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Post 1 raama balama

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

During the general elections, we hear this word 'charisma' attributed to a 
particular person. Then he / she is hyped, elevated, and / or projected as a 
'charismatic leader' who is capable of winning the elections single handedly. 

This word as per thesaurus means 
                        *       appeal, 
                        *       charm, 
                        *       magnetism, 
                        *       allurement, 
                        *       personality, 
                        *       attraction, etc. 
A particular insignificant local candidate also gets a 'winning edge' once this 
charismatic leader appeals for voting to this candidate, who otherwise is an 
'easily' defeat-able candidate. Such is the power of this 'charismatic' 
personality. 

Now a story - In earlier days [1950 to 1960 - that decade] in the tamil 
magazine named 'kalaimagal' one Mr. K.Srinivasan used to write a column 
'thalainagaril irundhu'-means - 'from the capital'. This person might have been 
associated with 'The Hindu' family. I do not remember those details. 

What this Mr. Srinivasan wrote is important for us. The time was during the 
first or second general election [regime of pandit Jawaharlal Nehru]. He wrote 
"even a 'lamppost' also would have won easily the general elections in the name 
of Nehru and the congress party for which Nehru appealed to the people to 
vote". That is all because of the "charisma" of Nehru. 

Of course he used the term 'laanthar kambam' in tamil - perhaps many may not 
know now what it is. For those days villages did not have electricity, and 
hence no street lights. A kerosene lamp is the streetlight. A person appointed 
for that purpose lighted the lamps. He kept the lamps in a tall stone post, 
with glass covering on sides and a small metal dome covering, so that the 
lights did not go off in flowing wind. 

That stone post even though carried the lamp at its top would always be 'in 
dark'. That post is what he meant for these insignificant winning candidates 
because of Nehru's charisma. Though it is a bit derogatory on the candidate's 
stature and capacity, it also adequately explained or showed the "charisma" of 
Nehru wielded during those days.

[This magazine kalaimagaL was founded by late K.V.Jagannathan, tamil orator 
known for his punning tamil, who was related to Sri thamizh thaaththaa 
U.V.Swaminatha iyer. Now also this magazine is published but circulation is 
very low and perhaps many may not know such a magazine issue is coming out. 
These are not relevant to our topic but incidentally some old story must also 
be told for younger ones in the list]. 

When this is the case for ordinary mortals, then how much 'charisma' must my 
'raama' have or should have. Or how much charisma his name, that hallowed 
'raama naama', should have you can visualise. That is what is my point in this 
writeup. That is what saint thyaagaraaja also asks raama himself, about raama's 
personality, capacity, charisma etc - 'is it that you are capable or is it that 
your name is capable'. 

Here is that question in the form of a beautiful krithi by sri thyaagaraaja. Of 
course there is a comment that this krithi is not original of thyaagaraaja and 
is ascribed to him. For us it is not a matter on or about the authorship. Our 
interest is the krithi and raama's glory. Hence let us not worry who wrote the 
krithi. Now the krithi --

raagam: aanandha bhairavi 
20 naTabhairavi janya
Aa: S G2 R2 G2 M1 P D2 P N2 S
Av: S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S 
taaLam: aadi            Composer: Thyaagaraaja          Language: Telugu 

pallavi 
nee balamaa naama balamaa 
nijamuga balkavE O raama -- nee

meaning: hey raama, please tell me truthfully, 'is it that you are strong or is 
it that your naama is strong' 

anupallavi 
sree bhuja maa thalli balamaa 
seela aathmathO soubhaktha balamaa -- nee

meaning: Is it that my mother (maa thalli) has the strength associated with Her 
soulful character / or diligence [seela guNam] and her straight and good 
devotion [su-bhakti]?

charaNam 
giri raaja jaamaathaadhi aja sura raaja 
kaanchana raaja bhayahara raaja 
raavaNa raaja bheekara thyaagaraaja-
nutha dhaama bheema -- nee

meaning: One who removes the fear of all those like 
                -       giri raaja himavaan's son in law - that lord siva 
                -       that brahma also called aja 
                -       the king of dhEvaas - king dhEvEndhra - that sura 
raajaa 
                -       the king of gold - kubEra - kaanchana raaja 
and at the same time is ferocious on that king raavaNa - that raama - about 
whom this thyaagaraaja says 'the asylum is the strong you, oh raama, or is it 
your naama?' 

