HamsasandESa

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Dear devotees,

 

We have discussed about the excellent poetic ability

of Swami Desika. Let us just look into the first sloka

 

just as an example.

 

As is customary, the narration of the theme is

reflected in this verse and since it is the story of

Sri Rama, it is very mAngalika also.

 

VamSE jAta: savitu: anaghE mAnayan mAnushatvam

dEva: SrImAn janakatanayAnvEshaNE jAgarUka:|

PratyAyAtE pavanatanayE nischitArtha: sa kAmI

KalpAkArAm kathamapi niSAm AvibhAtam vishEhE||

 

SUMMARY :

 

Regarding mankind with esteem and thus born in the

human race

in the flawless dynasty of the Sun(sUrya vamsha);

sleepless and seeking for his beloved, the daughter of

Janaka(SitA); the Lord(Rama, incarnation of Sriman

Narayana), impassioned & resolute, subsequent to

learning about SItA from the son of pavana.(Hanuman);

endured that unbearable night, analogous to a Kalpa,

(Pralaya, Kalpa also means one thousand yugas), with

extreme difficulty.

 

DESCRIPTION :

 

After the return of HanumAn from LankA, Rama having

learnt about DevI SitA, laments for her. Then he

devises the future plans to bring back Sita. For

Rama, that night seemed to be a kalpa, a measure of

time

which is equivalent to one thousand yugas, because of

separation from His beloved.

 

Let us now, take a closer look at a few words :

 

The word " DEVA: SRIMAN " carries lot of significance.

 

dEva: means NArAyaNa and SrImAn means the one who is

always associated with Shree(Lakshmi). As

we can see from " nityayOgE matup " , the matup suffix

means nityayOga or eternal association. Azhwar's

pasurm " ahalahillEn…… " can be recalled.

From the usage of this word, we can know that the

separation is only His leelai.

 

Also we may notice the very words 'dEva: SrImAn' in

the YuddhakAnDa of Ramayana also.

 

" BhavAn nArAyaNO dEva; SrIman chakrAyudhO hari: "

 

" MANAYAN MANUSHATVAM " , means considering mankind with

regards, out of saulabhya gunam.

Thus he was born in the human race as per his promise

to the dEvAs.

 

It may be recalled that Ravana propetiated Brahma and

got the boon, not to be slain by either dEvAs,

yakshAs, rAkshasAs, gandharvAs etcect except mAnavAs,

i.e, humans.

" tEna gandharva yakshANAm dEva dAnava rakshasAm|

avadhyOsmIti vAguktA tathEtyuktam cha tanmaYA||

 

The Lord promised the dEvAs,

" vatsyAmi mAnushE lOkE pAlayan prthivIm imAm "

 

Here , the paratvam and saulabhyam of our Lord is

reflected by the words dEvasrImAn and mAnayan

mAnushatvam respectively. It is very hard to find

these two qualities at one place. For e.g. the Meru,

or

the Golden mountain lacks Soulabhyam even though it

has Paratvam. On the other hand, the kAshta

lOshta, (mud, stone etc) lacks Paratvam but available

in plenty. But our Lord besides being dEvAdhidEva

is also paramasulabhan to his devotees.

 

The word ANAGHE VAMSHE, meaning, the flawless, "

saishA traiyyEva vidyA tapati " .

Due to the association of the dynasty with the Sun,

who is trayImaya or vEdamaya, the flawlessness and

the greatness of the dynasty befitting the incarnation

of the Lord, is substantiated. Also, as said in the

BAlakAnda of Ramayana,

 

" AdivamSa viSudhhAnAm rAJnAM paramadharmiNAm|

IksvAku kula jAtAnAm vIrANAm satyavAdinAm|| "

 

The kings of Iksvaku dynasty were known for their

valour and truthfulness. This establishes the yOgyatA

 

of this dynasty for the incarnation of Paramapurusha.

 

The word " JAATA: " means born. The Lord who is sung by

VEdas as " ajAyamAnO bhudhA vijAytE "

has taken birth only out of His Soulabhyam & Parama

kAruNyam and not karma nimitthakam(bound to

karma). The incarnation is one of his Leelai(Sport).

 

The word " Janaka tanayA " denotes Sita, the daughter of

Janaka. Here Sri Desikan choses the word

Janaka tanayA to signify the glory of Janaka who is

quoted as " BrahmavidAm AgrEsara: " (Greatest

among Brahmavits). He is also mentioned in the vEdas.

SIta being the daughter of such a great king is a

true match for Rama who hails from the Surya dynasty.

 

 

Whenever the Lord descends on earth, PirAtti who is

unseparable from the Lord also incarnates as His

consort. This is clear from :

" rAghavatvEbhavat sItA, rukmiNI krshNa janmani|

AnyESu cha avatArESu vishNOrEshA anapAyinI||

 

The word " PAVANA TANAYA " refers to Hanuman. Here also

Sri dEsikan does'nt make a direct reference

to hanuman. He choses to mention HanumAn as Pavana

tanaya (Son of vAyu) to stress that a messenger

who is sent for AnvEshaNa or search should possess

certain qualities which HanumAn qualifies being the

son of vAyu, for, vAyu moves very fast and also

capable of reaching any place which is not reachable

by

others as we can see,

" vAyu: yaThaikO Bhuvanam pravishta: vAyu: sarvatragO

mahAn "

 

HanumAn very well imbibes these qualities from vAyu.

 

The word " KALPAKARAM " qualifies " NISHA " the night.

Kalpa means Pralaya. For RAma that night

was unbearable as the Pralaya kAla because of

separation or viyOga. Kalpa also means the time

measure

(Thousands of yugas).

We can see from AraNya kAnDa of RamAyaNa, Rama Himself

says :

 

" JnAtipaksha vihInasya rAjaputrIm apashyata:||

manyE dIrghA Bhavishyanti rAtrayO mama jagrata : ||

 

and also from BhAgavatha " Truti yugAyatE tvAm

ApashyatAm "

the agony of gOpikAs is such that even a " truti " , a

second is felt like a yuga.

 

The prosody or Chandas of this verse is MandAkrantA

and we can see the various alankAras or figues of

speeches like kAvyalingam, parikara, virOdHa AbHasa

….etc. here.

 

Now let us see at some of the qualities of this kAvya

which make it an " Utthama kAvyam " and also

" MahA kAvya "

 

1. The nAyaka here is Lord Rama, hero of heroes and

Sriman nArAyaNa himself unlike the cursed

2. Yaksha of mEghadUta. One of the important

qualities of a kAvya is Utthama NAyakatvam i.e

3. . the main character of the story should be

Prasiddha (Distinguished).

 

The qualities of Utthama Nayaka are :

 

TadguNAstu mahAbhagyam AudAryam sthairya dakshatE|

Aujjvalyam DhArmikatvam cha kulInatvam cha vAgmithA||

 

DayAvAn AtigambhIra: vinIta: satva sAravAn|

DrDhavrata: titikshAvAn Aatma SlAghA prAn.mukha||

 

Etc. etc.

 

Here in the words " Savitu: AnaghE vamshE jAta: " the

quality kulInatvam (Hailing from a

Great dynasty) can be seen as mentioned in the above

verses.

 

The words " MAnayan MAnushatvam " reflects the quality

vinItatvam (humbleness).

 

By " dEva: SrImAn " the quality " MahA bhAgyavatvam " (the

most fortunate or blessed)

 

The words " janakatanayA AnvEshaNE jAgarUka: " reflect

the two qualities " drDhavratatvam "

and " dayALutvam " .

i.e. firmness in religious austerity & Benevolence.

 

In the word " kathamapi niShAm " , the quality

" titikshutvam " or Forbearance can be seen.

…Etc. etc.

 

2. The " Rasa " or the sentiment is very essential to a

kAvya. They constitute the very essence of poetry

as seen from " vAkyam rasAtmakam kAvyam " .

 

The rasa here is " Vipralambha SrngAra rasa " .

 

The many feelings of separated :

" drnmana: sanga sankalpA : jAgara : krSatA arati:|

hrItyAgOnmAda mUrchAntA: ityananga dasA daSa||

 

We can see " jAgar: " , wakefulness, arati, absence of

pleasure, " UnmAda: " , Intense passion,

" Sankalpa " , determination etc., from the words

" janakatanayA AnvEShaNE jAgarUka: " ,

" NishchitArtha: " , " kAmI " etc.,

 

We can also see the various " GunAs " or qualities

considered as property of both Sabda & Artha.

Some of them are " PrasAda, " MAdhurya, " SankshEpa " etc.

 

 

We can see these qualities " PrasAda " ….respectively

from the clearness of style, sweetness and

abridgment of the entire story of RamAyaNa, in a

single verse.

 

A kAvya devoid of " guNas " , even though adorned with

good figures of speech is not to be considered as

a good one as said " alankrtam api srAvyam na kAvyam

guNa varjitam " .

 

With this we conclude the first slOka. There are many

more qualities about the kAvya to be discussed.

But out of fear of elaboration, it is cut short. H.H.

Sri KrshNa Brahma Tantra parakAla swAmin has written

more than 10-15 pages of commentary on this first

verse.

 

With all these, this is no doubt an Utthama kAvyam.

Sri dEsikan was held in high esteem not only by his

followers but even by his opponents as said in case of

Lord SrI Rama, " ripO: prakhyata vIryasya "

(sung even by his enemy, RAvana). Great scholars like

Appayya dIkshita, VidyAraNya, etc. were his

admirers. Appayya dIkshita, a staunch Advaitin & one

of the great scholars of his time, having been

carried away by Sri dEsikan's works, has written a

commentary on his " YAdavAbhyudayam " , another

great kAvyam based on the story of Lord KrshNa. He

applauds srI dEsikan saying :

" ittham vichintyA: sarvatra BhAvA: santi padE padE |

kavitArkika simhasya kAvyEshu lalitEshvapi " ||

meaning, the works of kavitArkika simha (as acclaimed

by him) are enriched with with rasa bHAva,

lAlitya etc and these qualities can be felt in each &

every word. srI dEsikan being a SrIvaishNava

vishistAdvaitin, was made the negotiater to adjudge

the best argument between akshObhya tIrtha (dvaitin)

& the great vidyAraNya (advaitin). With this we know

the recognitin of his depth of knowledge in all

schools of vEdanta.

 

 

With all these we can understand the greatness of our

swAmin and the title " kavitArkikasimha " really

befits him.

 

Reference book on HamsasandEsha :

The " rasAswAdinI " commentary in Sanskrit by Sri. H. H.

Sri KrisNa Brahma tantra parakAla swAmigal

of parakAla mutt.

 

This is just a humble attempt by mandabudhhis.

(mandasya sAhasamidam…..) Kindly correct us where

ever required.

 

Desikar thiruvaDihalE SaraNam

Deep pranamams

 

dAsI Padmini and dAsan Venugopal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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