Digest of Paramacharya's Discourses on Soundaryalahari (DPDS-60)

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Namaste.

Recall the Note about the organization of the ‘Digest’,

from DPDS – 26 or the earlier ones.

V. Krishnamurthy

A Digest of Paramacharya’s Discourses on Soundaryalahari -

60

(Digest of pp.1130 -1140 of Deivathin Kural, 6th volume,

4th imprn.)

 

Here comes one shloka (#46) where the Acharya has done

delightful innovation with the simple idea of the

‘moon-like divine face’.

 

lalATaM lAvaNya-dyuti-vimalaM AbhAti tava yat

dvitIyaM tan-manye makuTa-ghaTitaM candra-shakalaM /

viparyAsa-nyAsAd-ubhayam-api sambhUya ca mithaH

sudhA-lepa-syUtiH pariNamati rAkA-himakaraH // 46 //

 

‘lalATaM’ is the forehead. ‘lAvaNya-dyuti’ is the beautiful

Light. ‘vimala’ means faultless. “AbhAti”, shines. So the

first two lines mean: The forehead that shines in the pure

brilliance of its divine beauty may be thought of (‘manye’

– I think) as the second form of the crescent moon of your

crown. ‘makuTa-ghaTitam candra-shakalaM’ means the crescent

moon that ornaments the crown. In other words what is said

is that there is the cresecent moon on ambaa’s head.

 

Traditionally, we all know that both Ishvara and Ambaa have

only the third day moon on their head, not the half moon or

ashhTamI-candra.In all images of both these deities we

could have noticed that the third day moon (the figure of

the moon on the third day of its appearance) embedded in

their head, would be showing the sharp corners of the

curves on both sides as two dots. If it is the

ashhTamI-candra (the half moon ) that is depicted, we would

also see the diameter joining those end points. In a

crescent moon this diameter would not show nor would the

remaining portions of the moon – though we can imagine the

full figure of the moon by mentally completing the crescent

into a full moon. It requires quite an imagination to

visualise this. But the key to this is the pair of sharp

corners in which the crescent ends.

 

On the other hand the semi-circular forehead of Ambaa is

actually a half-moon. No portion of the half-moon is

missing here. In the sahasranAma also it is said of her

forehead (aLika-sthala) :

“ashTamI-candra-vibhrAjad-aLika-sthala-shobitA”.

 

Thus we have a cresent moon above, and also below it in the

form of the forehead the half moon. Now comes the fun in

the third and fourth lines:

“ubhayam api” – these two. The half moon in the crown and

the half moon in the forehead.

“mithaH” – mutually, with respect to each other.

“viparyAsa-nyAsAt” – joined in the reverse order.

“viparyAsa” means ‘the opposite order’.

They have to be joined in the reverse order because, the

half moon in the crown is in the form of the lower half of

a full moon and the half moon of the forehead is of the

form of the upper half of a full moon.

 

So we have to join them in the reverse order. “sambhUya”

means ‘attached’. What is the means of attaching them? It

is the “sudhA-lepa-syUtiH” of the moon itself. “sudhA”

means ‘nectar’. “lepa” is ‘paste’ or ‘gum’. “syUtiH” means

stitching or sewing. In fact the English word ‘sew’ comes

from ‘syUtiH’ of Sanskrit. Thus if one attaches the half

moon on the head of ambaa and the half moon of her

forehead, with the former as the lower part and the latter

as the upper part, and use the nectar which oozes out of

the moon for pasting them then the full moon itself shines!

“rAkA himakaraH pariNamati”!

 

The next shloka (#47) is more complicated. But it is the

complication and the poetic inventiveness that make us stay

long at the shloka and therefore longer in the thought of

ambaa.

 

Bhruvau bhugne kimcit bhuvana-bhaya-bhanga-vyasanini

tvadIye netrAbhyAM madhukara-rucibhyAM dhRta-guNaM /

dhanur-manye savyetara-kara-gRhItaM ratipateH

prakoshhTe mushhTau ca sthagayati nigUDhAntaram-ume // 47

//

 

“bhruvau kimcit bhugne” : ‘frowning a little’. ‘bhruvau’

means the pair of eyebrows. When the eyebrows are

contracted either in anger or in thought, we are said to

frown. Incidentally, the Sanskrit word ‘bhrU’ must have

originated the English word ‘brow’ and also the tamil word

‘puruvaM’, all meaning ‘eyebrow’! Here we are talking about

the eyebrows of ambaa. If the frowning is complete, the

natural bend in the eyebrows disappears and they align

themselves in a straight line. Here ambaaL’s eyebrows are

not contracted in anger, but they are more ‘bent’ than

normal; that is why, the word ‘kimcit’ is used. She is

frowning in the thought of encountering a fear for Her

children, namely, us, the people of the world.

 

The words ‘bhuvana-bhaya-bhanga-vyasanini’ mean ‘sorrowed

(by compassion) with the worry of the need to destroy the

fear (of samsara) of all the world’. She is a flood of

bliss, certainly – Ananda-lahari. But She is constantly

thinking about how to redeem this world from its endless

misery of ignorance and consequent suffering in samsara. It

was Her snap-of-the-finger decision once that created the

five Cosmic functionaries for the good of the world; cf.

“kshhaNa-calitayoH bhrU-latikayoH” - ‘by a movement of Thy

creeper-like brows’ - of shloka #24.

 

Of course it is not explicitly stated that Her frowning is

because of Her worry about the world. It could even be

because of Her alertness at the onset of a ‘bhaya’, danger

to Her beloved children of the world. If She is intending

to eradicate the fear from people even before the danger

occurred, then ‘bhuvana-bhaya-bhanga-vyasanini’ does not

fit here. Only when the situation is confronted with a

danger, and a consequent fear in the people, only then the

‘bhanga’ (destroying) of that ‘bhaya’ makes sense. We can

go on analysing the verse-line in this manner endlessly.

That is the beauty of the poetry in this shloka!

 

But note, whether it is sorrow or anger that is the cause

of the frowning, it is not a thing for enjoyment; on the

other hand, the Acharya here seems to be enjoying the scene

with all his heart. So the contracting of the eyebrows is

not the usual kind. It is more profound than that. And that

is the content of the other three lines of the shloka. In

short, the words ‘dhanur-manye’ of the third line are the

key to this puzzle. ‘I think it is the bow’, says he. That

is, the two eyebrows are thought of as one bow. But the

wonder here is that both the eyebrows are considered not as

two bows but one single bow. ‘dhanur-manye’ –in the

singular. Then what about the gap between the two

eyebrows, where there is no growth of hair? Actually there

should not be; for, as a Tamil preoverb goes, if the brows

meet, it harbingers destruction of everything – “kUDina

puruvam kuDiyaik-keDukkuM”.

 

So then how come, the two eyebrows are compared to a single

bow? Whose bow? Is it just a comparison? What is great

about all this except some poetic gymnastics? We shall

see.

 

(To be Continued)

Thus spake the Paramacharya

praNAms to all advaitins and Devotees of Mother Goddess.

profvk

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

Also see the webpages on Paramacharya's Soundaryalahari :

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/DPDS.html