Post 5 Dear Sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer, My sincere apologies to you all for not continuing the topic and leaving a gap. Reasons are three - first a spate of travel on official commitments, second two beautiful krithis caught my attention and you all had few points on them, third I am not able to get some more material to make it as a full part. Now that I gathered some material, hope we can have more on the topic of seethaa's learnings. We are referring in the previous posts, [first] seethaa says about the lakshaNa saasthram, [second] then the conversation between seethaa and raama just before they leave ayOdhyaa wherein seethaa says 'I learnt these from my parents', then she says 'I learnt such & such from my mother in law'. Then takes place a conversation on dharmam when raama offers protection to forest sages - wherein she says 'hey raama, how can I tell you or teach you dharmam'. These all indicate her learnings - directly or a little indirectly. Now we will see one more slOkam kaama vruththam idham roudhram sthreeNaam asadhrusam matham | vapushaa thu asya saththvasya vismayO janithO mama || 3-43-21 meaning: seethaa says to raama, 'Tradition says that this sort of unruly self-seeking is unbefitting to women, yet that deer's beautiful body is inducing curiosity in me" and remained waiting for his reply. [3-43-21] Point: This slOkam is part of seethaa's words to raama 'asking' or 'requesting' or desiring him to get the maaya maan - fake deer - maareecha maan. See how she expresses herself, 'though it is slightly beyond the tradition to ask like this, I am doing it since it creates a curiosity in me'. Again this shows her depth of knowledge, or her extent of learning about the tradition - the subtleties in the 'tradition' of men and women [matham - sampradhaayam - practice - rules though not explicitly said as rules but in fact treated as such]. Now let us go back to the slOkam, which sparked this topic of seethaa's learnings or knowledge - on that 'lakshaNa saasthram'. We have to move to the yudhDha kaaNdam. Incidentally we have to switch on our mind to enjoy seethaa's 'divine beauty' also, since dwelling on 'lakshaNa saasthram' also leads us to or lands us in getting at the describtions of the beauty of seethaa by herself in that sargam and we can add descriptions elsewhere in raamaayaNam.. Kindly recall the series 'raama roopam' wherein we enjoyed raama's divine beauty, as described by hanumaan to seethaa. Perhaps now it is on the heroine's - seethaa's beauty. seethaa starts weeping after seeing raama and lakshmana down on the ground in the war arena, at the time when she was taken in pushpaka vimaanam [as per direction of raavaNan] she says, oochu: lakshaNikaa yE maam puthriNi avidhavEthi cha | thE asya sarvE hathE raamE agnaaninO.anruthavaadhina: || 6-48-2 meaning: those knowing the lakshaNa saasthram said earlier that I have sons and I am a nithya sumangali [will not become a widow ever - in future also]. But with raama having gone, these people have become liars and ignorant [of that saasthram] point: seethaa in this referred slokam above and in next 3 slokams says that a. the 'lakshaNa saasthram knowing' people - lakshaNai: b. 'knowledgeable' people - vidhu:, gnaanina: c. 'Brahmins' et al - gnaanina:, dhvijai:, said like this, like this - and adds "all these people are 'liars' and 'ignorants', since my raama is down". Further when she starts weeping, she starts saying about the lakshaNa saasthram in detail [which I have taken as her 'learnings' and are my basis for this series]. Tomorrow somebody should not raise this question of 'how can you say it is all seethaa's learning, for what all she says, is a repeat of somebody having told her these early'. Yes. I agree. We also do hear so many good things in our lifespan. And how much percentage of what all we hear or taught, we are able to retain as our 'learnings' straightaway throughout our life. That too when such a situation as seethaa is facing now - raama being down - her mind fully preoccupied with that loss - to say these these are my lakshaNams and as per saasthram this and this are supposed to be good etc. Whereas seethaa has retained 'most' of them in their 'intricate detail' which we continue to see. sathyaani imaani padhmaani sthreeNaam ukthvaani lakshaNE | thaani adhya nihathE raamE vithathaani bhavanthi mE || 6-48-8 meaning: already seen. [please refer post 1] kEsaa: sookshmaa: samaa neelaa, bhruvou cha aasangathE mama | vruththE cha alOmasE janghE dhanthaa: cha aviralaa mama || 6-48- 9 meaning: my hair is gentle, soft, uniform and black. The eyebrows are not conjoined. The portions of legs below the knee and up the ankle are fleshy and are not hairy. My teeth are not having gaps. Point: even in these days when ladies do not know or forgotten usage turmeric, which lowers percentage of hair in body, seethaa says 'my legs are not hairy'. Perhaps she has used the cosmetics given by anasooya - kindly recall that article. RaavaNan when he meets seethaa before abducting her says on this 'hair and teeth' of seethaa - as below subhaam ruchira dhantha OshTheem poorNa chandhra nibha aananaam | aaseenaam parNasaalaayaam baashpa sOka abhipeeDithaam || 3-46-12 sa thaam padhma palaasa aksheem peetha kousEya vaasineem | abhyagachChatha vaidhEheem hrushTa chEthaa nisaa chara: || 3-46-13 meaning: [While standing before seethaa then] RaavaNa eyed at the auspicious wife of Raama, whose lips and teeth are fine, visage is shiny like a full moon, and who is presently tortured by her tearful lamentation and sitting in the straw-cottage, and he approached that lotus-petal eyed VaidhEhi who is dressed in ochry silks, as that night-walker is gladdened at his heart for her solitude. [3-46-12,13] samaa: shikhariNa: snigdhaa: paaNDuraa dasanaa: thava | visaalE vimalE nEthrE rakthaanthE krushNa thaarakE || 3-46-18 meaning: Your teeth are evenly, smooth and their tips are like jasmine buds, and your whitish broad eyes are spotless, reddish at ends, and pupils are black. [3-46-18] chaaru smithE chaaru dhathi chaaru nEthrE vilaasini | mano harasi mE raamE nadhee koolam iva ambhasaa || 3-46-21 karaanthamitha madhyaa asi sukEsee samhatha sthanee | meaning: Oh, allurer, your smile is alluring, teeth are alluring, and your eyes allure, oh, beauty, your waist is palmful, your hair velvety, your breasts are jostling, and you rob my soul as a spate robs riverbank. [3-46-21, 22a] Point: Now let us see seethaa describing herself in yudhdha kaaNdam - sankhE nEthrE karou paadhou gulphaa ooroo cha mE chithou | anuvruththaa nakhaa: snigdhaa: samaa: cha angulayO mama || 6-48-10 meaning: seethaa in describing herself - 'the sides of my face, eyes, arms, legs, thighs are fleshy my fingers are round nailed and soft and proportionate'. sthanou cha aviralou peenou mama imou magnachoochukou || magnaa cha utsanginee naabhi: paarsva uraskam cha mE chitham || 6-48-11 meaning: seethaa says, 'my two breasts are fully grown and without separation, and nipples are gone inside [not protruding]. The naval is deep and edges rounded off well, both the upper chest portions are also fleshy [just below the shoulder bones in front]. Let us see how raavaNan describes seethaa's beauty - no vulgarity or obscenity is meant here - see how the sage vaalmeeki describes - just the divine beauty - also the soundharya lahari description of paarvathi by that brahmachaari sanyasin - sankara - visaalam jaghanam peenam ooroo kari kara upamou | Ethou upachithou vruththou samhathou sampragalbhithou || 3-46-19 peena unnatha mukhou kaanthou snigdha thaala phala upamou | maNi pravEka aabharaNou ruchirou thE payOdharou || 3-46-20 meaning: Your hips are beamy, thighs burly akin to elephant's trunks, and these two breasts of yours that are ornamented with best jewellery are rotund, rubbing and bumping each other, and they are swinging up and up, their nipples are brawny and jutting out, and they are smoothish like palm-fruits, thus they are covetable for they are beautiful. [3-46-19, 20] In next see what that raavaNan himself says kaa tvam bhavasi rudraaNaam marutaam vaa shucismite || 3-46-27 vasuunaam vaa varaaarohe devataa pratibhaasi me | meaning: Oh, curvaceous lady, who are you? Oh, one with an impeccable smile, do you belong to Rudraa-gods, or Marut-gods, or to Vasu-s? To me you are beaming forth like a goddess. [3-46-27b, 28a] So the beauty of seethaa does not create first in raavaNan the lust but a sense of divine beauty - just making him to ask who are you, you look to me a 'goddess'. Let us continue on that divine beauty how she herself decribes more and also from hanumaan in how he sees his mother. Dhasan Vasudevan m.g. PS: Actually sri anjaneyalu of Itarsi, my good friend, wanted me to write on this, requested me at least a year back, but only now it is happening. DISCLAIMER: This Message and its contents is intended solely for the addressee and is proprietary.Information in this mail is for L&T Business Usage only. 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