Desikasthothramala- Dasavatarasthothram

[Guest guest]

Dasavathra sthothram

 

1. dhevo naH Subham aathanothu dhaSaDhaa

nirvarthayan bhoomikaam

rangeDhaamani labDha nirbhararasaiH

aDhyakshitho bhaavukaiH

yadhbhaageshu prThagviDheshu anuguNaan

bhaavaan

svayam bibhrathee

yadhDharmaiH iha DharmiNee viharathe

naanaakrthiH naayikaa

 

May

the Lord Ranganatha bestow His grace to us, He who performs as on a stage, by putting on ten

costumes for His ten roles and who is seen by the devotees who are connoisseurs

of His leelas in Srirangam, along with

His divine consort Sri Ranaganayaki , who follows Him, taking different roles

as appropriate to His different incarnations.

 

This

sthothra was composed by Desikan in Srirangam and He attributed the ten

incarnations to Sri Ranganatha. The ten incarnations were the roles taken by

the Lord as an actor who puts on different costumes and enacts the different

roles on the ranga, stage. Hence Ranaganatha is here the Lord of the ranga, the

world in which He put forth ten incarnations. As those who are acquainted with

the actor off stage enjoy his different roles as rasikas, here the devotees are

mentioned as the rasikas of the Lord

being rasajnas and enjoy the incarnations of Him.

 

Like

the hero who is always accompanied by the heroin in plays, the divine mother

Ranganayaki takes different roles and accompany Him in His incarnations, as

sahaDharmiNee to His dharmas, which are His acts of protection. That is why it

is said raaghavathve abhavath Seetha

rukmiNee Krishna janmani, Mahalakshmi, the

divine consort of the Lord became Seetha in Ramavathara and Rukminee in

Krishnavathara. The reason she was doing so was because of her purushakarathva

needed to secure for us the protection

of the Lord. Without her, He will be nirdhaya and will punish us severely for

all our sins. She entices Him away from the faults of the devotees by

highlighting only their merits.

 

dhaSaDhaa bhoomikaam nirvarthayan- dhasaDhaa means in ten ways. bhoomika means costume as well as

roles. Nirvarthya is from the verb vrth

with nir, meaning to perform.

 

Desika

says in the first chapter of Yadhavabhyudhaya,

 

natavath bhoomikaabhedhaiH

naaTha dheevyan prThagviDhaiH

pumsaam ananyabhaavaanaam

pushNaasi rasam adhbhutham

 

Oh

Lord, like an actor, you play-act with different costumes creating wonderful

rasaanubhava, enjoyment to those whose minds are centered in You.

 

range -on the stage which is Sriranga

 

Dhaamani- which is the abode of the Lord. The sriyaH pathi

Lord Naryana left vaikunta and took abode in the milky ocean so that the devas

and other celestial beings and sages of divine origin could get access to Him.

It is seen in the purana and ithihasa that the devas always go to the

ksheeraabDhi whenever they were in

trouble. Out of mercy to the mortals like us who could not go to ksheeraabDhi

He has come to reside on the earth as archavathara and in Sriranga He gives

darsan as He is in Ksheeraabdhi, as Ranganatha.

 

labDha nirbhararasaiH bhaavukaiH- The word bhaavuka

means a rasika. nirbhara means niSSesheNa bharaH , filled to the full.

Sesha means remaining and nissessha

means without anything remaining.

Rasa

is the sentiment here meaning the sentiment of bhakthi which gives rise to all

the nine sentiments, nava rasa by visualizing His ten incarnations. So the

phrase as a whole means , by the devotees who are rasikas of the leelas of the

Lord and who get full enjoyment by

seeing Him as He is manifest in Srirangam, aDhyakshithaH,

the word aDhyaksha meaning prathyaksha.

 

naayikaa- Sri Ranganaayaki

 

praThagviDheshu bhaveshu- in distinct forms meaning His incarnations.

 

anuguNaan bhaavaan svayam bibhrathee- herself, svayam,

assuming roles , bhaavaan, in

accordance with His, anuguNaan

 

iha viharathe- The word iha,

meaning here, may be taken to refer Srirangam where the Lord is visualized as

the ten avataras, or it may also mean , in this earth. viharathe, plays. This implies that the incarnations are a matter

of play, leela for both of them.

 

DharmiNee displaying the same dharma as His consort namely,

protection.

 

nanaakrthi, in various forms such as Seetha, Rukminee etc.

 

dhevah that Lord aathanothu,

may shower, Subham auspicious

blessings , naH to us.