is it a burden to protect me 2

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Post 2

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

[When I address you like this, I find many bhaagavathaas in the groups also have started addressing fellow bhaagavathaas in similar manner. I am happy about it]

 

We saw that 'pleading' krithi of thyaagaraaja in previous post "is it difficult for you to protect me?" in the raagam vasantha bhairavi - ramaa ramaNa.

 

Now Points on the krithi:

1. This krithi applies to the situation of seethaa's 'agni pravEsam' in sreemadh raamaayaNam. Kindly recall "ordeal by fire" by our respected sri sadagopan iyengar swamy of coimbatore, followed by a good 'argument' and 'counter-s' by sri sudharsan swamy, smt jayasree saranathan et al, not to miss the amicus curie Sri I.V.K.Chari swamin. I enjoy reading this collection of posts even today.

 

2. As usual, first let us see about the selection of raagam for this krithi.

 

It is vasantha bhairavi - vasanthaa + bhairavi.

Vasanthaa: An evening raagam vasanthaa can bring a cooling breeze. Vasanthaa is derived from the 17th mELam soorya kaantham, which corresponds to the Bhairav Thaat of Hindhusthaani Sangeetham. It is an auspicious raagam and sung in the evenings. This vasanthaa raagam is one of the oldest raagams, reportedly in vogue over than 1000 years. Hindhusthaani raagam Suddha Sohoni resembles closely the Carnaatic raagam Vasanthaa.

 

Bhairavi in Sanskrit means Dhurgaa, who manifests in various forms depicting various moods - as a destroyer of evil forces, as one who grants wishes, and so on. Similarly, Raagam Bhairavi has manifold bhaavams and depicts various rasam-s. All types of compositions are prevalent in this raagam. To present this raagam with all its embellishments demands that an artist be 'all-pervasive' in the field.

 

The combined 'vasantha bhairavi' is however a janya raagam of vakuLaabharaNam -ornament made of maghizhampoo. This reminds me of vakuLa aabharaNar - swamy nammaazhvaar. May be since flower vakuLam - the maghizhampoo - blossoms in the evening only and the good smell emanating from it invites snakes - this raagam vasantha bhairavi is treated as a evening raagam - good, combined with inherent risks - janyam from vakuLaabharaNam.

 

3. Coming to point on this krithi in above raagam - Seethaa is just looking for 'vasantham' in her life after suffering the abduction by raavaNan and separation from her 'beloved' husband - the ramaa ramaNan - recall just concluded write up 'vanaja nayanudani valachithivO' - 'loved that lotus eyed lord?'

 

Vasantham - good period in her life - by way of reunion and end to the misery of isolation is just about to begin - hanumaan paved the way for that - son of vaayu - breeze - by bringing the good news - first by locating her in lanka and telling raama - second and now - that news of killing of raavaNa, the abductor, by her husband - thus signaling the end of that separation from her husband raama - and all that.

 

Consider the real time - as per 'time period' as happening of events in raamaayaNam also - 'vasantham' - appearance of spring season

- raama waiting during rainy season after installing sugreeva as king in kishkindha,

- after rainy season is over, sugreeva sends the search team

- in a month's time other teams returns saying 'NO'.

- Hanuman's team, which proceeded to south, finds [or locates] seethaa after spending more than a month and returns with good news.

- Soon raama and team reach the seashores in about 15 days and

- Raama undetakes 3 days fasting to please Ocean king

- Building of bridge to lanka in ocean, reach lanka [for bridge building 5 days].

- For 13 days war goes on and raavaNa killed

- then seethaa receives news of raamaa's victory.

- Duration for all these summed up leads us to 'vasantham'- spring.

 

At that stage of seethaa looking for vasantham coming, it also has brought the bhairavi or bhairavam in combination - the ferocity of raama. That comes in, by way of tongue-lashing of raama, to seethaa, resulting in that seethaa's agni pravesam. That is why vasantha bhairavi - a mixture of cool breeze combined with fire of words.

 

Thyaagaraaja always selects raagam suitable to the situation of raamaayaNam and places his krithi in that raagam - amply proved once again here.

 

3. Now let us take up the krithi line by line. First pallavi:

ramaa ramaNa bhaaramaa nannu brOvumaa sreekara - [ramaa]

 

meaning: O Beloved of lakshmi, O Lord of that person who causes prosperity, is it a burden to protect me?

 

Point: Seethaa says, "hey raama - just now you have finished a great job of killing raavaNan - that great enemy, after carrying out that building of bridge in the ocean, installed vibheeshaNan as king of lanka [who was assured of kingdom even before his brother raavaNa yet to be dethroned and killed in battle]. As per your orders, he has brought me, here, in front of you, now you say I can go anywhere as I please. Is it difficult or a burden for you to protect me and save me, that too after conducting these great things?"

