Meaning of nandaka

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 21 May 2008, 20:33

In the annamAcArya composition, 'nandakadhara nanda-gOpa nandanA' (wonderfully tuned in rAgESrI by Sri Voleti, I think), what does 'nandaka' mean? Does is refer to a smile of joy, or to krishNa's sword?

Rajani · Post by **Rajani** » 21 May 2008, 21:19

Ravi, the 5 weapons of Vishnu have particular names and "nandaka" is indeed the name of his sword. The other names are:
chakram - sudarshana
shankham - pAncajanya
bow - shArnga
mace (gadA) - kaumOdaki

The famous verse from Vishnu sahasranAma "vanamAlI gadI shArngI..." calls him "nandakI" ( one who has nandaka)

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 21 May 2008, 21:21

Thanks, Rajani for that explanation!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 21 May 2008, 22:21

Rajani, if SArNga is the bow, then vishNu should be SArNgapANi, and not S(s)AraNgapANi, right?

krishnaa · Post by **krishnaa** » 22 May 2008, 00:26

definitely Lord Vishnu is sArNgapANi...

Rajani · Post by **Rajani** » 22 May 2008, 08:54

shArngapANi becomes sArangapAni in spoken tamil. But ANDAL refers to it correctly as sArngam in tiruppAvai.

Funnily, sArangapAni should actually mean shiva, as he holds a deer(sAranga).

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 22 May 2008, 19:29

Thanks, Rajani!

Rajani wrote:Funnily, sArangapAni should actually mean shiva, as he holds a deer(sAranga).

Yes, that was what I was wondering (mAn mazhu Endiyavan) - by the way, what is the legend/myth regarding the deer? The mazhu is the battle-axe thrown at him by the sages in dArukAvanam, right?

vgvindan · Post by **vgvindan** » 22 May 2008, 20:27

There are two words - Sarnga -शार्ङग - the bow of Vishnu and saranga - सारङग - antelope held by Siva - please refer to Monier's Sanskrit Dictionary - Often these words are confused with each other.
Please refer to Thyagaraja Kriti 'O ranga SAyI' - wherein he mentions - sAranga dharuDu - to mean Siva
Please refer to Dikshitar Kriti - 'matsyAvatAra' - wherein he mentions SArnga dhara - to mean Vishnu

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 22 May 2008, 21:02

VGV,

I think we have differentiated between S (SArNga) and s (sAraNga) - the issue came up because of the tamizh usage of 'cArNgan' and 'cAraNgan' - and how they have become interchangeable - for instance, in the composition, 'cArangan maruganE', 'sArangan' refers mistakenly to vishNu, when it should, in reality be 'cArangan maganE'!

vgvindan · Post by **vgvindan** » 23 May 2008, 00:28

rs, IMHO, in Tamil 'rGg' (ர்ங்க) is not permitted. Therefore both words would be written as 'ranga' (ரங்க) only.