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Raghu Veera Gadhyam--Yuddha Khaandham: Part 1

From the Bhakti List Archives

V. Sadagopan • November 29, 1996 


indheevara dhaLa syAmam indhukotinibhaananam I
kandharpa koti lAvaNyam vandEham Raghunandanam II

Dear Members of the Bhakthi group:

We now come to the Sixth and penultimate  canto of 
Adi Kavi Valmiki"s Srimadh RAmAyaNam , which is 
known as the Yuddha KhAndham(YK). Here, Sri Rama's 
avathAra kAryam is executed and his heroism is 
fully demonstrated . Hence ,  the Gadhyam of Swami Desikan
on the Raghu Veeran comes into full focus. The salutations
of Swami Desikan echo here  with the battle sounds majestically.

There are a total of 29 salutaions related to
YK of Swami Desikan's Raghuveera Gadhyam .
Six of them consist of one or two words . 
I will reflect on their meanings  later .
These six salutations for the sake of listing are :
Veera (50  ) < Satya Vratha (51  ) < SwAmin (75  ) <
Raaghava Simha (76 ) , Nishpanna Kruthya (71  )<  and 
Aparathidhwandwa Pourusha (61 ) .

Some of the salutaions are very long and are full of alliterations or 
Onomotopheia . These resonate with the sound and 
fury of the battle in a majestic fashion and accompany the DankhAra dwani 
associated with Sri  Ramaa's Kodhandam .. 

The first half of Yuddha KAndham covers the VibhishaNa 
SaraNAgathi ,Darbha Sayanam , Sethu Bandhanam 
and the arrival of Sri Rama, LakshmaNA , SugreevA , HanumAn 
with the army of monkeys and bears at the capital cit yof RaavaNA . 
Swami Desikan covers these incidents through 8 salutations
starting from salutation 48. The first 39 chapters of Srimadh
RaamAyaNam covers these incidents .

The second half of YK consists of 89 sargas in Srimadh
Vaalmiki RaamayaNam . Swami Desikan uses 21 salutations
to illustrate RaamA's  heroism saluted earlier by Vaalmiki in his YK.
These salutations cover the various battles in which Sri Rama
participated , Indrajith's binding of the Lord and LakshmaNA 
with Naga Paasam , the service of Garuda to chase away the 
serpents , RavaNaa's first battle with Rama and former's  retreat from the 
battle field , death of RavaNaa  at the hands of the victorious Rama,
Mandodhari's lamentation over the loss of her husband , 
her praise of Rama , the eulogies of the Devaas and Brahmaa
in recognition of the unparalleled heroism of Rama in the 
Rama-RaavaNa Yuddham , the resucitation of the monkeys 
from their death , reunion with Sita , return to Nandigraam in
Pushpaka Vimaanam to meet the waiting Bharatha and 
the glorious pattabhishekam of Sri Rama as Chakravarthi  .

VaidehI sahitam suradhrumatalE haimE mahAmantapE
madhyE pushpakamaasanE maNimayE veerAsanE susthitham I
agrE vAchayathi prabhanjanasuthE tatvam munibhya: param 
vyAkyAntham Bharathadhibi: parivrutham Ramam bhajE syAmaLam II

vAme BhumisuthA purasccha HanumAn pascchaath Sumitraa sutha:
SatrugnO Bharathasccha paarsva dhaLayOrvaayvaadhi kONeshu cha I
Sugreevasccha VibhishaNasccha Yuvaraat Taaraa suthO JaambhavAn 
MadhyE NEELA SAROJA KOMALA RUCHIM RAAMAM bhajE syAmaLam II

Sri Janakee Rama ParabrahmaNE nama :

Sri VaishNava Daasan ,

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan