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A Sorrowful Soliloquy

The two boons promised by king Dhasaratha to Kaikeyi as a reward for the help 
rendered by her at the crucial hour of killing Chambarasura recoiled on him 
like a boomerang when she demanded immediate implementation of them. Having 
been brain washed by the hunchback Mantara, Kaikeyi was lying in her chamber 
with grief and looked like an inert peacock with its plumage folded.The simile 
has been appropriately introduced by the great Tamil poet Kambar for three 
reasons.

Kaikeyi appeared colourful like a peacock, which led to her wedding 
withDasaratha.
She hailed from a place which was famous for peacocks (Kekayanadu)
Sri Rama possessed a body, the colour of which was dark blue resembling rain 
bearing cloud and no wonder that Kaikeyi as a peacock was attracted towards Him 
and made her receive him with a cheerful exhilaration, thus demanding her 
natural love and affection for him. Her reaction was entirely different in this 
sequence.

The great king in his usual nocturnal visit to the parlour of Kaikeyi carried 
with him a happy message of Sri Rama?s coronation to be conveyed to her. 
Dasaratha was bewildered with astonishment on seeing his beloved sweetheart 
lying in a disorderly fashion, lifted her with his long and broad handsas an 
elephant would, with its trunk lift a female deer. He then embraced her with 
affection to which Kaikeyi reacted violently and fell on the mother earth 
escaping his fold. She revealed her mind stating that she desired the two boons 
that were promised to be granted here and now, in that her sonBharatha to wear 
the crown and Sri Rama to leave for the forest forthwith on fourteen years 
exile. The King of Kings received these two requests witha rude shock and fell 
down unconscious as he felt that he had to keep up the promise which was then 
put to test and bemoaned, ?How cruel it was to tread the path of righteousness? 
 

After regaining consciousness King Dasaratha beseeched Kaikeyi to give up her 
malicious request and come back to senses. As she did not yield to any 
entreaties the king put forth his amended request whereby Bharatha might wear 
the crown and occupy the throne and Kaikeyi should forget theother demand. Poet 
Kambar subtly reveals that Dasaratha considered an anathema even to mention 
about the intended banishment of his son, by the expression ?the other demand?.

Here it would be relevant to recall how Kulasekhara Azhwar who was a Chera king 
born at Thiruvanjikalam a place in Kerala in the Tamil month of Masi under the 
star Punarvasu was very much devoted to Sri Rama whosebirth star also was that 
of his. He spent the time usefully in the companyof devotees of high order 
relegating his powers to his ministers to administer the territory. The 
culmination of his extreme Bhakthi crystallized in the form of his going on 
pilgrimage to many holy places to mention a few, Srirangam, Thirukannapuram, 
Thirumalai, Thiruchitrakutam and so on. Kulasekhara has sung songs in praise of 
Lord Rama assuming the role of Kowsalya as mother singing lullaby and in 
another himself yearning to do service to Lord in whatever way possible. Among 
his 105 Tamil verses the thought provoking tear-jerking ones are Dasaratha?s 
lamentation on the exile of his son, Sri Rama to the forest remain as an 
outstanding piece of lachrymal lament where he dons the mantle
of king Dasaratha. Obviously Kulasekhrara?s intention was to bring greater 
poignancy than what had been narrated by sage Valmiki in Sanskrit although it 
appears he had followed poet Kambar in Tamil.

Verse No. 1 ? The populace are getting ready with folded arms in a prayerful 
posture to witness your coronation? ?Alas my Rama oh! Loved by Kaikeyi who is 
more than a mother to you has stipulated that you should leave for the 
sprawling and unending forest and I had no alternative except to execute her 
diabolical plan? ? See how I succeeded in my ambition and how you have proved 
to be a worthy son?

 

Verse No. 2 ?How cruel am I and how grievous are the resultant words of mine 
that made you to leave peremptorily not aspiring for the throne bereft of 
elephants, infantry, car (Ratham) etc. that go with the royal paraphernalia but 
followed by the broad eyed Sita and the service oriented Lakshmana? How did you 
trek / Rama Ho ? I am helpless without knowing what to do?

