seetha manohara

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishNava

perunthagaiyeer,

 

With due respects to our

moderator sri Oppiliappn Koil Sadagopan swamy, I start the comments on his

'raama ashtOththara naamaavaLi' – the naamaas being taken from Sri

thyaagaraajaa's krithis [sT krithis, in short].

 

The first naamam is 'SrI Seethaa

manOharAya nama:'. This krithi is set to Raama ManOhari Raagam as per ST. This raagam is from or

janyam from 'raama priyaa' the 52 mELa raagam.

 

 

Who is raama priyaa? It is

seethaa. The raagam selected by ST for his krithi 'seethaa manohara' from which

our Sadagopan swamy coined that naama Sree Seethaa manOharAya nama: is 'raama

manOhari' – which also means – or simply it denotes seethaa again.

 

The janya raagam and mother

raagams are denoting or representing seethaa. Just let us see what other

raagams has this 'manohari' name as part of the name of a raagam – whether it

be janyam or mELam. They are

ManOhari Raama manOhari

Jaya manOhariGowri manOhariEesa manOhariSaraswathi manOhari

DhEva manOhariKamala manOhari

 

[note: This is what I can list

and other music experts can add other raagams having manohari as part name in

raagams].

 

This krithi starts with pallavi

reading 'seethaa manOhara sringaara sEkhara'. Now let us see the krithi.

 

seetha manOhara

raagam: ramaamanOhari taaLam:

aadi

 

52 raamapriyaa mEla

Aa: S R1 G3 M2 P D2 N2 S

Av: S N2 D2 P M2 G3 R1 S

 

Composer: Tyaagaraaja Language: Telugu

pallavi

seethaa manOhara sringaara sEkhara

 

 

anupallavi

vaathaasanaari vara vaahana vaarija aasana

aadhi vandhitha padha

 

charaNam 1

tholi janmamulanu jEsina poojaa phalamO lEka

needhu kaTaaksha balamO neevaaDanu nEnani lOkulu balkagaa dhyaanuDanaitini

 

charaNam 2

dheena lOka samrakshaka dheivaadheenamuga nee

roopamu naadhu

maanasaabjamuna naTiyuNDagaa nE nenthaTi bhaagyasaalinee

 

 

charaNam 3

dhiththa thanamunanu bhakthi sthira

mounaTTugaa sree raama

ennaTiki gaTTigaanu thyaagaraajuni cheyi

baTTi rakshinchi ElukOvayya

 

Now continuing with our naama,

'seethaa manOharaaya', or part of pallavi as it is, it leads us to a meaning -

it is raama one who steals the mind of seethaa.

 

And not as per raagam 'raama

manoharee' which means seethaa, the mind stealer of raama. Even if we consider

the mother raagam – raama priyaa it is again denoting or pointing to 'seethaa'

the priyaa of raama.

 

manah harathi ithi

manOharah -- meaning – one who defeats the opposite standing or opposite-positioned

person's mind he is manOharah.

 

To elaborate, a person is

there and a second one is having a good look at the first one. By this simple

look of the second person on the first, the second one simply loses his mind

control and attracted to the first wholly and solely, soulfully. Then the first

is said to be a 'manah harah' or simply 'manoharah'. If this first person who

steals the mind of second is a women or a lady, then she is manoharee.

 

In Sree Vishnu sahasra naamam also there is a

naamam 'manoharaaya namah' naama no. 462 meaning 'stealer of mind'.

 

In sreemadh raamaayaNam, [in first sargam

itself] when vaalmeeki questioned naaradha, he starts talking about raama as

'sadhaiva priya dharsanah' – raama is always attractive and good to look at -

Slokam 1-1-16. Again in 1-1-18 naaradha says raama is 'sOmavath priya

dharsanah' – meaning - like a moon he is cool and attractive to look at.

 

Why this repetition – for naaradha was asked by

vaalmeeki – 'kah cha Eka priya dharsanah' in 1-1-3 – who is good to look at. So

naaradha replies first raama is good to look at, then since he is not satisfied

with that, he repeats with a comparison, like a moon, raama is good to look at.

 

 

Here a human aspect is also spelt. Anybody who

sees a moon in full blossom, that too in a rainy season, is he satisfied with

one simple look?

 

I do not think so that he will be satisfied with

one look. So, he repeats looking at moon, not once or twice, but many times,

then in that beauty of that natural scenic splendor, he loses his mind on that

moon – at least for some time. So moon is manOharah. That is why 'sOmavath

priya dharsana'.

 

Also remember when krishNa invited all gOpa vadhoo,

milkmaids of brindhaavan - by his flute for raasa kreeda- in the 'sarath kaala

chandhra lit night'.

 

So when one is so good to look at it is but

natural we lose our mind at that person by simply looking at. – then he is

manOharah. [due to length - will continue in next].

dhasanVasudevan MG