I was reading something on Tagore's works. And that something led me to this Shloka, which has the word I was looking for - gOdhULi . This Shloka apparently extols the virtues of Krishna's playful lifting of the Govardhana giri and his company of the cows.
gOdhULi dUsarti kOmala kuntalAgram
gOvardhanOddharaNa kELi kRta prayAsam
gOpIjanasya kuCa kumkuma mudritAngam
gOvindam induvadanam sharaNam bhajAmaha
This word often appears in Tagore's works, and I was not quite aware if there is a similar word in Tamil. There is apparently this word, for dawn and dusk, in Tamil too. And it is gOdhULi (கோதூளி). In Tamil, this denotes both the morning ( dawn) and evening (dusk).
My rusty brain went after the meaning. I look up the Sanskrit dictionary. Sure enough, it denoted the same - Godhuli in sanskrit too meant dusk as well. I concluded - that there must then be an original Tamil word for it.
Dawn - vidiyal (விடியல்). Dusk - (araiyiruL) அரையிருள் (andhi) அந்தி . Andhi clearly is borrowed again and means "End of the day".
I then wondered why this period is called gOdhuLi. I realized that this "gO-dhuLi" - that period of the day when cows come home from the long grazing day, their stomach full of eating ( which they masticate later at night, and in peace) . The return of the cow herds is accompanied by huge swathes of dust, if you have ever observed returning cows in villages.
Worshippers of Krishna observe this period as one of the most auspicious, bringing in all the wealth and happiness for them. Worshippers of Shiva, consider this period, on the contrary as Pradosha kaalam, where the mind can easily delve into negatives ( due to planetary moves caused by the sinking Sun and rising moon) , and so, believe in focusing on prayers, instead. I feel these are varying approaches.
gODhuLi reminds me of the opening stanza of the famous English Poem "Elegy Written In a Country Churchyard", by Thomas Gray, where the poet too visualizes a similar scene of the returning cowherds and the weary farmer too returning too, after a hard days work in his office.
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness, and to me.
gOdhULi dUsarti kOmala kuntalAgram
gOvardhanOddharaNa kELi kRta prayAsam
gOpIjanasya kuCa kumkuma mudritAngam
gOvindam induvadanam sharaNam bhajAmaha
This word often appears in Tagore's works, and I was not quite aware if there is a similar word in Tamil. There is apparently this word, for dawn and dusk, in Tamil too. And it is gOdhULi (கோதூளி). In Tamil, this denotes both the morning ( dawn) and evening (dusk).
My rusty brain went after the meaning. I look up the Sanskrit dictionary. Sure enough, it denoted the same - Godhuli in sanskrit too meant dusk as well. I concluded - that there must then be an original Tamil word for it.
Dawn - vidiyal (விடியல்). Dusk - (araiyiruL) அரையிருள் (andhi) அந்தி . Andhi clearly is borrowed again and means "End of the day".
I then wondered why this period is called gOdhuLi. I realized that this "gO-dhuLi" - that period of the day when cows come home from the long grazing day, their stomach full of eating ( which they masticate later at night, and in peace) . The return of the cow herds is accompanied by huge swathes of dust, if you have ever observed returning cows in villages.
Worshippers of Krishna observe this period as one of the most auspicious, bringing in all the wealth and happiness for them. Worshippers of Shiva, consider this period, on the contrary as Pradosha kaalam, where the mind can easily delve into negatives ( due to planetary moves caused by the sinking Sun and rising moon) , and so, believe in focusing on prayers, instead. I feel these are varying approaches.
gODhuLi reminds me of the opening stanza of the famous English Poem "Elegy Written In a Country Churchyard", by Thomas Gray, where the poet too visualizes a similar scene of the returning cowherds and the weary farmer too returning too, after a hard days work in his office.
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness, and to me.
