lotus failed 1

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

Recently our dear sri Vaanamaamalai Padmanabhan Swamy wrote a series

on the glory of the "lotus flower" – "thaamarai" - with many cross-

references from the glorious divine 4000 prabhandham. But here is a

tamil poet, - of recent origin, not so old in time when compared to

the aazhvaars - who, simply, in one huff pushed that glorious flower

into a corner, or just whiffed off - saying that aravindham has

simply failed even though it is full of sweet smell – that lotus

flower is off and is nowhere near in comparison to my original

subject.

 

"Why he puffed, huffed, and whiffed off that glorious lotus, in

comparison to what?" is the big question, which arises now. Let me

take some time to answer you, but before that you read the following

for yourself.

 

andha raama soundharyam - aruNaachala kaviraayar in `raama naataka

keerthanaigaL'

raagam: kEdhaara gouLa. aadhi thaaLam.

 

Pallavi:

andha raama soundhariyam ennaal arindhu sollap-pOmO ammaa!

 

meaning: oh mother, how can I know, realize and then tell you in

detail, the beauty of that raamaa?

 

Anupallavi:

ganDham mEvum aravindha malarum avar

kaalukku nighar aamO, kaikkuththaan sollappOmO?

 

meaning: That flower lotus, full of sweet smell, will it come equal

to his feet or can it be said in comparison with those palms.

 

[Point: Dear bhakthaas of raama, you got the answer for the question

yourself. The glorious lotus has just failed to make grade to those

feet and palms of the raama. The situation for this krithi is –

seethaa asks hanumaan to describe raama – her husband – Just then she

is fully convinced about the person standing opposite to her – that

hanumaan - in the monkey form – that he is not a disguised raavaNan –

he is a genuine ambassador from her husband sri raama – also she

wants to get a little more comfort, solace, in hearing about that

raama. Hanumaan starts describing – andha raama soundharyam].

 

CharaNam 1:

uruNda maNi muzham kaalukku vaana meyyavar uDaiya akshaya thooNi

ErkkumE

thiraNda perum thodai iraNdukkum ettu dhisai yaanaiyin thudhikkaiyum

thOrkkumE

 

varindha maravuri idaiyum nadaiyaiyum kaNdOr manadhai ellaam urukki

vaarkkumE

thanthiramaai ulagu irundha vayiRRukku sari sollak-koodumO yaarkkumE

 

virindha maarbukku iNai bhoomi aghalam kaaNum

viLangum kazhuththukku nEr iLam kamugE pooNum

 

parandha bhujangaLukku mEru malaiyE naaNum

paarkkap-paarkkap-padhinAyiram kaNgaL vENum -- andha raama

 

meaning: [two lines each of the eight given above are taken for

explaing the meaning]

For those rounded ankles and legs – the trunk of the karpaga tree

[which gives what all you desire without fail and in limitless

quantity] owned by the dhEvaas will also fail in shape and strength.

For the thighs – the trunks of the eight directional elephants will

fail in comparison [8 dhisai yaanaigaLin thudhikkai].

 

Those who have seen the waist and the walking style of raama, would

have simply melt and lost their heart, in the beauty of that waist

which has adorned the wooden bark dress, and that walking style. Who

can tell a comparable one to that stomach which had the `world' in

secrecy inside it?

 

The spread width of the world can be said in comparison to that

chest. The palm tree shape can be said in comparison to the glorious

neck.

 

The MEru Mountain may shy to the spread of shoulders. To see in full

thousands of eyes are required – such a raamaa's beauty how can I

see, realize and describe to you, oh mother seethaa!

 

Dear bhakthaas, are you convinced that the lotus has failed in

comparison to raama. Two more charaNams are there in this sweet

krithi, which we will see in the next post and more points on the

krithi.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.