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Re: Contemplating on Kutti KaNNan on SrI JayanthI/Sri ANTAL

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Visu9 • September 4, 2002 


/Om namO nArAyaNAya ||

/namaskArams to all.

Continuing the spirit of Shri Madhavak KaNNan, I would like to recall a /pAcuram of Sri /ANTAL, which is very relevant for singing on /krushNA jayanti.

The pAcuram has the first four lines as follows (The last four lines are declaration of service and prayer of expectations ever to come):

/ciRRaJ/ciRu kAlE vant/unnai cEvitt/un

/poR/tAmarai/aTiyE pORRum poRuL kELAy

/peRRam/mEytt/uNNum kulattil pirantu nI

/kuRREval eGkaLaik koLLAmaR/pOkAtu


Meaning: Glory: 

O, little wee-little  leg, we come and offer our obeissance to your lotus feet; listen to its hollowed content. You are born in a family of trustees to whom are entrusted the grazing cattle; therefore indeed [due to the principle of trusteeship] you cannot but receive a liberal dosage of our small services (chores: /kaiGkaryam??). 

Last four lines: Prayer: 

/gOvintA, you are a witness that it is not for material possessions that we do so. In this birth, and in the next several births to come, we will be your servants in confidence and yours only. 

Chorus: In Unision: 

Our dear little darlings, may all our other desires yield to this one! 

This small piece from /tirup/pAvai is an artistic creation. In almost all her songs, Sri /ANTAL presents a subtle argument, which only women know how to! Like a dedicated wife or mother, /ANTAL invokes here a principle of trusteeship (/peRRam from which we get /peRROr: parents). The /tamiZ word translates as receivership, which in English would have a slightly differnt meaning. Trusteeship is an equivalent word, more common; the use of "receive liberally (/koLLAmaR pOkAtu)" in the next line perhaps could comepensate for any damage done to the meaning of /peRRam in a translation. 

The difference between trusteeship and receivership seems to consist in the act: One must give and the other must receive. You need two persons. The person who gives trusts and the trustee receives. For example, God gives us children in trust; and we receive.   This is an example of receivership. One in receivership, cannot abuse. In particular we break the principle of receivership, when we abuse children.

On the other  hand we give God our services in trust, and He receives. This is an example of trusteeship. In a trusteeship, it seems, that the trustee can pass the responsibility to someone else to get more out of it. That is, the trusteship requires that the best result be aimed at and produced. For example, a banker is a trustee. He/she passes the money for investment etc. 

In raising children, we cannot pass the children to others, no matter how beneficail it might be for them. /ANTAL implies by the choice of her words,  that the Lord is prohibited from acting as a trustee; he should act only in receivership! 

She confirms this meaning in the prayer part by saying that: "We will serve you and you only: /unakkE AT/cevOm. None else can enjoy our services, so to speak! If you pass our services to others, then . . .?

/ANTAL is a clever lawyer! She corners the Lord with His own function of receving the catle, which He cannot subcontract! 

Generally a cowherd would not refuse looking after any cattle, when asked to do so. That is his job, and he lives on it. His family lives on it. Yet, it is given in trust that he would take care and have green fields rich in grass, and clean water. The cowherd is a receiver, as he cannot pass the cows to someone else; that is, sub-contracting is not allowed. Outsourcing is prohibited. 

Similarly, we are the cattle (equivalent of /pacu) and He, being of the family of cowherds, cannot but refuse us, who are indeed like cattle. How does he receive us? Through our small services. Call it /kaiGkaryam if you will. /kuRR/Eval may be a broader word. 

To this line of argument, she brings a new insight by saying that the Lord is obliged not to abuse the trust and to act as a receiver only. He cannot passour services to others! So bold! Yet so apt! 

This is not only poetic but also dramatic. /ANTAL is truly a master/mistress of drama, a lawyer, and a logician of great import (She imports a new word /peRRam with power in the right context). 

This /pAcuram is but one example relevant for /krushnA jayanti.

It is apt to recall that Jesus is compared to a shepherd of sheep. (sheep + herd). I am not aware of the concepts of trusteeship and receivership in this setting. The concept that is common is that we are all sheep (just like /pacu); but there is an implied common meaning that as sheep, we are also dumb following a crowd. The word /pacu does not carry that meaning without foreign import. 

Compare the clever argument of /ANTAL to the commonly-held concept in the preceding paragraph. The magic is built into it by the word /peRRam and she expands upon it in the next four lines. 

/vantanam.

/nalam/tarum collai nAn kaNTu/koNTEn, nArAyaNa ennum nAmam.

/visu

[ Dear Visu -- Once again you have presented several unusual
  and unconventional meanings, most of which are new to those
  of us who are familiar with the tranditional interpretations.
  Your interpretation of 'ciRRam ciRu kAlE' as being a vocative
  addressed to Krishna is indeed striking, but I am not sure it
  is acceptable grammatically. I invite others to comment as well.
  -- Moderator ]






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