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Post 2

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer, 

 

We saw that 'raama naama enjoyment' krithi in 'poorNa chandhrikaa' raagam - 
'thelisi raama' of thyaagaraajaa. Now let us start on the points on this krithi 
one by one.

 

1.      This krithi is linked to the episode of 'raavaNan - seethaa' discussion 
in asOka vanam and her advising raavaNan to return herself to raama. hanumaan 
is watching the proceedings of this discussion [in sundhara kaaNdam]. When 
raavaNan visits her in asOka vanam and says 'I am intoxicated with your beauty, 
I don't relish myself in my other wives, oh seethaa, you be queen of all these 
superior women etc', seethaa replies him 'you think on raama and return me to 
him, so that you are saved'. 

 

Perhaps, dear bhakthaas, now you get a tickle, why we talked about 'enjoyment' 
in the prelude to the 'krithi presentation' in previous post. 

 

2.      As we are seeing in this series of elaborations on thyaagaraaja krithis 
[third in a row now and few others earlier by MGV], and their link to sreemadh 
raamaayaNam, the raagam selection itself by ST, to some extent - [or is it a 
large extent?] indicates what incident or episode in sreemadh raamayaNam is 
being touched upon by saint thyaagaraaja.

 

3.      Now on selection of raagam for this krithi thelisi raama chinthana: It 
is 'poorNa chandhrikaa' - means - full moon - bright, cool moon shedding its 
soothing light on all without any one being spared. Similarly seethaa also 
spares her cool soothing and comforting thoughts on that 'offender' raavaNan. 
Without any prejudice or bias, she is saying, "have raama chinthanai - thoughts 
of raama - for your enjoyment - no thoughts on or about my physical body".

 

4.      On this raagam 'poorNa chandhrikaa' Prof. S.R.Janakiraman writes - 
quote - "Dikshitar has given a mould to PoorNa chandrika which is rather 
archaic. It is, to my mind, an amalgamation of PoorNa chandrika and Jana 
ranjani, the latter being an offshoot of the former. PoorNa chandrika is older, 
while Jana ranjani came later. Thyaagaraaja evolved Jana ranjani, out of the 
archaic PoorNa chandrika and individualized and immortalized both PoorNa 
chandrika and Jana ranjani in his krithis. The old-fashioned PoorNa chandrika 
as preserved by Dikshitar in his Shankha Chakra brings in an elongated Ga and 
Dha, now transmitted into Jana ranjani. Dikshitar has not composed in Jana 
ranjani -- unquote. 

 

Dear bhakthaas, let it be 

'poorNa chandhrikaa' - the full blossom moon - the old mother raagam or

'jana ranjani' - a lady who makes people to enjoy - the daughter raagam 

the focal point for us, is - poorNa chandhrikaa the cool moon - mother seethaa  
shedding her karuNaa rasam even on that abductor / offender raavaNan during her 
discussion. 

That shows the basis - the raagam selection - by ST is absolutely 'apt' to the 
situation.

 

5.      When this discussion between raavaNan and seethaa takes place as per 
vaalmeeki - I mean here timewise ? Appears to be a pourNami day - full moon 
day. 

For there is a slOkam in 5 -2 - 57 sundhara khaaNdam - describing the rising of 
moon in full glory - with 1000s of rays - 

chandhrO~api saachivyam iva asya kurvan | 

thaaraa gaNair madhyagathO viraajan|

jyOthsnaa vithaanEna vithathya lOkam | 

uththishThathE na Eka sahasra rasmi: || 5-2-57

 

meaning: The shining moon too rose up with its many thousands of rays, as 
though performing help to Hanumaan, being at the middle of its retinue of stars 
and covering the earth with a canopy of light. That Hanumaan saw the moon 
rising up with a glow of a conch shell, shining with a milky white hue of a 
lotus-fiber, like a swan swimming in a lake.

 

The above slOkam itself is a beauty of lyrical excellence. hanumaan starts 
searching when moon rose. And after he almost finished all places and reached 
asOkha vanam locating seethaa there - it is early morning - dawn to be precise 
- and raavaNan arrives at seethaa's place. Symbolically indicated is the 
approaching end of 'cool, bright and happy days of raavaNa slowly closing its 
account, and hot sunny days sighted in the nearest time scale, fast culminating 
in his death'. Seethaa advises him 'have raama chinthanai' - so that you cool 
comforting days need not come to an end'. 

So also the base on which this krithi is built - basing on raagam 'poorna 
chandhrika' - is absolutely apt. 

 

6.      Seethaa desires a full shiny bright moon in the life of raavaNan, by 
asking him to return herself back to raama, the "sooryasya soorya" [this 
description of raama as sooryasya soorya is by mother sumithraa dhEvi when she 
consoled raamaa's own mother kousalya - peRRa thaai in tamil - on separation of 
raama, in ayOdhyaa kaNdam sargam 44]. raavaNan chooses a 'hot path' by saying 
'I will give two more months, otherwise your body which I wanted to enjoy for 
kaamam, will be turned into my breakfast. That way I will enjoy you'. 

 

7.      Now on the krithi - In the vaalmeeki slokams below, you please note the 
words 'ooru' 'bheeru' - similar sounding words are there in the krithi of ST, 
ending 'ru' 'ru'  - 'pEru, veeru, vaaru, geedheru, dheeru' etc. This also 
establishes how closely ST follows vaalmeeki. raavaNan says to seethaa

maam dhrushTvaa naaga naasa ooru goohamaanaa sthana udharam |
adharsanam iva aathmaanam bhayaath nEthum thvam ichchasi || 5-20-2

meaning: You are with thighs like the trunk of an elephant. Seeing me covering 
your breasts and belly, you desire obtaining disappearance of self due to fear. 
[ooru is thudai or thighs]

 

svaDharmO rakshasaam bheeru sarvathaiva na samsaya: |
gamanam vaa para sthreeNaam haraNam sampramathya vaa || 5-20-5

 

meaning: O one with fear! Obtaining women belonging to others or abducting by 
force is the righteous deed for ogres by all means. There is no doubt in this.

 

8.      In the conversation, raavaNan makes a reference to brahma and his 
weakness for the beautiful woman directly. That thyaagaraaja refers indirectly 
naming him as 'aja' first and then as 'vaageesavaruniki' - instead of simply 
saying 'brahma' or 'chathurmukha' or some other name. 

thvaam kruthva uparathO manyE rooupakarthaa sa visvasruk |

na hi roopa upamaa thva anyaa thava asthi subhadharsane || 5-20-13

meaning: raavaNan says to seethaa in his intoxicated terms, "O one with 
auspicious appearance! The creator of form, that creator of the world, Lord 
Brahma has made you and stopped. I think thus - not another one is there, who 
is equal to your appearance".

 

Just recall how brahma created saraswathi - the vaakh dhEvi - and taken her as 
his wife - which was resented by his own sons sanaka, sananthana et al - ref 
srimadh bhagavatham or naaraayaNeeyam - on creation of world etc - the wavering 
by brahma is reflected by calling him aja first and then vaageesvara.

 

I am not going to trouble you, dear bhakthaas, more on your time now, and will 
continue in next post. 

 

Dhasan

 

Vasudevan m.g.



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