Raghavayadhaveeyam-slokas1to5

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RAghavayAdhaveeyam

by Sri vEnkatADHvari

 

The author Sri Venkatadhvari was born at Arasanipalai near Kancheepuram and was

astaumh follower of Sri vedntadesika.He had mastery in poetry and rhetorics. He

had composed 14 works , the most important of them being Lakshmisahasram by

composing which he got back his lost eyesight.

 

The present work Raghavayadhaveeyam comprises of 30 verses and deals with the

story of Rama and Krishna together by adopting the style of anuloma and

prathiloma, that is,reading each stanza as such and in reverse order, the former

telling the story of Rama while the latter narrating the story of Krishna. Hence

this work actually consists of 60 slokas in all.

 

The story of Rama follows Valmiki Ramayana closely but there is a slight

deviation with respect to the story of Krishna which will be explained as the

work progresses.The style is rather difficult to understand and the commentary

in sanskrit is provided by the author himself to facilitate comprehension. I

will try to give the same in English.

 

Sloka 1

vandhe aham dhEvam tham Sreetham

ranthAram kAlam bhAsA yah

rAmah rAmADHeeh ApyAgah

leelAm Ara AyOdhyE vAsE

 

I pay obeissance to Sri Rama, who travelled to the mountains of Malaya and

Sahya, with his mind occupied with the thought of Sita and returned to Ayodhya

and was sporting with Sita for a long time.

 

rAmA dheeh- With his dhee, mind, in rAmA, woman, that is, Sita.

ApyagAh-Apthum yogyAH agAh-The mountains of Sahya and Malaya which were fit to

travel.(Aga means mountain) Apyagah means one who went to these mountains. Rama

who was roaming around in the mountains looking for Sita, is denoted by the

words, rAmAdheeh and Apyagah. Then after killing Ravana his return to Ayodhya

and passing the time with Sita is mentioned with the rest of the sloka.

 

AyOdhYe means ayodhyAbhavE , that which is in Ayodhya, and vAse means in the

mansion.

 

LeelAm enjoyment, Sreetham means from Sree, that is Sita. Ara means obtained.

 

KAlam rantharam means he was spending the time and bhAsa , with his

splendour.

 

Aham, I , vandhe, bow down , tham dhevam, that Rama.The whole sentence implies

that after returning to Ayodhya Rama spent long time enjoying the company of

Sita , shining with his splendour and to such Rama I offer my obeissance

 

Now by prathiloma or reversion, the same sloka describes Krishna.

 

Reading from backwards, it is as follows:

sEvAdhyEyO rAmAlAlee

gOpyArADHee mArAmOrAh

yassAbhAlamkAram thAram

tham Sreetham vandheham dhEvam

 

(The reverse order will be obvious only by reading it in devanagari and I am

attaching the same as jpeg file) I bow to lord Krishna,who is contemplated by

penance and sacrifice, who plays with Rukmini and other consorts, who is

worshipped by the gopis, whose chest is the sporting field of Lakshmi and who is

adorned with radiant ornaments.

 

Seva refers to the spiritual and religious austerities like penance and

sacrifice. DHyehah- to be contemplated. The Lord can be understood only through

austerities like yoga , thapas etc.

 

rAmA means woman and here it refers to the eight wives of Krishna with whom he

revels, LAlee meaning one who revels.

 

gOpyArAdhEE is to be split as gopyah ArAdhayanthi tham, he is worshipped by the

gopis.

 

mArAmOrAh-mA means Lakshmi. ArAma means sport and urah is the chest. mAyAh

ArAmabhoothah urah yasya sah , that is, he who has the chest which is the

playground of Lakshmi, as she resides in His heart.

 

sAbhAlamkAram- bhA is radiance. bhasA saha= sAbhah, with radiance.alankAra

denotes ornaments and the whole word means, he who is radiant with ornaments.

 

tham, that Krishna,Sreetham, who is with Lakshmi, aham, I , thAram, loudly,

vandhe, pray.

 

 

sloka-2

sAkEthAkhyA jyAyAmAseeth yA viprAdheepthA AryADHArA

pooH AjeethA adhEvAdhyAviSvAsA agryA sAvASArAvA

 

There was a city called Ayodhya,on earth, which was shining with brahmins who

were well-versed in vedas, and with merchants and was the place of abode of

Dasaratha, the son of Aja, and it was always attended by the devas who assembled

there to partake the offerings of the sacrifices and it was the first and

foremost of all the cities on earth.

 

 

sAkEthAkhya-Ayodhya had another name Saketha.Akhya means named

jyAyAm- jyA means earth ( also means the string of the bow here means only

earth) and jyAyAm means on earth.

 

 

Aseeth- was.

ya -which, viprAdheepthA-shining , Adheeptha, with viprAH-brahmins, vipraih+

AdheepthA=viprAdheepthA

 

AryADHaRA-ARYAH means vaiSyAH- merchant community, thAh, they were

ADHArAh-the support of the city, denotes its riches.

 

pooH-city. AjeethA-derived as ajasya apathyam pumAn= AjeeH, the son of

Aja.thEna ithA- acquired by him meaning Ayodhya.

