falling at the feet of Udayavar ~ ஆண்டுகள் நாள் திங்களாய்

For the past few years since 2009 I have been posting on ‘tamil.sampspeak.in’ – my articles laced with Perumal photos.  Living in a Divyadesam [Thiruvallikkeni] provides ample opportunities of Perumal purappadu.  Now from Mar 20, 2020, life has changed – Temples remain closed and we are living on memories of the past.  When we grew up, we had no opportunity of Television visuals but either heard Radio or were taught moral stories by our parents, elders and at school too.  We were keenly interested in mythological stories – but modern day youngsters think questioning the stories is rational . . .. none would have believed if someone had told them that World would remain shut and people would remain inside for months together ! ~ that is Covid 19 reality.

Andhra Pradesh has posted a fresh record with 10,376 new coronavirus cases recorded in the last 24 hours—the highest daily spike so far-- and has also crossed the 10,000 fresh infections mark for the third consecutive day, taking the state’s overall tally of Covid 19 cases to 1,40,933.  The spiraling number has meant that the state has added 30,636 cases in the last three days alone, sending the infection positivity rate  to reach 7.22 percent. As a result, it has more active cases-- 75,720 currently than recoveries-- 63,864.  The death toll in the state has climbed up to 1,349 with another 68 deaths reported over the last 24 hours, according to the daily government bulletin.

Some of the country's top cancer doctors seem to have found a biological explanation for India's strikingly low COVID-19 mortality, a mystery that has puzzled scientists, researchers and policymakers the world over. The answer, the doctors have analysed, could be the lesser propensity for deep vein clots among the Indian population. The study by doctors at the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai has been published in the ICMR's Indian Journal for Medical Research and points out that deaths per million in India is considerably lower.  The COVID-19 deaths per million in India is 25, as of now, and the country has recorded 34,968 deaths so far with a total of 15,83,792 confirmed cases of infection. India’s case fatality rate -- at 2.2 % -- is among the lowest in the world when compared to other badly-hit countries in the pandemic.

Multiple studies from China, Europe and the US have shown that blood clots in deep veins are associated with COVID-19 deaths and the doctors from the Tata Memorial Centre have proposed that the lower incidence of such blood clots in warmer climates and latitudes closer to the equator might help account for the relatively low mortality in India.

Getting back to mythology ~ our Puranas have lot of references to animals. Elephants, Monkeys, Birds, Monkeys, Bears, Lions, Tigers and more .. .. and there are some animals not alive now and therefore their existence is questioned – nay, not when there are references to dinosaurs ..  they are scientific is the common revert.  Remember Jurassic Park.

The Science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Kathleen Kennedy   based on the novel by the same name, commanded rave reviews.  The  film was  set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, located off Central America's Pacific Coast near Costa Rica. There, wealthy businessman John Hammond and a team of genetic scientists create  a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs. When industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park's power facilities and security precautions, a small group of visitors and Hammond's grandchildren struggle to survive and escape the perilous island ! .. .. . everyone accepted that dinosaurs lived in the World though none could have ever seen one !

Animal world is quite interesting ! and teaches us a lot too.  If a mouse were to fall down  in  a 1,000-foot mine shaft, the renowned evolutionary biologist JBS Haldane once proposed, the mouse would rise, shake the dust off itself, and scurry away. Maybe even right back up to do it again. If a rat fell from the same height, however, it would die. A human would break, Haldane writes, and a horse would splash. Haldane does not provide a colorful verb in his 1926 essay On Being the Right Size for what would occur if a 9-ton Tyrannosaurus rex fell into that mine. But the giant predator would scream down the shaft at 172 mph, hit the ground with 120 tons of force and … shatter? Dismember? Detonate? Erupt?

Regardless, the purpose of Haldane’s gruesome thought experiment is to demonstrate the dramatically different relationship large animals have with gravity compared to smaller ones. This relationship, and the differing fates of the mouse and rat, are explained by the "square-cube" law, which is the simple idea that as an object expands, its volume cubes while its surface area merely squares. Because an animal’s surface area provides the brakes when falling, and its mass determines the force of its impact, the falls of various species can be either thrilling, tragic, or messy, depending on seemingly small differences in their size.

