need meaning for valeyadi

[cyberrekha]

hi
In chandra chooda shiva shankara parvathi A Purandara dasa compositions, I need meaning for the word valayadi in
vAlAyadi kapAlava pIDidu bhikSe bEDO digambaranu nIne

full charana is as follows
bAla mrkaNDana kAlanu eLevAga pAlisidavanu nIne nIlakNTha kAlakUTa viSava medda shUla pANiyu nIne
vAlAyadi kapAlava pIDidu bhikSe bEDO digambaranu nIne jAla mADuva gOpAlanemba peNNige maruLadavanu nIne
Thanks
Rekha

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I read that 'valaya' means zone/sphere/bracelet/ring. The word 'vAlAya' also leads to 'valaya'.

{See Kannada dictionary at http://www.kannadakasturi.com/kasturiDi ... /start.asp}

Perhaps the word 'vAlAyadi' means 'constant' or 'often' (However, I am not sure of this).

If we accept the word 'vAlAyadi' the line would mean::*You are digambara, holding the

kapAla constantly and begging*

[rshankar]

We discussed this song in detail a few years ago: http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... andra+cUDa

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rshankar Ji,
Thank you.

[classicallover]

Kapaala does not mean begging bowl. It means skull. Valayaadi kapaalava should mean a ring , actually garland of skulls.

So the line's translation should be : You are nude, wearing only the garland of skulls and always going for bhikshaaTana.

[cyberrekha]

hi,
thanks all. but it cannot be garland of skull because line says valayadi kapala pididu....pididu meaning hold. i was also told valayadi meaning in hand...any coments on that?

[classicallover]

valaya is also bangle or modern day bracelet. It is not uncommon for mantrikas, tantrikas and smashanavaasis to wear garland of skulls and bangles of bones & skulls. In archaic usage, pididu may also have meant wearing in hand like if you interchange the words into kapaala valayadi pididu it acquires the meaning I mentioned above.

[rshankar]

When Siva cut brahmA's fifth head as punishment for telling a lie (not sure why, but this is what I understand: bhahmA had claimed that he had seen Siva's head, when all he had done was get a second-hand description from a flower that had fallen down from Siva's head), he (Siva) became afflicted by the brahmahati/brahmahatyA dOsha (the heinous sin of killing a brAhmin), and found that the calvarium from the skull of brahmA's fifth head remained attached to his hands as a begging bowl - that is the reference here (kapAla and bhikshE) - it was pArvati, as annapUrNa who offered bhikshE, releasing Siva from the curse - hence the very important bhikshADanar as part of the celebrations in the kapAlISvarar temple. Sri muttu tANDavar, in his composition, Edukkitanai mODi endan mIdayyA, captures this beautifully as 'talai OTTilE iranduNDIrenranda uNmaiyai shonnEnO'

[smala]

My *limited* take on this.

Two reasons which prompt this post :
--this seems to be a composition venerating the forms of Lord Shiva, enumerating them.. as... this Lord, of these forms, I Purandara Vittala, worship...
--the usage of descriptor, digambara, along with the skull/skull-bowl reference


Shiva as Bhairavi is said to have a skull-cap in hand as begging bowl. The word 'digambara' in the composition is the clue - 'sky' clad/nudity referring to Shiva's ash-covered nude wandering form.
(rshankar interprets the word and hence the line, a little differently)

Surfing on Aghoris who worship Shiva as Bhairav, got me this :

.....
The Aghori ascetic is himself a symbol of the God Shiva in Shiva's form as Bhairava. The main symbol which makes him distinct from other sadhus is the skull cup he uses as a begging bowl. He goes naked or wears the shroud of a corpse, covers himself in the ashes of the cremation ground and always has his hair disheveled or in matted dreadlocks...

[classicallover]

rs,

Your version is different from that told in the Shiva puraaNa. It actually combines two different & separate stories involving Brahma & Shiva.

Story 1 :

Brahma had five heads, of which one was always looking up ( uurdhva mukha ). Brahma used to meditate closing eyes & ears of his other four heads and keep only the top ones open. He used to be very arrogant because of this which was very irritating to many of the devotees and also to Shiva & Vishnu. So they decided that Brahma's arrogance can be cut down only by removing the fifth head and only then he will look upon the creation with kindness. This job of removing the head was given to Indra as only his vajrayudha was capable of doing it and he is eligible to do it without attracting the provisions of Brahmahatya. With the fifth head gone, Brahma opened all his other eyes and realising his mistake, begged for forgiveness.

The concept in English that all arrogant fellows and snobs have their "noses up in the air" comes from this story perhaps .

Story 2 :

Once Brahma had an argument with Vishnu about who is greater or all pervading. In this debate, they both left their respective responsibilities of creation and sustenance which disturbed all the devas and the worlds where sins were increasing. Bhudevi , devas and others prayed to Shiva as the final recourse. Suddenly in the midst of their debate and between them sprang up a very bright beam of light vertically from bottom and reaching into the outer space. Brahma & Vishnu could not identify what that was and where it had come from. Then they decided that whosoever identifies the ends of the beam, i.e. the beginning or the other end , would be greater or more powerful.

Brahma got up on his Hamsavaahanam and flew upwards to know the top end while Vishnu assumed the Varaahaavataaram and started digging to know the bottom end. After even many thousands of years, they could not reach the beginning nor the end of the beam of light. Brahma asked a flower drifting down by name Ketaki about the beam but since no reply came, he told Ketaki to be his supporting witness for discovering the top end. Vishnu took the help of Kamadhenu as his supporting witness of having seen the bottom end.

When Brahma & Vishnu met, Ketaki replied that Brahma saw the top end and Kamadhenu nodded with the head that Vishnu had seen the bottom. But Kamadhenu wagged the tail also to say that he did not see the end. During this argument, the beam of light disappeared and Shiva emerged from it. Shiva admonished all four for committing the sin of telling lies. He cursed Brahma for telling a lie that he will not be worshipped by anyone of his own creation. Ketaki was Shiva's favourite flower and used by everyone in his worship but it lost that position due to Shiva's curse. Vishnu was cursed to live on the Earth being separated from Lakshmi for ten paryaayaas. Kamadhenu got a divided curse that anyone worships looking at her head will get only losses , but since the tail said the truth, those who worship the rear part will get all the good benefits.

Muthuswami Dikshitar describes Shiva as " Darukaavana tapodhana taruNii mOhaakaara bhikShaaTana veShadhara Shankara " in the kriti MaarakOTikOTi laavaNya in Arabhi raaga. Attention is drawn to the underlined portion where he has very tactfully impregnated the raaga's name.

So there is actually no need for the skull of Brahma's head to stick as a bowl . Shiva's avataar Kaalabhairava is present in the smashaana. In fact the skull held in the left hand contains the ashes from the smashaana which Kaalabhairava sprinkles on the dead bodies coming into the smashaana. MD has composed the kriti Kaalabhairava in the raaga Bhairavam.

The above may be a digression from the main topic but felt it was required for clarification purpose.