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Sixteenth SlOkam of SrI DevanAyaka PanchAsath
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DevEswarathvam iha darsayithum kshamastE
Naata ThvayAapi sirasA vidhrutha: KireeDa:
yEkikrutha dhyumaNi BhimBha sahasra dheepthi:
nirmoolayan manasi mE niBhiDam tamisram
Expanded Meaning:
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Oh Dhaiva NaayakA! The great kings of the world
adorn crowns on their heads to indicate their
role as the kings of their subjects. You adorn
a crown that is matchless in its radiance as
the Emperor of all Emperors and as the Supreme
Lord of all created entities . That crown of Yours
outshines the radiance of thousands of Suns. When adiyEn
witnesses Your supremely radiant Crown , all the dense
darkness in my mind associated with nescience (ajn~Anam)
is destroyed completely (swept away).This glorious
Crown of Yours alone would be sufficent to broadcast
to the world about Your SarvEswarathvam (Supreme Lordship).
Additional Comments:
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The description of the Lord's soundharyam starts
from the Crown on the head. This is called kesAdhi
PaadhAntha VarNanam method. Swamy Desikan adopts that
tradition here . He will descend down from the crown on the head
to the curly black tresses under the crown and then focus
on the beautiful face; next , he will move on to
the description of the forehead, Urdhva PuNDram there,
the lovely ears of the Lord , the ear rings there (KuNDalam) ,
the beautiful brows , the bewitching eyes, the powerful
glances (KaDAkshams), the elegant nose,the charming lips,
the delicate neck , the powerful hands, the Chakrams and
the Sankhu found on those hands, the abhaya hastham
assuring freedom from fear , the broad chest ,the forest
flower garland(VanamAlai) there , the most compassionate
mind , the beautiful waist region , the navel , the waist belt,
the strong thighs, the powerful knees,the well shaped
ankles, the shapely and sacred feet , the delicate
fingers on those feet , the radiant nails on the fingers
of the feet and the sacred dust associated with those
feet . By this time, Swamy Desikan has arrived at
the 45th slOkam and is getting ready to surrender
his aathmA at the holy feet of the Lord. KesAdhi
PaadhAntha VarNanam/vandhanam is a preparatory step
to salute the Lord to whom Swamy Desikan was going
to surrender (Aathma nivEdhanam).
The 16th slOkam celebrating the radiant crown
that banishes the darkness of aj~nAnam is reminiscent of
the 18th slOkam of SrI VaradarAja PanchAsath , where
Swamy Desikan refers to the radiance of the Lord's
ThirumEni, which serves as the thousand rayed Sun to
banish aj~nAnam . The only difference between the Lord's
radiance and that of the Sun is that , the Sun can only remove
external darkness and it can only perform this task during
the day. The Sun's radiance is derived from the Lord .
The radiance of the Lord is different in the sense
that (1) it is Svyam JyOthi (2) it removes internal
darkness (nescience)(3) It operates at all times ,
day or night(4) It is unobstructed by any thing
and grows on and on. The Sun's radiance can be blocked
by the clouds .The radiance of the Sun is totally
dimmed in front of the radiance of the Lord's ThirumEni.
It is almost like darkness compard to the Lord's matchless
tEjas as Param JyOthi. The VaradarAja PanchAsath
slOkam reminiscent of the 16th SlOakm of SrI Dhaiva
Naayaka PanchAsath takes this form:
mOhAnthakAra vivarthana jaagarookE
dhOshA dhivAapi niravaraha mEgamAnE
Thvath tEjasi Dhviradha saila pathE vimrushTE
slAgyEtha samtamasa parva sahsra bhAnO:
That tEjas of the Lord like His radiant crown
is MohAnthakAra Vivarthanam ( banisher of the dark
and dense nescience of humans).
Swamy KurEsar , who engaged in the kESAdhi-PaadhAntha
VarNanam of Lord VaradarAja in his SrI VaradarAja
Sthavam has a wonderful slOkam about the supreme
radiance of the Crown of the Lord as SarvEswaran:
AadhirAjyam adhikam bhuvanAnAm
Isa! tE pisunayan kila mouLi:
chUlikAmaNi sahasramarIchE:
HasthibhUshaNa! bhavathudhayAdhri:
Oh JagadhIsA! Oh the Supreme AabharaNam for
Hasthigiri! Your radiant crown demonstrates
effortlessly Your unquestioned soverignity
over all the Worlds (" kirIDAthva yOgAth
SarvEsvarathva VyApakam). As DEvarAjan ,
He demonstrates DevEsvarathvam both at Hasthigiri
and ThiruvahIndhrapuram by adorning the supremely
radiant crown , which has no match.
In the next slOkam , Swamy Desikan describes
the power of the dark and curly tresses and
forelocks of Lord DevanAthan .
The 17th slOkam of SrI DevanAyaka PanchAsath is
the second of the thirty slOkams saluting the specific
beauty of each limb of the Lord and Aabharanams
found there.