A Sorrowful Soliloquy

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A Sorrowful Soliloquy

The two boons promised by king Dhasaratha to Kaikeyi as a reward for

the help rendered by her at the crucial hour of killing Chambarasura

recoiled on him like a boomerang when she demanded immediate

implementation of them. Having been brain washed by the hunchback

Mantara, Kaikeyi was lying in her chamber with grief and looked like

an inert peacock with its plumage folded. The simile has been

appropriately introduced by the great Tamil poet Kambar for three

reasons.

Kaikeyi appeared colourful like a peacock, which led to her wedding with Dasaratha.

She hailed from a place which was famous for peacocks (Kekayanadu)

Sri Rama possessed a body, the colour of which was dark blue

resembling rain bearing cloud and no wonder that Kaikeyi as a peacock

was attracted towards Him and made her receive him with a cheerful

exhilaration, thus demanding her natural love and affection for him.

Her reaction was entirely different in this sequence.

The great king in his usual nocturnal visit to the parlour of Kaikeyi

carried with him a happy message of Sri Rama’s coronation to be

conveyed to her. Dasaratha was bewildered with astonishment on seeing

his beloved sweetheart lying in a disorderly fashion, lifted her with

his long and broad hands as an elephant would, with its trunk lift a

female deer. He then embraced her with affection to which Kaikeyi

reacted violently and fell on the mother earth escaping his fold. She

revealed her mind stating that she desired the two boons that were

promised to be granted here and now, in that her son Bharatha to wear

the crown and Sri Rama to leave for the forest forthwith on fourteen

years exile. The King of Kings received these two requests with a

rude shock and fell down unconscious as he felt that he had to keep

up the promise which was then put to test and bemoaned, “How cruel it

was to tread the path of righteousness”

After regaining consciousness King Dasaratha beseeched

Kaikeyi to give up her malicious request and come back to senses. As

she did not yield to any entreaties the king put forth his amended

request whereby Bharatha might wear the crown and occupy the throne

and Kaikeyi should forget the other demand. Poet Kambar subtly

reveals that Dasaratha considered an anathema even to mention about

the intended banishment of his son, by the expression “the other

demand”.

Here it would be relevant to recall how Kulasekhara Azhwar

who was a Chera king born at Thiruvanjikalam a place in Kerala in the

Tamil month of Masi under the star Punarvasu was very much devoted to

Sri Rama whose birth star also was that of his. He spent the time

usefully in the company of devotees of high order relegating his

powers to his ministers to administer the territory. The culmination

of his extreme Bhakthi crystallized in the form of his going on

pilgrimage to many holy places to mention a few, Srirangam,

Thirukannapuram, Thirumalai, Thiruchitrakutam and so on. Kulasekhara

has sung songs in praise of Lord Rama assuming the role of Kowsalya

as mother singing lullaby and in another himself yearning to do

service to Lord in whatever way possible. Among his 105 Tamil verses

the thought provoking tear-jerking ones are

Dasaratha’s lamentation on the exile of his son, Sri Rama to the

forest remain as an outstanding piece of lachrymal lament where he

dons the mantle of king Dasaratha. Obviously Kulasekhrara’s intention

was to bring greater poignancy than what had been narrated by sage

Valmiki in Sanskrit although it appears he had followed poet Kambar

in Tamil.

Verse No. 1 “ The populace are getting ready with folded arms in a

prayerful posture to witness your coronation” “Alas my Rama oh! Loved

by Kaikeyi who is more than a mother to you has stipulated that you

should leave for the sprawling and unending forest and I had no

alternative except to execute her diabolical plan” “ See how I

succeeded in my ambition and how you have proved to be a worthy son”

 

Verse No. 2 “How cruel am I and how grievous are the resultant words

of mine that made you to leave peremptorily not aspiring for the

throne bereft of elephants, infantry, car (Ratham) etc. that go with

the royal paraphernalia but followed by the broad eyed Sita and the

service oriented Lakshmana” How did you trek / Rama Ho “ I am

helpless without knowing what to do”

 

Verse No.3 My kousalya has eyes which are wide and looked spear

shaped; as her son you have inherited the elegant physical features

of your mother and your mountain like shoulders carried the bow; you

were then used to lie on luxurious soft bet which gave soporific

effect and now you have learnt to sleep on rugged rocks under a

forest tree: your action has left my heart bleeding.

