Sri Raama Navami : Third day of the celebrations

[Guest guest]

Dear Raama Bhakthaas :

 

We will continue with the anupallavi of the MaNiranghu Krithi

of Sri Dikshithar in this posting . The anupallavi lines

once again are:

 

komaLatara pallava padha kodhanda Raama

gana syaamaLa vigraha abhja nayana , sampoorNa

kaama , Raghuraama , kalyaaNa naama Raama

(maamava Pattaabhiraama )

 

In the pallavi , Dikshithar alluded to the great Raama

bhakthan , Hanumaan , holding the lotus feet of his Lord

in his hands . Those lotus feet , which wandered in the harsh

terrain of the dandakaa forest are described as " komaLa tara

pallava" padhams . They are soft like the tender shoots of

a creeper . They could not even take the pressure of Sitaa Devi's

lotus soft hands , when She pressed them at the end of the day

of wandering in the jungle to comfort them . On this coronation day ,

the supreme devotee of Raama held

them with great affection in his hands .

 

The next namaskaram is to the Kodhanda Raaman . Dikshithar

prays :" Kodhanda Raama maamava" . The visualization of Sri Raama

as kodhandapaaNi is a very pleasing experience for Rama bhakthaas

like Dikshithar and Saint Thyagaraajaa . In his Thodi raaga krithi

starting with the pallavi " vetalenu Kodhandapaani anuja

sowmithrini koodi ", ThyagabrahmaM describes the darsanam of

Sri Ramaa with Kodhandam in his hand and his brother LakshmaNaa

and sage Visvaamithraa at his side , whenhe went to protect

the yajnam at siddhaasramam . Swami Desikan describes

with astonishment of the power of the fierce arrows

leaving the kodhandam with a terrifying roar that

destroyed RaavaNaa through the salutation : " Katu ratadh

atani dankruthi chatula katora kaarmukha ----" .

 

The divya roopam of the KodhandapaaNi is praised next by

Dikshithar through the namaskaaram of anupallavi : " gana

syaamaLa vigraha , Paattabhiraama maamava " . The divya vigraham

of Sri Raaman has been saluted by Raama bhakthas as Shaayama

sundaraangan . His bluish beauty (neela komala laavaNyam )

has been saluted as " Neelaakruthi kala nee LaavaNyamu

neelagathi kani bimbhavE " . Saint Thyagaraaja celebrates

in his darbaar krithi the glorious bluish hue of the Lord and

His auspicious gunAs as "neela varNa suguNaalaya nee

mahima yela teliyalErO ".

 

The rest of the lines of anupallavi are :" Abhja nayana ,

sampoorNa kaama , Raghuraama , kalyaaNa naama ,

Raama , ( maamava Pattabhiraama) " . The endearing

decription of the beauty of the glorious eys of the Lord

by Dikshithar comes out as " Abhja nayana Raama " .

Abhja means the one that is born out of water or arose

from water (i-e) lotus flower . Dikshithar saluted the eyes

of the Lord as having the beauty of freshly blossomed lotus

flower .

 

With the salutation , "sampoorNa Kaama" , Dikshithar

rcognizes Sri Raama as the supreme one , who fulfills his

sankalpam fully . The reference here is to the incident at

chitrakootam celebrated by Swami Desikan in Raghuveera

gadhyam as " ananya saasaneeya " . There , Raama rejected

the appeals of his brother BharathA , Acharyaa Vasishtaa

and held on to his sankalpam . He kept his sankalpam

(pithru vaakhya paripaalanam ) to spend fourteen years

in the forest and gave his paadhukhAs

to Bharatha to take back to Ayodhyaa in his place .

 

The remaining salutations are : " Raghuraama , kalyaaNa naama,

Raama , maamava pattabhiraama " . Dikshithar recognizes

Sri Raama as the scion of the dynasty of king Raghu and

as one with the most auspicious names that are enshrined

in His ashtottharam .

 

CharaNam lines of the MaNiranghu raaga saahityam

**********************************************************

 

In the first portion of the charaNam , Dikshithar

describes the scene at the coronation darbaar

of Pattaabhiraaman this way :

 

" chatra saamara karadhrutha LakshmaNa Satrugna

VibheeshaNa Sugreeva Pramukhaadhi sevitha

(pattabhiraama maamava ) "

 

The distinguished ones (pramukhaas) like LakshmaNaa ,

Satrughna , VibhishaNaa and Sugreeva are performing

different kaimkaryams such as holding the royal umbrella ,

waving the fans and taking turns . Dikshithar salutes Sri Raaman

in this pattabhisheka kolam ,when he is worshipped by

all of these pramukhaas .

 

In the second set of lines , Dikshitar decribes Dasaratha putran as

the receiver of the sacred blessings (aaseervaadhams ) of

great sages like Athri , Vasishtaa et al . A tinge of sorrow that

the proud father Dasaratha , who originally planned such

a pattaabhishekam was not there in the darbhaar .

The sages stood in the place of the absent father

of Raama and blessed him . Chakravarthi thirumahan

received their powerful blessings.

 

The third set of lines of charaNam salute the Ramachandran ,

seated in the extraordinarily beautiful mantapam inlaid with

navarathnams ( maNirangavalyaalankrutha nava ratna maNtapE ).

He is seated on a gem-studded simhaasanam ( maNimaya

simhaasanE ) . Next to Him is Sitaa devi

( Seethayaa saha samsthitha ) . The young Ramachandran

seated in veeraasanam on that throne inlaid with nava rathnams

is saluted in the rest of the charaNa vaakyams

as " sucharithra , parama pavithra ,

Guru Guha mitra, Pankaja mithra vamsa sudhaambhudhi

chandra , medhini paala , Ramachandra ,

Pattaabhiraama maamava ) ".

 

His saraNaagatha rakshaka sucharithram is saluted here .

The Lord who blessed all chetanams and achetanams to

reach the Brahmaa's world of Saandhaanikam at the time of

conclusion of his avathaara kaaryam is indeed a matchless

sucharithran . ( " Saaketha Janapadha : jani dhanika jangama

tadhitara janthujaatha divya gathi daana darsitha nitya nisseema

vaibhava " in Swami Desikan's words ) . His story is the most

sacred one and hence He is saluted as Parama pavithran .

The Vedaas salute the pavithram aspect of the Lord this way

in the rk that strats with the words : Pavitram tE vitatam --" :

 

(meaning ) : " O Lord of divine enlightenment ! your process of

purification are widely stretched out in the cosmos . You are

the soverign , who rules over the entire creation from all sides .

You never get tired in Your work . Your divine bliss is

not attainable to those , who are unripened ; only the mature

ones receive the graces from You ." ( Rg Vedam X . 83 .1 )

 

In the remaining three salutations of the charaNam ,

Dikshithar offers his worship to Ramachandraa and seeks

his protection this way : " Guru Guha Mitra , Pankaja mitra

vamsa sudhaambhudhi chandra , Medhini paala ,

( Paatabhiraama maamava ) ".

 

Dikshitar included Raaga mudraa at the section of this krithi ,

" MANIRANGAvalyaalankrutha " . At the charaNam section ,

" GURU GUHA mitra " , he introduced the composer' s mudraa .

He describes Raamaa as the friend of his nephew , SubramaNyan,

who was the Guru for Dikshithan . At ThruttaNi kshetram ,

Dikshithar was initated by Lord SubramaNyan , when He placed

a piece of rock candy in the mouth of Dikshitar . Latter's

compositons started from that time and Dikshithar selected

" Guru Guha " as the mudraa for his krithis from then on .

 

The charaNa namaskaaram " pankaja mithra vamsa

sudhaambhudhi chandra " is a beautiful poetic expression

chosen both by Dikshithar and by Saint Thyagarajaa

(brindhavana saarangaa krithi) . Sri Ramachandran was born

in Soorya Vamsam . Sooyan is the friend of the Lotus flower

(pankaja mithran ) . His vamsam is pankaja mithra vamsam .

Raamachandraa born in that vamsam is compared to the

Chandran that raises the waves of the ocean of nectar

(Sudhaambhudhi chandran ) with happiness at His darsanam .

 

The final salutation to Pattabhiraaman is a very appropriate one

for the occasion of coronation . Dikshitar salutes Him as

" medhini paalan " , the protctor of the world . As the emperor

of the world , he ruled many thousands of years prior to returning

to his supreme abode , Sri Vaikuntam .

 

I have the renditions of this splendid krithi sung by

Sangeetha Kalanidhi D. k . PattammaaL and played by

Sheikh Chinna Mowlaana in naathasvaram . It is an inspiration

to listen to this exquisite song of Dikshithar rendered by these

two maestros .

 

I will conclude htis posting with the recitation of the

divya naamaas housed in Sri Rama ashttothra satham .

This extraordinary krithi of Mutthuswami Dikshithar

has the echoes of these naamaas inn the sahithyam .

 

Om Aadhi purushaaya nama: (69th naama of Sri Raama Ashtottaram )

Om Parama Purushaaya nama : (70 th naama )

Om PuraaNa Purushotthamaaya nama : ( 74th naama )

Om anantha guNa gambheeraaya nama: ( 78th naama)

Om syaamaangaaya nama: ( 87th naama)

Om sundaraaya nama: ( 88th naama )

Om danurdharaaya nama: ( 91st naama)

Om paramaathmanE nama: ( 97th naama)

Om parabrahmaNE nama: ( 98th naama)

Om jagadh guravE nama: (50th naama)

Om puNya chaarithra keerthanaaya nama: (40th naama)

Om Hara kodhanda kantanaayaa nama: ( 27th naama)

Om Sowmyaa nama : ( 61st naama )

Om vedaathmanE nama: ( 33rd naama)

Om vedaantha saaraaya nama: ( 32nd naama)

Om dayaa saaraya nama: ( 73rd naama)

Om Raghavaaya nama: ( 78th naama )

 

Sri Pattaabhiramachndra ParabrahmaNE nama :

 

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan