Post 3
Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
Continuing on the topic of `minds of women' based on the
thyaagaraajaa's kriti `kanulu thaakani', the next point raised in
first post was on the charaNam 1, and it read as below -
ghOra bhoopathini joochi dhaarukaaraNya sathulu
mEra meeri bhuvini apadhooru galga jEsirE
Meaning: The ladies of dhaarukaa forest have violated their code of
conduct and earned bad name, as they saw the fierce king.
The point ? "it is a sort of allegation about some `ladies' to raama.
This episode is of some ladies getting enchanted by a king in the
dhaaruka forest and going behind that person ? who happened to be a
king of that area. Why the author of the krithi should inform raama
about this? How can he expect raama to comment or give a point on
this?"
Is it of any concern to us, raama bhakthaas, and a question also
arises "why thyaagaraaja included this in the krithi", since it is an
episode on siva ? siva alluring many rishi pathnis in the dhaaruka
forest before his cosmic dance or aanandha thaaNdavam.
Just for information of the bhakthaas on the cosmic dance of siva,
dhaaruka forest etc, the following are given. Fine ? there are
different versions of it and we have three here.
One version: Lord VishNu reclining on aadisEsha -the serpent-seat of
God- was one day in an uncommon mood which both Lakshmi and aadisEsha
noticed. Asked about it, the Lord started in narrating a long story.
The previous night he accompanied Lord Siva to the dhaaruka forest to
test the piety of the rishis there. The two Lords, Siva and VishNu,
assumed the disguise of a naked beggar, begging for food ? bhikshaa
atana moorthi- and of a beautiful voluptuous woman ? Mohini-
respectively. The Rishi wives and the Rishis, in the dhaaruka forest ?
[near the bEt dhvaaraka in present day Gujarat state] lost their
senses on seeing this divine pair and went after them. When the
Rishis discovered who the intruder was, who disturbed the balance of
their wives, they set up in anger an unholy sacrifice. [see here ?
rishis did not bother why they went after mohini but more concerned
about their wives going behind some other] Out of this they pulled
one after the other,
· a tiger,
· a ball of fire,
· a serpent
· a monster
and hurled them at Siva.
Siva peeled off the skin of the tiger and wore it round his waist. He
caught hold of the ball of fire in his left hand and held it aloft.
He calmed the serpent and wore it round his neck as an ornament. By
this time he had begun to dance in joy. So when the rishis set up the
monster against Siva, he dwarfed the monster, stood on it on one leg
and continued his dance. VishNu and the others were charmed by this
aanandha-thaaNdavam = joyous divine dance of the Lord siva. Then
rishis were blessed and the two Lords disappeared to their places.
Thus narrated vishNu to lakshmi and sEsha.
Another version: In the forest of dhaaruka dwelt multitudes of
heretical rishis, followers of the meemaamsa. Thither proceeded siva
to confute them, accompanied by Vishnu disguised as a beautiful
woman, and aadi-sEsha. The rishis were at first led to violent
dispute amongst themselves [because of the beautiful lady
accompanying siva?], but their anger was soon directed against siva,
and they endeavoured to destroy Him by means of incantations. A
fierce tiger was created in sacrificial fires, and rushed upon Him;
but smiling gently, He seized it and, with the nail of His little
finger stripped off its skin, and wrapped it about Himself like a
silken cloth. Undiscouraged by failure, the sages renewed their
offerings, and produced a monstrous serpent, which, however, siva
seized and wreathed about His neck like a garland. Then He began to
dance; but there rushed upon Him at last a monster in the shape of a
malignant dwarf, Muyalaka -the Apasmaara purusha. Upon him the God
pressed the tip of His foot, and broke the creature's back, so that
it writhed upon the ground; and so, His last foe prostrate, siva
resumed the dance, witnessed by gods and rishis. [see here the rishi
wives were not in picture having been enchanted whereas first version
speaks of that and hence not of interest]
Third version: The puranic account of the origin of the cosmic dance
is slightly different and based more on philosophical truth. The
rishis of Dhaaruka vanam questioned the relevance of God, arguing
that since Karma was everything, only action mattered. To remove
their ajnaanam -ignorance, siva took the form of a most beautiful
man - sundhara moorthy and came to Dharuka vanam. Enchanted, all the
women followed him. Lord Vishnu [who accompanied siva as in previous
version] enticed the rishis as Mohini. The rishis, enraged that they
had been fooled [since they lost their wives as well fooled by the
mohini], conducted an Atharva Vedic "homa" to destroy Lord siva.
First from the homa fire emerged Muyalagan, the demon, called
apasmara purusha in Sanskrit. The cosmic dance began. Muyalagan was
trampled underfoot. Then emerged snake, deer, tiger etc. The snakes
from the fire, which emerged became siva's garlands after the venom
was removed. A deer with huge antlers was miniaturised and held in
one hand. The menacing tiger became his waistcloth while the raging
fire was captured in another hand. The sound of the evil incantations
became his anklets. Thus transformed, they became beneficial.
Note:
1. the matter in brackets is included in above are from my side
for more clarity.
2. Please do not pick up any thread for a fight how you can
include all this in the srivaishNva lists.
3. These paragraphs are added just to establish my point of
ahalyaa story and nothing more than that.
Now the point of relation to the krithi and ahalyaa:
a. from the first version lord vishNu who has now come as raama
knows about this ? siva enchanting the ladies and as such sage
visvaamithra asking raama about this is not out of context. Since in
raamayaNam, this episode is not there we need not add weight to this.
b. The word Bhoopathi means the king. Ahalyaa also saw the ghOra
bhoopathi ? king indhran became ugly after being cursed by her own
king - viz. her husband sage gouthama [who is a king of enormous
thapas] ? who is also fierce now, in anger because of her conduct.
Dhaaruka is a type of wood or species of wood- AaraNya is forest.
This is also suiting because the aasramam was in forest, then
deserted when raama saw it was almost a raised stony area. But a
forest earlier when sage was there. So the charaNam point is NOT out
of context.
As side information, "dhaarukan" is the charioteer of Krishna, the
charioteer lord - of arjunan- paarthasaarathy. Dhaarukan rode the
chariot to pradhyumnan son of krishNa during the war he had with
usha's father etc. [may be to retrieve usha when usha's friend
chithralekha abducted him from krishna's palace for her friend usha's
sake].
The next point in the first post is on charaNam 2 - a description
about the beauty of raamaa ? and thyaagaraaja praises or describes or
says - thyaagaraaja vinutha - Is it a sort of appeasement of raama,
for the poet has raised irrelevant points or questions to raama? Then
to describe him as "Who attracts the mind and brings happiness", "Who
has got eyes like the intoxicated chakOra bird", "the big boar roopa
having protruding teeth", "the moon-faced beautiful Lord" ? a
combination of contrasting features ? chandra vadhana on one side and
a ugly boar having protruding teeth on the other.
Just to recall charaNam 2
mana mOhana aanandha madha chakOra nayanaa
kundharadana chandhra vadhana sundharaanga thyaagaraajavinutha
Meaning:
Oh Lord! Who attracts the mind and brings happiness, Who has got eyes
like the intoxicated chakOra bird, the boar faced having protruding
teeth, moon-faced beautiful Lord praised by tyAgarAja!
Points: the very word raama means one who steals the heart by his
beauty. So mana mohana aanandha is very apt description. madha
chakOra nayanaa is for the intoxicated chakOra bird which feeds
itself on the rays of moon. So the next word of chandhra vadhana ?
the moon like face of raama, added to that the eyes ? sun and moon
are his eyes ? so twice the bird is fed or has the source of
nourishment.
But this `kundharadana'- is it apt? ? since the length of post
increased we will have to see that in next.
Dhasan
Vasudevan m.g.
azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam
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