Situation for the krithi: In one of the websites, I located this comment about 
which I have my reservation. Why and what it is, is explained as below.

Quote -- Here thyaagaraaja asks Raama "Are you more powerful or is your name 
more powerful or my Mother Seetha's POOJA more powerful and so on. In the back 
of thyaagaraaja's mind he must have been thinking about a small episode that is 
narrated in some versions of Ramayanam though not in Vaalmeeki's. It is as 
follows. 

When the Vaanara Sainyam was building the bridge across the ocean by throwing 
rocks into the sea, Raama, who was watching them, also took a small rock and 
threw it into the sea. While the rocks thrown by the Vaanaraas floated, that 
one raama - HE - threw went down into the sea. Raama was embarrassed and turned 
round to see if any one had observed his action. Sure enough Anjaneya was 
looking at HIM with a smile. He called Anjaneya and asked him if he had seen 
anything. Anjaneya said 'Yes'. 'What did you see?' asked raama. 'Lord Raama, I 
saw you observing the sainyam throwing rocks into the sea. Then I saw you also 
take a rock and throw it into the sea. Then I saw the rock sinking into the 
sea. Then I saw you looking embarrassed and turning round to see if anyone has 
observed all these' said AnjanEya.  

Raama asked 'Well. Why did the rock I threw go down?' Anjaneya replied, 'My 
Lord, there is no mystery in this. The answer is very simple. The vaanaras are 
chanting your name and saying "JAI SRI RAM' and throwing the rocks. But you 
just threw it. I was able to cross the ocean by just saying 'RAM, RAM, RAM'. 
But you yourself need a bridge for the same purpose. At the end of this YUGA, 
you will go back to Heaven. But Your name will be here forever. Your name, my 
Lord, is so powerful that it can achieve even what you cannot achieve'. 

RAMA WAS STUNNED. Thyaagaraaja must have visualised this entire scene and so he 
asks Raama "NEE BALAMA NAAMA BALAMA" - unquote

My version of situation for the krithi is - "hanumaan thinks about raama and 
his naama balam after his tail is put on fire. Also he thinks is it the mother 
seethaa's character balam. Hanumaan was not feeling the heat, and in fact 
chill, even though he could see the tail is burning. I give my version based in 
vaalmeeki's slokams. Whereas the above writeup above is based on some stories, 
perhaps on hearsay or has no direct reference from vaalmeeki. [as already 
stated therein in the quote itself].

On raaga selection: it is aanandha bhairavi - seethaa is now happy, for she 
heard her lord's name, she received the ring of raama and gave her choodaamaNi 
to hanumaan to be given / shown to raama as proof of his having met her - also 
learnt about raama lakshmaNa's welfare, the association with the monkey king 
sugreeva etc - all through hanumaan. 

Hanumaan is also happy for his mission of finding out seethaa is fulfilled, he 
met her, talked to her, convinced her and prevented her from not committing a 
suicide, got evidence from her for having met her, also met raavaNan and could 
suggest to him to return seethaa for his own survival etc.

Also since hanumaan is about to create a fearful scene in lanka with same fire 
burning now at his tail. So on one side 'aanandham', another side fear or 
ferocity or 'bhairavam'. So 'aanandha bhairavi' = pleasure + ferocity combined. 
As I already stated more than once, thyaagaraaja selects raagams just more apt 
to the situation, and that raagam name itself gives clues to the situation in 
raamaayaNam.

Points on the krithi and comments we will see in next post.
Dhasan
Vasudevan M.G.



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