manDara Dhara govinDa

ganeshpv · Post by **ganeshpv** » 24 Jul 2009, 22:46

Does anyone know why Krishna is called 'ManDara Dhara'?

The Mountain Kurma-avatara lifts during churning of the Ocean is "ManDara", but this explanation is a bit far fetched.

If it were pronounced "manDaara Dhara" then it could be interpreted as the one who wears garland of ManDaara flowers. But the lyrics is "manDara dhara" not "ManDaara Dhara". Any help?

krishnaa · Post by **krishnaa** » 24 Jul 2009, 23:26

I thought it was just the mention of kurmavatara...
sometimes some kritis are composed by the haridasas cover every aspect of sri hari,,,
for example in the krithi nanda nandana venu naad of annamacharya, the caranam is "rAma rAma gOvinda ravi candra locana"
the compostion of madhvacharya recently discussed starts with the description of sri krishna but goes on to even his buddhavatara and kalki avatara...

sathirdance · Post by **sathirdance** » 25 Jul 2009, 00:28

It was He, Govinda, who bore (dhara) the weight of mountain ManDara on his back.

ganeshpv · Post by **ganeshpv** » 25 Jul 2009, 03:21

Thanks Krishnaa and sathirdance. I recently danced Madhvacharya's composition Krishnaa mentioned. It's dashavathara stotram - the 7th of dwadasa stotras of Madhva. And it does have 'manDara dhara' while describing krishna. I did portray it as kurma lifting manDara. I have noticed in several krithis that 'manDara Dhara' shows up while describing Krishna. So I think there might be a more direct link than kurma-avatara. BTW ManDara also means pearl chain in Sanskrith. So it can also mean 'one who wears peral chain'.

krishnaa · Post by **krishnaa** » 25 Jul 2009, 10:42

It would be very nice if you could show us the video of your performance, Ganesh!
There are several meanings to one word in sanskrit so as long as the phrase sounds correct, its ok...

koyaliya · Post by **koyaliya** » 04 Aug 2009, 19:59

interesting - mandara dhara indeed refers to the kurmavatar!

till today i thought mandara dhara was meera's govardhana giridhari, who both created the govardhana giri out of his expansive love for Radha and lifted the mountain of mandara and kunda flowers above the village to protect his people from the wrath of Indra.