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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00186 Apr 2008

 
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Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

We saw in the previous post, how vaalmeeki introduced, in grandeur, raavaNa, the chief villain. We also saw raavaNa's intention of abducting seethaa in a covetous manner.  Now we will see how vaalmeeki introduces the next 'desire laden' 'kaama mohitha' character soorpaNakhaa.

 

'Why sudden change of course?' if somebody asks me, then my answer is 'to focus on raama's gunam' first as vaalmeeki introduces raama, and now on 'raama's beauty'.

 

That is my 'desire'- my 'kaamam' – see the beautiful environment or circumstance in which vaalmeeki intoduces character 'soorpaNakhaa' – milky white and calm situation and in that the black snake enters – like the 'chandhra grahaNam' – 'raahu grastha somOparaaga puNya kaalam' as they put in panchaangam.

 

uvaasa sukhithah thathra poojyamaanO maharshibhih|

sa raamah parNa saalaayaam aaseenah saha seethayaa || 3-17-3

viraraaja mahaa baahuh chithrayaa chandhramaa iva |

lakshmaNEna saha bhraathraa chakaara vividhaah kathaah || 3-17-4

 

Meaning: There Raama comfortably spent time while being adored by eminent sages when he was with them, and describing many a narratives while sitting in hermitage along with Seethaa and his brother LakshmaNa, thus he shone forth like the moon when associated with Chithra constellation.

 

Point:

1.      timewise - when soorpaNakhaa enters the story, it is almost 13 years of vanavaasam - the forest sojourn - is over. During this, raama met sage agasthya twice – first at the beginning – within a year - for the second time after nearly 10 years etc - all these were completed.

2.      Further see the description – in these 12 or 13 years raama spent his time with many a sages discussing so many stories.

3.      If you ask "Is it philosophical – vEdhaantha vichaaram, or raaja dharmam or other narratives?" – no specific answer – 'vividhaa kathaa' says vaalmeeki. So it can be, it need not be. 

4.      Earlier when somebody raised a point – 'does that means that raama and seethaa were always in sOkham during their life' or 'raamayaNa kaavyam is a sOkha kaavyam' – I replied him vaalmeeki did not highlight the happy moments much but describes the sorrowful narratives in a great manner.

5.      For the happy moments, this is one grand description. Another is that 'for dhvaadhasa samaa [12 years] bunjaanaan maanushaan bhOgan' by seethaa, as introduction to raavaNa and later to hanumaan – a repetition of slokam.

6.      Why so much description on these happy moments – you may ask – it is to highlight a turnoff in the events to come.

 

thadhaa aaseenasya raamasya kathaa samsaktha chEthasah |

tham dhEsam raakshasee kaachidh aajagaama yadhruchChhayaa || 3-17-5

 

meaning: At one time when Raama was sitting in the hermitage and heartily absorbed in telling narratives, some demoness arrived at that place incidentally. [3-17-5]

 

saa thu soorpaNakhaa naama dhasagreevasya rakshasah |

bhaginee raamam aasaadhya dhadharsa thridhasa upamam || 3-17-6

 

meaning: She is the sister of 10 faced demon RaavaNa, SoorpaNakha, by name, and she has seen him on reaching the paradisiacal being Raama.

 

point: Is it 30, or 3 dhasa astrologically – main mahadhasa, anthardhasa and prathyanthardhasa – indicating exact bad or good patch of time?

 

Here in the 3 commentaries I have, this simile of 'thridhasa upamam' is not commented upon or explained. So persons who know astrology [immediate name that comes to mind is Jayasree saranathan madam], can explain what is the significance of this comparison.

 

dheepthaasyam cha mahaabaahum padhma pathraayatha eekshaNam |

gaja vikraantha gamanam jaTaa maNdala dhaariNam || 3-17-7

sukumaaram mahaa saththvam paarthiva vyanjana anvitham |

raamam indheevara syaamam kandharpa sadhrisa prabham || 3-17-8

babhoova indhra upamam dhrishTvaa raakshasee kaama mOhithaa |

 

meaning: Raama, He, 

§         Whose face is radiant,

§         arms are lengthy,

§         eyes are large like lotus petals,

§         has strides like that of an elephant,

§         is wearing bunches of hair-tufts,

§         is delicate yet greatly vigorous,

§         is possessor of all royal aspects,

§         has a complexion of deep-blue - like a blue lotus,

§         is similar to Love-god in brilliance

§         is in simile to Indhra,

the demoness soorpaNakhaa has seen such a Raama and became lovesick. [3-17-7, 8, 9a]

 

point: the description is something great. Just on seeing raama she became lovelorn – kaNdavudan kaadhal.

Now see the comparison between a an 'ugliness personified' and 'beauty personified' – both being put together – this is what is kavi chathuryam – poet's greatness --

 

sumukham dhurmukhee raamam, vruththa madhyam mahOdharee || 3-17-9

visaalaaksham viroopaakshee sukEsam thaamra moordhajaa |

priya roopam viroopaa saa susvaram bhairava svanaa || 3-17-10

tharuNam dhaaruNaa vridhdhaa dhakshiNam vaama bhaashiNee |

nyaaya vriththam sudhurvriththaa priyam apriya dharsanaa || 3-17-11

sareeraja samaavishTaa raakshasee raamam abraveeth |

 

meaning: She, that demoness, spoke besieged by Love-god to raama

soorpaNakhaa                              raama

§         who is facially unpleasant one             that pleasant faced one,

§         pot bellied one                               the slim-waisted one,

§         wry-eyed one                                           the broad-eyed one,

§         coppery-haired one                               the neatly tressed one,

§         ugly featured one                            the charming featured one,

§         brassy voiced one                               the gentle voiced one,

§         deplorably oldish one                               the younger one,

§         crooked talker                                                 the pleasant talker,

§         ill-mannered one                         the well-mannered one,

§         uncouth one                                           couth,

§         abominable one                               amiable Rama

 

point: the introduction of character of soorpaNakhaa is great – it is a direct hit - on that 'porundhaak kaadhal' – mismatched love - is being highlighted.

 

This type of great introduction is the thing to be enjoyed. As we saw what raavaNa said about raama and maareecha countered every aspect of raavaNa's words; see here vaalmeeki himself narrates the mismatch between raama and soorpaNakhaa by placing them together and how she baceme lovesick just on seeing.

 

Just roll in mind the beauty of raama once again and we will continue in next post

 

Dhasan

 
Vasudevan MG __._,_.___

Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan
http://www.sadagopan.org




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