God's Wrath

[Guest guest]

Shri Padmanabhan's delightful posting highlighted how the Lord is driven to

anger by BhAgavatApachAram.

Srimad Ramayana lists a few more instances where anger seizes Chakravartthi

Tirumagan.

One of them is occasioned by Godavari Nadi's silence to Sri Rama's repeated

enquiries as to the whereabouts of Sri Mythili, shortly after she had been

abducted by Ravana.Sri Raghava's unfathomable sorrow at the loss of Piratti

finds expression in the form of anger at the river, PrasravaNa Parvata,etc.,

whch, despite being witnesses to the abduction, do not dare reveal the

truth, due to their fear of the mighty RAkshasa. In the face of stony

silence from all quarters to His repeated queries, Raghunandana burns with

anger, and threatens to destroy the three worlds, complete with their

inhabitants, and puts an arrow to His bow. His normally merciful lotus eyes

become bloodshot ("ROsha tAmrAksha:"), and He resembles the Cosmic

Destroyer, ready to annihilate all world with a single arrow.

"TapyamAnam tathA Ramam SItA haraNa karsitam

lOkAnAm abhavE yuktam samvartakam ivAnalam

dagdhu kAmam jagat sarvam yugAntE tu yatA haram".

He is persuaded with difficulty by Sri Lakshmana to rid Himself of His anger

and to adopt practical steps for finding Sri Janaki.

The next occasion for the display of His unusual anger is the failure of

SamudraRAja to cooperate in the bridging of the ocean to enable the vAnara

sainya to reach Lanka. Sri Rama initially performs Saranagati to the Samudra

for achieving the desired end. However, since the Lord lacks Akinchanyam or

helplessness (which is one of the important qualifications for the intending

Prapanna), His Prapatti fails. Angered at the ocean's intransigence, Sri

Raghava assumes a demeanour of extreme wrath ("KOpam AhArayat teevram"), and

threatens to dry up the vast body of water with a single arrow, so that His

army could simply march across the ocean bed to Lanka.("ChApam Anaya

SowmitrE!sharAmscha AsI vishOpamAn

Samudram sOshayishyAmi padbhyAm yAntu plavangamA:"). Only then does the

SamudraRaja appear to pacify the Lord and to promise cooperation in SEtu

bandhanam.

A third occasion is in the final stages of the war with Ravana, when he

fells Sri Raghava's chariot flag and horses with a shower of arrows. Sri

Valmiki says it was as if the Chandra (Rama) was enveloped by the serpants

(Ravana)at the time of Grahanam. Ravana's successful advance so enrages

DAsarathi, that His normally benign face turns so terrifying that it scares

all living things out of their lives and the earth shakes in terror-

"Tasya kruddhasya vadanam drishtvA Ramasya dheemata:

Sarva bhootAni vitrEsu: prAkampata cha mEdinI".

 

Another occasion for Chakravartthi Tirumagan to display anger was after the

liberation of Janaka Nandini, when He asks Her, with words dripping with

anger, ("abraveet parusham SItAm madhyE vAnara RakshasAm") to choose whom

She wants to go with, making it clear that His responsibility towards Her

had ended with setting Her free. The indignity is heaped on Sri Mythily in

front of the entire vAnara sEna. This leads Piratti to the ordeal by fire,

wherefrom She emerges pure as snow.

Looking at the anger displayed by the Lord on all these and a few other

occasions, one might wonder whether it sits well with His reputation as the

repository of solely auspicious attributes (kalyAna guNAs). Further, He

Himself declares in the GitA that anger is the product of the inferior RajO

guNa ("KAma Esha krOdha Eva rajO guNa samudbhava:"). How do we resolve this

apparent contradiction?

The answer appears to lie in Swami Desikan's assertion that all such

emotions displayed by the Lord in His avatArAs are merely assumed, put on,

so to say ("abhinaya mAtram"). In His portrayal of the ideal human being,

the Lord enacts various emotions, as the script warrants. And for a

Kshatriya belonging to the line of IkshvAku, display of anger on the

battlefield or in the face of subjects' disobedience is but natural,and

failure to show wrath would be remiss of Him.-dasan, sadagopan.