SrI: SrimathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama: Dearest all Today is Kaartthikai Kritthikai- Thirumangai AzhwAr Thirunakshtharm. I would like to share aa brilliant post written by Sri Vijay Triplicane so enjoyable... "pEdhai n^enjE! inRaip perumai aRin^dhilaiyO! ..." This is how Sri maNavALa mAmunigaL starts while singing about my dearmost AzhvAr Sri thirumaN^gai mannan's thirunakshathram. Once you start, you can never stop talking about our "mAyOnai vAL valiyAl man^dhiraN^koL maN^gaiyarkOn". What a versatile poet! What an inspiring story!! Maan! nam kaliyan is Great... Lemme just briefly talk about an interesting portion from siRiya thirumadal. (It is in fact very difficult to 'select' a beautiful portion from siRiya thirumadal. ) Some background: SiRiya thirumadal is a special style of poem where our AzhvAr assumes the role of the n^Ayaki madly in love with the perumAL. Here, She sends her heart as a messenger to perumAL. A lot of poets have dealt with this. But nam kaliyan is so very special. "ArAnum onnAdhAr kELAmE sonnakkAl ArAyumElum paNi kEttu AdhanRenilum pOrAdhozhiyAdhE pOn^dhidu n^I enRERkuk kArAr kadal vaNNan pin pOna n^eNJamum vArAdhE ennai maRan^dhadhudhaan..." ArAnum onnAdhAr kELAmE sonnakkAl - While you go and tell him about me you should very carefully look around to see if there is anybody who might influence him badly. You should avoid such enemies. You should whisper in His ears so that nobody listens to it. ArAyumElum kEttu paNi - On seeing you, if He gets very concerned about me and enquires ,"How is she? is she alive? If I leave rightaway would I be able to see her and unite with her? Could I get her?...", listen to all his enquiries and then let him know about my status. Here, She wants Him to enquire about her. She wants Him to feel restless about her. AdhanRenilum paNi - By chance if he doesn't even recognize me and like dhushyanthan if he disowns me, even then you should let him know my status. Don't feel bad and return rightaway. Make sure you explain Him my status. Look how she, very logically analyzes every situation and teaches her heart to react properly. pOrAdhozhiyAdhE - But don't keep waiting there, trying to elaborate my situation. pOn^dhidu n^I - Even if He forgets me, you shouldn't. You must come back whatever He says. She makes this point emphatically in another place too, just few lines before this section. "sIrAr thiruththuzhAy mAlai n^amakku aruLi, thArAn tharumenRu iraNdaththil orRadhanai..." She is very particular that her heart should return back to her whatever be the message. enRERku - I took so much pain to explain in such great detail to my dear heart, that he should not stay there. But alas! It look like I have made a negative influence on my heart. On listening to my repeated stress on not stay back, my heart probably realized that it is a great blissful feeling to stay with Him. And so it did! :-( ( Here enters our parama kAruNIgar Sri peiyavAccAn piLLai with his imaginative style of commentary. He gives an analogy. A rich landlord had a servant to look after his paddy fields. The problem was that he used to hide bags of rice in a corner and would take them home. One day the landlord caught him redhanded and fired him. He hired a new servant and the first thing he told him was," Hey man, you should not hide the rice in a corner like the old servant did. OK? " You know what happened with the new servant. The landlord himself taught him a way to steal. Likewise She herself taught her heart to stay back. ) kArAr kadal vaNNan pin pOna neNJamum vArAdhE ennai maRan^dhadhu dhaan - My heart went behind the dark coloured kaNNan and never came back. What a sorry state! paavam nam kaliyan... thirumaN^gai AzhvAr thiruvadigaLE SaraNam adiyEn -Viji (Vijay Triplicane) ******* Thanks to Viji for his permission to share this anubhavam with everyone. It is my pErAsai to enjoy the madals fully... Hope AzhwAr blesses soon Regards namo narayana dAsan > What is this Kaisika and why this name? > [Extract from archives -[Thanks to Sri MN Ramanuja, Sri > TSSundararajan Swami and Sri Malolan Kadambi] > > ] > > It has already been pointed out that the SrirAmAyaNa > reference to 'kAiSikam' is found in sundara-kANDam. > > [1:174] *sEvitE vAri-dhArAbhi: pataGaiS-cha nishEvitE, > charitE > kaiSikAchAryai: airAvata nishEvitE* > > Two of Sri-rAmAyaNa commentators, Govindaraja and Ramanuja > (?), explain > "kAiSikAchAryA:" as the celestial vidyAdharas > like tumburu who are masters > of the rare melody (rAGa-viSEsha:) known as > 'kAiSikam'. [The succeeding > epithet "AirAvata-nishEvitE" does not have to do > with Indra's famed albino > elephant. The phrase paints a rainbow ~~ AirAvatam ~~ > across the skies > which Hanuman was traversing.] > > Here is a link on Kaisika Puranam and nampAduavan > http://www.narthaki.com/info/intervw/intrvw35a.html > > Sometime back Sri M N Ramanuja of IISc, Bangalore posted a > note on Kaisika > Ekadasi. I am requesting him to share his reflections on > this topic.> > > > It was a pleasure to go through the link posting the > interview of Prof > S.Ramanujam of Thanjavur University regarding the revival / > reconstruction > of the almost lost art of Kaisika Natakam running to five > hours duration > which was conducted with great fanfare and attendance at > Tirukkurungudi > till 1955 with the efforts of Sri T.V. Sundaram Iyengar. > > It is unfortunate that no records or scripts are easily > available, we have > to be grateful to the efforts of Prof S Ramanujam who could > collect relevant manuscripts from Sri Tirunarayanaiyengar. > We hope that the Prof and Smt Anita Ratnam team will be > able, with their theatrical and dramatic expertise, to > reconstruct the Kaisika Natakam and play it regularly at > various places. > > > What is the origin of this word kaisika? Was > NampAduvAn the opener of > this word? > > > Has it been cited in any reference before? Why is the > name kaisika > ekadasi/dvadasi given to that day? > > >It will be great if some bhakta can throw some light on > these? Meanwhile, > adiyen has some clues about this, which have to be > authenticated by very > enlightened members of the list. > > This word kaisika has appeared first of all in Srimad > Valmiki Ramayana in > the first canto of Sundara kanda [1:174] *sEvitE > vAri-dhArAbhi: > patagaischa nishEvitE, charitE kaiSikAchAryai: airAvata > nishEvitE* > > Hanuman flew in the skies which had a number of > waterfalls, and various > birds frequented. where the great order of gods or > preceptors who were expert in singing the raga or svaras of > kaisika cruised; where airavata or indra's elephant > resorted to. Here 'kaisika' is already referred to > as well known in treta yuga as a special kind of singing or > raga or svara. > > In the introduction of kaisika purana vyakhyanam by Sri > Parasara Bhattar, > there is no reference to the genesis of the name kaisika > purana. It is only > referred to as 'bhagavad guna apadAna gAnam' or > singing in praise of > the qualities and heroic deeds of Lord Narayana. Sri > Bhattar makes an > interesting remark about the holding of nampaduvan > (singer to god) or the > chandala (shvapacha, dog-cook or dog eater) by the brahma > rakshasa. > > "Avan brahmananallAmeyAle oru panjAdiyai chcholli > tannai viduvittuk kolla > mATTitthilan. durbalanagaiyAle parakramatthAle viduvitthuk > kolla > maTTitthilan. Avan nam pakkalile bharanyAsam panninAn > kANum," > > as said by Sri varaha nayanar to bhoomi piratti. Not being > a brahmin he > (nampAduvan) could not recite a panjAdi from veda and get > himself freed from the brahma rAkshasa and not being strong > he could not fight his way free from the captor. He did only > surrender to Me and waited. > > After sixteen shlokas of various swearings taken by > nampAduvan promising to > return to him after singing till daybreak, brahma Rakshasa > allows nampaduvan on his mission. He returns after daybreak > and offers himself as food to the demon, when he changes > his mind and requests him to transfer all his merits earned > by singing throughout the night of kaisika ekadasi and help > him be released from the janma as a demon. > > Nampaduvan refuses to part with any punyam and finally > after listening to > the story of previous birth as a vile brahmin and death > during a sacrifice > and consequent birth as a brahma rakshasa, > nampaduvan's heart softens and > offers to give the punyam of singing the last song. > "yanmayA pashchimam > gItam svaram kaisika samjnakam; phalena tasya bhadram tE > mokshayishyAmi > kilbishAt". Here what he said is to be noted. He > said that he sang a last > song with the svara named kaisika. This single song > earned so much merit > as to release the brahma rakshasa from his mean life and > send him to > heaven. Perhaps, to point out the significance of this > song, the whole > episode was named as kaisika puranam. > > We know that in music, kaisika is associated with the > svara nishAda as > 'komala kaisiki nishAda and kaisiki nishAda' which > is a part of several > enchanting ragas as nathabhairavi, kharaharapriya, > rathnangi etc, of which > bhairavi etc, are janyaragas. Perhaps one of these ragas > was sung by > nampaduvan. We do not know if any specific song was sung or > any song in > those ragas could be sung concerning His praise. > > We have to wait and see what the research of Prof > S.Ramanujam will reveal > regarding Kaisika puranam from the manuscript obtained from > Tirukkurungudi. > > The photos of nampaduvan's and brahma rakshasa's > roles posted in the website in the kaisika nataka are very > interesting and we all > do wait eagerly to see the drama and enjoy it. > > As srivaishnavas, though, we do not think in terms of the > other angles > viz., societal and social aspects as mentioned by the > Prof. For us, it is > forbidden to inquire into the birth aspects of a > srivaishnava devotee, > as in "vIttinba inbappAkkaLil dravyabhAShA nirUpaNa > samam inbamAriyil > ArAychi" and "mlEchchanum bhaktanAnAl ... pUjai > konDu, tIrthaprasAdanAm" > and "janma vritta vidyAnaipuNAdigal ... shava > vidhavAlamkAram enRu > kazhippargal". > > It may be of academic and political interest to say that a > svapacha gave > moksha to a brahmin, though in fact it was the power of > kaisika mahatmyam > that cleansed the sins of the brahmarakshasa. > > Kaisika Ekadasi is a sacred day for the devotees of the > Lord. > Devotees fast that day and listen to kaisika puranam. This > Puranam is the 48th chapter of Sri Varaha Puranam. > > This chapter explains and emphasises the importance of > singing the HIS glory. > > One Kaisika Ekadasi day Sri Parasara Bhattar chanted the > Kaisiki Puranam before Lord Ranganatha (with his > interpretations). Lord was immensely pleased and this has > become a tradition in Srirangam. > To this day the direct descendants of Sri Parasara Bhattar > Swami > chant Kaisika Puranam on Kaisika Ekadasi day to the LORD at > Srirangam > > Regards > namo narayana > dAsan ------------------------------------ Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan http://www.sadagopan.org Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/join (Yahoo! 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