vanitha svabhaavam 2

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Post 2

 

 

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

 

 

We saw the gem of a krithi 'vanaja nayanudani' and its few variations, the meanings of pallavi, anupallavi, and charaNam in the previous post. Now we will see points on raagam, its selection and some points / comments on the krithi.

 

 

 

4. [serial number continued] Now on the raagam selection by ST: This krithi is in raagam 'kEdhaara gowLa'. kEdharam is 'a meadow' or 'a land submerged in water'. Also it a name of lord Siva. GowLaa is paarvathi and so 'kEdhaara gowla' is siva-sakthi in unison.

 

 

 

Also seethaa is daughter of and from boomi as stated in the other version of krithi line 'DharaNijaa'. So she is kEdhaaraa. gowLa or gowda means a secret and also a dhEsam - country. gowda dhEsam is present day Bengal. From ayOdhyaa, the base of Himalayan range, raama and seethaa went towards east - towards Bengal - from present day 'uththara pradhEsam - UP towards bengal, when they started to go forest as per king dhasarathaa's orders. So kEdhaaraa wants to go to gowda as in the krithi.

 

 

 

The krithi talks about a 'praNaya kalaham' - oodal - a sort of 'fight' between the husband and wife - raama and seethaa. What seethaa wanted is that she will accompany raama to the forest, when he goes there as per orders of his father. But raama refused to take her along saying that life in forest is difficult etc. At that stage seetha felt he is afraid of taking her and spelt this 'comment' 'sthriyam purusha vigraham' - you have this 'vanitha-svabhaavam'. By putting that across, what she wanted is not a separation from her husband but continuity of raama's union. As stated above raagam is siva-sakthi in unison. Seethaa wants no separation from raama and hence kedhaaragowla is selected which indicates continuity in union of the two. That way also this raagam is an apt selection for the krithi.

 

 

5. NOTES ON RAGA KEDARAGOWLA BY DR. V. V. SRIVATSA: - quote: "Names are only identificatory superimpositions and apparently unreal, so it is said. What is in a name? A rose, is a rose, is a rose. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to this adage and we have instances where names do signify adequate detail. Kedaragowla is a name with latent significance. Kedara, is a centre of pilgrimage located in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, in the Garhwal range. Gowla means white. So, Kedaragowla connotes by inference and in an abstract manner, the snow-clad lofty heights. A remarkable similarity is seen in the Dwadasha - Jyotirlinga sloka, where the reference is "himalaye tu kedaram". From the aesthetic point of view, undoubtedly Kedaragowla is one of the ragas perched on the higher ranges of Carnatic music.

 

 

Known also as Harikedaragowla, the prefix "Hari" is perhaps a misnomer. It is a raga dedicated to Lord Siva primarily and should perhaps have been christened as Harakedaragowla. It must be a case of North Indians calling Mayapuri as Hardwar and South Indians as Haridwar. Mayapuri is the entrance to the Himalayas, the abode of Siva and is really Hardwar - the entrance to the abode of Hara". - unquote.

 

 

 

So when the raagam is also called 'hari kEdhaara gowLa' as stated above, then, it is an apt selection by ST, for it focuses on hari, the raama and his wife seethaa.

 

 

 

6. There is one "nindhaa roopaka sthuthi" pattern in Sanskrit or 'nindhaa sthuthi' in short [referred to by our respected Sri Sadagopan swamy while writing / commenting on sree paadhukaa sahasram and also in the thriuvaheendhrapuram series] [same available in telugu literature also - states my good friend who is also a telugu language expert and guides me when I have doubts in the language], where the poet ST criticizes raama at surface level, but actually there is a deeper inner meaning and with praise. Probably ST has adopted the same style. The first few lines are a critical comment but the last line is praise on raama.

 

 

7. Now we will go into the krithi by taking up pallavi for elaboration.

 

Pallavi

 

vanaja nayanuDani valachithivO

 

vaani manasuna dhayalEdhE - vanaja

 

 

 

meaning: Have you loved Him since He is beautiful with lotus eyes? But He does not have sympathy in His heart.

