AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. Feb 08 Part 3)

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SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrImate VedAnta rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

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AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. Feb 08 Part 3)

 

English Translation of

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam in tamizh by SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan

 

As published in SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA by

SrI u.ve. nATTEri KiDAmbi rAjagopAlAcAriyAr (Editor of SrI

ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

(Please set your encoding to Unicode UTF-8)

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

=====================================

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa

upanyAsam

 

ViSvAmitra said, " We have to go to MithilA. I want to show the bow to

these boys " . The others agreed.

 

They arrived at the city of MithilA. rAma and lakshmaNa took a look at

the city as they walked. The city was beautiful. How was it? It was

shining brilliantly like a golden lotus.

 

Adarittu amudil kOl tOyttu, 'avayavam amaikkum tanmai

yAdu?' enat tigaikkum allAl, madanaRkum ezhuda oNNA

sItaiyait tarudalAlE, tirumagaL irunda Seyya

pOdu enap polindu tOnRum, pon madil mithilai pukkAr

( kamba. mithilai kATcip

paThalam - 4)

 

How was the city of MithilA? " tirumagaL irunda Seyya pOdu enap polindu

tOnRum pon madil mithilai pukkAr " . sItai is MahAlakshmI, right?

MahAlakshmI will be seated on a lotus. MithilA with sItai was like a

golden lotus.

 

Kamban describes it beautifully. Manmathan wanted to draw sItai's

figure. Paint was needed; What paint to use? Manmathan started

drawing her figure using amRtam [nectar] as paint.

 

'avayavam amaikkum tanmai yAdu?' enat tigaikkum allAl - One cannot

draw a picture of sItai's tirumEni. It will be an astounding

experience.

 

Oviyarkku ezhuda oNNA uruvattAi - Kamban is going to say this as VAli's

words later. 'What a wonder! - Oviyarkku ezhuda oNNA uruvattAi' (about

rAma's tirumEni).

 

That which is extraordinary cannot be drawn in a picture. Some will

look better in a drawing; they will not look good in person; have you

seen cases like that?

 

Some boys will decide on marriage after looking at photos. That is not

a right thing to do. Photo may be good - because of makeup. When the

girl blesses the boy with an appearance in person, she may look like

SUrpaNakA (Laughter in the audience)!

 

PirATTi's rUpam [form] is such that it cannot be drawn - 'tigaikkum

allAl Oviyattu ezhuda oNNAdu'. madanaRkum ezhuda oNNA - even Manmathan

cannot draw; yAdenat tigaikkum allAl.

 

Since the city of MithilA had sItA devi, who is a sarvA'nga sundari

[exquisitely charming in all aspects] - since it had MahA lakshmI

residing there - the city of MithilA was " tirumagaL irunda Seyya pOdu

enap polindu tOnRum " . What is the 'pOdu' that lakshmI is in? 'pOdu'

means flower, lotus flower. The city of MithilA was shining like a

full-blossomed lotus flower.

 

They reached MithilA. How was it?

 

SoRkalai munivan uNDa SuDar maNik kaDalum tunni

al kaDandu ila'ngu pal mIn arumbiya vAnum pOla

vil kalai nudalinArum maindarum veRuttu nItta

pon kalan kiDanda mADa neDum teru adanil pOnAr

( kamba.mithilai kATcip paThalam - 5)

 

In that city of MithilA, there were plenty of ornaments that were

strewn around on the streets; they were the ones that had been

discarded by couples who got fed up with them after wearing them

several times. Those ornaments were shining brilliantly like stars in

the sky; they looked like the fine stones and corals and pearls that

were exposed lying on the bare ocean floor after SoRkalai munivan -

Sage agastya, who gave us the tamizh language, had drunk the ocean's

water. They reached the city of MithilA with the golden gates -

ponmadil mithilai pukkar.

 

pon kalan kiDanda mADa neDum teru adanil pOnAr - They went into the

broad street strewn with gold all over, and with tall houses. They

were looking at the sights along the streets as they walked. There

were drama clubs, movie theatres; people were enacting dramas; some

were doing bharata nATyam. How was the dance?

 

nei tiraL narambin tanda mazhalaiyin iyanRa pADal

tai varu magara vINai taNNumai tazhuvit tU'nga

kai vazhi nayanam Sella kaN vazhi manamum Sella

aiya nuN iDaiyAr ADum ADaga ara'ngu kaNDAr

( kamba.mithilai kATcip paThalam - 8)

 

A graphic description. Ladies are doing bharata nATyam. They make

hand gestures, right! kai vazhi nayanam Sella - where the hand goes,

the eye also goes there. Will the eye go that side when the hand goes

this side? kai vazhi nayanam Sella.

