TiruppAvai flavoured sundara-kaandam: Part 5 pOginraarai pOgAmal kaatthu...

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

Valmiki was a master psychologist endowed with

penetrating insight indeed into the feminine mind.

 

When Hanuman described to Sita the depths of despair

to which Sri Rama had descended, and how he was simply

unable to bear the pain of separation from her,

Valmiki records Sita's first reaction as one of secret

but barely concealed inner delight!

 

This is an extraordinary piece of psychological

revelation indeed. It leaves readers a little aghast.

It makes them sit up and wonder indeed how truly

complex and delicate is the nature and texture of the

bond of relationship known to us commonly as

"Man-Woman love". And how strangely and differently

the male and feminine mind, the husband's and the

spouse's, react to different situations in matters of

intimate conjugality.

 

We must surely pause a bit here to enjoy and savor

this narrative interlude in the "sundara-kaandam".

 

*****************

 

Hanuman's vivid description (Chapter 35 ShlOkas 38

through 48) of Rama's despair was not merely a piece

of faithful reportage. He had a far more important

intention. It was to convince Sita that Rama's love

for her was burning intensely; that her loss was cause

for an overwhelming sense of despair in his life; and

that he was not sparing a single moment or any effort

to attempt to locate her whereabouts and to rescue and

retrieve her.

 

It was principally with this aim that Hanuman used all

his famed powers of eloquence to portray the pathetic

condition of Rama to Sita in terms exactly as he had

witnessed it back in Kishkinda.

 

"tathasvadrAtr-shObeeni rakshasA hriyamANAyA I

yAnya-AbharaNa-jAlAni pAthitAni mahItalE II

(35.38)

 

" tAni raamaaya dattAni mayaivOpa-hrutAni cha I

svanavanthyava-kIrNAthni tasmin vigathachEtasi II

(35. 40)

 

"pashyathasthAni rudathastAm-yathascha pUnah pUnah:I

prAdIpayandAsharathEstAni shOkha-hutAshanam" II

(35.42)

 

"shayitam cha chiram tEna dukhArtEna mahAtmanA I

mayApi vividhair-vaakyaih: kruchrA-duttApitah pUnah"II

(35.43)

 

"tavA-darshana-shOkEna rAghavah: pravichAlyatE I

mahatA bhUmikampEna mahAniva shilOchayah: II"

(35. 47)

 

"kAna-nAni suramyANi nadIh: prasra-vaNANi cha I

charanna ratimApnAti tvAma-pashyan-nrupAtmajE" II

(35.48)

 

"O Sita," recounts Hanuman, "in Kishkinda when we all

first met Rama, and came to know of his plight, we

remembered the bundle of jewels that you had dropped

over our land while you were being carried away by

Ravana in the "pushpaka-vimAna". We had recovered it.

We remembered it, and when we first brought it and

displayed the jewels to Rama, one look at them, and

his body trembled and melted all over; he shuddered

and fell down unconscious like dead-log!

 

"We slowly revived him to consciousness. Later, he

cradled those jewels of yours on his lap much as a

mother might cradle her child in her arms to wean it;

he wept and lamented and bemoaned aloud your fate and

his!

 

So great was your husband's anguish, he collapsed to

the ground again and lay mute for several hours...

With many consoling words I comforted him, O lady, and

made him sit up and face the world again....

 

Just as an earthquake tears asunder a mountain, so has

separation from you, lady Sita, torn asunder Rama's

heart. Now, he wanders about the forests of Kishkinda.

They are all of great beauty, lined by lush

river-banks and deep river beds and steep

mountain-slopes --- alas, none of those

breath-takingly beautiful scenes of mother-nature have

any charm for Rama, for nowhere in them can he find

you, my lady..."

 

*************

 

Now, after listening to all this from Hanuman, Sita's

first reaction and first words were rather

extraordinary.

 

What does she say?

 

"amrutam vishasam-srushtam tvayA vAnara bhAshitam" !

(Ch.37.2)

 

The very first word that gushes to Sita's mind after

hearing Hanuman's long report of Sri Rama's pain and

despair is the word "amrutam"!

 

"Your words, O Hanuman, are nectar to me!" she says!

 

The lady has just listened to a graphic account of the

utter distress of her husband and the piteous state to

which he has been reduced following his separation

from her. And what is first and immediate reaction to

it: "amrutam", she says!

 

Sita, it seems to us, wants to tell Hanuman: "Thank

you for describing to me my husband's plight. I am

delighted to hear that my lord pines for me. It is

nectarine news to know how he aches for me, agonizing

over our separation and that his heart bleeds for

me... It warms the cockles of my heart indeed!"

 

But then we see next Sita quickly making amends for

her first utterances lest they be misunderstood as

being heartless. She immediately makes sure to follow

up her "amrutam" remark with the next expression she

employs -- "vishasam-srushtam":

 

"Your words Hanuman are nectar and posion to me at the

same time! In one way I'm delighted to know my lord

pines for me. That's like nectar. But I am pained too

equally to know that he is so much sunk in dark

despair. That's like poison to me".

 

****************

 

Now, on the part of the great poet Valmiki, this is

truly a brilliant reading of the innermost workings

deep within the recesses of a woman's mind. It reveals

his thorough understanding of the dynamics of Man-Wife

relationship, with its deep and complex undercurrents

of mutual affection at the core that however is very

often shadowed by passing clouds of distrust over each

other's true feelings of love.

 

Sita's spontaneous remark is indeed a whole revelation

of how fragile the feminine mind is in its perception

of the ardour of masculine love. A woman's conviction

in the constancy and ardour of a man's love for his

spouse is always less than complete. No matter how

many years they spend together in happy marital life,

no matter how many episodes in their life may have

occured that affirm and re-affirm his love for her, a

wife will always suspect the true intensity of her

husband's feelings for her. This is innate nature of

the feminine mind and not even God Almighty in the

Ramayana could do a thing about it!

 

***************

 

Let us move on to the next part of the

"sundara-kaandam" in the next posting.

 

Regards,

daasan,

Sudarshan MK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*****************

(to be continued)

 

Regards,

daasan,

Sudarshan MK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warm Regards,

Sudarshan

 

" A life is perhaps worth nothing; but nothing certainly is worth as much as life".

(Andre Malraux)

 

 

________

India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new

http://in.answers./

[Guest guest]

Oppiliappan, sudarshan madabushi

<mksudarshan2002 wrote:

>I am new to this group but would like to share my understanding of

the utterances of Sita replying to Hanuman.

 

Sita is unaware of the fate of Rama, who went behind Mareecha (Maya

Maan) and she sent Lakshmana also in search of HIM after she heard

the voice. She is so much concerned as to what happened to Sri Rama.

 

So when Hanuman tells her that in Kishkinda they saw Rama, she felt

totally relieved and those words were AMRUTHAM FOR HER. Whatever

further is told by Hanuman of Sri Rama's current physical and mental

state after losing Sita is vishasam for Sita. This is what could

have also been conveyed by the slokas.

 

If I have mentioned anything wrong it is due to my ignorance.

 

woolianellore kidambi madhavan

 

>

> Dear friends,

>

> Valmiki was a master psychologist endowed with

> penetrating insight indeed into the feminine mind.

>

> When Hanuman described to Sita the depths of despair

> to which Sri Rama had descended, and how he was simply

> unable to bear the pain of separation from her,

> Valmiki records Sita's first reaction as one of secret

> but barely concealed inner delight!

>

> This is an extraordinary piece of psychological

> revelation indeed. It leaves readers a little aghast.

> It makes them sit up and wonder indeed how truly

> complex and delicate is the nature and texture of the

> bond of relationship known to us commonly as

> "Man-Woman love". And how strangely and differently

> the male and feminine mind, the husband's and the

> spouse's, react to different situations in matters of

> intimate conjugality.

>

> We must surely pause a bit here to enjoy and savor

> this narrative interlude in the "sundara-kaandam".

>

> *****************

>

> Hanuman's vivid description (Chapter 35 ShlOkas 38

> through 48) of Rama's despair was not merely a piece

> of faithful reportage. He had a far more important

> intention. It was to convince Sita that Rama's love

> for her was burning intensely; that her loss was cause

> for an overwhelming sense of despair in his life; and

> that he was not sparing a single moment or any effort

> to attempt to locate her whereabouts and to rescue and

> retrieve her.

>

> It was principally with this aim that Hanuman used all

> his famed powers of eloquence to portray the pathetic

> condition of Rama to Sita in terms exactly as he had

> witnessed it back in Kishkinda.

>

> "tathasvadrAtr-shObeeni rakshasA hriyamANAyA I

> yAnya-AbharaNa-jAlAni pAthitAni mahItalE II

> (35.38)

>

> " tAni raamaaya dattAni mayaivOpa-hrutAni cha I

> svanavanthyava-kIrNAthni tasmin vigathachEtasi II

> (35. 40)

>

> "pashyathasthAni rudathastAm-yathascha pUnah pUnah:I

> prAdIpayandAsharathEstAni shOkha-hutAshanam" II

> (35.42)

>

> "shayitam cha chiram tEna dukhArtEna mahAtmanA I

> mayApi vividhair-vaakyaih: kruchrA-duttApitah pUnah"II

> (35.43)

>

> "tavA-darshana-shOkEna rAghavah: pravichAlyatE I

> mahatA bhUmikampEna mahAniva shilOchayah: II"

> (35. 47)

>

> "kAna-nAni suramyANi nadIh: prasra-vaNANi cha I

> charanna ratimApnAti tvAma-pashyan-nrupAtmajE" II

> (35.48)

>

> "O Sita," recounts Hanuman, "in Kishkinda when we all

> first met Rama, and came to know of his plight, we

> remembered the bundle of jewels that you had dropped

> over our land while you were being carried away by

> Ravana in the "pushpaka-vimAna". We had recovered it.

> We remembered it, and when we first brought it and

> displayed the jewels to Rama, one look at them, and

> his body trembled and melted all over; he shuddered

> and fell down unconscious like dead-log!

>

> "We slowly revived him to consciousness. Later, he

> cradled those jewels of yours on his lap much as a

> mother might cradle her child in her arms to wean it;

> he wept and lamented and bemoaned aloud your fate and

> his!

>

> So great was your husband's anguish, he collapsed to

> the ground again and lay mute for several hours...

> With many consoling words I comforted him, O lady, and

> made him sit up and face the world again....

>

> Just as an earthquake tears asunder a mountain, so has

> separation from you, lady Sita, torn asunder Rama's

> heart. Now, he wanders about the forests of Kishkinda.

> They are all of great beauty, lined by lush

> river-banks and deep river beds and steep

> mountain-slopes --- alas, none of those

> breath-takingly beautiful scenes of mother-nature have

> any charm for Rama, for nowhere in them can he find

> you, my lady..."

>

> *************

>

> Now, after listening to all this from Hanuman, Sita's

> first reaction and first words were rather

> extraordinary.

>

> What does she say?

>

> "amrutam vishasam-srushtam tvayA vAnara bhAshitam" !

> (Ch.37.2)

>

> The very first word that gushes to Sita's mind after

> hearing Hanuman's long report of Sri Rama's pain and

> despair is the word "amrutam"!

>

> "Your words, O Hanuman, are nectar to me!" she says!

>

> The lady has just listened to a graphic account of the

> utter distress of her husband and the piteous state to

> which he has been reduced following his separation

> from her. And what is first and immediate reaction to

> it: "amrutam", she says!

>

> Sita, it seems to us, wants to tell Hanuman: "Thank

> you for describing to me my husband's plight. I am

> delighted to hear that my lord pines for me. It is

> nectarine news to know how he aches for me, agonizing

> over our separation and that his heart bleeds for

> me... It warms the cockles of my heart indeed!"

>

> But then we see next Sita quickly making amends for

> her first utterances lest they be misunderstood as

> being heartless. She immediately makes sure to follow

> up her "amrutam" remark with the next expression she

> employs -- "vishasam-srushtam":

>

> "Your words Hanuman are nectar and posion to me at the

> same time! In one way I'm delighted to know my lord

> pines for me. That's like nectar. But I am pained too

> equally to know that he is so much sunk in dark

> despair. That's like poison to me".

>

> ****************

>

> Now, on the part of the great poet Valmiki, this is

> truly a brilliant reading of the innermost workings

> deep within the recesses of a woman's mind. It reveals

> his thorough understanding of the dynamics of Man-Wife

> relationship, with its deep and complex undercurrents

> of mutual affection at the core that however is very

> often shadowed by passing clouds of distrust over each

> other's true feelings of love.

>

> Sita's spontaneous remark is indeed a whole revelation

> of how fragile the feminine mind is in its perception

> of the ardour of masculine love. A woman's conviction

> in the constancy and ardour of a man's love for his

> spouse is always less than complete. No matter how

> many years they spend together in happy marital life,

> no matter how many episodes in their life may have

> occured that affirm and re-affirm his love for her, a

> wife will always suspect the true intensity of her

> husband's feelings for her. This is innate nature of

> the feminine mind and not even God Almighty in the

> Ramayana could do a thing about it!

>

> ***************

>

> Let us move on to the next part of the

> "sundara-kaandam" in the next posting.

>

> Regards,

> daasan,

> Sudarshan MK

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> *****************

> (to be continued)

>

> Regards,

> daasan,

> Sudarshan MK

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Warm Regards,

> Sudarshan

>

> " A life is perhaps worth nothing; but nothing certainly is worth

as much as life".

> (Andre Malraux)

>

>

>

> ________

> India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new

> http://in.answers./

>