The 8th day of Sri Sundara KaaNDa NavAham:Sargams 53-60(460 verses)

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Dear BhakthAs:

 

On this day before Sri Raama Navami ,

We have 8 Sargams for PaarAyaNam today .

Those are:

 

(1) Sargam 53:Puccha Dahanam/Burning of

the tail of HanumAn

 

(2) Sargam 54: LankA dahanam /Burning of LankA by

HanumAn with the fire on his tail

 

(3) Sargam 55: Hanumatha:thrAsa:/ The fear of HanumAn

whether he had harmed Seethai by the fire that he set

 

(4) Sargam 56: LankAtha: samuthpathanam/Jumping from

LankA back to the other side of the Ocean

 

(5) Sargam 57: Utthara Theera PrApthi:/Reaching of the

northern shore

 

(6) Sargam 58: LankA vrutthAntha Kathanam/ telling

the stories of happenings at LankA

 

(7) Samanthara kaaryAlOchanam/Thinking about the next

things to do

 

(8) Angadha-Jaambhavath SamvAdha:/ The conversation between

Angadhan and JaambhavAn

 

In the 53rd Sargam , RaavaNan heeds the counsel of

his brother VibhishaNan and decides against the killing

of HanumAn. He recognized that the tail is very dear

to the monkeys ;hence he thought that the appropriate

punishment for HanumAn would be to set his tail on fire

and then display him at all the main streets of LankA.

The servants of RaavaNA bound the tail with old clothes ,

added oil to them and set the tail on fire and dragged

HanumAn with his burning tail around.Hanuman was happy

that he could see the city of LankA in day light to

get a better understanding of its defenses.Meanwhile ,

the children and women came in big numbers to see this

sight of a large monkey being dragged around with

a lit tail.The Raakshasis conveyed the news about

this event to Seethai.She was stricken with sorrow

about this turn of events.She prayed to Agni bhagavAn

through four moving slOkams not to cause any discomfort

to HanumAn:

 

yadhasthi PathisrushA yadhasthi charitham tapa:

yadhi vaasthyEka pathneethvam seethO bhava HanUmatha:

Sargam 53.27

 

(Meaning): Oh Agni Bhagavan!Please be cool to HanumAn ,

if my services to my Lord is true, if I had acaquired

austerity through such services and practised pathivrathA

dharmam properly.

 

Agni heard the prayers and did not cause any harm to

the tail of HanumAn.Meanwhile , Vaayu, the father of

HanumAn blew cold wind to quench the heat of the fire.

HanumAn recognized that SeethA's dayai , Raama tEjas and

his father's affection had prevented him from being

harmed by the fire on his tail lit by the raakshasAs.

 

HanumAn freed himself from the ropes of

the raakshasAs and jumped like a lightning

on the tops of the mansions of LankA and set

fire to them. The frightened citizens of LankA

ran into the streets from their burning houses.Great

damage was done again by HanumAn to the city of LankA

to demonstrate the shape of things to happen later .

The 54th sargam provides detail on HanumAn burning

down the houses of the sons and the trusted generals of

RaavaNA one by one.He arived finally at RaavaNan's palace.

After surveying the damage done there, HanumAn jumped

on to the top of the ThrikUta mountain overlooking

LankA.There, he meditated on his Lord, Sri Raamachandran.

 

Adhi Kavi describes in the 55th sargam the fear

that pervaded HanumAn after he quenched the fire on

his tail by dipping it in the water of the ocean.

Suddenly , he realized that he might have caused harm

to SeethA from the fire he set in LankA.He feared

whether SeethA perished in the fire that swirled

around LankA.Hanuman condemned himself for his lack

of thought.He wanted to kill himself for his

shortsightedness.He thought of the consequences of

SeethA's death on the IshvAku family. At that time of

great sorrow of HanumAn, auspicious signs appeared.

HanumAn concluded that Seethai is safe and that no

harm came to Her( na nasishyathi KalyANI naagniragnou

pravarthathE).He concluded further from the throbbing

of his right brow and thigh (subha sakunams) that Seethai

was safe.Now , he overheard the conversation between

the SaaraNAs , who were flying over LankA stating that

it was a miracle that SeethA PirAtti was unharmed

in the fire that destroyed most of LankA.

 

In the 56th sargam , hanumAn decides to see SeehtA

once again .SeethA was very happy to see HanumAn

without harm and sent a message to Her Lord to

come to LankA quickly and recover Her back to His

side. HanumAn prostrated before SeethA and took her

leave to return to RaamA's side.HanumAn got on top of

a nearby mountain named Arishtam, swelled his body into

a gigantic size to jump over the ocean.

 

In the 57th sargam , HanumAn's leap over the ocean

is described by Aadhi Kavi with great slOkams .His

roar in the sky was heard by the waiting monkeys and bears

on ground on the other side. They were thrilled and

were eager to talk to HanumAn.The great HanumAn landed

on top of MahEndra parvatham .He blessed the younger monkeys

and offered his salutations to the elders like JaambhavAn

and shouted with joy " dhrashtA SeethA " ( SeethA has been

seen by me) . The assembled friends of HanumAn were

thrilled to hear the good news (SarvE mudhithA VaanarA

bhavan).They praised HanumAn for his matchless valour

and prostrated before him .

 

In the 58th sargam , HanumAn described to JaambhavAn

and the others assembled on top of MahEndra parvatham

the details of his jump over the Ocean , the visit

to LankA and all of the happenings there. In this long

sargam consisting of 157 slOkams , HanumAn describes in

great detail the many happenings during his visit to

LankA as the Raama dhUthan and concludes his speech

with Saathvika Thyaagam:

 

Raaghavasya prabhAvEna bhavathAm chaiva tEjasA

SugrIvasya cha kaaryArtham mayA sarvam anushtitham

Sargam 58.156

 

(Meaning): Oh JaambhavAn ! Due to the prabhAvam of

Sri Raamachandran , due to your anugraham , all

these were accomplished by me in the line of command

given by SugrIva raajA made .

 

In the 59th sargam, HanumAn talks further about

the next steps to be taken.In the 60th sargam ,

Angadhan , the son of Vaali and JaambhavAn ,

the eldest among the group converse about these next

steps.They agreed to hasten to RaamA's side to convey

through HanumAn , aispicious news so that RaamA

can decide on the next step.

 

Sri Raamachandra ParabrahmaNE nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil V.SadagOpan