Chapter 7
Complains of the cowherd - (மானம் உடைத்து)
கண்ணனது செய்தியைக் குறித்து யசோதை பணித்தலும் ஆய்ச்சியர் முறையிடுதலும்
The Gopis (cowherd women) complain about Krishna. The verses in this section are structured as if the Gopis are recounting Krishna's mischievous deeds to Yashoda, and Yashoda responds to their complaints. The āzhvār captures this dynamic, expressing the Gopis' grievances and Yashoda's replies in these verses.
ஆய்ச்சியர் கண்ணனைக்குறித்து முறையிடல். ஆயர் பெண்கள், கண்ணன் செய்யும் தீம்புகளை யசோதையிடம் பலவாறு சொல்லி முறையிடுவதாகவும், யசோதை பதில் கூறுவதாகவும் அமைந்துள்ளன ஈண்டுள்ள பாடல்கள்.
Verses: 1908 to 1921
Grammar: Eḻuchīrk Kaḻinediladi Āsiriya Viruththam / எழுசீர்க் கழிநெடிலடி ஆசிரிய விருத்தம்
Recital benefits: Getting freed from all hurdles
- Verse 1:
1908. Yashodā says, “Our cowherd clan is respected by all. If my son does something wrong, I can only upbraid him gently, saying, ‘You shouldn’t hurt other children. ’ I can’t scold him. His father Nandan won’t say anything either. O young friend, what can I do? It seems he goes to the corner house on this street to churn yogurt with a young girl. ” - Verse 2:
1909. A cowherdess says, “O dear Yashodā! I got up early and went to sell the churned buttermilk, looking for people to buy it, but I didn’t see anyone except the son of Nandan with hair that was decorated with fragrant flowers. Come and look, my beautiful friend from the last house on the street. I don’t see the butter and the ten pots of milk that I had, and I’m worried. What should I do? What should I do?” - Verse 3:
1910. A cowherd woman says, “O lovely Yashodā, he is a little boy and he smiles sweetly. I keep a pot full of butter in the uri, but he has grabbed and swallowed it all, as much as a silver hill. He is a thief. Come and see him as he sleeps. All his hands are smeared with butter. His stomach is big enough to hold all the seven worlds, so it isn’t hard for him to keep all that butter in his stomach. I am ignorant! What can I do? What can I do?” - Verse 4:
1911. A cowherd woman says, “BalaRāman was born to a mother with spear-like eyes that were darkened with kohl. He and his brother Kannan were raised in the cowherd village together, but he doesn’t do naughty things like Kannan. Kannan tells lies, steals things and crawls and acts as if he knew nothing about it. Is he really a sweet child? We cowherd women cannot escape his tricks. What can I do? What can I do? ” - Verse 5:
1912. A cowherd woman says, “One day before his father had returned, when I wasn’t at home and my friends weren’t around, he went near where my girl was playing, her fragrant hair decorated with beautiful flowers, and grabbed the ball she was playing with and took her clothes and did naughty things. What wrong have we done to Nandan’s son? O, friend, what can I do? What can I do?” - Verse 6:
1913. A cowherdess says, “ O Yashodā, our lord who was carried to our cowherd village by his father Nandan at night when he was a child is the beloved of Lakshmi and of the earth goddess. He plays a bamboo flute and my daughter loves him. Her flower-like eyes are weary, her breasts are round, and her lotus-red mouth has grown pale. O beautiful friend, come and see how my daughter suffers. What can I do? What can I do?” - Verse 7:
1914. A cowherd woman says, “The cowherds celebrated a festival and offered many kinds of food for the thousand-eyed Indra. O friend Yashodā, your son, disguised as a bhudam, went there today and grabbed all the food and ate it. See, it seems he is the Māyan who took all the food and swallowed it. ” - Verse 8:
1915. Yashodā says, “The cowherd women got together and called me. They said, ‘See, we kept the fermented yogurt, fragrant ghee and milk in various pots, but they are all empty now. ’ I felt ashamed and told my friends, ‘He is my dear lord! I can only plead with him not to do these naughty things, I can’t scold him. How could I scold my child who drank milk from the devil Putanā and killed her? I am afraid of scolding him. ’” - Verse 9:
1916. Yashodā says, “Seven months after my dear son was born, when I had put my strong, matchless child to sleep on a bed soft as a flower and gone to bathe in the Yamuna river, he killed Sakatāsuran with his divine feet when he came as a cart that was large as a mountain. He rests on Adisesha on the ocean and Lakshmi stays on his faultless chest. I am afraid of scolding him after he did such a heroic deed. ” - Verse 10:
1917. Yashodā says, “O beautiful friends, I am afraid even of calling him by name. Even if the young children with soft, cotton-like feet eat a thousand measures of ghee, my friends, their mothers, do not scold them. You are the best among men! You killed Kamsan, the terrible Asuran on the day I was supposed to pay him money for the loan I took from him. I am not as strong as you, O Nambi. Do whatever you want. What can I do? What can I do?” - Verse 11:
1918. Yashodā says to Kannan, “ O lovely one! How could you do these naughty things? O Nambi, you hid and went behind the beautiful cowherd girls when they bathed in the pond where lotuses bloom and stole their fine clothes and climbed up a tree. When the lovely-waisted girls begged you for their clothes, you said, ‘Come, beautiful ones, come and take them from me, ’ and you stayed in the tree. ” - Verse 12:
1919. Yashodā says, “This child has no fear, even to the extent of a tiny millet seed. I raised him with manliness and braveness. I kissed him and gave him lots of love. I have never scolded him, but now he never tells me anything he does. He climbed on the blooming green Kadamba tree, jumped into the pond and fought and killed Kālingan, the snake that has a thousand poisonous tongues. Now he has come back. How can I scold him?” - Verse 13:
1920. Yashodā says, “O my lord, do great people do things that are not suitable? I gave birth to you. What can I do? You fought with Arishtāsuran when he came as a bull from the fragrant forest where he lived bellowing like thunder and shaking all the seven worlds, as his eyes angry eyes looked like hot fire. It seems that you killed him and have come back home. ” - Verse 14:
1921. Kaliyan the chief of rich lovely Thirumangai surrounded with strong walls and the wide ocean composed fourteen sweet musical pāsurams on the lord who killed the angry elephant Kuvalayābeedam as large as a mountain. The poet describes how the cowherdess Yasodha, her walk as gentle as a swan’s, worries about him. If devotees learn and recite these pāsurams they will have no troubles in life.