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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