Sri DhAtee Panchakam

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa SriVedanta Desika Yatindra

Maha Desikaya Nama:

 

Sri Dhatee Panchakam

___

Opinions may differ as to the authorship of this

stotram, but there are no two opinions about its

beauty and devotional fervour. According to some, this

is a composition of that venerable bard and sishya

ratnam, Sri KoorattAzhvAn, while others aver that

each of its five slokas has been contributed by one

disciple of Sri Ramanuja( Sri KoorattAzhvan, Sri

MudaliAndAn, Sri Pillan, Sri EmbAr and Sri Kidambi

AcchAn) .This stotra commemorates Sri Ramanuja’s

victory over opponents belonging to various schools of

philosophy. The principal contribution of

Emperumanar is Darsana StthApanam- it was he who

established VisishtAdvaitA on an unshakeable pedestal,

after demolishing various unsound and offending

structures put up by vaidika and avaidika

philosophers: but for his Sri Bhashya, our hoary

sampradaya would have long been extinct , bulldozed

into rubble by powerful mAyAvAdis and others of their

ilk.

There are those who are content

with stating their views, and refrain from criticizing

others’. However, establishing one’s own viewpoint

necessarily involves pointing out, courteously, the

lacunae in opposing views. Thus para paksha nirasanam

has been a tradition in our sampradaya, starting with

Sri Nammazhvar, who is described as “Kurugayil vandu

kozhuppadakkiya nam kulapati”. This was continued by

Sri AlavandAr in his Purusha NirNayam and

Siddhitrayam, the crowning glory being the Sri Bhashya

of Sri Ramanuja. Sri Kooratazhvan , in his Stavams and

Sri Bhattar, in his Sri Rangaraja Stavam, have

contributed their mite to this goal. And, a century

and a half later , the tradition was again held aloft

by Sri Desikan , with his Paramata Bhangam , Sata

DooshaNi, etc.

 

Coming back to the DhAtee

Pnchakam, the stotra depicts, with the aid of apt

similes, Sri Ramanuja’s untiring efforts in protecting

both Emperuman and his vibhooti from the onslaughts of

the uninformed and the malicious .Two of the five

slokas are devoted to extolling the virtues of Sri

Bhashyakara’s Tridandam, and one to his

YagyOpaveetam. The power-packed words, set to a

lilting metre, add to the grandeur of this stotram,

which has long been a part of the nityAnusandAnam of

great AchAryAs.

 

Here is the first sloka, which

mentions each opposing philosophy by name and

describes how Bhagavat Ramanuja sounded its death

knell.

 

“PashaNda druma shanda dAva dahana: ChArvAka saila

asani:

Bouddha dvAnta nirAsa vAsarapati: JainEbha

kanteerava:

MayAvAdi bhujanga bhanga Garuda: traividya

choodAmaNi:

Sri RangEsa jaya dvajO vijayatE RamanujOyam muni :

 

« PAshanda druma shanda dAva dahana : » The first

half of this sloka deals with so called philosophies

which do not accept the authority of the Vedas, (Veda

bAhyAs) while the rest refers to schools of thought

which accept Vedas as pramANam, but misinterpret them

in such a way as to deny their true purport (Kudrishti

).

PAshandAs are incurable atheists, non-believers in

God, shastras, good and bad. .Due to Kali kOlAhalA,

such blasphemists had multiplied, undermining the

faith of the righteous ,generally contributing to

religious anarchy, and established themselves as

deep-rooted trees. However, Sri Ramanuja, through his

seasoned arguments, engulfed this dense forest of

PashaNdAs as would a jungle fire, and destroyed them

without trace. The comparison here to a fire is

significant, for it destroys completely, leaving

only ash, which cannot rejuvenate. Similarly, the

Pashandas were comprehensively vanquished by Sri

Bhashyakara.

“ChArvAka saila asani:”- ChArvAkAs are those who

accept only what is perceptible to the senses. While

vedantis accept Pratyaksham( that which can be seen,

heard, felt etc.) AnumAnam (that which can be deduced

through logical means) and Sabdam (Veda vakyas which

enlighten us on matters beyond human perception or

deduction), the Charvakas accept only Pratyaksham. For

them, shastras are old wives’ tales, and God, an

unnecessary and unseen entity, often touted as a

bogeyman to make people fall in line with one’s own

views. In a nutshell, their philosophy, such as it is,

is to “eat, drink and be merry”, as long as there is

life, for there is nothing either before or beyond.

This is an eminently attractive school of thought,

which does not enjoin upon its followers the rigors of

religious discipline or the fear of an omnipotent God

who always watches over us, or even the Democles’

sword of a next birth, in which our sins of this and

previous births are revisited on us. Due to its

undemanding tenets, this philosophy had a large number

of followers, and was strong as a mountain. But even

this mountain was rent asunder by Sri Bhashyakara, who

came down heavily on it as a thunder’s electrical

charge(asani:) , destroying this philistine

philosophy.

- to be continued- dasan,sadagopan.

Srimate Sri LakshmiNrsimha diva

paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra

Maha Desikaya Nama:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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