sarasvatI navaratna maalikaa 1.1

[Guest guest]

sarasvatyA bhagavatyA sa.mrakshitoham .

chhAyAgauratarayA varayA shrI ..

 

‘The resplendent bright boon bestowing auspicious Goddess Sarasvati has

protected me’.

 

Dikshitar is proud to pronounce that the Supreme Goddess has provided

shelter to him and hence commences with the verse ‘chhAyA-gauratarayA varayA

bhagavatyA shrI sarasvatyA sa.mrakshitoham’. Prior to commencing the

prosody, Dikshitar does a complete surrender at the lotus feet of sarasvati

devi and she extends her abhaya kara to ensured shelter to her dear devotee.

 

The pallavi echoes the most popular of all Rig Vedic salutations,

 

praNo devI sarasvatI vajebhir vajinIvatI .

dhInAm avitrya avatu .. 6.61.4

 

‘May the divine Goddess sarasvati who accepts the sacrificial offering, the

meditate protector; protect us.’

 

The prayer ‘avatu’ is altered as ‘samrakshatu’ in the pallavi. Dikshitar

having obtained the protection sought in the Mantra exclaims his state and

salutes her with the same adjectives (viseShaNa) that used in the Mantra.

 

‘varayA sarasvatyA sa.mrakshitoham’ – ‘I have been sheltered by the boon

bestowing Goddess sarasvati’. The same idea is conveyed in the mantra as

‘dhInAm avitrya avatu’. Dikshitar reserves the other characteristic

‘vajebhir vajinIvatI’ for later salutations.

 

‘chhAyA-gaura-tarayA sa.mrakshitoham’ – ‘I have been sheltered by the

shining bright effulgent Goddess sarasvati’.

 

ayamu te sarasvati vasiSTho dvArAvR^itasya subhage vyAvaH .

vardha shubhre stuvate rAsi vAjAn yUyaM pAta svastibhiH sadAnaH .. 7.95.6

 

Dikshitar salutes sarasvati as ‘gaura-chhAyA svarUpiNi’ – ‘white effulgent

Goddess’ in accordance with the word ‘shubhre’ in the above mantra. Similar

to the phrase ‘maragta chhAye’ that is used to salute mInakshi, the verse

‘gaura chhAyA tarayA’ is used to address sarasvati in accordance to her pure

white complexion. Her brightness exceeds that of ‘kunda, indu, shaN^ka,

spaTika and tushhAra’. All that Dikshitar is able to witness is bright white

effulgence. This base white effulgence represents Sarasvati as para brahma

svarUpiNi.

 

The Raga selected by Dikshitar for this salutation is ‘chhAyA gauLa’, which

is a derivative of ‘mAyA mALava gauLa’. The ‘raga mudrA’ is embedded

beautifully in the phrase ‘chhAyA-gaura-tarayA’. venkaTamahI documents

chhAyAgauLa Raga lakshana as,

 

chhAyAgauLashchasa.mpUrNa AroheganivarjitaH.

niShAdagraha sa.myukta sAyaN^kAle pragIyate..

 

‘bhagavatyA shrI sarasvatyA sa.mrakshitoham’ – ‘I have been sheltered by the

supreme Goddess sarasvti who is an embodiment of six auspicious qualities’

 

Dikshitar echoes the salutation in the mantra ‘subhage’ as ‘bhagavtI’.

‘subhaga’ - the auspicious one; ‘bhaga shabha’ comprises of six important

characteristics,

 

aishvaryasya samagrasya viiryasya yashashshriyaH .

jnAna vairAgyayoschaiva ShaNNAM bhaga itiiraNA ..

 

Possession of ‘aishvarya’ Prosperity, ‘viirya’ Power, ‘yashas’ Fame, ‘shrIH’

Wealth, ‘jnAna’ Knowledge and ‘vairAgya’ an impartial outlook, makes her

‘bhagavatI’. This ShaDguNa paripUraNatvam is indicated by Dikshitar with the

word ‘bhagavatI’. 'bhagavtI' is used with the same import in the mantra as

‘subhage’.

 

Cont...

 

Aravind

 

 

_______________

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com