Indian Antiquary Vol 18

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 58

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUABY, 1889.
Parvati then wants to see whether her husband has the horns of a bull and for that purpose opens the door. Then says the story that the god and goddess were reconciled, and the poet calls upon Siva's protection in his half-amorous mood!
In the same strain, but representing the adventures of Krishna, who was notorious for his adventures with the fair sex, is the following verse
अंगुन्या कः कवाट प्रहरति कटिले माधवः किं वसन्तो नो चक्री किं कुलालो नहि धरणिधरः किं विजिह्वः फणीन्द्रः । नाहं घोराहिमीं स्वमसि खगपतिनों हरिः किं कपीन्द्र
इत्येवं गोपकन्याप्रतिवचनजडः पातु मां पद्मनाभः॥ which may be thus rendered :
The Gopis.--"Who is it that strikes (slowly) at the door with his fingers ? Krishna or Padmanabha.-Madhavs, you enraged woman. The Gópís.-What? Is it the god of the spring season P Krishna.-No. I am the Chakri-the bearer of the discus. The Gspís.-What? Are you the potter (who bears the wheel) ? Krishna.-No. I am the bearer of the earth. The Gópis.-Then are you the double-tongued king of serpents P Krishna-No. I am rather the killer of the serpent (Kaliya). The Gópís.-Then are you the lord of the birds (Garuda) who is the killer of serpents ? Krishna.-No. I am Hari.
The Gopis.-What? Are you then the lord of monkeys (Hari) ? May the god Padmanabha who stood bewildered and unable to reply to the questions of the Gôpis protect me!"
Here also the names chosen by Padmanabha for revealing himself have all double meanings. Thus, Madhava means Vishņu as well as the spring season, and Chakri also means the potter. The bearer of the earth is Vishnu and also the lord of the serpents Adiśêsha; and the Gôpis whose aim was to worry the god so interpreted his name. Then Kộishna told them that he was the killer of the serpent as it is known that he vanquished Kaliya while yet a boy by jumping into the pool in the Yamuna where that serpent demon dwelt. As Garuda kills serpents, the Gôpis at once asked him if he was that bird. He denied it and said that he was Hari which unfortanately means the lord of monkeys also.
Both the above verses are often quoted in Southern India as examples of puns, though they are not found in any of the set books.
II.-Fate. The following verses are always quoted by the South Indian Pandits for the supremacy of 9, fate.
A hen and cook pigeon were once seated on the branch of a tree, when a hunter came to the root of the tree, and bending his bow was just about to aim an arrow at the birds. The hen pigeon saw him and said to her lord by her side that a raiserable death awaited them as they were deprived of escape through the air, as just at that time a kite was wheeling over their heads. She had scarcely finished speaking when & serpent started from under the tree and stang the hanter, and he in confusion at the prospect of immediate death missed the pigeons and hit the kite by accident. Thus both the enemies of the pigeons--the hunter below, and the kite above, went together to the world of death. And fate, whose ways are wonderful, preserved the loving pair of pigeons. The following is the verse relating the story in pathetic Sanskrit, though the logic in it may not satisfy the modern students of Bain's "System."
कान्त प्राह कपोतिकाऽऽकुलतया नाथान्त्यकालोधुमा व्याधोऽधोधृतचापसंहितशर: इवेनः परिभ्रामति । एवं सत्यहिना स वष्ट इषुणा श्येनोऽपि सेनाहतः सूर्ण तौ तु यमालयं प्रति गती देवी विचित्रा गतिः।।