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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 85 - sundarah.

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champakam • January 31, 2003 


      SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 85 - sundarah.

797. sundarah – a) He Who is handsome.
	b) He Who has the beautiful conch – pA'ncajanyam.
	c) He Who killed sunda through upasunda (sunda-rah)
	d) He Who is exceedingly well regarded and worshipped
	e) He Who has separated or divided the different creatures 
well in many ways.

Om sundarAya namah.

The word sundara means "handsome".  The word dara by itself means "a 
conch shell".  Most interpreters use the former meaning;  SrI satya 
sandha yatirAja uses the second meaning and gives an alternate 
interpretation.   

a) SrI BhaTTar explains that He was handsome in the eyes of the asura-
s, and so He is described as sundarah in the context of the Buddha 
incarnation – tad-dRshTi manoharah sundarah.   SrI V.N. 
veDantadeSikan gives the explanation in English as "He Who had a 
captivating form so as to impress and attract a large following."

SrI Sa'nkara gives the interpretation that He is of a handsome form, 
as one of His inherent and natural qualities – viSvAtiSayi 
saubhAgyaSalitvAt sundarah.  tiruma'ngai AzhvAr describes this beauty 
of bhagavAn in periya tirumozhi 9.2.4 "vambu avizhum tuzhAi mAlai tOL 
mEl;Â…..accO! oruvar azhagiyavA!" _ "Oh! What a bewitching beauty He 
is!  How can I describe this beauty!".  In fact, in all the ten 
pASurams under periya tirumozhi 9.2, AzhvAr just keeps wondering 
about this indescribable beauty of emperumAn.  tirumazhiSai AzhvAr 
describes His beauty as "ari po'ngik kATTum azhagu (nAnmugan tiru. 
21) – The beauty of nRsimha form looked like beauty bubbling and 
spilling over because it can't be contained anywhere.  tiruppAN 
AzhvAr is unable to contain His exuberance at the beauty of Lord 
ra'nganAtha, and in two of the  total of ten pASuram-s that are 
attributed to him, he exclaims at His beauty by crying out  "aiyO!" – 
What a Beauty! (Seyya vAi aiyO – amalanAdipirAn 7; nIla mEni aiyO – 
amalanAdi pirAn 9). 

SrI cinmayAnanda relates the term "beauty" here to the mental peace 
that is derived from the meditation and contemplation on SrIman 
nArAyaNa.  He observes that when the meditation leads to the joy of 
ecstasy, the mind feels the peace, and it is at these moments of 
supreme inner satisfaction that the flashes of beauty-experiences 
flood the bosom.  This is nothing but the manifestation of SrIman 
nAraAyaNa, and this is why He is referred to as "Peace-Auspiciousness-
Beauty" – "SAntam Sivam, sundaram" in the upanishads.     

b) SrI satya sandha yatirAja gives his first interpretation 
as "sundarah soundarvAn".  Using the meaning "a conch shell" for the 
word dara, he gives the additional interpretation – Sobhanam darah 
Sa'kho yasya iti sun-darah – "He Who the beautiful conch –
pA'ncajanyam".  

c) Another interpretation by SrI santya sandha yatirAja is "sundam 
upasundena repayati nASayati iti sunda-rah" – He Who killed sunda 
through upasunda".  The story related to this incident is given in 
Apte's dictionary under the meaning for the word `sundah".   sunda 
and upasunda were sons of the demon nikumbha, and had managed to get 
a boon from brahmA that they would be not be killed unless they 
destroyed each other.  They became very oppressive, and ultimately 
indra had to send a nymph named tilottamA, and while fighting for her 
between each other, they killed each other.  Since all creation and 
destruction is because of bhagavAn, and since He made sure that sunda 
was destroyed through upasunda,  He is called sunda-rah – The 
Destroyer of sunda.  

d) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives yet another anubhavam – sutarAm 
driyate praSasyata iti sundarah – He Who is exceedingly well regarded 
and worshipped (using the meanings sutarAm – exceedingly, dRyate from 
the root dR – to worship, to regard).  He gives the support from 
SrImad bhAgavatam:

	prasAdAbhimukham SaSvat prasanna vadanekshaNam  |
	su-nAsam su-bhruvam cAru-kapolam sura-sundaram   ||   (bhAga. 
4.8.45)

"He Who is always interested in bestowing His blessings on His 
devotees, He with a happy countenance, beautiful eyes, nose, cheeks, 
He who is the most beautiful of all gods, Â…  should be meditated upon 
with single-minded devotion."

e) SrI satya devo vAsishTha derives the meaning based on the root dR –
 vidAraNe – to tear, to divide.  Using su an upasarga meaning "well", 
he gives the meaning "He Who divides or separates well" for the nAma –
 su = sushTu "nirdosham" vidAraNam yah kurute sa su-darah sanneva 
varNAgamena sundra ityukto bhavati.  His interpretation is in terms 
of all the parts of the bodies of the different creations being 
properly divided or separated (such as the two wings of the birds, 
the branches of the trees, etc.  Part of the Slokam that he has 
composed to explain this nAma is – "sa sundaro vishNur-ananta rUpo 
yonIh samagram vividham dRNAti" – vishNu who has many forms, has 
separated or divided the different creatures in different ways. 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan   




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