raama chinthanai 2

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Post 2

 

 

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

 

 

We saw that 'raama naama enjoyment' krithi in 'poorNa chandhrikaa' raagam - 'thelisi raama' of thyaagaraajaa. Now let us start on the points on this krithi one by one.

 

 

 

1. This krithi is linked to the episode of 'raavaNan - seethaa' discussion in asOka vanam and her advising raavaNan to return herself to raama. hanumaan is watching the proceedings of this discussion [in sundhara kaaNdam]. When raavaNan visits her in asOka vanam and says 'I am intoxicated with your beauty, I don't relish myself in my other wives, oh seethaa, you be queen of all these superior women etc', seethaa replies him 'you think on raama and return me to him, so that you are saved'.

 

 

 

Perhaps, dear bhakthaas, now you get a tickle, why we talked about 'enjoyment' in the prelude to the 'krithi presentation' in previous post.

 

 

 

2. As we are seeing in this series of elaborations on thyaagaraaja krithis [third in a row now and few others earlier by MGV], and their link to sreemadh raamaayaNam, the raagam selection itself by ST, to some extent - [or is it a large extent?] indicates what incident or episode in sreemadh raamayaNam is being touched upon by saint thyaagaraaja.

 

 

 

3. Now on selection of raagam for this krithi thelisi raama chinthana: It is 'poorNa chandhrikaa' - means - full moon - bright, cool moon shedding its soothing light on all without any one being spared. Similarly seethaa also spares her cool soothing and comforting thoughts on that 'offender' raavaNan. Without any prejudice or bias, she is saying, "have raama chinthanai - thoughts of raama - for your enjoyment - no thoughts on or about my physical body".

 

 

 

4. On this raagam 'poorNa chandhrikaa' Prof. S.R.Janakiraman writes - quote - "Dikshitar has given a mould to PoorNa chandrika which is rather archaic. It is, to my mind, an amalgamation of PoorNa chandrika and Jana ranjani, the latter being an offshoot of the former. PoorNa chandrika is older, while Jana ranjani came later. Thyaagaraaja evolved Jana ranjani, out of the archaic PoorNa chandrika and individualized and immortalized both PoorNa chandrika and Jana ranjani in his krithis. The old-fashioned PoorNa chandrika as preserved by Dikshitar in his Shankha Chakra brings in an elongated Ga and Dha, now transmitted into Jana ranjani. Dikshitar has not composed in Jana ranjani -- unquote.

 

 

 

Dear bhakthaas, let it be

 

'poorNa chandhrikaa' - the full blossom moon - the old mother raagam or

 

'jana ranjani' - a lady who makes people to enjoy - the daughter raagam

 

the focal point for us, is - poorNa chandhrikaa the cool moon - mother seethaa shedding her karuNaa rasam even on that abductor / offender raavaNan during her discussion.

 

That shows the basis - the raagam selection - by ST is absolutely 'apt' to the situation.

 

 

 

5. When this discussion between raavaNan and seethaa takes place as per vaalmeeki - I mean here timewise ? Appears to be a pourNami day - full moon day.

 

For there is a slOkam in 5 -2 - 57 sundhara khaaNdam - describing the rising of moon in full glory - with 1000s of rays -

 

chandhrO~api saachivyam iva asya kurvan |

 

thaaraa gaNair madhyagathO viraajan|

 

jyOthsnaa vithaanEna vithathya lOkam |

 

uththishThathE na Eka sahasra rasmi: || 5-2-57

 

 

 

meaning: The shining moon too rose up with its many thousands of rays, as though performing help to Hanumaan, being at the middle of its retinue of stars and covering the earth with a canopy of light. That Hanumaan saw the moon rising up with a glow of a conch shell, shining with a milky white hue of a lotus-fiber, like a swan swimming in a lake.

 

 

 

The above slOkam itself is a beauty of lyrical excellence. hanumaan starts searching when moon rose. And after he almost finished all places and reached asOkha vanam locating seethaa there - it is early morning - dawn to be precise - and raavaNan arrives at seethaa's place. Symbolically indicated is the approaching end of 'cool, bright and happy days of raavaNa slowly closing its account, and hot sunny days sighted in the nearest time scale, fast culminating in his death'. Seethaa advises him 'have raama chinthanai' - so that you cool comforting days need not come to an end'.

 

So also the base on which this krithi is built - basing on raagam 'poorna chandhrika' - is absolutely apt.

 

 

 

6. Seethaa desires a full shiny bright moon in the life of raavaNan, by asking him to return herself back to raama, the "sooryasya soorya" [this description of raama as sooryasya soorya is by mother sumithraa dhEvi when she consoled raamaa's own mother kousalya - peRRa thaai in tamil - on separation of raama, in ayOdhyaa kaNdam sargam 44]. raavaNan chooses a 'hot path' by saying 'I will give two more months, otherwise your body which I wanted to enjoy for kaamam, will be turned into my breakfast. That way I will enjoy you'.

 

 

 

7. Now on the krithi - In the vaalmeeki slokams below, you please note the words 'ooru' 'bheeru' - similar sounding words are there in the krithi of ST, ending 'ru' 'ru' - 'pEru, veeru, vaaru, geedheru, dheeru' etc. This also establishes how closely ST follows vaalmeeki. raavaNan says to seethaa

 

maam dhrushTvaa naaga naasa ooru goohamaanaa sthana udharam |

adharsanam iva aathmaanam bhayaath nEthum thvam ichchasi || 5-20-2

 

meaning: You are with thighs like the trunk of an elephant. Seeing me covering your breasts and belly, you desire obtaining disappearance of self due to fear. [ooru is thudai or thighs]

 

 

 

svaDharmO rakshasaam bheeru sarvathaiva na samsaya: |

gamanam vaa para sthreeNaam haraNam sampramathya vaa || 5-20-5

 

 

 

meaning: O one with fear! Obtaining women belonging to others or abducting by force is the righteous deed for ogres by all means. There is no doubt in this.

 

 

 

8. In the conversation, raavaNan makes a reference to brahma and his weakness for the beautiful woman directly. That thyaagaraaja refers indirectly naming him as 'aja' first and then as 'vaageesavaruniki' - instead of simply saying 'brahma' or 'chathurmukha' or some other name.

 

thvaam kruthva uparathO manyE rooupakarthaa sa visvasruk |

 

na hi roopa upamaa thva anyaa thava asthi subhadharsane || 5-20-13

 

meaning: raavaNan says to seethaa in his intoxicated terms, "O one with auspicious appearance! The creator of form, that creator of the world, Lord Brahma has made you and stopped. I think thus - not another one is there, who is equal to your appearance".

 

 

 

Just recall how brahma created saraswathi - the vaakh dhEvi - and taken her as his wife - which was resented by his own sons sanaka, sananthana et al - ref srimadh bhagavatham or naaraayaNeeyam - on creation of world etc - the wavering by brahma is reflected by calling him aja first and then vaageesvara.

 

 

 

I am not going to trouble you, dear bhakthaas, more on your time now, and will continue in next post.

 

 

 

Dhasan

 

 

 

Vasudevan m.g.

 

 

 

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