question

[Dr. S.Kalyanaraman]

Hi,
In Tamil, kaLaa denotes the large bengal currant, carissa carandas; in kannada,
kaLave is a spinous shrub bearing edible black berries of c. carandas. It will
be interesting to know more about these berries; if they were used to make
bead strings...
Regards, kalyanaraman.

At 10:06 PM 3/13/97 GMT, you wrote:
>	Naaraaya.nabha.t.ta uses the expression kalaayaavalii several
>times in his famous poem Naaraayaa.niiya.  As far as I can tell, it must
>be kalaaya + aavalii, a row/line of kalaaya.  The dictionary meaning of
>kalaaya (Apte) is "green peas", (vaa.taa.naa in Marathi).  I wonder if
>anyone knows the significance of this expression in the context of
>describing the Krishna image in the temple at Guruvaayur?  
>	Thanks.
>			Madhav Deshpande
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