Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
We saw in the previous post how desire of a hunter â his kaamam - laid the foundation for the birth of the first slokam of the world. Now let us see few slokams connected with this episode.
thasya abhyaasE thu mithunam charantham anapaayinam |
dhadharsa bhagavaan thathra krounchayOh chaaru nisvanam || 1-2-9
meaning: There, the godly sage Vaalmeeki saw a couple of lovely krouncha birds, in the vicinity of that river's foreshore, flying there about in togetherness, [and of course, fearless of any calamity,] and calling charmingly.
thasmaath thu mithunaath Ekam pumaamsam paapa nischayah |
jaghaana vaira nilayO nishaadhah thasya pasyathah || 1-2-10
Meaning: A tribal hunter with all his evil intent, as he is an enemy of forest living beings, killed the male one of them â out of the couple - of these 2 birds, while Vaalmeeki is looking on.
tham sONitha pareethaangam chEshTamaanam maheethalE |
bhaaryaa thu nihatham dhrishTvaa ruraava karuNaam giram || 1-2-11
viyukthaa pathinaa thEna dhvijEna sahachaariNaa |
thaamra seershENa maththEna pathriNaa sahithEna vai | 1-2-12
Meaning: She, who is ever together with her husband, the lusty male bird with flighting wings and with a prideful red crest, one who always had a heart for her, now, is being separated from him. Gone is that togetherness. And she, on seeing her slain husband, whose body is blood-soaked, is reeling on the ground in the anguish of pain, bewailing with piteous utterances.
Point: [actually here govindaraja interprets that the birds were enjoying sex and at that time the hunter kills the male and that is what I heard in many an upanyaasams also]
Seeing this scene, the maharshi vaalmeeki expresses his anguish or sorrow.
thathah karuNa vEdhithvaath adharmO~ayam ithi dhvijah |
nisaamya rudhatheem krouncheem idham vachanam abraveeth || 1-2-14
meaning: Then on seeing the wailing female krounchi bird, compassion haunting him and perceiving the killing of male bird as unjust, the sage uttered this sentence.
Point: That leads to composing or writing or framing of this 'aadhi kaavyam' sreemadh raamaayaNam. Thus the starting scene itself is laden with 'kaamam' â simply 'desire' to deep 'love' - leading to 'sOkham' â 'sorrow'. That sentence is the first slokam composed which reads --
maa nishaadha prathishThaamthvam agamaH saasvatheeh samaah |
yath krouNcha mithunaath Ekam avadheeh kaama mOhitham || 1-2-15
meaning: Oh! ill-fated hunter, by which reason you have killed one male bird of the couple, when it is in its lustful passion, thereby you will get an ever-lasting reputation for ages to come".
Dear readers, please note â vaalmeeki's use of words - kaama has become kaama mOhitham â the subtle difference â kaama as long as it remains a 'desire' â perhaps it is not that harmful. When kaama becomes intensified, then it becomes mOham â then it becomes dangerous â as the definition or meaning of the words goes.
moha
mÃha m. (â1. muh
â ifc. f. Ä) loss of consciousness, bewilderment, perplexity, distraction, infatuation, delusion, error, folly AV. &c. &c. (moham-âbrÅ, to say anything that leads to error
â mohaá-âyÄ, to fall into error
â mohÄt ind. through folly or ignorance)
â fainting, stupefaction, a swoon MBh KÄv.&c
â (in phil.) darkness or delusion of mind (preventing the discernment of truth and leading men to believe in the reality of worldly objects)
â (with Buddhists) ignorance (one of the three roots of vice Dharmas.139)
â a magical art employed to bewilder an enemy (= mohana) Cat.
â wonder, amazement L.
â Infatuation personified (as the offspring of BrahmÄ) VP.
mohita
mohita mfn. stupefied, bewildered, infatuated, deluded (often in comp., e.g. kÄma-mâ, infatuated by love) MBh. R. &c
infatuation meaning -
1. a foolish and usually extravagant passion or love or admiration
2. temporary love of an adolescent [syn: puppy love]
3. an object of extravagant short-lived passion
That ladybird since became kaama mOhitham and that led to avadhee â suffering - because of separation from her husband â all because of excessive love. From srungaaram or love, thus the portion of the story leads us into karuNai â sympathy.
That is how vaalmeeki frames the rest of the story also. Same way â raama and seethaa were enjoying a calm forest life, suddenly raavaNa lifts seethaa â raama becomes sorrowful â we get sympathy on raama. Same way vaali and thaara â suddenly vaali got killed. When thaaraa weeps we get sympathy on her. So a loving life suddenly changes and creates sympathy. Srungaaram to karuNai.
We will see more in next post.
Dhasan
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