alaka krithi in madhyamaavathi

[Guest guest]

Dear sree vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

For the beautiful krithi “alaka lalla laaDa†in

raagam “madhyamaavathi†and its commentary by our respected Sri

Sadagopan, I wish to add the following.

As I always write on ST krithis, the raagam

selection [by ST] itself will to some extent indicate what portion of

sreemadh raamaayaNam ST wants to link and then convey the import in

his song.

This krithi's raagam is madhyamaavathi or madhyama +

avathi

'madhyama' or mahyamam in sanskrit you all know

is 'middle'.

avathi as per Monier Williams dictionary is

 

av cl. I .P. ávati (Imper. 2. sg. ava

sg. tÄt RV. viii, 2, 3, p. ávat impf. ávat, 2.

sg. 1. ÄÍvaḥ [for 2. ÄÍvaḥ √vá¹›]

 

• perf. 3á¹£g. Äva, 2. pl. Ävá RV. viii, 7,

18, 2á¹£g. ÄÍvitha

• aor. ávit, 2. sg. Äviis, aviis and

aviá¹£as, Imper. aviṣṭu, 2. sg. aviá¸á¸hí

[once RV. ii, 17, 8] or aviá¸á¸h six times in á¹›V.,

2. du. aviṣṭam, 3. du., 2. pl. aviṣṭánÄ

RV. vii, 18, 25, Prec. 3. sg. avyÄs, Inf. ávitave

RV. vii, 33, 1

• Ved. ind. p. ÄvyÄ RV. i, 166, 13) to drive, impel,

animate (as a car or horse) RV

• Vedṭo promote, favour, (chiefly Ved.) to satisfy, refresh

• to offer (as a hymn to the gods)' RV. iv, 44, 6

• to lead or bring to (dat.: Å«táye, vÄÍja-sÄtaye,

ká¹£atrÄÍya, svastáye) RV

• (said of the gods) to be pleased with, like, accept favourably

(as sacrifices, prayers or hymns) RV., (chiefly said of kings or

princes) to guard, defend, protect, govern BhP. Ragh. ix, 1 VarBá¹›S.

& c.: Caus. (only impf. avayat, 2. sg. Ävayas)

to consume, devour RV. AV. VS. ÅšBr. [Gk.

? Lat: aveo?]. [96, 1]

 

 

 

Here in our krithi context, we have to take the

meaning “to refresh†or “to lead to†or “bring to†– or

madhyama avathi – means “in the middle to bring to memory†- or

in the middle somebody is pleased with something said to him.

The context here for this krithi is -- Dhasaratha

was informed by the ministers coming from king janaka [or mithila] to

inform dhasaratha about the happenings in the royal dhurbar in

mithila – about those two brothers raama and lakshmaNa coming to

mithila along with viSvaamithra and learnt all about their heroics in

the yaaga rakshaNam, raama seeing and breaking the bow, etc.

ST places this krithi as though king dhasaratha

enjoys the recalling of those scenes of raama walking with

visvaamithra, subdue-ing maareecha, breaking siva's bow etc when he

was by janaka's ministers about these and the seeking of his consent

for marriage.

Now the krithi once again

Pallavialaka lalla laaDaga gani yaaraaN muni

yeTu pongEnO – alaka

Anupallavicheluvu meeraganu maareechuni madham

aNachu vELa – (alaka)

CharaNammuni kanu saiga thelisi Siva dhanuvunu

viriche idhi

samayamuna tyAgarAja vinuthuni mOmuna ranjillu

(alaka)

meaning: [as given by Sri Sadagopan from Sri

V.Govindan's PDF file]

I

wonder how viSvaamithra “that royal sage†exulted

beholding the curls shining in the face of srI rAma “the Lordâ€

praised of this tyAgarAja, being tossed about with exceeding beauty,

- at that time when He subdued the arrogance of mArIca and

-

at that time when, He, understanding the eye signals of the sage,

broke the bow of Lord Siva!

Meaning

as in karnatik.com website: pallavi, anupallavi: What profound extacy

should have thrilled sage Vishvamitra when, after the subjugation of

Maricha, he was gazing on the curly forlocks gamboling on Shri Rama's

forehead?

charaNam:

Again, later on, responding to the gesture of the sage, when Rama

effortlessly lifted and broke the ponerous bow of Shiva. Whar

rapturous delight the sage should have experienced at the sight of

the victorious sport of the forlocks on Shri Rama's forehead?

