ThiruvahIndhrapuram RathnAngi Series:Part 70: SlOkam 19-20 of Sri DevanAyaka PanchAsath

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs of Lord Dhaiva Naayakan :

 

The last slOkam of SrI DevanAyaka PanchAsath sthOthram

that we paid our salutations was the captivating 18th slOkam.

That was on June 6,2003.

 

From here on , adiyEn will try to post atleast one posting

per day on the individual slOkams of Sri DevanAyaka PanchAsath

until we reach the final 53rd slOkam soon . May Lord DevanAthan

bless the kaimkaryam!

 

Ninteenth SlOkam ( Forehead of the Lord)

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labdhA tiTou kvacchidhiyam rajanI-karENa

LakshmI: sTirA SurapathE bhavathO lalADE

yath svEdha Bhindhu kaNikOdhgatha BhudhbudhAntha:

trayakksha: purA sa purushOajani SoolapANi:

 

(Extended Meaning): Oh Lord DhaivanAyakA! On the Sukla

ashtami days , the form of Chandra Kalai will be most

beautiful to look at. The poets are fond of comparing

the beautiful person's forehead to that ashtami chandran.

If it is so for human beings, it is easy to deduce how

many more times beautiful would be for Your Forehead . Your

forehead beats the beauty of Ashtami chandran by many

levels and instructs us that Ashtami Chandran derives

his own limited beauty from the richest source of

soundharyam (viz)., Your soundharyam-filled forehead .

There is some thing else , when poets compare the beauty

of Your forehead with ashtami chandran. In the case of

Chandran , his optimal beauty does not last beyond

the ashtami dinam. For You however , the beauty of

Your forehead is eternal. The power of Your forehead

is comprehended by the fact that it gave birth to

the Trident-wielding Soola PaaNi from a small portion

of a drop of sweat associated with Your forehead.

Such is the soundharyam and power of Your incomparable

forehead !

 

Additional Observations:

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Swamy Desikan refers to the permanent soundharya

Isvaryam of the forehead of Lord DevanAthan this way:

 

LabdhA tiTou kvacchidiyam rajanI-kaRENa

LAKSHMI: sTirA SurapathE bhavathO lalADE

 

This beauty(iyam LAKSHMI) acquired from Your forehead by

the Ashtami Chandran (Kavachidh tiTou rajani karENa

labdha ) is firm and unchanging ( sTirA), where as

the beauty of the Ashtami chandran lasts only one day.

 

The usage of the auspicious word , " Lakshmi " for

the forehead can be linked to KurEsar's description of

the beauty of the forehead of Lord VaradarAjan in his

Sri VaradarAja Sthavam using the same word , LakshmI:

 

UbhayOrapi pakshayOsthiTeeryA

vishamI-bhAva nirAsadhAshtameethi

upamAnaja sampadhE hi sEndhO:

VarAdhAbhUdh BhavathO LALAADA LAKSHMYA

 

Here , Kuresar as a master poet refers to

the BhAgyam that Ashtami Chandran got

through comparison with the Soundharya

Lakshmi of the Lord's forehead (LalADa Lakshmi).

 

On ashtami days, the Moon has a beautiful semi-circular

shape that reminds one of the beauty of the Lord's

forehead from which the Moon's beauty is derived.

Chandran worshipped the Lord of ThiruvahIndhrapuram

and got the boon of comparison to the beauty of

the Lord's forehead on Ashtami days ( KrishNa and

Sukla ashtamis)by poets.

 

Ashtami tiTi is also sacred for KrishNAvathAram

(JanmAshtami) , which is referred to by Swamy

Desikan in the 317th slOkam of SrI RanganAtha

PaadhukA sahasram (SanchAra Paddhathi).

 

SlOkam 20:( ThirumaNN Kaappu description)

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On the beautiful forehead of the Lord DeavanAthan ,

Swamy Desikan finds the radiant Urdhva PuNDram

and his salutation of the auspicious Thiru MaNN

Kaappu takes this form:

 

lavANya varshiNI lalADa-tadE ganAbhE

Bhibrath taDithguNa visEshamivOrdhva puNDram

visvasya nirjapathE tamasA aavruthasya

manyE vibhAvayasi mangaLeeka pradheepam

 

(Extended Meaning): Oh DhaivanAyakA! Oh NeelamEka

ShyAmaLA! On Your beautiful blue forehead , one has

the darsana soubhAgyam of the lustrous Thiru Mann kAppu ,

which is like the radiant lightning that jumps out of

the dark blue rain clouds . That lightning would last

for a small amount of time and will disappear. The lightning

of brilliant Thiru MaNN kAppu on Your forehead however

lasts forever and removes the dark clouds of Ajn~Anam

in the minds of those , who worship You. One wonders whether

that Thiru MaNN kAppu has been adorned by You to serve

as an auspicous lamp to remove the darkness of ajn~Anam

in the minds of Your devotees.

 

Additional Observations

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In his 26th slOkam of SrI VaradarAja Sthavam , KurEsar

salutes the Thiru MaNN Kaappu of Lord VaradarAjan and

this slOkam might have inspired Swamy Desikan to compose

a slOkam focusing on the Urdhva PUNDram by Lord DevanAthan.

( " ImayOr Talaivan " ):

 

uddharathuparai bhakthajanAn ithi

urdhvathAsrayana soochitha sakthim

urdhva puNDra tilakam bahumAnAth

kim Bibharshi Varadha ! sva-lalADE

 

The sacredness of the Urdhva PuNDram and its symbolism

on the Lord's Beautiful forehead as " Bhaktha JanAn

Upari uddharathi ithi UrdhvAsrayaNa soochitha sakthim " .

It is not only beautiful like the bright lightning out of

the dark blue rainy season cloud but it is also to signal

the superior gathi reserved for bhaktha janams through

its upward posture ( Urdhvam nayathi yath puNDram prANina:

pApakAriNa:).Urdhva PuNDram leads its wearers to Urdhva

gathi (archirAdhi Maargam). This is what the Lord conveys

by Himself adorning Urdhva PuNDram . Therefore Swamy Desikan

focused on the beauty and significance of Urdhva PuNDram adorned

by SrI DevanAthan at ThiruvahIndhrapuram.

 

SrI DevanAtha Para BrahmaNE nama:

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan