Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:
A Hairy Story
What is a man's crowning glory? His hair of course! This is not a silly joke,
but has a lot of truth in it. Men worry a lot about losing their hair, perhaps
much more than kings would about losing their crowns. For, the loss of hair or
its original colour, signifies to a man the onset of middle or old age and is a
stark reminder that golden youth is now behind him forever, never to return. It
puts him on notice that he can no more take life for granted and must now plan
for his economic and, more important, spiritual welfare in the limited lease of
life left. Equally worrying to men is the appearance of grey hair, which again
is a harbinger of old age and all its unwelcome implications. Hair thus
occupies an important position in our lives, its presence, absence, thinning or
colour making quite a difference to our outlook. In this piece, I would like to
present a few "hairy" references in our Scripture.
Like the rest of His magnificent tirumEni, the Lord's locks too are reputed to
be beautiful. Refusing to be confined by His magnificent and towering crown
(Kireetam), His curly locks play truant and fall on His beautiful forehead.
This gives Him an impish appearance, enhancing His beauty manifold, says Sri
Alavandar-""lalAta paryanta vilambita alakam".
His long tresses fall equally on the nape of His neck too, keeping company with
the ornamental earrings-"alakAvalI bandhura kambu kandaram". (This perception
is perhaps based on Sri Parakalan's Thirunedum Tandakam-"mai vaNNa narum kunji
kuzhal pin tAzha".) They are as unruly as He is and refuse to be imprisoned by
hair-band, preferring to move freely as they please-"slatha alaka Abandham".
The Lord's hair is a symbol of His eternal youth and blooming health, and is
jet black, resembling a pitch-dark night. Against this background, His
beautiful forehead is as pleasing as the full moon, and the combined sight of
His tresses and upper face (bringing to mind the bright moon rising in the dark
night) rids us of all fear of samsara, says Swami Desikan in Sri DEvanAyaka
PanchAsat-
"Mugdha smita amrita subhEna mukhEndunA tE
sangamya samsaraNa samjvara shAntayE na:
SampadyatE Vibhdha nAtha samAdhi yOgyA
Sarvar asou kutila kuntala kAnti roopA"
With his penchant for the striking simile, Swami Desikan compares the Lord's
curly locks to the speech of angry young women of ChOzha dEsam. When in a rage,
it would appear that women belonging to this part of Tamizhnadu were prone to
circuitous and sharp speech, which was as twisted as the Lord's tresses-"Kupyat
ChOLI vachana kutilai: kuntalLai: slishta moolE". These beautiful locks of the
Lord form the subject matter of another endearing simile, in Sri Achutha
Satakam. Emperuman's crown glitters verily like the Sun, adorned as it is with
the most splendorous of gems and precious stones. His forehead, on the other
hand, is glowing and cool as the Moon. Caught between these two are His
beautiful curly locks, dark as the night. Can the Sun, the Moon and the Night
ever appear simultaneously? The coexistence of these three on the Lord's visage
indicates His ability to bring together conflicting phenomena, says Swami
Desikan-
"Mukha Chandra mouLi dinakara
Madhya stittha: tava chikura bhAra andhakAra:
Aghatita ghatanA shaktim satyam stthApayati DAsaSatya samagrAm".
Sri Rama and His brothers too were endowed with beautiful curly hair, which
they wore on the side of their head, says Sri Valmiki-
"KAka paksha dharou veerou".
Sri Janaki, the sole repository of divine beauty, was crowned with silken
tresses reaching down below Her hips, resembling a long black snake-"neela
nAgAbhaya vENya". The locks curled at the ends-"vakra kEsAntA". Her hair was
long, strong and dense. In fact, despairing of ever being reunited with the
Prince of Ayodhya, and repeatedly harassed by Her tormentors, when She decides
to take Her own life, it is to Her hair She turns, lacking a rope to hang
Herself with. She fashions a noose with Her long, strong hair tied to the
Ashoka tree and is about to put Her neck in the ring of hair, when Sri Maruti
intervenes with good news-
"ShOkAbhitaptA bahudhA vichintya SeetA atha vENi udgrathanam griheetvA
udbadhya vENi udgathanEna sheeghram aham gamishyAmi yamasya moolam"
Overwhelmed by sorrow at the continued separation from Her dear Raghava, She
wears Her hair with just a single braid, instead of the three women usually
sport-"Eka vENI dharA dEvi"
Long hair, while coveted by most women, could also be a source of personal
danger. It gives a handle, as it were, to miscreants. We hear of DucchAsana
pulling PAnchAli by her hair, when she refuses to accompany him to the court of
the KouravAs.
