based on the vyakhyanam of Sri Periyavaccan Pillai
by Smt Sumithra Varadarajan

Paasuram-45 (Last paasuram)
"valavezhum tavalamAda madurai maa nagaranthannul
kavalamAl yAnai kondra kannanai arangamAlai
tuvalath thondAya tholseer thondaradi podi sol
elaiya pun kavidhai yElum empirArkku eniyavArE."

valavezhum tavalamAda madurai maa nagaranthannul: The leelAs of emperuman are unpredictable by ordinary people. In the last paasuram alwar talked about bhagavan coming running to the call of an elephant, gajendran. Immediately alwar remembers about another elephant, which was killed by bhagavan, kuvalayApeedam, during the krishnAvatAram. In this paasuram he talks about the same. Krishna was the eighth child of Devaki. According to the asereeree voice kamsan heard on the wedding of devaki, this child will kill him. So kamsan planned to kill krishna before he could grow up. So kamsan arranged for a danur yAgam and invited Krishna and balarama also to the festival. He had actually planned to kill the two boys during the festival.

First kamsa kept a furious elephant at the entrance and ordered the keeper to be alert. When Krishna and balaram came the elephant should pounce on them and kill them. But the reverse happened. For sometime, Krishna played with the elephant and then finally he killed it and Krishna and balaram entered the festive ground with the tusk of the elephant in their hands held over their shoulders.

Mathura even today has its speciality since it was the birthplace of our kutti kannan. Alwar says, 'tavalamAda' -the palaces in madurai were made of marbles. It was a big and rich city.

kavalamAl yAnai kondra kannanai arangamAlai: The big elephant which was standing fully decorated and eating the sugarcane put for it was actually a fake instrument to kill Krishna and balaram. Gajendra was a bhAgavatan so perumal came running to save him. But this elephant was a cheat and wanted to kill perumal and hence perumal killed it even before it can try doing anything. That is the nature of bhagavan. If we show love towards him he reflects the same but at the same time if we show hatred he becomes furious. Arjunan fell under krishna's feet so he did everything to save him but duriyOdhana put a false seat to Krishna (pandava dhoodha) and hence Krishna played all tricks to make duriyOdhana loose.

While telling about the elephant alwar says, "valavezhum tavalamAda madurai maa nagaranthannul kavalamAl yAnai" but the same alwar doesn't explain much about how Krishna killed it because how much ever big the elephant may appear to others Krishna is capable of killing it just in a second and hence alwar just finishes saying, "kondra". It was killed, that's it. Such a big work has been done so easily. That is natural for bhagavan. Even after seeing this great work, the paratvam of bhagavan alwar doesn't say perumal or bhagavan etc he says only "kannanai". Our alwars and acharyas when they talk about Sri rAma piran, never utter his name even by mistake. They either say perumAl or chakravarthi thirumagan. But when it comes to krishnAvatAram they never even by mistake say perumal they call him only as Krishnan, kannan, kutti kannan etc. This is due to the sowlabhyam showed by Krishnan. Even when they say, Sri nandagOpa kumaran the 'Sri' is only for nandan and not Krishnan.

Let us enjoy the last part of the last paasuram in the final posting in this series.