The Hand and the Hair

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Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

 

The hand and the hair - Of Appaya Dikshitar and

Desikar's YatirAja Saptati (based on PBA Swami's

article)

 

 

In Sri Vedanta Desikar's Yatiraja Saptati, part of the

38th shloka runs as follows:

 

kudrushTi kuhanAmukhE nipatata: parabrahmaNa:

karagrahavicakshaNo jayati lakshmaNOyam muni:

 

In the second line, it is said "kara graha"; that is,

Ramanuja lifted by the hand those who were submerged in

the arguments of the mAyAvAdis.

 

At one time when Sri Appaya Dikshitar was living in the

agrahAram of Thumbai Vanam near Kanchipuram, he happened

to hear a Srivaishnava person walking in the street for

unjavrutti reciting this shloka. He stopped the person

and told him "Swamin, come over here. It is normal in

this world to see a drowning person being lifted by their

hair and not by their hand. Therefore, Vedanta Desikar

must not have said kara graha. Instead he would have said

kaca graha. So please recite it like that from now on".

The Srivaishnava Swami agreed to this as it was coming

from the great Appaya Diskhitar and from that time onward

started reciting the Yatiraja Saptati with this

modification.

 

One day as he was reciting this work, some Srivaishnava

scholars heard him and asked him "Swamin! This sounds

new. Why are you using kaca instead of kara in this

verse?". The Swami told them the incident with Appaya

Diskhitar. Upon hearing it, the scholars told him "Appaya

Dikshitar is no doubt a great scholar, but he should not

lose the interesting meaning by trying to fit it to some

event. It may be true that a drowning man's hair might

be pulled to save him. But if the man is fully submerged,

he would throw his hands up trying to get some help. At

that time the hands would be the only part of the body

that is accessible to the rescuer. After all, it was said

that the person was drowning and not drowned. It is

therefore correct to say kara graha and that is what

Vedanta Desikar wrote."

 

It is said that, later when Appaya Diskhitar heard about

this, he claimed that only Srivaishnavas are truly

qualified to gather the inner meanings of acharya works.

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

TCA Venkatesan