 

Verse No. 4 “ Come here! Go and come once again! Were my daily request

to you my son; by this conduct I enjoyed your handsome physiognomy

eyeful and the gait both while coming and returning and not satisfied

with it I asked you repeat it which you did” “ Was it not that you

broke Lord Siva’s bow which nobody else could do, with the only

intention of holding Janaki’s soft hand in marriage: now by your deed

of going into the forest infested with wild animals my heart instead

of blowing into pieces still pulsates.

 

Verse No. 5 While trekking the rugged terrain with spiky stones left

your soft feet bleeding, the uncharitable forest spreading the rays

of the torrid sun on you, and the pangs of hunger biting you, I stand

guilty and remain a great sinner by conceding to the evil design of

Kaikeyi, the wicked. I am helpless and suffer due to the past deeds.

 

Verse No.6 Without hearing the words of affection of calling me amma,

without embracing them with love and affection, without caressing and

smelling his forehead, thus deprived of such a pleasure, without

seeing His gait of an elephant and his lotus like face, I still live

having lost my son” (here due to extreme emotion consequent upon

separation from his affectionate son, Dasaratha according to

Kulasekhara Azhwar changes the appellation to “Amma” instead of

“Appa”.

 

Verse No. 7 “Please tell me, you learned scholars! Sumanthara!

Vashishta! Is there equity and justice in my dear son appearing with

matted locks instead of adorning it with fragrant flowers? Should he

wear a garment woven out of “Kusa Grass” instead of silken attire?

Should he so young leave for the forest to which I should have

retired as an old man?

 

Verse No. 8 “ Kaikeyi! You are atleast concerned and nonchalant about

the sorrowful predicament and the confused state of affairs in the

country, the result of your obduracy: you sent my learned handsome

son, his brother Lakshmana and my parrot like daughter-in-law to the

forest and by this act your son Baratha unwittingly became my object

of blame and derision and simultaneously you were preparing to send

me to the Heavens”. You wish to be alive to enjoy the pleasure, in

this world even after these!

 

Verse No. 9 “Oh Rama! While returning from Mythila after your Wedding

you were challenged and threatened by Parasurama and it made me

mortally afraid of him and to fall down unconscious; you showed your

prowess not only by hauling his strong bow but also withdrawing the

efficacy of his penance; by this exercise you have established your

superiority, but you have not given thought to my anguish that

resulted in your leaving for the forest so as to protect me from

embarrassment and also my promises”. “ I am lucky to have you as my

son in this birth and I wish that I should be providential enough to

be placed in a similar position in my future seven plus births also”

 

Verse No.10 “Oh Prince! Coming from Manu’s lineage! Hereafter I should

not be alive; enticed by the hunchback and under her malefic influence

Kaikeyi spelt out her wicked intention to which I had to succumb. The

consequence was that both Kousalya and Sumithra has to undergo mental

agony: I am leaving this country which you disowned and I desire to go

to forest to live”.

 

Verse No. 11 In the last stanza Kulasekhara Azhwar sums up by himself

saying that these verses are “Tamil rosary-par excellence” and those

who read these verses will never tread anything other than virtuous

path”

 

It would be difficult to reflect in letter and spirit the

dolorous expressions and sublime experiences both in the content and

construction of Kulasekara Azhwar’s verses in Tamil. After all,

sorrow, dolor, agony and anguish that human beings are subjected to

cannot be different in the universe although expressed in languages

of their own.

This article was written by Late.L.P.Sampath Iyengar

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