[Advaita-l] A query on 'kRishNa-sakha' in shriimad-bhaagavataM

[Ramakrishna Upadrasta]

praNAms Shri Sastri-ji,

2011/1/25 S.N. Sastri <sn.sastri at gmail.com>:
> Dear Ramakrishna,
> SridharIyam explains kRishNasakha as 'arjunasya sakhe'.
> If Draupadi was meant, it would be kRishnAsakhe because Draupadi is kRishNA
> (fem).

Thanks a lot for the explanation.


praNAms Shri Anand-ji,


2011/1/25 Anand Hudli <ahudli at gmail.com>:
> shrIdhara svAmin explains "kR^iShNasakha" simply as "arjunasya sakhe". To
> see why arjuna is called Krishna we may consult the mahAbhArata.
>
> In the virATa parva, Arjuna tells Uttara his ten names among which "Krishna"
> is one:
> 0040390083/.arjunah.phalguno.jiSNuh.kiriiTii.zveta.vaahanah./
> 0040390085/.biibhatsur.vijayah.kRSNah.savya.saacii.dhanamjayah.//

Thanks for this shloka. I "mostly" remember it as it was taught in my
childhood by my grandfather (a veda scholar, who is no more) to be
recited at the time of 'megha-garjana'. Only that instead of 'jiSNu',
I remember 'pArtha' and have forgotten the name 'kRishNa'.


> Uttara then asks arjuna why he is called by those ten names:
>
> 0040390091/.kena.asi.vijayas.naama.kena.asi.zveta.vaahanah./{uttara}
> 0040390093/.kiriiTii.naama.kena.asi.savya.saacii.katham.bhavaan.//
> 0040390101/.arjunah.phalguno.jiSNuh.kRSNas.biibhatsur.eva.ca./
> 0040390103/.dhanamjayaz.ca.kena.asi.prabruuhi.mama.tattvatah./
> 0040390105/.zrutaa.me.tasya.viirasya.kevalaa.naama.hetavah.//10
> arjuna explains each of those ten names. Regarding Krishna, he says
> that seeing his dark complexion, his father, pANDu, gave him that name, out
> of affection. (kRSNa;ity.eva.dazamam.naama.cakre.pitaa.mama)

Given the story of birth of pANDu and his "albinic whiteness"
(obviously with knowledge: 'paNDit' has the same root 'paNDa'), it is
a little ironic that pANDu named arjuna as one who has dark
complexion.

praNAms to both of you scholars again for responding to my query.
(Earlier, a co-student also confirmed the same that there is a
vyAkaraNa-sUtra on gender change of the word 'sakha'.)
dhanyavaadaH
Ramakrishna