sarasvatI navaratnamaalikaa - 1.4

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shR^itajana pAlakayA sevaka bhUpAlakayA shrI sarasvatyA sa.mrakshitoham' -

‘Worshipped by rulers Sri Sarasvati; who protects the devote has sheltered

me.’

 

‘bhUpAla sevitA’ is not a common salutation for Sarasvati devi. As

Dikshitar’s salutation is Rig Veda based, the supportive mantra is in

Mandala 07.95.02.

 

ekAcetat sarasvatI nadInAM shuciryatI giribhya AsamudrAt .

rAyashcetantI bhuvanasya bhUrerghR^itaM payo duduhe nAhuSAya .. 7.95.2

 

‘Pure in her course from mountains to the ocean, alone of streams Sarasvati

hath listened. Thinking of wealth and the great world of creatures, she

poured milk and butter for nahusha.’

 

shAyanAchArya refers a Puranic story in the context of this mantra. King

nahusha bhUpAla wanted to perform a sacrifice for thousands of years; He

prayed to Veda mAtA sarasvatI to provide him with all necessary facilities.

She flowed down as a river and blessed him with lots of butter, water, milk

and other riches in surplus throughout his sacrifice. Consequently Dikshitar

salutes her as ‘sevaka bhUpAlakayA’

 

Goddess sarasvatI blesses devotes with compassion and hence saluted as

‘shR^itajana pAlakayA’. There is a beautiful mantra in Rig Veda Mandala

10.17.07 that hails sarasvatI repeatedly and salutes her for her boon

bestowing nature.

 

sarasvatIM devayanto havante sarasvatImadhvare tAyamAne

sarasvatIM sukR^ito ahvayanta sarasvatI dAshuSe vAryaM dAt 10.17.7

 

‘The devout invoke Sarasvati; they worship Sarasvati in the sacrifice. The

pious invoke Sarasvati aforetime. May Sarasvati bestow blessing upon the

donor of the oblation.’

 

The line ‘sarasvatI dAshuSe vAryaM dAt’ is reformatted in the krithi as

‘shR^itajana pAlakayA’.

 

Cont..

 

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