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"A Hairy Story"

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sadagopaniyengar • February 20, 2003 


                                  
            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,

 

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

 

"

 

 



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