For example, if you traveled back to the dinosaur age, or it traveled to you in some kind of scientific disaster, you might find yourself running from a duplex-sized reptile. But don’t panic. You have the disproportionate effects of size on your side. The T. rex’s eruptive demise at the bottom of the mine shaft illustrates the most important factor to consider when facing the giant saurian’s pursuit. In the run for your life, its awe-inspiring, terrifying, stupefying size would be, in fact, your greatest advantage.  A fully grown  Tyrannosaurus rex was absurdly huge and absurdly powerful. Though it could just crush humans,  biomechanics of dinosaurs states that  Tyrannosaur couldn’t run.

Ever heard of an animal known as “Yali”  ?    A mythological lion-faced animal with elephantine proboscis and tusks ~ திருவல்லிக்கேணியில் - யானை, குதிரை, சேஷ, ஹம்ச, சிம்ஹ, கருட என உயிரின வாஹனங்களுண்டு.   யாளி வாஹனம் சற்றே  வித்தியாசமானது.   யாளி எனப்படும் தொன்ம உயிரினம்,  சிங்கமுகமும், யானையின் துதிக்கையும் கொண்டது.  இது   சிங்கத்தையும் யானையையும் விட மிகவும் வலிமையானது என நம்பப்படுகிறது. பொதுவாக யாளி யானையைத் தாக்குவது போன்று உள்ளதைச் சிற்பங்களில் காணலாம்.

இந்த படம் தென்னாசார்ய தலைமை பீடமான "நாங்குநேரி ~ வானமாமலை - ஸ்ரீவரமங்கலநகரில்'  உள்ள மண்டபத்தில் உள்ள சிற்பம்.  மேற்கத்திய சிந்தனையில், இந்த பூமியில் சில கோடி ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பு டைனோசர் போன்ற ராட்சத விலங்குகள் வாழ்ந்ததாக அறிவியல் ஆய்வுகள் உறுதிபடுத்துகின்றன.   அது போன்று இந்திய துணைக்கண்டத்தின் தென்பகுதியில் இப்படி ஒரு பிரமாண்ட விலங்கின் பதிவுகள் காணப்படுகின்றன.   முன்பொரு நாளில் திருவல்லிக்கேணி வீதி தனிலே ப்ருந்தாரண்ய வனத்திலே யாளிகளும் வலம் வந்திருக்கலாம்.

நமக்கு யாளியோ, சிங்கமோ, யானையோ, மற்ற ஏனையோ மிருகங்களோ ! எவை பலமிக்கவை என்ற ஆராய்ச்சி தேவையில்லை .. .. நமக்கு காருண்ய சீலரான ராமானுஜனின் தாள் பணிந்து அவனது பெருமைகளை ஏற்றுவதே சீரியது. திருவரங்கத்து அமுதனாரின் அற்புத வரிகளில் இங்கே ஒரு இராமானுச நூற்றந்தாதி பாசுரம்.

ஆண்டுகள் நாள்  திங்களாய்  நிகழ்காலமெல்லாம்  மனமே!

ஈண்டு  பல்யோனிகள் தோறுழல்வோம்   இன்றோரெண்ணின்றியே

காண்டகு தோளண்ணல் தென்னத்தியூரர் கழலிணைக்  கீழ்ப்

பூண்ட   அன்பாளன் இராமானுசனைப் பொருந்தினமே.

அமுதனார் உரைக்கிறார் :   மனமே, நாள்களாகவும், மாதங்களாகவும்,  ஆண்டுகளாகவும் - நகர்ந்து, இப்படியே நிகழ்காலம் எல்லாம் கடந்து செல்கின்ற   ஸர்வ காலங்களிலும் திரண்டு பல்வகைப்பட்ட  மனிதப்பிறப்புகள் உடன் உழன்று  திரிந்த நாம் - வேறு எந்த நினைவுகளும் இல்லாமல்  - பார்த்து பார்த்து ஆனந்திக்க வல்ல 'காண்  தகு தோள் அண்ணல் '  ஸ்வாமியான பேரருளாளனாடைய திருவடிகளில் அன்பு பூண்ட எம்பெருமானாரைச் சேரப்பெற்றோம் - நாம் எவ்வளவு பாக்கியம் பெற்றவர்கள்.  இதோ இங்கே 2018 உடையவர் உத்சவத்தில் யாளி வாகன புறப்பாடு படங்கள்.

On 15.4.2018, we had the fortune of worshipping our Swami Emperumanar purapapdu on Yali  vahanam.   Here are some photos of the purappadu

adiyen Srinivasa dhasan

Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar

31.7.2020.