Meaning of valayE in 'madhurA puri nilayE maNi valayE'

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 26 Jan 2010, 21:21

I have seen a few performances where Sri MD's gamakakriya masterpiece has been presented through the idiom of bharatanATyam - I saw it for the first time when Ms. Narthaki Natraj presented it as part of the kshEtra bharatam series on madurai, and since then have seen it a few more times - and in all the presentations, 'maNi valayE' was interpretted as gem-encrusted bangles. valaya in sanskrit means a circle/circular piece of jewelry. Given that madurai is the oDDiyANa pITham, shouldn't 'maNi valayE' be interpretted as a gem-encrusted waist belt?

(In Sri T. N. Bala's discourse in hiraNmayIm lakshmIm, he does interpret 'marakata maNimaya valayAm' as 'the lady with a wasit belt encruted with emeralds and other gems')

ganeshpv · Post by **ganeshpv** » 26 Jan 2010, 23:17

Isn't that the beauty of Sanskrith where each word has several meanings rendering different possibilities/meanings to sentences?

Valaya is extensively used for bangles. It also means circle. I think more befitting for "mani valaye" would be to interpret it as "one who has circular radiance around her (corona) that shines like gems".

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 27 Jan 2010, 13:34

Isnt Oddiyana Pitham a kshetra in orrissa? Orrissa's another name is Oddiyana.
http://orissamatters.com/2008/06/11/orissa-in-peril/
Also, I also had this long standing doubt that kanchipuram is oddiyana-pitham in the jewel sense since Kanchi means the waist (?)

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 27 Jan 2010, 13:37

kanchi means waist band..like a oddiyanam in the jwellery sense

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 27 Jan 2010, 17:22

rshankar, you are right in saying that valaya is anything which encircles or engirdles. However, the primary meaning of valaya is bangle or armlet (kEyUra).

it may be interesting to examine the etymological relationship (if any) between the tamizh vaLayal and the sanskRt valaya...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 27 Jan 2010, 19:32

ksl wrote:Isnt Oddiyana Pitham a kshetra in orrissa? Orrissa's another name is Oddiyana.
http://orissamatters.com/2008/06/11/orissa-in-peril/
Also, I also had this long standing doubt that kanchipuram is oddiyana-pitham in the jewel sense since Kanchi means the waist (?)

KSL - madurai is the oDDiyANa pITham - I think the devi is referd to as 'oDDyANapITha sthitE' in some composition. The myth is that waist of the mInAkshi vigraham is becoming smaller with time (unlike the waist circumference of most Indians) , and when it snaps, it will herald the end of kaliyuga.

Keerthi - thanks. Does that mean that in the lalitA kriti, the reference is to bangles again?

HarishankarK · Post by **HarishankarK** » 28 Jan 2010, 11:07

In Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar's Bilahari piece on Meenakshi Goddess - Sri MadhuraPuri Vihaarini - he specifically mentions ODyANa pITha sthita in charanam as below

shrI madhurApuri vihAriNi
Raga: bilahari / Tala: rUpakam

P: shrI madhurApuri vihAriNi shrI rAjamAtaHNgi mAm pAhi

A: pAmarajanapAlini kAmadahanamOhini nAmarUpavimarshini naTEshvari jagajjanani

C: pANDya rAja pUjitAbja padayugaLE ODyANa pITha sthita sakala kalE pATalIkusuma priyE padmarAga samaprabhE sOmasundarEshvara priyE guruguha samudbhavE

So hope it confirms that Madurai is only Odyaana Pitha

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 28 Jan 2010, 19:43

rshankar wrote:
Does that mean that in the lalitA kriti, the reference is to bangles again?

I think it means bangle. another kRti where the word occurs is the srIranjani piece 'dum durgE' - charaNa kisalaye chAmIkara-valayE.. i (unsubstantiated-ly)feel MD has used it in this sense.