 

Points: why and how this context: 1. when viSvaamithra came to dhasaratha's durbar

and asked for raama to be sent with him - what viSvaamithra talks

about at the very first opportunity about raama is all about that

jet black hair – 'alaka bhaaram' of raama - he says in slokams

1-19- 8b and 1-19- 9 of baala kaaNdam - below.

sva puthram raaja

Saardhoola ramam sathya paraakramam || 1-19- 8b

kaaka paksha dharam

Sooram jyEshTham mE dhaathum arhasi |

Sakthah hi Eshah mayaa gupthah dhivyEna svEna thEjasaa || 1-19-9

meaning: therefore

your son, oh! Tigerly-king, Raama, the virtue-valiant, and who wears

the wings of a crow [namely, jet black hair-locks, on either side of

his head,] and that brave and eldest one, to spare him, [his

services,] to me, you are gifted... He is verily capable, protected

by me and by his own divine resplendence [to eradicate those

demons...]

So that black hair is the starting point here also

in the krithi.

 

 

2. King janaka asks the permission of sage

visvaamithra to convey the details to king dhasaratha and in that he

says --

muni gupthou cha kaakuthsthou kathayanthu

nrupaaya vai |

preethi yuktham thu raajaanam aanayanthu su Seeghra

gaah || 1-67-26

meaning: " Those ministers will also tell the

king Dasharatha that both the Kakutstha-s, Raama and Lakshmana, are

under the aegis of saint viSvaamithra, and thus gladdening that king

they will expeditiously usher in king Dasharatha for marriage... "

So said Janaka to Vishvamitra. [1-67-26]

So it is not an imagination that dhasaratha sees

these, but they are as conveyed by the ministers of janaka.

3. The ministers conveying not only the breaking of

bow and telling seethaa is won as a veera shulkam, but also their

valour under aegis of visvaamithra – see slokam above 26 and 8

below -

saa iyam mama suthaa raajan viSvaamithra puraskruthaih

|yadhruchChayaa aagathaih veeraih nirjithaa thava puthrakaih ||

1-68-8

meaning: " Oh, Emperor Dasharatha, your young

and valorous son who serendipitously arrived at Mithila along with

his younger brother Lakshmana, keeping Vishvamitra at his fore,

finally carries off this girl, the well-known daughter of mine...

[1-68-8]

thath cha rathnam dhanur dhivyam madhyE bhagnam

mahaathmanaa |

raamENa hi mahaa baahO mahathyaam jana samsadi ||

1-68-9

meaning: " Also, oh, highly dextrous king

Dasharatha, noble souled Raama wrecked that divine bow, which is a

gem of a bow among bows, at its central point before a grand assembly

of people.

asmai dhEyaa mayaa seethaa veerya Sulkaa mahaathmanE

|

prathijnaam tharthum ichChaami thath anujnaathum

arhasi || 1-68-10

meaning: " Seethaa is the bounty for bravery and

I shall have to afford her to the noble-souled Raama, as such it will

be apt of you to give your consent as I wish to keep up my solemn

promise... [1-68-10]

sa upaadhyaayO mahaa raaja purOhitha puraskruthah |

Seeghram aagachCha bhadhram thE dhrashTum arhhasi

raaghavou || 1-68-11

" Keeping your royal priest vasishTa and other

teachers ahead of you, oh, great emperor, I wish you to come apace,

let safe betide you, for it will be apt of you to take a look at your

ennobled son Raama, and LakshmaNa, too... [1-68-11]

prathijnaam mama raajEndhra nirvarthayithum arhasi |puthrayOh

ubhayOh Eva preethim thvam api lapsyasE || 1-68-12

meaning: " It will be apt of you to make my

solemn promise maintainable, and that way you will derive delight on

seeing both of your sons...' [1-68-12]

Point here in slokam 8 is finally carries of

this girl – which means they have earlier told about how raama

killed thaataka, [as in slokam 26], subhaahu and subdued maareecha

etc and finally told how the bow was done with. Also the ministers

convey as said by janaka 'please come and see your valorous sons' in

slokams 11, 12 – which ST puts as a scene happening in dhasaratha's

court – dhasaratha visualises these as a scene and that is why it

is raagam madhyamaavathi – bringing forth to memory a scene – or

pleased with that scene having happened – so 'alaka' krithi.

As rightly said by sri sadagopan swamy, ST is a

ardent reader of raamaayaNam every day and he included the various

incidents in his kritis.

Dhasan

 

 

-- Vasudevan MG