tuNgabujaNgana paneyali kuNidanu

maNgaLa mUruti raNgA

tuMga- tall,towering or conspicious

Sri Vidya Prasanna theertharu who was the pontiff of Vyasaraja peetha during the 1960's ,was not only an ascetic of a high order but also a poet. He has composed many dasara padas describing the leelas of the Lord. This entire devuru nama is about one bAla leela of the Lord. He is describing the kAliya mardana episode of Krishna avatara so vividly that we can imagine the entire setting. It is not only for visualizing but for using the sense of sound, sense of smell and the sense of touch. The more senses are involved during our prayer the lesser the chance of the mind straying from the task at hand. Dasaru is encouraging us to keep this in mind while we sing bhajans.

The auspicious Lord danced on the hood of the huge serpent Kaliya who had come to occupy a lake known as Kalindhi which was a part of the Yamuna river. It was called so because the mountain where the river Yamuna rises was known as Kalindha. Kaliya was actually a serpent who lived in the waters off , Ramanaka island. The serpents here lived in constant fear of being eaten by eagles. All the serpents had decided to make an offering to Garuda to appease him and request him from catching and eating them. Kaliya was proud of his size and strength and decided to eat the offering offered to Garuda. Garuda who came to know of this attacked Kaliya.

At that Kaliya moved to Kalindhi lake. Garuda refrained from attacking him there. This was because a rishi called Soubarni Rishi had been disturbed to know that Garuda used to fish here and eat the fishes. Due to the entreaties of the fishes, Soubarna Rishi had forbidden Garuda to enter the river to fish and cursed that he should die if he did so. So Kaliya lived in Kalindhi with his family of serpent wives, children and servants free from fear of being attacked by Garuda. He was a terrible poisonous serpent his presence in the lake caused poisonous vapours to be emitted from the surface of the river causing birds which flew above the area to die. The cows and cowherds were also having a hard time if they came near to the lake. The plants and shrubs on the banks had been burnt to ashes by the poisonous fumes emitted by Kaliya. Srimad Bhagavatham 10.15.42 describes the scene.

One hot day Lord Krishna and His cowherd friends were raoming about Vrindavana. The cowherd boys were afflicted with acute thirst and seeing the Kalindhi river nearby ran to it and drank it. They immediately fell dead. Lord Krishna who was witnessing this glanced at them and that beautiful glance was enough to revive them from certain death. It was then that the Lord decided that Kaliya should be made to leave the lake so that it could be enjoyed by the people of Vraj. Srimad Bhagavatham 10.16.1

Sri Prasanna theertharu describes the scene beautifully. He says that the Lord Ranga danced on the terrible serpents hoods and that He looked very auspicious. It was a sight to be described and remembered. Auspiciousness is one of the infinite guNas of the Lord. At any point in time, the Lord is auspicious. At any place , Lord Ranga is auspicious. Here he is referring to the Lord by the name "Ranga" instead of "Krishna". This is to clearly indicate that the Lord who relaxes on a serpent danced on another serpent . The Lord has no partiality towards any entity or species. He is nirVaishamya and disburses according to eligibility. He also wants to proclaim that the Lord is the same all powerful, omniscient, omnipotent Lord even in His avataras. There is no difference between one rupa of the Lord and the other.

Lord Krishna who was beatifully decorated with his peethambara, waist belt, necklaces, bangles, ear drops and beautiful hair looked very auspicious as he approached the lake. He had already made the decesion to send Kaliya back and give the people of Vraj a break from the pollution caused by the serpent. He approached a tall Kadamba tree which was at a distance from the bank and climbed on to it. He then leaped right into the centre of the lake . He went deep inside and came up with Kaliya struggling against Him. All the people of vraja who had heard of the Lord's latest exploit came to the scene in a hurry. In the Srimad Bhagavatham Sage Suka tells Prikshit ,"The force with which the Lord jumped into the lake caused so much movement in the waters that the area around the lake was flooded upto a lenght of one hundred bow lengths. Such was the immense strength of the Lord." But the people of Vraj were all perturbed to see such a small figure in the midst of such a huge serpent. That is the mAya of the Lord. Inspite of showing His prowess in many many incidents, inspite of showing the entire universe to His mother, He still cloaked the people around in ignorance giving them only short glimpses into His mangnificience.

giNigiNi tALa jENgarisuva taMbhUri

gaNagaNa veMbO sunAda mrudaNgava

jaNijaNisuva ga~njari nAdagaLanu

aNugarisuta dikkiDadikkiDa eMdu

jEMkarisuva - harsh to hear, anukarisu - to imitate or to resemble

Soon the Lord had subdued the terrible serpent by dancing and crushing each of His hoods with the mighty strength of His feet.

Sriprasanna Theertharu says 'jEMkarisuva nada" meaning the vibration of His feet was terrible for the serpent . The Lord is known as "durdarahaH" in the VSN. It means one who cannot be carried by anyone or who weight cannot be borne by anyone. So it is understandable that with His grace the Kaliya serpent was bearing the weight of the Lord but the indication of the agony he must be going through is clear.

On the other hand, the people of Vraj who were watching the spectacle were enthralled. The Lord danced in perfect rhythm. The vibration of His feet on the hard hoods of the serpent sounded like the rhythmic beating of the mridangam and ganja. He says each step of the Lord resembled the beats of the musical instruments used to keep the tAla while dancing, The waters on the hood were squished out from under the Lord's feet as He danced and struck the jewels on the hood of Kaliya causing the sound to resemble that of a tamburi. Such was the force of His feet. The Lord danced alone but the audience could hear the accompanyments to the dance very well. He wanted the people of Vraj to enjoy the spectacle and keep it in thier minds. He was keeping up to His words that He will always punish the evil and protect the good.

gaganava tuMbi tuMburu gaMdava.rru

sahAna aTAnA saMkarAbaraNagaLiMdA

sogasiniMdali guNagAnava mADalu

nagatara kriShNanu nagumukha tiMdali

The devathas gathered in the skies above to witness the magnificient dance of the Lord. Tumburu, gandarvaru who are the class of devathas proficient in music were inspired to compose music in different ragas like 'sahAna raga", "aTAnA raga" and "Shankarabharana rAga". They sang the glories of the Supreme Lord describing some of His infinite gUNas. Lord Krishna did not stop dancing but continued with a smiling face. The mere thought of the Lord, or the mere recitation of the Lord's names are said to give immense pleasure to His devotees. Imagine the blissful experience of the devotees on land and sky as they see His smiling face as He danced. The Lord designed the scene to give that experience to His devotees.

pannaga satiyaru chennAda tavakadi

sannutisuta Aratiya beLagutirE

unnata gaganadi sumaNasarella

prasanna harigE suma maLe kareyutalirE

All the serpent wives of Kaliya were experiencing agony at the thought of the imminent death of thier husband. They gathered and decided to seek the Lord's mercy. The Bhagavatham describes in detail the different entreaties of the serpent's relatives. The wives of Kaliya postrated before the Lord, proclaiming that they have surrendered to Him and requested for protection . They said ," Oh Supreme Lord, the punishment meted out by You is certainly just. You impose hardships on those whom you decide to uplift. What you have given our husband is actually MERCY as the suffering drives away the contamination of several lifetimes. We wonder how many years of penance must our husband have done in order to have the dust of Your lotus feet on his hood. You are the inner contoller of all beings regulating thier actions and thoughts. You are the Lord described by the Vedas and You are the destination for all good souls. You are the omniscient One. Please accept our obeseinces and have mercy on us. We shall willingly do your bidding and become the recepeints of Your mercy for You always shower Your grace on those who do Your bidding. " The Nagapatnis elaborated the glories of the primordial Lord and submitted themselves at His feet.

Being the most benevolent and known as the 'Karuna sAgara" the Lord relented. He released the serpent whose heads and hoods were battered by the Lord's feet. Kaliya slowly regained consciousness and bowing His 101 hoods and heads to the Lord entreated the Lord," Oh Lord of all beings, You are the creator of all species and You place each being in a respective yONi. The being once in that YOni behaves as per the natural tendency of that species. Being a serpent I am terrible and express my anger by emitting poisonous fumes. If I have to do something different then it can be possible only with Your Grace. It is not possible for me unless You direct me. I shall willingly accept whatever you mete out , whether it be mercy or punishment."

The Lord then said, " O Serpent, you cannot live here anymore. Go back to the ocean near the Ramanka islands along with your retinue of children, wives and relatives. Let the purity and serenity of the waters of this river be partaken of by the cows and the people of Vraj. Those who listen to this incident along with the command of the Lord to Kaliya to leave the Yamuna river or narrate it to others they shall be free from the fear of snakes forever.

In Srimad Bhagavatham 10.16.62 , Sage Sukha tells Parikshit that the Lord said," Those who have a bath in the pious waters of the Yamuna with the remembrance of the me and offer the water from there to other demigods as per taratamya , they shall be free from sin. "

If we remember the Lord's leelas in Vrindavan while we sing the song, it is similar to bathing our mind in the waters of Yamuna river. Let us offer our obesiances to the Lord throught the main adhishtana Mukya PrAna devuru .