 

 

 

Point: This seethaa says to herself, for raama refuses to take her to the forest and says 'you stay in the country for 14 years because forest life is difficult and you, having born in a royal family, will not be able to bear these difficulties' etc.

 

 

 

Perhaps the paasurams of thirumangai aazhvaar may come close to this scene in vaalmeeki's sreemadh raamaayaNam - aazhvaar in naayki bhaavam asking his own self - seethaa asking herself - have you loved him because He has lotus eyes and then saying he has no sympathy.

 

 

 

mai vaNNa naRum kunchik kuzhal pin thaazha

 

makaram sEr kuzhai irupaadu ilangiyaada

 

yei vaNNa venchilaiyE thuNaiyaa ingE

 

iruvaraai vanthaar en munnE ninRaar

 

kai vaNNam thaamarai vaai kalam pOlum

 

kaNN iNaiyum aravindham adiyum akhdhE

 

avvaNNaththavar -----[paasuram continues] -- 21 thiru nedunthaaNdakam

 

 

 

Is it that seethaa says this paasuram - iruvaraai vanthaar, raama and lakshmaNa came together, with the bow as accompaniment - vem silai - kaNN iNai - the pair of eyes are lotus - vanaja nayanudani - lost myself in those eyes? Perhaps a full 'yes' - confirmed in next paasuram. Uththamoor swamy in his commentary says "raamanum lakshmaNanum aaga mithilaikku vandha pOdhu seethaap piraatti iruntha nilai ena koLLalaam" - [re page 70 -1993 edition] [so it is not MGV's guess].

 

 

 

naivaLam onRu aaraayaa nammai nOkkaa

 

naaNinaarpOl iRaiyE nayangaL pinnum

 

seivaLavil en manamum kaNNum Odi

 

emperumaan thiruvadik keezh aNaiya ippaal

 

kaivaLaiyum mEkalaiyum kaaNEn -[ paasuram continues] - 22 thirunedunthaaNdakam

 

 

 

seethaa admits [?] the love has taken over, so the bangles and mEkalai - the oDDiyaaNam - that hip jewel loosened - because of the disease of love - sindhai noi says aazhvaar in next paasuram -

 

 

 

uLLoorum Sindhai nOi enakkE thandhu en

 

oLi vaLaiyum maa niRamum koNdaar.

 

 

 

Sindhai nOi - mental affliction - love affliction. Yes. He has no sympathy - that again is confirmed by aazhvaar in the next two paasurams -

 

 

 

en porukayaRkaN neer arumbap pulavi thandhu,

 

punal arangam oor enRu pOyinaarE -24 thirunedunthaaNdakam

 

 

 

en nalanum en niRaivum en sindhaiyum

 

en vaLaiyum koNdu ennaiyaaLum koNdu

 

ponnalarndha naruM serundhip pozhilin oodE

 

punal arangam oor enRu pOyinaarE - 25 thirunedunthaaNdakam

 

 

 

he has gone to sri rangam without sympathy after robbing me of all my good things

 

- en nalan - my health, my mental strength

 

- en niRaivu - my completeness or fulfillment.

 

- En sindhai - my mind

 

- Ennai aaLum koNdu - ennai aaLumai koNdu - I have been taken over - I became servant to him

 

all because of those 'kaNN iNaiyum aravindham' - 'lotus eyes' - vanaja nayanudani - oh - oh - great - great - raama, raama.

 

 

 

That adequately proves he has no sympathy, that raamaa has no sympathy towards seethaa - to say you stay here, I will go - for after having done all these, he, the lord left for sri rangam for aazhvaar. For seethaa - we have to see the anupallavi of thyaagaraaja - what she did to stop him from going without her - that in next post.

 

 

 

Oh, what great lines of aazhvaar. Perhaps he followed sage vaalmeeki in visualizing this and substituted himself in seethaa's place - perhaps a big yes?

 

Can we say ST simply follows here aazhvaar who inturn follows vaalmeeki? The experts of the list only have to say.

 

 

 

Dhasan

 

Vasudevan m.g.

 

 

 

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