutti KaNNan in valor and beauty (AaNNoppAr Ivan nErillai KaaNN). Other knowledgeable ones deduced that this divine child born in SravaNa nakshathram will rule the universe (ThiruvONatthAn ulahALum yenpArhaLE).

pENichcheerudaip piLLaipiRandhinil
kaaNaththaampukuvaar pukkuppOdhuvaar
aaNoppaar ivannErillaikaaN thiru
vONaththaa nulaKaaLumenbaarkaLE.



The fourth Paasuram describes the intense activities at the homes of the cowherds and cowherdesses. Their wealth is Milk, Butter and Curd. They brought those precious offerings to Kutti KaNNan's residence as gifts and prayed for His well being. Others poured those offerings in the courtyard of Kutti KaNNan's house in a gesture of joy and abandon. They sang and danced and were immersed in waves of bliss and forgot even where they were. The joyous experience overpowered them ("yengum aRivizhanthanar AaypAdi AayarE").

uRiyaimuRRaththu uruttininRaaduvaar
naRuneypaalthayir nanRaakaththoovuvaar
seRimenkoondhal avizhaththiLaiththu engum
aRivazhindhanar aayppaadiyarE.

The fifth Pasuram describes the arrival of the cowherds from their night watches over their herds. They had the staff in their hands, their mats made of coconut palm leaves .They rushed straight from their duties of the night to NandhagOpan's palace to have the first look at the divine child and jostled with each other to get closer.

koNdathaaLuRi kOlakkodumazhu
thaNdinar paRiyOlaichchayanaththar
viNdamullai yarumbannapallinar
aNdarmiNdippukundhu neyyaadinaar.


A day or two went by. YasOdhai was now ready to give a bath to her darling child and slowly stretch out His tender arms and legs. She prepared comfortingly warm water and added fragrant essences to it. She painted the little tongue of Kutti KaNNan with turmeric paste to eliminate any phlegm. As she looked into the mouth of her darling during that exercise, she saw the seven worlds inside the mouth of that divine child ("Vyaam yEzhum kaNDAL PiLLai vaayuLLE"). When she saw this astounding scene inside the mouth of her little one , YasOdha and the cowherds surrounding her recognized that this mysterious child can not be the child of NandagOpan and YasOdha and concluded that this child with anantha kalyANa guNams is none but the Supreme Being (Aayar putthiran allan Arumdhaivam , Baalakan Maayan yenRu mahizhnthanar )

kaiyumkaalumnimirththuk kadaaraneer
paiyavaattip pasunchiRumanchaLaal
aiyanaavazhiththaaLukku angaandhida
vaiyamEzhumkaNdaaL piLLaivaayuLE.

vaayuLvaiyakamkaNda madanallaar
aayarpuththiranallan arundheyvam
paayaseerudaip paNbudaippaalakan
maayanenRu makizhndhanarmaadharE.



In the eighth pasuram , PeriyAzhwAr continues with his anubhavam of shifting the 12th day celebration happenings at Vada Mathurai to ThirukkOttiyUr . PeriyAzhwAr visualizes the decoration of the entire dhivya dEsam with victory pillars holding multicolored flags and festoons. The cowherdess took KaNNan in their hands , lifted Him and kissed Him with great affection in anticipation of the ways in which He was going to protect them later from the anger of Indhra by lifting and holding Govardhana Giri as an umbrella ("Mattha Maamalai taangiya Maindhanai , utthAnam seythu uhanthanar AayarE ").

paththunaaLumkadandha iraNdaanaaL
eththisaiyum sayamaramkOdiththu
maththamaamalai thaangiyamaindhanai
uththaanamseythu ukandhanaraayarE.

In the ninth paasuram , YasOdhai refers to the adhubhutha chEshtithams of this divine child and her dismay over those Baala KreeDais.

kidakkil thottilkizhiyauthaiththidum
eduththukkoLLil marungaiyiRuththidum
odukkippulkil utharaththEpaayndhidum
midukkilaamaiyaal naanmelindhEnnangaay.



In the tenth and the final Paasuram, PeriyAzhwAr instructs us that those who sing these ten paasurams about ThirukkOttiyUr ArchA Moorthy (Soumya NaarAyaNan) as KaNNan will never get admixed with Bhagavath – anubhava VirOdha Paapams:

SennellAr Vayal soozh ThirukkOttiyUr
Mannu NaaraNan Nambi PiRanthamai
minnu nool Vittuchitthan virittha
ippannu pAdal vallArkku illai paavamE

Thanks: Sriman Sadagopan IyengAr of SriRangaSri yahoo groups.