raama baanam -2

[Guest guest]

Post 2 Dear SrivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

 

 

In the previous post, we saw how raagam selection is justified, when and how raama protected his own army exhibiting his 'baaNa souryam' in the pallavi of the saavEri raaga thyaagaraaja krithi. Let us continue the points on the anupallavi of krithi now. First the anupallavi - just for recollection

 

 

 

bhaamaku aasaabaDu raavaNa moola

 

balamula nEla goola jEyu nija - raama baaNa

 

 

 

meaning: the inner circle army of that raavaNaa, who desired seethaa, was completely thrashed and destroyed of their strength - oh, that true raamaa's bow [hey mind - - what can]

 

 

 

Point: 'destroyed of their strength' - what was the strength and how this 'balam' was destroyed? Unless this is justified by a cross-reference to slokams of vaalmeeki, perhaps you may feel it is simple poetic license to exaggerate and not get convinced. So let us see the slokams of sage vaalmeeki -

 

 

 

aneekam dhasa saahasram rathhaanaam vaatharamhasaam

 

ashtaa dhasa sahasraaNi kunjaraaNaam tharasvinaam || 6-94-31

 

 

 

chathur dhasa sahasraaNi saarOhaaNaam cha vaajinaam |

 

poorNE satha sahasrE dhvE raakshasaanaam padhaathinaam || 6-94-32

 

 

 

dhivasasyaashtamE bhaagE sarair agni sikha upamai:

 

hathaani EkEnE raamENa rakshasaam kaamaroopiNaam || 6-94-33

 

 

 

combined meaning of above 3 slokams: sri raama, single handedly destroyed in one and half hour [one muhoortham] time, with his fire spitting arrows,

 

§ 14000 chariots having speed of air,

 

§ 18000 elephants of good strength,

 

§ 14000 soldier mounted horses,

 

§ 200 000 soldiers who can disguise themselves in any shape - [kaalaatpadai - foot soldiers] [who can take different roopam] .

 

 

 

[as already stated 6 is yudhdha kaaNdam - 94 sargam number, 31 to 33 slokam numbers]

 

[Perhaps this may be greater in magnitude than the kara dhooshaNa vadham in the aaraNyam, for there was 14000 soldiers only. Further this is the special inner core force, which was described as moola balam. Kara's forces was more an ordinary one compared to this force.]

 

 

 

Now charaNam of the krithi:

 

charaNam:-

 

thammuDu baDalina vELa suraripu

 

themmani chakkera pancheeyaga gani

 

lemmanuchunu indhira ari balka

 

samayammani lEvagaa

 

 

 

sammathithO nilabaDi kOdhaNDa

 

poojya ghOshamula asanula jEsi thaa

 

nemmadi gala thODunu joochEnuraa

 

nijamaina thyaagaraaja nuthudaku sree - raama baaNa

 

 

 

charaNam first part: when the younger brother lakshmaNa fell unconscious, that enemy of dhEvaas raavaNan enjoyed by distributing sweets. [Later] The enemy of Indhira [raavaNan] was challenging to get up, raama thought it was time to respond and stood up.

 

 

 

charaNam second part: raama stood up with complete determination, with His bow twanging like a thunder, He looked at His younger brother [anuja] who follows Him subserviently, to such a Lord, truly praised by thyaagaraaja - Hey mind, what can....]

 

 

 

Point:

 

1. Two incidents are to be seen from yudhdha kaaNdam as basis for this charaNam. The enemy dhEvaas is both indhrajith as well raavaNan. When indhrajith struck for the first time with naaga paasam - both raama as well lakshmaNa fell unconscious and the enemy camp enjoyed that. You all know that garudan came and all snakes vanished immediately and both brothers got the breath back due to that coming of garudan. On this scene, we enjoyed thyaagaraajaa's garuda dhvani krithi 'thathvameruga tharamaa'. Since ST is referring lakshmaNa alone fell as 'thammuDu baDalina vELa' - younger brother fell, we have to see elsewhere for a reference.

 

 

 

2. That happens later. When raavaNan himself came to the war front [before the death of kumbakarnaN and later indhrajith and this moola bala yudhdham which we are dealing] he struck lakshmaNa with sakthi aayudham. With this 'sakthi' strike lakshmaNa alone fell down unconscious. raavaNan wanted to lift lakshmaNan and carry away him to his city or camp, but could not do so [refer slokams 116, 117 in 59th sargam].

 

 

 

Immediately hanumaan came there, lifted lakshmana so easily and took lakshmaNa to safety. On that occasion raama twanged his bow and returned to war arena and hit raavaNan. In this stage vaalmeeki's slokam is just adopted by thyaagaraaja in the krithi as above.

 

 

 

jyaasabdham akarOth theevram vajra nishpEsha nisvanam |

 

giraa gambeerayaa raamaO raakshasEndhram uvaacha ha || 6- 59-140

 

 

 

meaning: raamaa made the twang of the bow as though it is the thunderbolt of indhra [vajra aayudham - or aasani] and said to that king of raakshasaas.

 

 

[asani = vajrya aayudham or thunder, this is a special usage.

 

[in previous post I added one more 'a' in the relevant place which is typo. Please excuse me]

 

another cross reference - chaarvaaka Saila aaSani: = Raamaanuja who is a vajraayudha for the mountain of atheism - dhaathee panchakam slokam 1]

 

 

 

3. When raama destroyed the moola balam as described above [3 slokams] gandharavaas sidhdhaas maharshis came to the sky and praised raama. That slokam is

 

 

 

thathO dhEvaa: sa gandharvaa: sidhDhaascha paramarshaya: |

 

saaDhu saaDhu ithi raamasya ththkarma samapoojayan || 6-94-37

 

 

 

meaning: at that stage gandharvaas, sidhdhaas, and maharshis praised raamaa's action as 'well done well done'.

 

 

 

As a sort of reply to that praise raama says

 

 

 

Ethath asthrabalam dhivyam mama vaa thrayambakasya vaa || 6-94- 38 part d

 

 

 

Meaning: This kind of bowing power I have and Siva has [thrayambaka]

 

 

 

In the next slokam 39, vaalmeeki says the dhEva gaNaas praised raama and in that siva also is likely to be present. So ST says 'to such a lord truly praised by thyaagaraajaa' - we can take for in the next stage, when raavaNa is dead there are explicit slokams saying sivan was also there. But here is not explicit. So the krithi is just following closely vaalmeeki's version in many ways as we have seen here.

 

 

 

Dear bhakthaas, enjoy the krithi by reading and understanding the depth to which ST follows closely sreemadh raamaayaNam and just not use his poetic license alone to do praise raama. [i cannot confidently say listen and enjoy the krithi, as this is a rare rendition one.]

 

 

 

Dhaasan

 

Vasudevan m.g.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER:

This Message and its contents is intended solely for the addressee and is proprietary.Information in this mail is for L&T Business Usage only. Any Use to other than the addressee is misuse and infringement to Proprietorship of L&T ECC.If you are not the addressee please return the mail to the sender.L&T ECC DIVISION