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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00028 Jun 2006

 
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Post 2

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

We saw the gem of a krithi 'vanaja nayanudani' and its few variations, the 
meanings of pallavi, anupallavi, and charaNam in the previous post. Now we will 
see points on raagam, its selection and some points / comments on the krithi.

 

4. [serial number continued] Now on the raagam selection by ST: This krithi is 
in raagam 'kEdhaara gowLa'. kEdharam is 'a meadow' or 'a land submerged in 
water'. Also it a name of lord Siva. GowLaa is paarvathi and so 'kEdhaara 
gowla' is siva-sakthi in unison. 

 

Also seethaa is daughter of and from boomi as stated in the other version of 
krithi line 'DharaNijaa'. So she is kEdhaaraa. gowLa or gowda means a secret 
and also a dhEsam - country. gowda dhEsam is present day Bengal. From ayOdhyaa, 
the base of Himalayan range, raama and seethaa went towards east - towards 
Bengal - from present day 'uththara pradhEsam - UP towards bengal, when they 
started to go forest as per king dhasarathaa's orders. So kEdhaaraa wants to go 
to gowda as in the krithi.

 

The krithi talks about a 'praNaya kalaham' - oodal - a sort of 'fight' between 
the husband and wife - raama and seethaa. What seethaa wanted is that she will 
accompany raama to the forest, when he goes there as per orders of his father. 
But raama refused to take her along saying that life in forest is difficult 
etc. At that stage seetha felt he is afraid of taking her and spelt this 
'comment' 'sthriyam purusha vigraham' - you have this 'vanitha-svabhaavam'. By 
putting that across, what she wanted is not a separation from her husband but 
continuity of raama's union. As stated above raagam is siva-sakthi in unison. 
Seethaa wants no separation from raama and hence kedhaaragowla is selected 
which indicates continuity in union of the two. That way also this raagam is an 
apt selection for the krithi.

  

5. NOTES ON RAGA KEDARAGOWLA BY DR. V. V. SRIVATSA: - quote: "Names are only 
identificatory superimpositions and apparently unreal, so it is said. What is 
in a name? A rose, is a rose, is a rose. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to 
this adage and we have instances where names do signify adequate detail. 
Kedaragowla is a name with latent significance. Kedara, is a centre of 
pilgrimage located in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, in the Garhwal 
range. Gowla means white. So, Kedaragowla connotes by inference and in an 
abstract manner, the snow-clad lofty heights. A remarkable similarity is seen 
in the Dwadasha - Jyotirlinga sloka, where the reference is "himalaye tu 
kedaram". From the aesthetic point of view, undoubtedly Kedaragowla is one of 
the ragas perched on the higher ranges of Carnatic music.


Known also as Harikedaragowla, the prefix "Hari" is perhaps a misnomer. It is a 
raga dedicated to Lord Siva primarily and should perhaps have been christened 
as Harakedaragowla. It must be a case of North Indians calling Mayapuri as 
Hardwar and South Indians as Haridwar. Mayapuri is the entrance to the 
Himalayas, the abode of Siva and is really Hardwar - the entrance to the abode 
of Hara". - unquote.

 

So when the raagam is also called 'hari kEdhaara gowLa' as stated above, then, 
it is an apt selection by ST, for it focuses on hari, the raama and his wife 
seethaa.

 

6. There is one "nindhaa roopaka sthuthi" pattern in Sanskrit or 'nindhaa 
sthuthi' in short [referred to by our respected Sri Sadagopan swamy while 
writing / commenting on sree paadhukaa sahasram and also in the 
thriuvaheendhrapuram series] [same available in telugu literature also - states 
my good friend who is also a telugu language expert and guides me when I have 
doubts in the language], where the poet ST criticizes raama at surface level, 
but actually there is a deeper inner meaning and with praise. Probably ST has 
adopted the same style. The first few lines are a critical comment but the last 
line is praise on raama. 


7. Now we will go into the krithi by taking up pallavi for elaboration.

Pallavi

vanaja nayanuDani valachithivO 

vaani manasuna dhayalEdhE - vanaja

 

meaning: Have you loved Him since He is beautiful with lotus eyes?  But He does 
not have sympathy in His heart.

 

Point: This seethaa says to herself, for raama refuses to take her to the 
forest and says 'you stay in the country for 14 years because forest life is 
difficult and you, having born in a royal family, will not be able to bear 
these difficulties' etc.

 

Perhaps the paasurams of thirumangai aazhvaar may come close to this scene in 
vaalmeeki's sreemadh raamaayaNam - aazhvaar in naayki bhaavam asking his own 
self - seethaa asking herself - have you loved him because He has lotus eyes 
and then saying he has no sympathy. 

 

mai vaNNa naRum kunchik kuzhal pin thaazha

makaram sEr kuzhai irupaadu ilangiyaada

yei vaNNa venchilaiyE thuNaiyaa ingE

iruvaraai vanthaar en munnE ninRaar 

kai vaNNam thaamarai vaai kalam pOlum

kaNN iNaiyum aravindham adiyum akhdhE

avvaNNaththavar -----[paasuram continues] --  21 thiru nedunthaaNdakam

 

Is it that seethaa says this paasuram - iruvaraai vanthaar, raama and lakshmaNa 
came together, with the bow as accompaniment - vem silai - kaNN iNai - the pair 
of eyes are lotus - vanaja nayanudani - lost myself in those eyes? Perhaps a 
full 'yes' - confirmed in next paasuram. Uththamoor swamy in his commentary 
says "raamanum lakshmaNanum aaga mithilaikku vandha pOdhu seethaap piraatti 
iruntha nilai ena koLLalaam" - [re page 70 -1993 edition] [So it is not MGV's 
guess].

 

naivaLam onRu aaraayaa nammai nOkkaa

naaNinaarpOl iRaiyE nayangaL pinnum

seivaLavil en manamum kaNNum Odi

emperumaan thiruvadik keezh aNaiya ippaal

kaivaLaiyum mEkalaiyum kaaNEn -[ paasuram continues]  - 22 thirunedunthaaNdakam

 

seethaa admits [?] the love has taken over, so the bangles and mEkalai - the 
oDDiyaaNam - that hip jewel loosened - because of the disease of love - sindhai 
noi says aazhvaar in next paasuram - 

 

uLLoorum Sindhai nOi enakkE thandhu en 

oLi vaLaiyum maa niRamum koNdaar.

 

Sindhai nOi - mental affliction - love affliction. Yes. He has no sympathy - 
that again is confirmed by aazhvaar in the next two paasurams - 

 

en porukayaRkaN neer arumbap pulavi thandhu, 

punal arangam oor enRu pOyinaarE -24 thirunedunthaaNdakam

 

en nalanum en niRaivum en sindhaiyum

en vaLaiyum koNdu ennaiyaaLum koNdu

ponnalarndha naruM serundhip pozhilin oodE

punal arangam oor enRu pOyinaarE - 25 thirunedunthaaNdakam

 

he has gone to sri rangam without sympathy after robbing me of all my good 
things 

-      en nalan - my health, my mental strength

-      en niRaivu - my completeness or fulfillment. 

-      En sindhai - my mind

-      Ennai aaLum koNdu - ennai aaLumai koNdu - I have been taken over - I 
became servant to him 

all because of those 'kaNN iNaiyum aravindham' - 'lotus eyes' - vanaja 
nayanudani - oh - oh - great - great - raama, raama.

 

That adequately proves he has no sympathy, that raamaa has no sympathy towards 
seethaa - to say you stay here, I will go - for after having done all these, 
he, the lord left for sri rangam for aazhvaar. For seethaa - we have to see the 
anupallavi of thyaagaraaja - what she did to stop him from going without her - 
that in next post.

 

Oh, what great lines of aazhvaar. Perhaps he followed sage vaalmeeki in 
visualizing this and substituted himself in seethaa's place - perhaps a big 
yes? 

Can we say ST simply follows here aazhvaar who inturn follows vaalmeeki? The 
experts of the list only have to say.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.



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