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Sri Raama Navami : Third day of the celebrations

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • April 18, 1997 


Dear Raama Bhakthaas :

We will continue with the anupallavi of the MaNiranghu Krithi 
of Sri Dikshithar in this posting . The anupallavi lines 
once again are:

komaLatara pallava padha kodhanda Raama 
gana syaamaLa vigraha abhja nayana , sampoorNa
kaama , Raghuraama , kalyaaNa naama Raama 
(maamava Pattaabhiraama ) 

In the pallavi , Dikshithar alluded to the great Raama 
bhakthan , Hanumaan , holding the lotus feet of his Lord
in his hands . Those lotus feet , which wandered in the harsh
terrain of the dandakaa forest are described as " komaLa tara
pallava"  padhams . They are soft like the tender shoots of 
a creeper . They could not even take the pressure of Sitaa Devi's
lotus soft hands , when She pressed them at the end of the day
of wandering in the jungle to comfort them . On this coronation day , 
the supreme devotee of Raama held
them with great affection in his hands . 

The next namaskaram is to the Kodhanda Raaman . Dikshithar
prays :" Kodhanda Raama maamava" . The visualization of Sri Raama
as kodhandapaaNi is a very pleasing experience for Rama bhakthaas
like Dikshithar and Saint Thyagaraajaa . In his Thodi raaga krithi 
starting with the pallavi " vetalenu Kodhandapaani anuja 
sowmithrini koodi ", ThyagabrahmaM describes the darsanam of 
Sri Ramaa with Kodhandam in his hand and his brother LakshmaNaa
and sage Visvaamithraa at his side , whenhe went to protect 
the yajnam at siddhaasramam . Swami Desikan describes 
with astonishment of  the power of the fierce arrows 
leaving the kodhandam with a terrifying roar that 
destroyed RaavaNaa through the salutation : "  Katu ratadh 
atani dankruthi chatula katora kaarmukha ----" . 

The divya roopam of the KodhandapaaNi is praised next by 
Dikshithar through the namaskaaram of anupallavi : " gana 
syaamaLa vigraha , Paattabhiraama maamava  " . The divya vigraham 
of Sri Raaman has  been saluted by Raama bhakthas as Shaayama 
sundaraangan . His bluish beauty (neela komala laavaNyam ) 
has been saluted as " Neelaakruthi kala nee LaavaNyamu 
neelagathi kani bimbhavE " . Saint Thyagaraaja celebrates 
in his darbaar krithi the glorious bluish hue of the Lord and 
His auspicious gunAs  as "neela varNa suguNaalaya nee 
mahima yela teliyalErO ". 

The rest of the lines of anupallavi are :" Abhja nayana , 
sampoorNa kaama , Raghuraama , kalyaaNa naama ,
Raama , ( maamava Pattabhiraama) " .  The endearing
decription of the beauty of the glorious eys of the Lord 
by Dikshithar comes out as " Abhja nayana Raama " .
Abhja means the one that is born out of water or arose 
from  water (i-e) lotus flower . Dikshithar saluted the eyes 
of the Lord as having the beauty of freshly blossomed lotus
flower . 

With the salutation , "sampoorNa Kaama" , Dikshithar 
rcognizes Sri Raama as the supreme one , who fulfills his 
sankalpam fully . The reference here is to the incident at
chitrakootam celebrated by Swami Desikan in Raghuveera
gadhyam as " ananya saasaneeya " . There , Raama rejected 
the appeals of his brother BharathA , Acharyaa Vasishtaa 
and held on to his sankalpam . He kept his sankalpam
(pithru vaakhya paripaalanam ) to spend fourteen years 
in the forest and gave his paadhukhAs
to Bharatha to take back to Ayodhyaa in his place .

The remaining salutations are : " Raghuraama , kalyaaNa naama, 
Raama , maamava pattabhiraama " . Dikshithar recognizes 
Sri Raama as the scion of the dynasty of king Raghu and 
as one with the most auspicious names that are enshrined 
in His ashtottharam . 

CharaNam lines of the MaNiranghu raaga saahityam
**********************************************************

In the first portion of the charaNam , Dikshithar 
describes the scene at the coronation darbaar 
of Pattaabhiraaman this way :

" chatra saamara karadhrutha LakshmaNa Satrugna 
VibheeshaNa Sugreeva Pramukhaadhi  sevitha 
(pattabhiraama maamava ) "   
 
The distinguished ones (pramukhaas) like LakshmaNaa , 
Satrughna , VibhishaNaa and Sugreeva are performing 
different kaimkaryams such as holding the royal umbrella ,
waving the fans and taking turns . Dikshithar salutes Sri Raaman
in this  pattabhisheka kolam ,when he is worshipped by 
all of these pramukhaas . 

In the second set of lines , Dikshitar decribes Dasaratha putran as 
the receiver of the sacred blessings (aaseervaadhams ) of 
great sages like Athri , Vasishtaa et al . A tinge of sorrow that 
the proud father Dasaratha , who originally planned such 
a pattaabhishekam was not there in the darbhaar . 
The sages stood  in the place of the absent father
of Raama and blessed  him . Chakravarthi thirumahan 
received their powerful blessings.