 

That address of 'sree kara' is another special here. In sree vishNu sahasra naamam, this naama is interpreted as having meaning 'he who causes lakshmi to incarnate along with him' - naama 618 in slokam 65 [as per sri bhattar bhaashyam].

Here also same - seethaa says, "hey ramaa ramaNa - hey lakshmi's husband - you only caused me to come over here fromour abode of ksheera abdhi - milk ocean - when you came as raama, you only caused me to come as seethaa - now is it good of you to shy me away or shirk me away without giving protection to me?"

Oh, even in the addressing as 'sreekara' ST shows 'greatness' in his "thinking".

 

4. Now let us move to anupallavi:

anupallavi

pumaanuDani gaadhu ani naathO dhelupumaa narOththama samaana rahitha - [ramaa]

 

meaning: O Most Eminent of men, Please tell me whether there is a peer of a man to you - available or not.

 

Point: A small anvayam is done as stated in previous post and then meaning is as given.

 

Actually, if we see "pumaanuDani gaadhu ani naathO dhelupumaa" in isolation then it may give a totally different meaning - hey, tell me are you a man or not - then it can be stretched to that question of seethaa's 'sthriyam purusha vigraham' - hey my father got you as son in law, a women, in a man's form - so when seethaa asks that question to raama in a fit of anger - in retort to his saying you can go anywhere - then it is ok.

 

Then the next words available are 'narOththama samaana rahitha'. These will be just hanging in loose. The meaning for next part is 'hey supreme man - there is no equal for you' - which means - as seethaa says sthriyam --- a woman is in man's form and as such no one can be equal for such a napumsaka. Is it that way? I doubt.

 

Or instead of making it hanging, we can add back to pallavi - ramaa ramaNa. Then it leads us to a totally new meaning - narOththama, samaana rahitha ramaa ramaNa

- hey supreme among man

- your equal or better half lakshmi's husband

- or that better half lakshmi's beloved man,

- is it difficult for you to protect me?

This meaning appears Fine.

Now have a re-look at the anupallavi half - "hey tell me are you a man, oh samaana rahitha lakshmi's beloved husband". For me, this has an inbuilt contradiction - is it not? Calling him the great lakshmi's great husband and then asking him are you a man?

 

'narOththama is 'supreme among men, 'naraaNaam uththama:'. So will thyaagaraaja ask his beloved raama, such a question in the first as 'are you a pumaan' and immediately change his addressing as 'nara uththama' and all that. A definite "NO" will be and is my answer.

 

[Perhaps you all will ask, 'why you do all permutation and combination of words and discuss this in such a detailed manner, which is not correct and unwarranted. A good friend informed me that this kind of interpretation is there. That is why and to show how much it is wrong to interpret that way.]

 

5. Why ST places this pumaan aspect in his krithi like this? Any raamaayaNam reference? Which forced seethaa ask like this - or is it that raama claims great, in front of seethaa, that leads seethaa to do that questioning and then finally carryon with an agni pravesam.

 

yaa thvam virahithaa neethaa chalachiththEna rakshasaa |

dhaiva sampaadhithO dhOshO maanushENa mayaa jitha: 6-118-5

meaning: raama says to seetha [when vibheeshaNa brought her in front of raama] - that dhOsham - fault of you obtained by the will of god is removed by me, the man - by my success over him - of you being abducted by that fickle minded raakshasa.

 

Point: That raakshasa who cannot be killed even by dhEvEndhra, and he, that indhra, himself sought refuge in naaraayaNa, that naaraayaNa [who has come as raama] says 'maanushENa mayaa' - 'me, the man' has done this killing and thus removed that dhOsham. So it is fully apt and fit that seethaa telling raama "samaana rahitha pumaanuDani gaadhu'.

 

Further vaalmeeki places this 'kulE jaatha: pumaan' point in slokam 6-118-19 - another claim of 'pumaan' by raama -

 

ka: pumaan hi kulE jaatha: sthriyam para gruha ushithaam

thEjasvi puna: aadhadhyaath suhrudh lEkhEna chEtasaa || 6-118- 19

 

meaning: raama asks seethaa - "which man, who is born in a good race and clan, that has name and fame, will accept his wife, with good heart, who has lived in other's house?"

 

Point: Raama claims about his superiority by birth - his kulam - So ST places in this krithi - as seetha asking - hey, since no one is equal to you among all men, by way of kulam - [ikshvaaku kulam - superior since naaraayaNa himself chose that kulam - to come into this world] - you can be 'a special' - a cut above all - that way - also this way - in asking me to go anywhere as I please - that too after undertaking to do such great things for my sake - this seethaa's sake. [as listed like sethu bhandhanam etc].

 

Oh, great lines by ST - do that thinking on raama as well on this krithi - meanwhile, let us continue in next post - length is the constraint again.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.

 

 

 

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