 

Verse No.3 My kousalya has eyes which are wide and looked spear shaped; as her 
son you have inherited the elegant physical features of your mother andyour 
mountain like shoulders carried the bow; you were then used to lie onluxurious 
soft bet which gave soporific effect and now you have learnt to sleep on rugged 
rocks under a forest tree: your action has left my heart bleeding.

 

Verse No. 4 ? Come here! Go and come once again! Were my daily request toyou my 
son; by this conduct I enjoyed your handsome physiognomy eyeful andthe gait 
both while coming and returning and not satisfied with it I askedyou repeat it 
which you did? ? Was it not that you broke Lord Siva?sbow which nobody else 
could do, with the only intention of holding Janaki?s soft hand in marriage: 
now by your deed of going into the forest infested with wild animals my heart 
instead of blowing into pieces still pulsates. 

 

Verse No. 5 While trekking the rugged terrain with spiky stones left your soft 
feet bleeding, the uncharitable forest spreading the rays of the torridsun on 
you, and the pangs of hunger biting you, I stand guilty and remain a great 
sinner by conceding to the evil design of Kaikeyi, the wicked. I amhelpless and 
suffer due to the past deeds.

 

Verse No.6 Without hearing the words of affection of calling me amma, without 
embracing them with love and affection, without caressing and smelling his 
forehead, thus deprived of such a pleasure, without seeing His gait of an 
elephant and his lotus like face, I still live having lost my son? (here due to 
extreme emotion consequent upon separation from his affectionate son, Dasaratha 
according to Kulasekhara Azhwar changes the appellation to ?Amma? instead of 
?Appa?.

 

Verse No. 7 ?Please tell me, you learned scholars! Sumanthara! Vashishta! Is 
there equity and justice in my dear son appearing with matted locks instead of 
adorning it with fragrant flowers? Should he wear a garment woven out of ?Kusa 
Grass? instead of silken attire? Should he so young leave for the forest to 
which I should have retired as an old man?

 

Verse No. 8 ? Kaikeyi! You are atleast concerned and nonchalant about 
thesorrowful predicament and the confused state of affairs in the country, the 
result of your obduracy: you sent my learned handsome son, his brother 
Lakshmana and my parrot like daughter-in-law to the forest and by this act your 
son Baratha unwittingly became my object of blame and derision and 
simultaneously you were preparing to send me to the Heavens?. You wish to be 
alive to enjoy the pleasure, in this world even after these!

 

Verse No. 9 ?Oh Rama! While returning from Mythila after your Wedding youwere 
challenged and threatened by Parasurama and it made me mortally afraid of him 
and to fall down unconscious; you showed your prowess not only by hauling his 
strong bow but also withdrawing the efficacy of his penance; bythis exercise 
you have established your superiority, but you have not given thought to my 
anguish that resulted in your leaving for the forest so as to protect me from 
embarrassment and also my promises?. ? I am lucky tohave you as my son in this 
birth and I wish that I should be providential enough to be placed in a similar 
position in my future seven plus births also?

 

Verse No.10 ?Oh Prince! Coming from Manu?s lineage! Hereafter I should not be 
alive; enticed by the hunchback and under her malefic influence Kaikeyi spelt 
out her wicked intention to which I had to succumb. The consequence was that 
both Kousalya and Sumithra has to undergo mental agony: I am leaving this 
country which you disowned and I desire to go to forest to live?.

 

Verse No. 11 In the last stanza Kulasekhara Azhwar sums up by himself saying 
that these verses are ?Tamil rosary-par excellence? and those who read these 
verses will never tread anything other than virtuous path?

 

It would be difficult to reflect in letter and spirit the dolorous expressions 
and sublime experiences both in the content and construction of Kulasekara 
Azhwar?s verses in Tamil. After all, sorrow, dolor, agonyand anguish that human 
beings are subjected to cannot be different in the universe although expressed 
in languages of their own.

This article was written by Late.L.P.Sampath Iyengar

Feedbacks to suprajaiyengar@xxxx

 



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