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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00239 Dec 2007

 
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Post 14

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

In previous posts we saw how the first two and part of third paasuram of 'vaaraNamaayiram' padhikam of aaNdaaL, matchingly describe 'raama's marriage with seethaa' or aaNdaal's dream thinking about her marriage goes in lines of 'seethaa kalyaaNam'.

 

Sage vaalmeeki does not mention anything on the 'gowri' pooja by seethaa, similar to the lines of sree sukha brahmam in sreemadh bhaagavatham - rukmiNi doing gowri poojaa for winning or obtaining krishNa's hand. But saint thulasidhaas in his 'ramacharitha maanas' [RCM] covers that [to some extent we can call RCM as 'north Indian ramayana' since it is famous there]. Thulasidhaas even goes to the extent of describing 'a meeting scene of raama and seethaa' in a park [and in fact lakshmaNa is in forefront to facilitate this meeting] - like the modern day cinemas.

 

We have to leave this portion of aaNdaal paasuram viz. ' mandhiriththu mandhirak kODi uDuththi maNa maalai anthari sooTTak kanaak kaNDEn thOzhi! Naan' - as not matching in description of seethaa kalyaaNam – the gist of discussion going on now – or being described in earlier posts.

 

I know we started with seethaa kalyaaNamas unique vedic marriage and then I mixed it with thyaagaraaja krithi, then aaNdaaL paasurams, but one thing is certain – it is all having the central focus of seethaa raama kalyaaNam only.  

 

Since we are interested in references given by vaalmeeki only and not others, we have to move on to next aaNdaaL paasuram. Now taking up that --

pArppanac ciTTargaL pallAr eDuththu Eththip

pooppunaik kaNNip punidhanODu en thannaik

kappu naaN kaTTak kanaak kaNDEn thOzhi! NAn – 6-4 nachchiyaar thirumozhi

 

The comments given to this paasuram in the detailed write up on "vaaraNam aayiram" is reproduced here. Quote –

kaNNan is yet to come to the maNa mEDai (next pASuram). But here we already see the description in pASuram 4, about 'rakshA bandhanam' being described. SrI Uththamoor Veera raaghavaacharya swamy [UV] explains that - even though the current practice is that rakshA bandhanam takes place only after the bridegroom arrives at the maNa mEDai, in the ancient times, the rakshA bandhanam used to be performed separately for the bride and the bridegroom prior to the arrival of the bridegroom at the marriage pandal. He gives support for this from the grantha called 'gRhya ratnam'. According to this, the sequence is as follows:

1.      both ankurArpaNam and pratisara bandham take place for the bride and the bridegroom 1 st,

2.      then the bridegroom's party goes to the bride's place to seek her as the bride for the groom,

3.      after the elders of the bride give their consent, the bridegroom starts towards the bride's place in a procession,  

4.      the bride's party comes forward to welcome the bridegroom.

It is this sequence that is described by ANDAL. SrI UV comments that even if the bridegroom ties the rakshA bandhanam on the bride's hand, the procedure used to be that the bridegroom then returns to his place, and comes back again as implied in the pASurams here. – unquote--

 

[earlier smt. kalyaani krsihnamachari serialized this in the lists and I have that stored as a compiled write up, along with sri sadagopan swamy's 1998 mails].

 

Why this reproduction here – is to see how it goes in line with vaalmeeki – the kaapu naaN is separately tied to raama - when those paarpanach chittargaL – brahmaNa srEshtaas – vasishTa, visvamithra, and others, assembled there did that 'kaappu naaN' – kankaNam - to raama separately and then they came in procession to the janaka's place as stated by valmeeki.

 

May be you are eager to know who are all that "paarpanach chiTTargaL" in that aaNdaal line -pallaar eduththu Eththi kaappu naaN katta" – that is is a big list –-

  1. vasishTa
  2. visvaamithra  [about these two mention is available as above and well known]
  3. vaama dhEva
  4. jaabaali
  5. kasyapa
  6. maarkaNdEya
  7. dheergaayu
  8. kaarthyaayana
  9. besides a host of other rishis – they are those who invited raama to come for janaka's yagna earlier - when the trio of raama lakshmaNa and visvaamithra left sidhaasramam to mithila
  10. guru sathaanandha [sage gouthama and ahalyaa's son]  - being janaka's guru  - he is already there.

 

Where to find names of these 6 3 to 8 - please see sargam 69 slokam 3 and 4.   When dhasaratha received the messengers of king janaka, then the king dhasaratha requests all these great rishis [who are his 'super' cabinet ministers also] to come along for the marriage besides his 'chathur anga sEnaa' and the royal cashier.

 

Now see vaalmeeki giving the sequence of raama's marriage – see UV swamy's pointed reference from that grantham 'grhya rathnam' is matching well with procedure described in raama's marriage by vaalmeeki --

 

1-73-7b-8. [in prose order]

 

thathaH = then;

thaam = that [night];

ushithaH + raathrim= on resting, in night;

saha + puthraiH + mahaa aathmabhiH= with, sons, noble-minded ones;

prabhaathE + punaH + uththaaya= in morning, again, on getting up;

kruthvaa + karmaaNi + thaththvavith = on performing, [morning] observances, duty-bound one;

risheen = sages;

thadhaa + puraskruthya = then, keeping in forefront;

yaj~na + vaaTam + upaagamath = Vedic-ritual, hall, arrived nearby.

 

Meaning: Then on taking rest for that night along with his noble-minded sons, and again on getting up in the next morning, and on performing morning-observances as a duty-bound king, Dhasharatha arrived at the hall of Vedic-ritual, keeping the sages, in his forefront. [1-73-7b-8]

 

Comment on this slokam in valmikramayan website:

King dhasaratha arrived at the Vedic-ritual hall that he was frequenting for the last few days. Unless invited the bridegroom's party will not enter the marriage hall, and nowadays such an invitation includes a small function also, called vara poojaa as every bridegroom will be looked up to as VishNu, and the bride as Lakshmi. The marriage hall is constructed nearby this Vedic-ritual hall, thus it is to be assumed.

 

Point: please note the royal party and the braahmaNa party arrived at a 'yagna vaatam' – a 'yagna saalaa' and not the marriage hall. Now see next slokam --

 

1-73- 9, 10a. in prose-order:

 

raamaH + sahithaH + bhraathrubhiH = Raama, together with, brothers;

[upaagamath = reached his father Dhasaratha];

yukthE + vijayE + muhoorthE = appropriate, Victory, opportune hour;

sarva + aabharaNa + bhooshthaiH = all, jewellery, adorned with;

krutha + kouthuka + mangaLaH = having performed, marriage-thread, auspicious ceremony;

vasishTam = with VasishTa;

aparaan + api + maharsheen = others, even, eminent-saints;

purathaH + kruthvaa = keeping, ahead;

 

meaning: Raama arrived with his father, together with all of his brothers, keeping sage VasishTa and other eminent-saint ahead of them, on an opportune and appropriate hour called 'Victory...' and all the bridegrooms are adorned with all kinds of jewellery [appropriate for the wedding time, and all have performed the auspicious ceremony for marriage-thread, conducted prior to the marriage and,] all have thread-bands tied around their wrists. [1-73-9, 10a]

 

point:

1. On this 'krutha kouthuka mangaLaH' sree govindharaja comments

        "krutha vivaaha soothra bhandhana roopa mangaLa aachaarah

        kouthukam vishayaabhaagE hastha soothrE ithi amarah 

as per this – kouthuka mangaLam means a thread tying ceremony for marriage – which is that kaappu naaN of aaNdaaL –

 

We will continue in next post.

Dhasan


Vasudevan MG

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




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