SV: creation of human kind

[Mani Varadarajan]

Mr. Ganesan wrote:
> But nowhere they tell that Krishna told Giitaa or Vaarttai
> to Arjuna in Naalaayiram. That is significant given
> the importance of Gita in Sanskrit tradition.

While it is true that the three words "Arjuna", "Krishna",
and "spoke" do not occur together anywhere in the Divya Prabandham,
I cannot think of any reason why the Alvars would mention
Krishna's standing in front of Arjuna's chariot other than
to celebrate the Gita.

Regarding the Tiruvallikkeni (Triplicane) Parthasarathy temple:
Arjuna is not represented in the sannidhi; the mUla-bEra,
known as Venkatakrishna, is present there with
his entire family.  Rukmini, Balarama, Satyaki (considered
Krishna's younger brother), Pradyumna, and Aniruddha are all
present.  But this main image clearly represents
Krishna in his role as Arjuna's charioteer; Krishna is _not_
shown with all his weapons, nor even with four hands,
highly unusual for an image of Vishnu.  In Tiruvallikkeni,
he only has his conch, the absence of other weapons reflecting
his promise not to fight while driving the chariot.

[ For an image of this deity, see

  http://www.best.com/~mani/img/sarathymoolavar.jpg ]

In addition, on the vimAna (the gOpura above the garbha gRha),
there is a very clear sculpture of the Gitopadesa.  Given that
this is the vimAna gOpura, it is apparently of great antiquity.

Mani