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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