 

kaN vazhi manamum Sella - the mind is going in the direction the eye

goes. How is the lady dancing? Which ladies are dancing? Ladies with

the best attributes are dancing. Not the ladies with waists that would

require 50 ounces of gold to make a waistband for them.

 

aiya nuN iDaiyAr ADum ADaga ara'ngu kaNDAr - Ladies who have waists

that were so slender as to cause one doubt whether they existed or not,

were dancing.

 

Will that dance be good, or, will the dance be good if performed by

someone who is " double berth " ? (laughter in the audience)

 

In front of some houses, there were swings made of kamugu wood (from

areca palm tree).

maragadak kamugu pUNDa USal - the swings had emerald green slabs

embedded in them. When I was walking in the streets of Bombay, I

noticed that in three-story houses, four-story houses, seven story

houses, etc.; there were swings in the balconies. I don't know when

they get time to sit and swing in them (laughter in the audience) - The

eyes just don't mind their own business when walking by!

 

Ladies are swinging in the swings. Kamban is describing. He is a very

superb poet. The swing goes this way and that way. How is it going?

 

mAsuRu piRavi pOla varuvadu pOvadAgi

 

What a superb description! mAsuRu piravi pOla - just like this jIva

that accumulates bad karma-s and keeps taking birth back and forth

repeatedly, the swing is coming and going back and forth. The ladies

are not just swinging the swing; they are making something else swing

too. They are dragging something else along with them as they are

swinging.

 

USalil, magaLir, maindar SindaiyODu ulavak kaNDAr

 

They are swinging along with the minds of the men who are looking at

them as they are swinging.

 

vALaram poruda vElum manmathan Silaiyum, vaNDin

kELoDu kiDanda nIlac curuLum Se'ngiDaiyum koNDu

nIL iruL kaLa'ngam nIkki nirai maNi mADa neRRi

SALaram tOrum tOnRum candira udayam kaNDAr

( kamba.mithilai kATcip paThalam -14)

 

rAma and lakshmaNa are walking through the street. ViSvAmitrar is also

going with his brahma daNDam [AcAryar humorously says here ViSvAmitrar

dADi - beard - is going!]! rAma and lakshmaNa are going with him. The

bungalows - houses - have lots of windows on either side.

 

There is a rising moon in each window. " What is this, there is a moon

in every window! " lakshmaNa exclaimed: " Brother! Are there so many

moons in this city! "

 

rAma said, " It is not the moon " .

 

" No, muttaNNA [elder brother]! These are moons; they look like moons

without any blemish " !

 

vALaram poruda vElum manmathan Silaiyum vaNDin

kELoDu kiDanda nIlac curuLum Sen'giDaiyum koNDu

 

Kamban is describing the beauty of these ladies' faces.

 

lakshmaNa says, " What a great surprise, muttaNNA! There are so many

faultless moons in this city " !

 

rAma said, " No, no; it is nothing " . lakshmaNan asks: " Then, what are

these? " rAma says that these are all just the ladies' faces.

 

Thus, they saw the faces of women who were looking from the windows -

SALaram tOrum tOnRum candira udayam kaNDAr.

 

They kept walking looking at the sights along the streets. There were

wells, ponds, etc., which had crystal clear water. If one drops a

coin, one can clearly see it and take it back. The water was that

clean. The steps were made of marble. Ladies were coming and taking

bath there.

 

pa'ngayam, kuvaLai, Ambal, paDar koDi vaLLai, nIlam,

Se'ngiDai, tara'ngam, keNDai, Sinai varAl inaiyadEmba

ta'ngaL vERu uvamai illA avayavam tazhuvi, SAlum

ma'ngaiyar virumbi ADum vAvigaL palavum kaNDAr

( kamba.mithilai kATcip paThalam - 18)

 

ma'ngaiyar virumbi ADum vAvigaL kaNDAr - a look at those ponds would

instill a desire to take a bath even in the month of mArgazhi [mid

December to mid January]. When you look at some ponds, you feel like

not wanting to take a bath and feel like moving on. I saw one such

pond here in Bombay for two days! (AcAryar has a slight laughter)

 

ma'ngaiyar virumbi ADum vAvigaL palavum kaNDAr

 

After they reached the wonderful city of MithilA, they proceeded

straight to the palace.

 

===========

(End of translation of AcArya rAmAmRtam as it appeared in the February

2008

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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