Sri Periazhwar is so enamoured of Sri Krishna's beautiful mane that he devotes
an entire decad ,all of ten pasurams, for the exercise of combing the boy
wonder's bountiful hair. He calls upon the black crow to come and comb the
unruly black tresses of KannapirAn, with a comb made of elephant
tusk-"Dantatthin seeppAl kuzhal vArAi ak kAkkAi". The Lord's hair is black as
bees. The beautiful, curly locks are also extremely fragrant by nature, so that
bees, mistaking them for some fragrant flower of black hue, buzz around
Emperuman's head-"vaNdAr kuzhal ".
Sri Andal too shares Her father's fascination with the Lord's locks. When She
embarks on the exciting enterprise of describing Emperuman's handsomeness, the
first and foremost feature to attract Her attention is the Lord's beautiful,
curly hair-
"Kuzhal azhagar, vAy azhagar, koppoozhil ezhu kamala poovazhagar" says She,
giving pride of place to His black tresses while trying to measure His
immeasurable beauty.
Though almost everyone is unanimous that the Lord's hair is black as the night,
the Upanishad adds another hue to the matter by telling us that His tresses are
golden, much like those of a Westerner. The Supreme Being residing in the Surya
mandalam, perhaps to match His colour with that of the environment, has
glorious golden hair. Though Emperuman might sport any number of colours during
the various YugAs ("Munnai vaNNam pAlin vaNNam," etc), there is no record that
the colour of His hair changes too. It remains jet black or golden.
Just as the face is an index of the mind, hair too is an index of a person's
health. People enjoying robust health usually have a headful of jet-black hair
(speaking of Indians), dense and strong. On the other hand, if a person's hair
is brittle, visibly thinning and is prematurely streaked with grey, it is
usually indicative of some physical or psychological malady.
Apart from being an index of one's state of health, the way the hair is worn is
also indicative of one's state of mind. We are told that KaikEyI, bent on
ensuring Sri Rama's banishment and Sri Bharata's coronation, feigned extreme
sorrow and presented to Sri Dasarata a woeful picture, with her long hair let
down loose and flying about.
Draupati, insulted beyond tolerance by the cruel KouravAs, lets her hair loose
and refuses to braid it till her husbands take revenge on those responsible for
dragging her to the royal court and outraging her modesty in public.
The master strategist ChAnakya too takes a vow, when insulted by the kings of
the Nanda Dynasty, that he would topple them from their arrogant perch atop the
throne of Magadha and install in their place Chandragupta, who was a nobody
till then. He lived up to his word and tied his tuft only when the Maurya
lineage rose to power, dethroning the last of the Nanda regals.
Rishis and sages of yore constantly engaged in penance and having no time for
such trivia as trimming one's hair, used to wear it in a matted form, as a
"JatA". We can still find a reflection of this in the densely forested visages
of modern "Gurus". When you come to think of it, you will find it difficult to
think of a clean-shaven Guru with a neatly trimmed head. Whether they are able
to emulate the seers of yore in matters of sense-control or renunciation, we
invariably find their faces framed by a dense, hairy foliage.
Another exalted person who wears His hair in a "jata" is the Lord of Seven
Hills, who is credited with low-slung, matted hair-"tAzh sadayum neeNmudiyum oN
mazhuvum chakkaramum..iranduruvum ondrAi isaindu" says Azhwar.
As vaidikAs, let us also see what the Shruti has to say about hair; Vedas point
out the significance of hair to the human body, by eulogising it as the shield
of the skull, just as the flesh acts as a protective cover for bones- "Kesai:
shira: cchannam, mAmsEna astthi cchannam". We are told that as a preliminary to
performing the AsvamEdha YAga, the KartA should have a hair-cut and shave,
which serve to wash off sins-"kEsa smashru vapatE..papmanOpahatthai". Of the
forty samskArAs or enabling rituals each person is supposed to undergo (like
upanayanam, marriage, etc.), one of the earliest is the first formal tonsuring,
known as "ChouLam", for which the blessings of deities are invoked in the
Mantra Prasna. Any ritual performed without the basic triad, "ShikhAh",
YagyOpaveetam and dhoti worn with a Kaccham, is supposed to be infructuous,
thereby attesting to the importance afforded to hair and the proper form of
wearing it. Whether it is an auspicious occasion like a marriage or a sorrowful
one of bereavement, shaving off one's hair has been laid down as part of the
rituals.
As the hairy story is getting as long as its subject, let me end by pointing
out that hair has been responsible for one of the glorious names of the Lord,
which necessarily has to be on everybody's tongue many times a day. On account
of His curly, beautiful and bewitching hair, He is known as "KEshavan". Need
anything more be said of the significance of this soft but sturdy part of the
human anatomy?
Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana
yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, sadagopan
"
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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