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"For the Sake of the Better Half"

From the Bhakti List Archives

sadagopaniyengar • February 18, 2003 


                         
Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

                                For the Sake of The Better Half 

 

              Tales of Kings and Queens are indeed fascinating. Most of us must have listened to our grandparents or parents recounting to us absorbing anecdotes of this King or that. These tales were as enthralling as they were informative, for the exploits, real and imaginary, of the Kings of yore used to fire children with enthusiasm and inspiration.

 

 What used be a recurring feature in such tales was the trouble to which the Kings had to go, to wed damsels of their choice. We hear of Swayamvarams being held to enable the princess choose her life mate, of competitions being held to decide who would win the fair maid's hand. The romantic aspirant would be asked to bring a flower dear to the damsel's heart, which would be blooming only once a year and that too, on an inaccessible island beyond the seven seas, guarded day and night by deadly dragons. Only the bravest and most enterprising would even attempt such a venture and the successful Prince would indeed be a fit candidate for the post of the princess' husband.

For winning Droupati's hand, Arjuna had to hit a moving target with an arrow, looking only at its reflection in a pot of water.  History and folklore are replete with instances of princes being asked to exhibit their valour, perseverance and resourcefulness, for bidding for the affections of the fair princess. Thus the fair sex has always demanded of its suitors that they prove their mettle, before the former would consent to matrimony.

 

  When we mull over what troubles men have gone to over the ages to gain the affections of women they love, we are surprised to find that even the Supreme Lord is no exception to this requirement of having to prove Himself, for winning the hand of Piratti, during His avataras. He might be the personification of virility, bravery, handsomeness and magnificence-all these do not help Him, when it comes to the question of bidding for Piratti's fair hand. Like any ordinary mortal, He has to provide proof positive of His capabilities, before She would consider wedlock with Him.

 

Consider, for instance, the Ramavatara. Lifting the mighty bow of Shiva and fitting it with an arrow were considered to be extremely difficult, if not impossible. The bow was so heavy that some rulers just staggered under its weight and fell, while most could not move it at all. Though the cream of the ruling class of the whole earth was represented at Sri Janaka's court on that day, none could succeed in even lifting the bow, attesting to the arduousness of the endeavour. Sri Janaka himself admits that the task he had set was impossible of performance even by mighty devas, brawny asurAs, beefy rAkshasAs, gandharvas, KinnarAs or YakshAs.  What to say then of puny mortals,  who are absolutely no comparison to the rAkshasAs who are veritable mountains of muscle?

"na Etat sura gaNA: na asurA na cha rAkshasA:

 Gandharava Yaksha pravarA: sa Kinnara mahOragA:

 Kva gati: mAnushANAm cha dhanushOsya prapooraNE

 ArOpaNE samAyOgE vEpanE tOlanEpi vA"

 This mighty bow of Shiva was so big and heavy that it had to be wheeled in on a huge eight-wheeled barrow. And it took five thousand repeat five thousand men, all strong as oxen, to pull the vehicle laden with the bow, with very great difficulty.

 

Readers would appreciate that it was this formidable bow, which must have weighed hundreds of tons, that Sri Rama, a budding youth of hardly fourteen years, was expected to hoist and equip, if He was to win the hand of Sri Mythily. Is this not proof enough that women have always played hard-to-get and Piratti is no exception? That He did it playfully and that the huge bow could not stand the pull of His hands and broke into pieces, ("edutthadu kaNdAr, ittradu kEttAr" says Kamban, attesting to the one swift and fluid motion in which Sri DAsarati lifted the bow, pulled the drawstring, inserted the arrow and broke the bow) are testimonies to His phenomenal strength and bravery, but are irrelevant to this story. What this goes to demonstrate is that the Lord Himself is no exception in having to compete for the attentions of Piratti and having to prove Himself worthy of Her.

 

In the KrishnAvatAra too, it was no cakewalk for the Lord to wed Sri RugminI. Having exchanged love letters and fixed up a rendezvous for eloping, the Lord and His bride-to-be found themselves confronted by an army of irate princes led by Rugmi, the brother-in-law to be of the Lord, who had no wish to be associated in any fashion with the cowherd Krishna, leave alone giving his sister in marriage to Him. There ensued a bloody battle, fought valiantly by both sides, in which Sri Krishna emerged victor and proudly wed Sri RugminI. The point of the matter is that Sri Krishna, the exalted Supreme Being that He was, still had to go into battle and fight hard, to win the hand of His Consort.

