Mathura and Gokulam divya desams

Transcription

1 Mathura and Gokulam divya desams Krishna Jayanthi (birth of Lord Krishna) is a festival which celebrates the advent of Lord VishNu as the ninth avataram. It is observed on the eighth day (ashtami) of the dark half (Krishna paksham) of the lunar month ShravaNa (August-September). The day is variously known as JanmAshTami, GOkulAshTami, and Sri Jayanthi. The event commemorates the birth of baby Krishna to Devaki and VasudEva at night in a cell in the palace prison in Mathura on the banks of the Yamuna River. Since an oracle decreed that as the eighth child he would kill his demoniac uncle Kamsan (who ruled the Surasena kingdom from Mathura), the baby was transported at dead of night in a basket by VasudEva across the river to a foster home in Gokulam in order to spare the child from the clutches of Kamsan. Krishna spent his childhood in Gokulam (also known as BrindAvanam and AyarpADi) reared by his foster parents YasOdha and Nandagopan and performed many divine miracles while growing up. Eventually Krishna killed his uncle Kamsan and turned over the kingdom to Kamsan s father Ugrasena. The AzhwArs (PeriyAzhwAr, Sri ANDAL, ToNDaraDippoDi AzhwAr, TirumangaiyAzhwAr, and NammAzhwAr) have memorialized the two places on the banks of the Yamuna River in more than 70 pasurams thereby giving the moniker of divya desams to Mathura and

2 Gokulam. The original temples at these two places about which the AzhwArs sang are long extinct. The current temples at these two places were built much later (ca 16 th century CE). Mathura is a town on the Delhi-Agra rail route about 100 miles south of Delhi and 30 miles north of Agra. It is called Janma BhUmi where the temple was built at the same site where Krishna was supposed to have been born. Gokulam is located 10 miles southeast of Mathura across the river. While Mathura is considered holy by virtue of Krishna being born there, Gokulam is the place which is considered dear to the hearts of the devotees since that is where Krishna performed many miracles as a child. For example when demoness Putana came there at the instance of Kamsan to breastfeed infant Krishna with nipples laced with poison, Krishna sucked her life out of her. In the river a cobra by name Kaliya made the water poisonous and the forests barren thereby killing the cows in the village and making people s lives miserable. Krishna danced on its head while playing the flute and drove it into submission. Another celebrated incident concerns his lifting the Govardhana Mountain with his little finger to shelter the people when Indra sent his thunderbolts and caused huge rainstorms (to punish the denizens). Krishna spent his childhood in lots of playful activities and mischief including stealing butter from people s homes along with his friends. Even as a juvenile he captured the hearts of the damsels of the village (called gopis) who were madly in love with him as he played the flute melodiously. Musical Eulogy: Many music composers have sung so many songs about Krishna and his glory in Sanskrit (Jayadeva s ashtapati for instance), Thamizh, Telugu, Kannada, and

3 Malayalam. PApanAsam Sivan, the Carnatic music composer of the 20 th century captured the pride and fortune of Yasodha in having to caress, feed, sing lullabies, and also punish Krishna in a song. The song (Roman script in parentheses) in the ragam kapi goes as follows பல லவ (pallavi): என ன தவம சய த ன ய ச த ( enna tavam seydanai YasOdhA) எங க ம ந ற பரப ரஹ மம அம ம வன ற ழக க (என ன) (engum nirai parabrahmam amma venrazhaikka) அன பல லவ (Anupallavi) ஈ ரழ ப வனங கள ப டத தவ னக கய ல (IrEzhu bhuvanangal padaittavanaik kaiyil) ஏந த ச ச ர ட ட ப ல ட ட த த ல ட ட ந (என ன) (Endic ciratti paluttit talatta) சரணம (caranam): ப ரமன ம இந த ரன ம மனத ல ப ற ம க ள ள (bhiramanum indranum manadil poramai kolla) உரல ல கட ட வ ய ப த த கஞ ச வத த ய த ய (என ன) (uralil katti vay potti kenjcavaittay taye) சனக த யர தவ ய கம சய த வர ந த (sanakadiyar tava yogam seydu varundi) ச த த த த ப ன த ம த எள த ல பற (என ன) (sadittadai punida made elidil pera) (Meaning: Oh, YasOdhA! What penance did you do to let the omnipresent Lord Almighty call you amma (mother)? You held the Lord, who created the fourteen worlds, in your arms, fondled and caressed Him, and sang lullaby to let Him sleep. You tied Him to the grain thresher (mortar) and made Him beg for your mercy with folded hands and closed mouth to the utter envy of BrahmA and Indra. You, holy woman, achieved with great ease what the sages like SanakA did through painstaking efforts and intense penance)

4 This eulogy to YasOdha, foster-mother of Krishna, glorifies her for her fortune in having to enjoy the pleasure of raising the baby Krishna as well as the power to punish the Lord when she so chose. She had the privilege of being called amma by the Lord. The great sages did rigorous penance to even have a vision of the Lord which came so easily to YasOdhA. On the one hand she got to hold the Lord in her arms and attend to His daily needs but she also had the power to punish Him by tying Him to the grain thresher with a rope for such minor offenses such as stealing butter. Her power to punish Krishna at will induced envy in Brahma and Indra who were driven into submission by Krishna (as a child/youth) while growing up in BrindAvanam. The episodes refer to the humiliation of BrahmA when he kidnapped the cowherds in Krishna s clan which Krishna countered with his miracle and the defeat of Indra when Krishna protected the residents of Gokulam by lifting the mountain when Indra sent the rainstorm to the village. The song by Sivan captures the nuances of envy sustained by BrahmA and Indra that YasOdhA could discipline Krishna while Krishna prevailed over them. Mathura temple:

5 According to a legend, the city of Mathura was supposedly built by Satrughna (brother of Rama). This is the town where the demon Mathu was killed by Krishna. The name Mathura means pleasant and peaceful. The temple complex in Mathura is at the site of the prison where Krishna was born. The first temple at that site, called Keshav Dev temple was built in the 17 th century. Later, during Aurangazeb s regime a mosque was built at the same site adjoining the Krishna temple. The new temple at the same site was opened to the general public in The main idol in the temple is called Govardhana nesan. He is found in ninra kolam (standing posture) facing east. The goddess is called SatyabhAmA nacciyar. The vimanam (crown structure) is called Govardhana vimanam. The old Keshav Dev temple is behind the new temple at the same site. In addition to this main temple, there are hundreds of other temples in the town dedicated to Lord Krishna. In the temple called Rangamandir (enshrining Lord RanganAtha, Sri ANDAL, and Venkatachalapati), worship services are conducted in Thamizh by VaishNava priests. AyarpADi (Gokulam): The temple here is called NavamOhana Krishna PerumAL temple. It is situated across the river from Mathura. In addition to the AzhwArs this temple has also been sung about by SUrdAs. The main idol, in standing posture facing east, is called Navamohana Krishnan. The two goddesses are RukmiNi and SatyabhAmA. In addition to this temple, at a distance of 4 miles, there is also another Krishna temple in a place called purana gokulam (Old Gokulam) where the idols of Nandagopan, YasOdhA, and Balaraman along with that of child Krishna in a cradle are kept. General references:

6 Sethuraman Subramanian