minds of women

[Guest guest]

Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

It is generally said the moon is the beautiful one and thus becomes the object

of comparison for the faces of beautiful ladies. Generally males are not

compared having moon like faces. But if a male member is addressed 'chandhra

vadhanan' how do you react to that description?

 

Though 'raama:' is born in soorya kulam he is addressed by sage naaradha as

'vishNunaa sadhrusO veeryE sOmavath priya dharsana' [vaalmeeki - baala-1-18] -

'like the moon he is attractive to look at' while he talks about raama to

vaalmeeki, when sage vaalmeeki asked who is such a person in the world having 16

special characteristics. This is in the very first sargam of vaalmeeki

raamaayaNam.

 

But if his teeth is protruding like a 'boar' - varaaha - the giant pig and those

teeth carried the earth on it, then also can he be called chandra vadhana and

having a beautiful faced one? For we all know pig is a dirty and ugly animal.

Let it be a small pig or a giant boar. Ugly is ugly. But that lady boodhEvi

liked this varaaha roopam and married him in the divya kshEthram of

thiruvidaventhai near mahabalipuram, the 'nithya kalyana kshEthram' - a marriage

daily all the 365 days of a year [moolavar is boovaraahan, uthsavar nithya

kalyaaNar].

 

See here the krithi of saint thyaagaraaja combing the 'chandhra vadhanan raaman

and boar roopa lord varaahan.

 

raagam: kalyaaNa vasantam mELa kartha 21 - keeravaaNi janya

taaLam: roopakam

Composer: Tyaagaraaja

Language: Telugu

 

Pallavi:

kanulu thaakani parakaanthala manasetulO raama

 

Meaning:

Oh raama! How are the minds of the women, which cannot be touched by eyes?

 

Anupallavi:

nanabONulapai nEramana nOrEmi raama

 

Meaning: Why the mouth is so bad, on so many ladies?

 

charaNam 1:

ghOra bhoopathini joochi dhaarukaaraNya sathulu

mEra meeri bhuvini apadhooru galga jEsirE

 

Meaning: The ladies of dhaarukaa forest have violated their code of conduct and

earned bad name, as they saw the fierce king.

 

charaNam 2:

mana mOhana aanandha madha chakOra nayana

kundharadhana chandhra vadhana sundharaanga thyaagaraaja vinutha

 

meaning: Oh Lord! Who attracts the mind and brings happiness, Who has got eyes

like the intoxicated chakOra bird, the big boar roopa having protruding teeth,

the moon-faced beautiful Lord praised by thyaagaraaja!

 

Dear bhakthaas, there are certain 'points' which have to be raised in detail in

this krithi.

1. First of all - raaman is 'Eka pathni vrathan' and he sees and knows only one

lady, seethaa, his wife, the beauty personification. He has not even 'looked at'

any other women [exception soorpanaka who has been defaced - may be as a sort of

punishment for raama was forced by her to look at her. For forcing a person who

is not willing to look at other ladies, this is punishment meted out].

When he has not touched other ladies by even by the eyesight, how can, such a

raama, be questioned to give his viewpoints about their minds. May be a major

point for initiating a full-fledged debate - in the starting line itself - in

the pallavi line itself of the krithi ?

 

2. Second point - raama never talks ill about others. He appreciates only the

good points in them and forgets the bad points or does not care about bad

points. In that case, how can we expect raama to give an opinion on others -

that too about ladies - whom he even do not 'touch' by eyesight.

 

3. Third point is a sort of allegation about some 'ladies' to raama. This

episode of some ladies getting enchanted by a king in the dhaaruka forest and

going behind that person - who happened to be a king of that area. Why the

author of the krithi should inform raama about this? How can he expect raama to

comment or give a point on this?

 

4. Fourth point is a description about the beauty of raamaa - and thyaagaraaja

praises or describes or says - thyaagaraaja vinutha - Is it a sort of

appeasement of raama, for the poet has raised irrelevant points or questions to

raama? Then to describe him as "Who attracts the mind and brings happiness",

"Who has got eyes like the intoxicated chakOra bird", "the big boar roopa having

protruding teeth", "the moon-faced beautiful Lord" - a combination of

contrasting features - chandra vadhana on one side and a ugly boar having

protruding teeth on the other.

 

Thus this krithi appears to be full of contradictions or missed points? Is it

correct? Will such a raama bhaktha do that.

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.