KishkindhA KhAndam--Part 4

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GS 45 :

 

vipula saila moola nipita nipeetitha RaavaNa raNa

raNaka Janaka chathurudhadhi viharaNa chathura

kapikulapathi hrudhaya visAla silAtala dharaNa dharuNa

sileemukha ! Jaya ! Jaya !

 

(Meaning ) :

 

O MahA veera of ferocious arrows that had

the power to split into two the granite-like chest

of the king of the monkey kingdom , Vaali . That

great hero Vaali had the valour and power to scare the

mighty RavaNA , when the latter offended him . That Vaali

taught the pestering and insolent RavaNA a lesson by grabbing

him and flew to the four seas to complete his sandjyA vandanam,

while holding all along RavaNA tightly in his (Vaali"s ) armpit .

After returning to Kishkindhaa at the conclusion of his anushtAnam ,

Vaali dropped the almost lifeless RavaNA on ground . RavaNA

learned his lesson and never came anywhere near Vaali again.

 

 

(Background ) : Vaali had the daily ritual of doing his SandhyA

Vandhanam by giving Arkyam from the waters of the four seas .

With his speed in the air , he used to cover these vast distances

in very little time and then return home to KishkindA . Once , when

Vaali was performing his Sandhya Vandanam at one of the four seas ,

RavaNA came from behind and grabbed the surprised Vaali and

tried to knock Vaali off balance through a powerful arm lock .

Vaali shook RavaNA off and then grabbed him and held tightly

in his arm pit to put an end to the nuisance of RavaNA

and went about his duties related to SandhyA worship.

He flew to the four seas and performed his ArkyA offering and

then returned to his capital city . There , he shook off

RavaNa from his grip . RavaNA , who had been held in a strangle hold

fell on ground almost breathless and the weak. RavaNA sprinted out of

Vaali's sight fearing for his life.

 

This salutation (GS :45) is the last one dealing with the incidents of

KishkindhA khAndham by Sawmi Desikan in his Raghu Veera

Gadhyam . Since the subject matter of his Gadhyam is the valour

and ParAkramam of Rama , Swami does not digress on the other

excellent topics of this KhAndham , which have fascinated

RamAyaNa Pravachana experts. Subjects like the dialog

between Rama and Vaali , --the Vadham of Vaali

by Rama , Tara's ( Queen of Vaali's ) lamentations over her husband's death,,

Angada' s crowning as Yuva RajA , Rama's description of

the rainy season from his vantage point of Mount PrasravaNa ,

LakshmaNA's chastisement of SugreevA

for his tardiness in keeping the promise made to Rama , SugreevA's

display of his knowledge of the Indian and World geography

during his breifing sessions for his monkey chieftains

on their search missions to locate Sita's incarceration place --

are left out since they are outside the theme of Raghu Veera's

heroism .

 

The stage is now set for Sundara Khaandham and the most

important Yuddha Khaandham, where Rama's valour

in battle is elabortely saluted . Swami Desikan uses only one

salutation to summarize thevarious incidents described in the many

beautiful and auspicious sargAs of Sundara Khaandham .

Swami Desikan's decision to use only one salutation for

Sundara Khaandham is not surprising , since this canto

is largely a story of the heroism of Hanumaan at LankhA as

the messenger of Rama .

 

Sri VaishNava Daasan ,

 

Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan