Nandi Timmana, a popular Telugu poet, was one of the eight prominent poets in the court of Sri Krishnadevaraya, emperor of Vijayanagara. The only extant work of Nandi Timmana is Parijatapaharanamu (stealing of Parijata, the Divine Flower), a poem in about 500 verses.
Nandi Timmana took the core of the story partly from Vishnu Purana and partly from Harivamsam, incorporated it with his unique contribution, and produced a fascinating poem.
Timmana also describes how Sri Krishna brings mythological tree Parijata to earth from heaven to please his beloved wife, Satyabhama, after defeating Indra.
In the poem, Parijatapaharanamu, Timmana portrayed Satyabhama as a personification of beauty, love, doubt, jealousy, self-esteem, pride, rudeness, superiority, rage, valor, and tenderness, all turned into one.
In his poetic verse Timmana explains many significant inner meanings between God & his devotees:
There is nothing that God does not grant to his devotees.
There is no person or power that can stand against the wishes of the Almighty, that no one can claim the ownership of anything or property, and that everything belongs to God only.
A rare and highly valuable thing should not be kept as the personal property of a single individual. Once can only keep it as a trustee and share the fruits of it with other people. Though Parijata was planted in the garden of Satyabhama, she voluntarily shared the flowers with other people.
God is not offended by the liberties taken by his devotees & serves his devotees as a servant.
When Satyabhama ties up Sri Krishna to the Parijata tree with a rope as a part of religious rites. This indicates that God is confined by love and devotion
Good intentions always yielded with good rewards .
The Parijat tree story
Parijat tree was a part of the gifts received during the Samudra Manthan, It was a celestial plant, When Krishna’s wives Satyabhama and Rukmini each expressed a desire to have the tree exclusively to herself, and the Lord set a perfect balancing act. Thus, the Parijat tree story became a symbol of how Krishna divided his love equally among his two wives.
Once Narada got few flowers from the Parijat tree and gave them to Krishna, Krishna gave the flowers to Rukmini. On seeing this, Narada went to Satyabhama and told her about it. Seeing Satyabhama all upset with jealousy, Narada went on to suggest to her – that she should not settle for just a few flowers rather insist that Krishna get her the tree from Indralok and plant it in her garden so that she could have for a regular supply of these exotic flowers!
When Krishna visited Satyabhama’s palace, she expressed her anger and disappointment at the whole incident and insisted that she would settle for nothing less than the plant itself! Narada, meanwhile, went and warned Indra that some earthlings were out to steal the celestial plant from his Indralok! Krishna and Satyabhama succeeded in stealing one branch from the tree. Just when they were leaving, Lord Indra accosted them. A battle ensued.
Content contribution: Dr. G. Neelima Assistant. Professor (Telugu Language), Ms. Soujanya( English Language Trainer)
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