The third set of lines of charaNam salute the Ramachandran , 
seated in the extraordinarily beautiful mantapam inlaid with 
navarathnams ( maNirangavalyaalankrutha nava ratna maNtapE ).
He is seated on a gem-studded simhaasanam ( maNimaya 
simhaasanE ) . Next to Him is Sitaa devi 
( Seethayaa saha samsthitha ) . The young Ramachandran 
seated in veeraasanam on that throne inlaid with nava rathnams 
is saluted in the rest of the charaNa vaakyams  
as " sucharithra , parama pavithra ,
Guru Guha mitra, Pankaja mithra vamsa sudhaambhudhi 
chandra , medhini paala , Ramachandra , 
Pattaabhiraama maamava ) ".

His saraNaagatha rakshaka sucharithram is saluted here .
The Lord who blessed all chetanams and  achetanams to
reach the Brahmaa's world of Saandhaanikam at  the time of
conclusion of his avathaara kaaryam is indeed a matchless
sucharithran . ( " Saaketha Janapadha : jani dhanika jangama 
tadhitara janthujaatha divya gathi daana darsitha nitya nisseema 
vaibhava "  in Swami Desikan's words ) . His story is the most 
sacred one and hence He is saluted as Parama pavithran .
The Vedaas salute the pavithram aspect of the Lord this way
in the rk that strats with the words : Pavitram tE vitatam --"  :

(meaning ) : " O Lord of divine enlightenment ! your process of 
purification are widely stretched out in the cosmos . You are 
the soverign , who rules over the entire creation from all sides . 
You never get tired in Your work . Your divine bliss is 
not attainable to those , who are unripened ; only the mature 
ones receive the graces from You ."  ( Rg Vedam X . 83 .1 ) 

In the remaining three salutations of the charaNam ,
Dikshithar offers his worship to Ramachandraa and seeks
his protection this way : " Guru Guha Mitra , Pankaja mitra 
vamsa sudhaambhudhi chandra , Medhini paala , 
( Paatabhiraama maamava ) ".

Dikshitar included Raaga mudraa at the section of this krithi ,
" MANIRANGAvalyaalankrutha " . At the charaNam section ,
" GURU GUHA mitra " , he introduced the composer' s mudraa .
He describes Raamaa as the friend of his nephew , SubramaNyan,
who was the Guru for Dikshithan . At ThruttaNi kshetram ,
Dikshithar was initated by Lord SubramaNyan , when He placed 
a piece of rock candy in the mouth of Dikshitar . Latter's 
compositons started from that time and Dikshithar selected
" Guru Guha " as the mudraa for his krithis from then on .

The charaNa namaskaaram " pankaja mithra vamsa 
sudhaambhudhi chandra " is a beautiful poetic expression 
chosen both by Dikshithar and by Saint Thyagarajaa 
(brindhavana saarangaa krithi) . Sri Ramachandran was born
in Soorya Vamsam . Sooyan is the friend of the Lotus flower
(pankaja mithran ) . His vamsam is pankaja mithra vamsam . 
Raamachandraa  born in that vamsam is compared to the 
Chandran that raises the waves of the ocean of nectar 
(Sudhaambhudhi chandran ) with happiness at His darsanam . 

The final salutation to Pattabhiraaman is a very appropriate one 
for the occasion of coronation . Dikshitar salutes Him as 
" medhini paalan " , the protctor of the world  . As the emperor 
of the world , he ruled many thousands of years prior to returning
to his supreme abode , Sri Vaikuntam .

I have the renditions of this splendid krithi sung by 
Sangeetha Kalanidhi D. k . PattammaaL and played by 
Sheikh Chinna Mowlaana in naathasvaram . It is an inspiration 
to listen to this exquisite song of Dikshithar rendered by these
two maestros .

I will conclude htis posting with the recitation of the 
divya naamaas housed in Sri Rama ashttothra satham .
This extraordinary krithi of Mutthuswami Dikshithar 
has the  echoes of these naamaas inn the sahithyam .  

Om Aadhi purushaaya nama: (69th naama of Sri Raama Ashtottaram )
Om Parama Purushaaya nama : (70 th naama )
Om PuraaNa Purushotthamaaya nama : ( 74th naama ) 
Om anantha guNa gambheeraaya nama: ( 78th naama)
Om syaamaangaaya nama: ( 87th naama) 
Om sundaraaya nama: ( 88th naama ) 
Om danurdharaaya nama: ( 91st naama) 
Om paramaathmanE nama: ( 97th naama) 
Om parabrahmaNE nama: ( 98th naama) 
Om jagadh guravE nama: (50th naama)
Om puNya chaarithra keerthanaaya nama: (40th naama)
Om Hara kodhanda kantanaayaa nama: ( 27th naama) 
Om Sowmyaa nama : ( 61st naama ) 
Om vedaathmanE nama: ( 33rd naama)
Om vedaantha saaraaya nama: ( 32nd naama)
Om dayaa saaraya nama: ( 73rd naama)
Om Raghavaaya nama: ( 78th naama )

Sri Pattaabhiramachndra ParabrahmaNE nama : 

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan