Ramayana of Valmiki and Kamban-aranyakanda-21. sabarimoksham

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21. sabari moksha

 

In Kamban Lakshman meets Ayomukhi alone and not with Rama.Perhaps

Kamban thought that if the demoness have seen Rama she would not have chosen

Lakshmana as her consort! When the two of them were searching for Seetha the

night came and Kamban imagines that the Sun was searching for Seetha and roamed

all over the world and disappeared behind the Mount Meru.

The darkness set in and

enveloped all the sixteen

directions, says Kamban, irunDana maadhiram ettum irandum.

 

Rama felt thirsty and Lakshman went to fetch water when Ayomukhi

saw him and took him away.She pleaded with him to accept her love and Lakshmana

cut off her nose and ears. Rama was worrying n not seeing Lakshmana for a long

time when he heard the shout of the demoness and went to see what happened.

Then they got water using the varunasthra.

 

Kabandha got back his previous form as soon as Rama cut off his

arms. Kamban says, aaLum naayakan am kaiyin theendiya adhanaal mooLUm saapatthin

mundhiya theevinai muditthaan. Being touched by the beautiful hand of

the Lord Kabandha ended the evil effect

of his curse.

 

Then he started praising Rama:

" Are you the creator of all, eenRavanO epporuLum,the

primal cause who has no beginning, moolamE illaa mudhalvanE? Are

you the infant who slept on the banyan leaf ,aalilaiadiakkidandhabaalanO,

who had all the worlds inside Him maaNbaal ulagai vayittRu oLitthu

vaangudhiyaal?"

 

Kamban would have been well versed with the divyaprabandha as he

says aanpaaLO peNpaalO appalaO

eppaaLo, meaning , are you male or female or the transcendental supreme

reality, which reflects the words of Nammazvar, aaNallan peNNallan

aliyumallan, kaaNalum aagaan uLanallan ilaiyallan, the Lord is neither

a male , a female nor neuter, He is not perceptible, neither existant nor non-

existent.

 

" You are the Brahman who is beyond even the beginning and the

supreme brilliance behind all lights as described by the Vedas.Your abode is

the bud of lotus above the three regions of the sun, moon and the stars.

 

Then Kamban refers to the

creation as described in srimadbhagavatha. KabanDha says,

niRkum neduneettha neeril muLaitthezundha

mokkuLe pOla muRN ittRa andangaL

okka uyarndhu unnuLe thOnRi oLikkinRa

pakkam aRidhaRku eLidho paramporuLe

 

"As if on the lotus bud that sprung from the waters the worlds

appear from You as always and also disappear into You, which is

incomprehensible for anyone."

 

Srimadbhagavatham describes the creation thus: In pralaya the

universe was in the stomach of the Lord when He was in yoganidhra. The energies

burst forth from the navel and took the form of a lotus bud.On that Brahma

appeared. After praying to the Lord he created the universe as before.

This is the variation of the Kabandha episode according to Kamban.

The sthothra of Kabandha is full of devotion and exhlerating, which can only be

fully relished only by reading the

original in Tamil.

 

The next was the episode

of Sabari.

 

Rama and Lakshmana followed the path described by Kabandha and

reached Mathangasrama. Sabari who was waitng for Rama all those years saw them

and came to them and fell on their feet. Rama enquired afer her welfare asking

her whether she reaped the benefit of her penance and service to her guru sage Mathanga.

Sabari replied that the fruit of her penance and service to her master was

acquired only that day when Rama came to her asrama and said that by his

arriaval she was going to attain moksha. She said,

chakshushaa thava somyena poothaa asmi raghunandhana gamishyaami

akshayaan lokaan thvthprasaadhaath arindhama.

"I am purified by your merciful glance, oh the joy of Raghu race,

and I will reach the realms of no return by your grace, oh scorcher of foes."

The glance of Rama, bhagavatkataaksha has destroyed all the sins of previos births

and she had become pure. Hence she was sure to attain moksha.

 

She told Rama that her acharyas, the disciples of Mathanga went to

heaven at the time Rama came to chithrakoota and they told her to remain there

till Rama came and attain moksha due to His grace. She told Rama that she had gathered the best

fruits from the banks of the river Pampa and offered them to Rama and Lakshmana

and showed them the wonders of

Matangasrama. The disciple of Mathanga were old and they brought the holy

rivers and the seven seas to where they were for their austerities. The

sacrificial altars were still alive with brilliance and the flowers offered in

worship were still fresh and their bark garments were still wet, hanging in the place where

they put them for drying. So saying Sabari after honouring Rama and Lakshmana

with offerings of flowers and fruits left her body with the permission of Rama

and ascended a heavenly chariot with a divine form. Then Rama and Lakshmana went

towards river Pampa with the intention of meeting Sugreeva as told by

KabanDha.

 

Both Kamban and Valmiki have

dealt with the episode of Sabari only in brief. It was left to Thygaraja to

bring out the glory of the devotion of Sabari. The story of Sabari is an

example of the greatness of service and the grace of the acharya in as much as

a common girl of hunter tribe, who did not have any knowledge of sasthras but

only had strong faith and devotion towards her acharya, attained the highest

status of mukthi and the blessing of the Lord Himself. Thyagaraja says enthaninne

varNinthunu sabaree bhagayam, "what a great fortune Sabari had," and gives

a detailed description of the episode thus:

 

She had the darsan of Rama to the fill of her eyes,

kanulaara sEvinchi, and offered sweet fruits, kammani phalamula

nosaki, fell at his feet experiencing horripilation, thanuvupularinchaka paadhayugamulanu

mrokki, and attained the state of no return in His presence, inakulapathi

samukhambuna punaraavrtthi rahithapadhamunu ponthina.The raga chosen

for the song is also apt as mukhaari bringing out the bhava in full.