desire 10

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava

perunthagaiyeer,

 

We saw in the previous post, how

vaalmeeki introduced, in grandeur, raavaNa, the chief villain. We also saw

raavaNa's intention of abducting seethaa in a covetous manner. Now we will see how vaalmeeki introduces the

next 'desire laden' 'kaama mohitha' character soorpaNakhaa.

 

'Why sudden change of course?' if

somebody asks me, then my answer is 'to focus on raama's gunam' first as

vaalmeeki introduces raama, and now on 'raama's beauty'.

 

That is my 'desire'- my 'kaamam'

– see the beautiful environment or circumstance in which vaalmeeki intoduces

character 'soorpaNakhaa'

– milky white and calm situation and in that the black snake enters – like the

'chandhra grahaNam' – 'raahu grastha somOparaaga puNya kaalam' as they put in

panchaangam.

 

uvaasa sukhithah thathra poojyamaanO maharshibhih|

sa raamah parNa saalaayaam aaseenah saha

seethayaa || 3-17-3

viraraaja mahaa baahuh chithrayaa chandhramaa iva |

lakshmaNEna saha bhraathraa chakaara vividhaah

kathaah || 3-17-4

 

Meaning: There Raama comfortably spent time while

being adored by eminent sages when he was with them, and describing many a

narratives while sitting in hermitage along with Seethaa and his brother

LakshmaNa, thus he shone forth like the moon when associated with Chithra

constellation.

 

Point:

1.

timewise

- when soorpaNakhaa enters the story, it is almost 13 years of vanavaasam - the

forest sojourn - is over. During this, raama met sage agasthya twice – first at

the beginning – within a year - for the second time after nearly 10 years etc -

all these were completed.

2.

Further

see the description – in these 12 or 13 years raama spent his time with many a

sages discussing so many stories.

3.

If

you ask "Is it philosophical – vEdhaantha vichaaram, or raaja dharmam or other

narratives?" – no specific answer – 'vividhaa kathaa' says vaalmeeki. So it can

be, it need not be.

4.

Earlier

when somebody raised a point – 'does that means that raama and seethaa were

always in sOkham during their life' or 'raamayaNa kaavyam is a sOkha kaavyam' –

I replied him vaalmeeki did not highlight the happy moments much but describes

the sorrowful narratives in a great manner.

5.

For

the happy moments, this is one grand description. Another is that 'for

dhvaadhasa samaa [12 years] bunjaanaan maanushaan bhOgan' by seethaa, as

introduction to raavaNa and later to hanumaan – a repetition of slokam.

6.

Why

so much description on these happy moments – you may ask – it is to highlight a

turnoff in the events to come.

thadhaa aaseenasya raamasya kathaa samsaktha

chEthasah |

tham dhEsam raakshasee kaachidh aajagaama yadhruchChhayaa ||

3-17-5

 

meaning: At one time when Raama was sitting in the

hermitage and heartily absorbed in telling narratives, some demoness arrived at

that place incidentally. [3-17-5]

 

saa thu soorpaNakhaa naama dhasagreevasya rakshasah |

bhaginee raamam aasaadhya dhadharsa thridhasa upamam || 3-17-6

 

meaning: She is the sister of 10 faced demon

RaavaNa, SoorpaNakha, by name, and she has seen him on reaching the

paradisiacal being Raama.

 

point: Is it 30,

or 3 dhasa astrologically – main mahadhasa, anthardhasa and prathyanthardhasa –

indicating exact bad or good patch of time?

 

Here in the 3 commentaries I have,

this simile of 'thridhasa upamam' is not commented upon or explained. So

persons who know astrology [immediate name that comes to mind is Jayasree

saranathan madam], can explain what is the significance of this comparison.

 

dheepthaasyam cha mahaabaahum padhma pathraayatha

eekshaNam |

gaja vikraantha gamanam jaTaa maNdala dhaariNam ||

3-17-7

sukumaaram mahaa saththvam paarthiva vyanjana

anvitham |

raamam indheevara syaamam kandharpa sadhrisa prabham || 3-17-8

babhoova indhra upamam dhrishTvaa raakshasee kaama mOhithaa |

 

meaning: Raama, He,

§

Whose

face is radiant,

§

arms

are lengthy,

§

eyes

are large like lotus petals,

§

has

strides like that of an elephant,

§

is

wearing bunches of hair-tufts,

§

is

delicate yet greatly vigorous,

§

is

possessor of all royal aspects,

§

has

a complexion of deep-blue - like a blue lotus,

§

is

similar to Love-god in brilliance

§

is

in simile to Indhra,

the demoness soorpaNakhaa has seen such a Raama and became lovesick. [3-17-7, 8, 9a]

 

point: the

description is something great. Just on seeing raama she became lovelorn –

kaNdavudan kaadhal.

Now see the comparison between a an

'ugliness personified' and 'beauty personified' – both being put together –

this is what is kavi chathuryam – poet's greatness --

 

sumukham dhurmukhee raamam, vruththa madhyam

mahOdharee || 3-17-9

visaalaaksham viroopaakshee sukEsam thaamra moordhajaa |

priya roopam viroopaa saa susvaram bhairava svanaa

|| 3-17-10

tharuNam dhaaruNaa vridhdhaa dhakshiNam vaama

bhaashiNee |

nyaaya vriththam sudhurvriththaa priyam apriya dharsanaa || 3-17-11

sareeraja samaavishTaa raakshasee raamam

abraveeth |

 

meaning: She, that demoness, spoke besieged by

Love-god to raama

soorpaNakhaa raama

§

who

is facially unpleasant one that

pleasant faced one,

§

pot

bellied one the

slim-waisted one,

§

wry-eyed

one the

broad-eyed one,

§

coppery-haired

one the neatly tressed one,

§

ugly

featured one the

charming featured one,

§

brassy

voiced one the

gentle voiced one,

§

deplorably

oldish one the

younger one,

§

crooked

talker the pleasant talker,

§

ill-mannered

one the well-mannered one,

§

uncouth

one couth,

 

§

abominable

one amiable Rama

 

point: the introduction of character of soorpaNakhaa is

great – it is a direct hit - on that 'porundhaak kaadhal' – mismatched love -

is being highlighted.

 

This type of great introduction is the thing to be

enjoyed. As we saw what raavaNa said about raama and maareecha countered every

aspect of raavaNa's words; see here vaalmeeki himself narrates the mismatch

between raama and soorpaNakhaa by placing them together and how she baceme

lovesick just on seeing.

 

Just roll in mind the beauty of raama once again and

we will continue in next post

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan MG