SrI vishNU sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - kumudah: Correction.

March 3, 2003

In the write-up I had posted a couple of days back on this nAma, I

had included the following sentence, where I had translated the word

dvijah as "Brahmin", in reference to jaTAyu:

"Lord rAma Himself describes His miseries – rAjyAt bhramSah vane

vAsah sItA nashTah hato dvijah –"I was driven away from My kindgdom,

I have to live in the forest, I have lost sItA, and now this great

brAhmin (jatAyu) has been slain"".

SrImAn Sadagopan Iyengar and SrI M. G. Srinivasan have written to me

indicating that the traditional translation of this word "dvijah" in

this context is "a bird", and not "a Brahmin". Indeed, this is how

SrI v.v. rAmAnujan had given the translation. On further looking at

the two comments I have received, I agree that the translation " a

bird" is more appropriate in the current context.

It is true that Lord rAma performed the religious rites appropriate

for a Brahmin for jaTAyu during jaTAyu's cremation -

yat tat pretasya kathayanti dvijAtayah |

tat svarga gamanam tasya pitryam rAmo jajApa ha || (AraNya. 68.38)

"SrI rAma performed the same rites (pitR-karmA-s that enable them to

attain the svarga loka) for jaTAyu that are performed for the bodies

of brAhmaNa-s after their death."

It is also held that jaTAyu is the grandson of kaSyapa muNi, who is

considered to be a brAhmin in at least one account that I came across

(garuDa and aruNa are sons of kaSyapa, and jatAyu and sampAti are

sons of aruNa). However, when a direct meaning (bird) is available,

it is not warranted to use a derived meaning for the word "dvijah" in

this context. So I would like to make the following correction to

the posting I had submitted on the nAma kumudah, to read as follows:

"Lord rAma Himself describes His miseries – rAjyAt bhramSah vane

vAsah sItA nashTah hato dvijah (AraNya kANDam 67.24) –"I was driven

away from My kingdom, I have to live in the forest, I have lost sItA,

and now this great bird (jatAyu, the eagle) has been slain"".

I sincerely thank SrI Sadagopan Iyengar and SrI M. G. Srinivasan for

pointing out this correction.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

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