Raghu Veera Gadhyam--Yuddha Khaandham: Part 1

[Guest guest]

indheevara dhaLa syAmam indhukotinibhaananam I

kandharpa koti lAvaNyam vandEham Raghunandanam II

 

Dear Members of the Bhakthi group:

 

We now come to the Sixth and penultimate canto of

Adi Kavi Valmiki"s Srimadh RAmAyaNam , which is

known as the Yuddha KhAndham(YK). Here, Sri Rama's

avathAra kAryam is executed and his heroism is

fully demonstrated . Hence , the Gadhyam of Swami Desikan

on the Raghu Veeran comes into full focus. The salutations

of Swami Desikan echo here with the battle sounds majestically.

 

There are a total of 29 salutaions related to

YK of Swami Desikan's Raghuveera Gadhyam .

Six of them consist of one or two words .

I will reflect on their meanings later .

These six salutations for the sake of listing are :

Veera (50 ) < Satya Vratha (51 ) < SwAmin (75 ) <

Raaghava Simha (76 ) , Nishpanna Kruthya (71 )< and

Aparathidhwandwa Pourusha (61 ) .

 

Some of the salutaions are very long and are full of alliterations or

Onomotopheia . These resonate with the sound and

fury of the battle in a majestic fashion and accompany the DankhAra dwani

associated with Sri Ramaa's Kodhandam ..

 

The first half of Yuddha KAndham covers the VibhishaNa

SaraNAgathi ,Darbha Sayanam , Sethu Bandhanam

and the arrival of Sri Rama, LakshmaNA , SugreevA , HanumAn

with the army of monkeys and bears at the capital cit yof RaavaNA .

Swami Desikan covers these incidents through 8 salutations

starting from salutation 48. The first 39 chapters of Srimadh

RaamAyaNam covers these incidents .

 

The second half of YK consists of 89 sargas in Srimadh

Vaalmiki RaamayaNam . Swami Desikan uses 21 salutations

to illustrate RaamA's heroism saluted earlier by Vaalmiki in his YK.

These salutations cover the various battles in which Sri Rama

participated , Indrajith's binding of the Lord and LakshmaNA

with Naga Paasam , the service of Garuda to chase away the

serpents , RavaNaa's first battle with Rama and former's retreat from the

battle field , death of RavaNaa at the hands of the victorious Rama,

Mandodhari's lamentation over the loss of her husband ,

her praise of Rama , the eulogies of the Devaas and Brahmaa

in recognition of the unparalleled heroism of Rama in the

Rama-RaavaNa Yuddham , the resucitation of the monkeys

from their death , reunion with Sita , return to Nandigraam in

Pushpaka Vimaanam to meet the waiting Bharatha and

the glorious pattabhishekam of Sri Rama as Chakravarthi .

 

VaidehI sahitam suradhrumatalE haimE mahAmantapE

madhyE pushpakamaasanE maNimayE veerAsanE susthitham I

agrE vAchayathi prabhanjanasuthE tatvam munibhya: param

vyAkyAntham Bharathadhibi: parivrutham Ramam bhajE syAmaLam II

 

vAme BhumisuthA purasccha HanumAn pascchaath Sumitraa sutha:

SatrugnO Bharathasccha paarsva dhaLayOrvaayvaadhi kONeshu cha I

Sugreevasccha VibhishaNasccha Yuvaraat Taaraa suthO JaambhavAn

MadhyE NEELA SAROJA KOMALA RUCHIM RAAMAM bhajE syAmaLam II

 

Sri Janakee Rama ParabrahmaNE nama :

 

Sri VaishNava Daasan ,

 

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan