SrI Raama Jayam
RaamAya RaamabhadrAya RaamachandrAya
vEdhasE
RaghunATAya NaaTAya SeethAyA: PathayE
nama:
Dear Raama BhakthAs:
Sundara KaaNDam has 2874 slOkams housed in 68
Sargams.
With the 121 slOkmas of PattAbhishEka Sargam
, the nine days"
PaarAyaNam of Sundara KaaNDam comes to 2995
slOkams
of the set of the total 24,000 slOkmas of
SrImath RaamAyaNam
of Sage ValmIki (
12.48% of the total).
For us to plan our PaarAyaNam time schedules ,
here is the breakdown by the number of slOkams
for the nine days:
First Day: Sargams 1-5 : 375 SlOkams
Second Day: Sargams 6-15: 440 SlOkams
Third Day: Sargams 16-20 : 154 SlOkmas
Fourth Day : Sargams 21-26 : 216
SlOkmas
Fifth Day : Sargams 27-33 ; 201
SlOkams
Sixth Day : Sargams 34-40 : 390
SlOkams
Seventh Day: Sargams 385 SlOkmas
Eighth Day : Sargams : 53-60 : 460 SlOkams
Ninth Day: Sargams 61-68 :374 ( 253 SlOkams +
121 PattAbhishEka SlOkams)
Please pace yourself for Days 1, 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 and
9 , when the slOkams to be
recited are more than Three Hundred and Fifty
.
Observations from Today's PaarAyaNam ( Sargams
1-5)
********************************************************************
Reflections on Sargam 1:
*******************************
At the end of KishkindhA kaaNDam , the King of
Bears ,
JaambhavAn reminded
AnjanEyar about His prowess and that cheered
the mind of HanUmAn
to engage in the mighty jump over the ocean
to search for SithA
Devi in LankApuri.
The first slOkam of Sunndara KaaNDam starts
therefore with the word :
"TathO " . That means , thereafter . HanUmAn was
now all set to start on
His jump over the broad & deep ocean , which
many could not even
dream about attempting. Sage ValmIki describes this effort of HanUmAn
as " Dhushkaram and Nishprathidhvandvam " (
Unattainable by others and
matchless).
The Preparations of HanUmAn
**************************************
HanUmAn arrived on top of MahEndhra Parvatham ,
offered His salutations to
the DevAs , His Father ( Vaayu BhagavAn) for
success in the Raama Kaayam .
He grew now in to a gigantic proportion , planted
His feet and hands firmly on
the mountain to push against it to gain velocity
and momentum. Many slOkams
of this sargam describe this gigantic effort of
HanUmAn in preparing
for the leap over the ocean and its impact on the
residents of the mountain
(Trees , animals , GandharvAs , VidhyAdharAs ,
Maharishis ) . HanumAn's
tail was lifted up like a victory post for the
mission that He was undertaking.
The winds generated from HanUmAn's supersonic speed
agitated the waters
of the ocean and made the denizens of the ocean
terror-stricken.
Hospitality offered by MainAka
Mountain
************************************************
As HanUmAn rode the sky , the King of Oceans asked
the golden peaked
MainAka Parvatham to
come out of the Ocean and offer hospitality
to
HanUmAn on his behalf to show his respect for
Lord Raamachandra
and His messenger . HanUmAn could not spare
even a moment to tarry
and to accept the offered hospitality ;
He thanked MainAka mountain
and Samudra Raajan , recieved their
benedictions and continued with
His leap over the
wide ocean.
Naaga MaathA Surasa Devi's testing
*********************************************
The next incident during this heroic leap was the
interference by Naaga MaathA ,
Surasai , who was goaded by the DeavAs ,
GandharvAs , SiddhAs and Sages.
Latter group wanted to know more about the power of
HanUmAn . Surasai took on
a gigantic form and demanded that HanUman was
ordained as her food and therefore
He should enter her cavernous mouth . HanUmAn
explained to her that He was
on the mission to find SitA PirAtti for His Lord
and promised Surasai that He will
fulfill her wish on the return journey . She would
not listen . Hence , HanUmAn
shrank His body to the size of a thumb ,
entered Surasai's mouth and came out of that
open mouth instantly. On exit , HanUmAn pointed out
that He had fulfilled her wish
and therefore He
felt free to continue His Journey without interruption. Surasai was
very pleased with HanUmAn and blessed Him to be victorious in His mission
to help SrI Raaamachandran:
" ArTasiddhyai HarisrEshta gaccha Soumya YaTA
Sukham
SamAnAya VaidEheem RaaghavENa MahAthmanA
"
-- Sundara KaaNDam : 1.170
(Meaning): Oh the Lofty One among the VaanarAs !
Please proceed with
comfort to continue Your journey and become
victorious in the mission
for Lord Raamachandra. Please succeed in Your efforts and unite VaidEhi
with Her dear Lord !
Upadhravam by Simhikai
*******************************
The last incident during the leap over the ocean
was by a Raakshasi
by the name of Simhikai , who had the power to
catch one by grabbing one's
shadow and pull the person towards her so that she
can eat them as her food.
She saw the mighty long shadow of HanUmAn on the
waters of the Ocean and
grabbed it to slow HanUmAn and began to pull Him
towards her . HanUmAn
slowed down , jumped in to her mouth and tore
her heart and destroyed her .
The denizens of the sky , who witnessed HanUmAn's
valour , sagacity
praised Him this way
through a famous slOkam dealing with Raaja Nethi :
Yasya thvEthAni ChathvAri VaanarEndhra
YaTA tava
Dhruthi-dhrushtimathir-dhAkshyam Svakarmasu
na seedhathi
--Sundara KaaNDam: 1.198
(Meaning): Oh the preeminent One among
VaanarAs ! Whenever the four
attributes of resoluteness(dhruthti)
, farsight ( dheerga dhrushti) ,
intellect and analytical skills ( Mathi) and
dextrity in execution
( DhAkshyam) are present together in one ,
then he will never fail
in his endeavours .
Arrival at LankA
*********************
As He approached LankA' sshores , HanUmAn shrank
His gigantic
body and lowered His speed to escape detection by
the RaakshasAs
of LankApuri. He landed on the peak of Lambha
parvatham . He had
His first glimpse of the rich city of LankA , which
resembled the capitol
of Indhran , the city of AmarAvathi.
2. SECOND SARGAM: LANKAA PRAVESAM
******************************************************
There are 58 slOkams in this Sargam .Here HanUmAn
visualizes
LankA as a city in the sky (Puram aakasagam ) .This
city was constructed
by the architect of the DevAs , ViswakarmA for
KubhEran before and
appropriated by RaavaNan later .It had mighty
defenses and was well protected
by the RaakshasAs. HanUmAn decided that He had to
take a subtle
form to cheat the RaakshasAs to accomplish the
mission of freedom of
movement inside the city to search for SithA
PirAtti.He decided to enter
the city after sun set and shrank His
size to that of a cat to escape detection
by the well armed
guards of RaavaNa .
THIRD SARGAM : VICTORY OVER LANKAA
DEVI
************************************************************
This sargam has 50 slOkams. HanUmAn arrived at the
ramparts
of the city.The presiding deity of the city , LankA
Devi detected
this stranger in her city .As adhishtAna
dEvathai with responsibility
for the defense of the city , she challenged the
small sized HanUmAn
and warned Him that He can not enter LankA
. HanUmAn responded
that He had come to experience the beauty of
the city of LankA and
its immeasaurable wealth . Once again LankA Devi
said that HanUmAn
can not enter unless He defeated her first.She hit
HanUmAn to stop Him.
The surprised and angry HanUmAn used His left
fist to knock her off
her feet and did not use too much power since she was a woman.
The humiliated LankA Devi got up , hailed
HanUmAn and revealed
that the time had come for the death of RaavaNa and
the destruction of
his city due to his evil deed of stealing SithA
PirAtti . LankA Devi
gave HanumAn now the total freedom of access to the
city of LankA
to accomplish His goals of finding Jaanaki
.
FOURTH SARGAM: ROAMING IN THE CITY( LANKAAPURI
PARIBRAHAMANAM)
*************************************************************************************************
This sargam has 30 slOkams. After LankA dEvi's
permission ,
HanUmAn entered the city gate. He put His left foot
first as
is done , when one enters the house of one's enemy
.It was
equivalent to putting one's foot on the head of the
enemy .HanUmAn
moved from house to house undetected looking for
SitA PirAtti.
He arrived ultimately at the inner chambers of
RaavaNan .
FIFTH SARGAM: CONTINUING SEARCH
**************************************************
After all these extensive searches , HanUmAn did
not have
any success in finding SithA Devi (SeethAm
apasyan manujEswarasya
Raamasya pathneem vadhathAm varasya) . HanUmAn became
depressed because of His lack of success
inspite of the enormous
effort he had put in . He felt
like a dullard and was overcome
with sorrow (
BhabhUva dukkhAbhihathascchirasya plavangamO
mandha ivAchirasya).
The slOkams of this sargam are beautiful
from a poetic point of view .
With the blessings of Brahma Devan and His consort
, Saraswathi ,
the Goddess of Learning , Sage ValmIki's poetry
reached new heights .
The rhyming became superb throughout this
sargam and the slOkams are
most pleasing to recite . Here is an
example , where the rhyming is focused
on the word " rEkhAm" :
avyaktha-rEkhAmiva chandra-rEkhAm
pAmsu-pradhigdhAmiva hEma
rEkhAm
kshatha-prarooDamiva BhANa-rEkhAm
vAyu-prapannAmiva mEgha-rEkhAm
---Sundara KaaNDam: 5 . 26
Here noble SithA PirAtti's helpless and Her pitiful
status as
a prisoner of RaavaNan is imagined with intense emotions
by HanUmAn. He says : She would be like the
rays of Moon ,
which are not seen clearly (avyaktha chandra rEkhA
) ;
She would be like a dust-covered golden rod , whose full
beauty idoes not become explicit ; She would be
like an arrow
that has entered inside a wound that is already there; She would be
like a cloud that is
being scattered by a fierce wind (Vaayu-prabhinna
mEga rEkhA ). Heights of despondency of HanUmAn
over
His difficulties in finding SithA PirAtti in LankA
are described here.
SrImath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
,
Raama DhAsan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri
SadagOpan
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