 

adhevAdhyAviSvAsa-means no lack of faith in or no fear from the devas. ViSvAsa

is faith and avisvAsa is the lack of it. By using double negative, adhEva and

avisvAsa the meaning becomes positive.That is, there was no dhEvAdhishu

avisvAsaH, lack of faith in devas. This implies the frequent attendence of the

devas there in order to partake the offering of the sacrifices conducted

continously.

 

agryA-first and foremost . The adjective agra is in feminine form as it

qualifies ayodhya, a feminine noun.There are seven sacred cities to die at which

is said to secure eternal happiness. AyodhyA is the first one mentioned in the

sloka that gives out the names of them. ' ayODHyA maThurA mAyA kASeem

kAnchiravanthikA;puree dhvAravavathee chaiva

sapthaithAh mO kshadhAyikAAH.' They are, Ayodhya, Mathura, Maaya, Kasi, Kanchi,

Avanthi and Dvaraka.

 

sAvASArAvA- Sava is sacrifice and savASA means devas, savam asnanthi, those who

eat out of the sacrifice, taking the offerings.ArAva is tumultous sound here

meaning that of devas who throng there to partake the offerings.

 

Sloka 2 in reverse

vArAsAvAsAgryA saSvA vidhyAvAdhEthAjeerA pooh

rADHAryApthA dheeprA vidhyAseemA yA jyAkhyAthA kE sA

 

The city of Dvaraka, which was famous on earth as the noteworthy of the

cities,abundant in horses and elephants,the ground of scholars who contest in

debates, the place of residence of Sri Krishna, the Lord of Radha and the seat

of learning for spitritual knowledge was situated in the midst of ocean.

 

vArASou means in the midst of ocean, vari is water and rasi is the assemblage,

meaning ocean.

 

Asa means 'it was.'

agryA here means important or praise worthy, being mentioned in the sloka quoted

above as puree dhvAravathee chaiva in the end of the list of the seven cities

which are supposed to give moksha to one who leaves his body there.

 

saSva- with horses which include elephants and other paraphernalia of kings.

 

vidhyAvadhethAjeera- vidhyAvAdha is the debate of learning ; ithAjee means

winning in the battle and irA is the ground.The word is derived as

vidhyAvAdhEshu ithAjayaH thEshAm irA.

 

pooH is city.

rADHAryApthA- rADHArya is Krishna, split as rAdhAyAh =of radha, AryaH =

Lord.tham prAptha means, 'having got Him' meaning the city of dvaraka which had

Krishna as its Lord.

 

dheeprA-shining, vidhyAseemA means the limit of learning literally and

it implies the Brahmavidhya which is the boundary or the uppermost limit of all

learning, being the seat of Bhagavan.

 

yA-which city was khyAthA= famous.

sA= that city (was) kE=in water.

 

 

 

sloka3

kAmabhAssThalasAraSreesouDHA asou ghanvApikAh

sArasAravapeenA sarAgAkArasubhooribhooh

 

The city of Ayodhya, abounding in mansions, the abodes of riches and splendour

and of people,whose desires are fulfilled. is the land of deep wells and the

cooing of saarasa birds and of red coloured earth or of red gold.

 

kAmabhAh means shining with the ardour caused by Manmatha, according to the

commentary of the author who explains the word as kAmasya bhAH=manmatThasya

thejaH, thasya sThalabhoothAh. As this may create a false notion about the

people of Ayodhya it could be translated as the place where all the desires.kAma

are satisfied.

 

sAraSree may be construed to mean all the riches essential for life.

souDHA means a mansion while asou means this, Ayodhya.

vApee is a well ghanavapee implies the place which has deep wells.

sarasaravapeenA - sArasa (bird)+Arava (sound) +peenA ( meaning a lot of cooing

sound, peena literally meaning stout), denotu ing the city which is filled with

the cooing of sArasa birds.

 

sarAgAkArasubhooribhooH- sarAga, with raga or red colour + AkAra, form

+subhoori, may mean gold or simply rich colour.Bhooh is the land or earth and

means the city of Ayodhya which is either of red coloured earth or rich with

redcoloured gold, as subhoori may also mean rich as bhoori means abundance.

 

 

The sloka in reverse order

bhooribhoosurakAgArAsanA peevarasArasA

kA api va anaghasouDHa asou SreerasalasThabhAmakA

 

The houses of Dvaraka are having raised platforms for doing rituals and hence

full of brahmins.The lotuses blossoming there are large.The city has mansions

without blemishes and it shines with mango trees on the top of which the sun was

visible.

 

bhoori+bhoosuraka+agArAsanA -abounding in brahmins around the dais of ritual.

 

peevara+ big,sarasa=lotus. peevarasrasa denotes that which has big lotuses, that

is the city of Dvaraka.

 

anaghasoudHA- agha is fault and anagha means faultless, souDHA is mansion.

 

asou= this, (Dvaraka)

 

SreerasAlasTHa - Sree=glory or beauty, rasAla is mango tree, Bhamaka is the Sun,

SreersalasThabhAmaka means that the Sun was on the mangotrees, implying that the

trees are very tall.

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in Sanskrit.

Web address:

http://www.geocities.com/sarojram18

http://freewebs.com/gitaclass