 

Again in the same avatara, for wedding Sri Nappinnai, Emperuman had to undergo a test of ability-"veerya sulkam"- that of conquering seven mighty bulls. Even ordinary bulls are dangerous animals, as many a matador has found out to his chagrin. Only those who have tried their hand at this hazardous sport would be able to appreciate fully the feat of the Lord in taming not one but seven ferocious bulls, for the ones Sri Krishna was asked to confront and conquer were no ordinary animals, but the most virile specimens of the species. Azhwars are so enamoured of this exploit of the Lord that they recount it numerous times- "ErEl Ezhum adartthu", "PinnaikkAi muttral muri Erin mun nindru moimbu ozhitthAi" etc. Whereas even seasoned matadors never approach the bull from the front, for fear of being gored by the deadly horns, Sri Krishna had no such inhibition, faced the animals head on ("mun nindru") and comprehensively conquered them ("moimbu ozhitthAi"). Thus Sri Nappinnai was no exception to the Divine Consorts' 

 

In most of the avataras, it is the same old story of the poor Lord being asked to undertake Missions Impossible or engage in gory combat, to wed Piratti. Take the KoormAvatAra now-Emperuman had to bear the unimaginable weight of the Mantara Parvatam on His back, in the form of a giant turtle, to enable the DevAs churn the Milky Ocean, with the snake VAsuki as a rope and the gigantic mountain as churning rod. If you think that all this superhuman effort was undertaken by the Lord merely to enable dEvAs to obtain nectar (and immortality thereby), you are mistaken. It was all for the sake of Sri Mahalakshmi, who emerged from the ocean as a result of all that intensive churning, that the Lord put up with the monumental trouble and inconvenience. It is no easy joke to have a huge mountain rest on your back, especially if the mountain were to move from side to side in a churning motion, boring into your back all the time. If the Lord didn't think much of all the effort, it was because He wanted His consort badly a

 

It is the Lord's lot not only to go to extraordinary lengths to prove Himself every time He weds His Consort, but also to confront countless challenges for retaining or reclaiming Her. The best evidence in this regard is the VarAhavatAra. Since Sri Mahalakshmi made the Lord go through the ordeal of bearing the Mantara mountain on His back, BhoodEvi felt slighted and arranged for a leela, by being abducted by the formidable HiranyAksha. The mighty asurA just rolled up the earth and hid it at the bottom of the ocean, beyond the reach of anyone. The Lord had to assume the form of a giant boar ("MAnam ilA pandri"), battle valiantly with the asurA who was fortified by all sorts of boons, slay him and rescue Mother Earth. BhoodEvi felt satisfied now, having had the Lord take an avatara and considerable pains, on Her account. She was now even with the Lord's principal Consort.

 

If you need another case in point, this time concerning the arcchAvatAra, you need not look far-Srinivasa of the Seven Hills is still said to be reeling under the burden of debt to KubEra, for the money He borrowed from the latter to meet expenses of His marriage with Sri PadmAvati. (In a lighter vain) It would seem that the phenomenal sums this Lord is gifted through the hundi, represent His devotees' efforts to relieve Him of the age-old debt.

 

It would appear that having to perform impossible feats for winning the loved one's hand is not confined to the Lord alone-it extends to His devotees too. Sri Thirumangai Mannan is thus put to the onerous task of feeding a thousand bhAgavatAs a day, as a precondition for wedlock with Sri Kumudavalli. The extents to which Azhwar goes, raiding and robbing, waylaying and plundering, defaulting on tributes due to the Emperor and being imprisoned for that, etc., all for the sake of winning Sri Kumudavalli's hand, are ample proof that women have put not only the Lord but His votaries too to severe test, for granting them the favour of matrimony. 

 

It is indeed fortunate that the number of eligible bachelors today is less than the maidens available, but for which we poor males might have to emulate the Lord and go through all sorts of ordeals, to prove ourselves to prospective better halves.

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan

 



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