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Padhuka Sahasram-17

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • July 13, 1999 


Dear BhakthAs :

You might recall that adiyEn had posted number
of articles about Sri RanganAtha PaadhukhA Sahasra slOkams 
of Swami Desikan on and off over the past few months .
Few days back , Sri Murali Rangaswamy returned from 
India and brought back with him a monograph on Sri PaadhukhA-
Sahasram translated by Oppiliappan Koil Dr.V.N.Vedantha 
Desikan(VNV)of the illustrious Vangipuram NavanItham family .
Dr.VNV has published in 1999 ,the text of each of the 1008 slOkams
in Sanskrit and Tamil and gave their condensed meanings 
in Tamil and English. Dr.Murali Rangaswamy and Dr.VNV
are blessed to have the Prakuratham Poundarikapuram 
ANDavan as their revered AchAryan . Out of reverence for 
his AchAryan and the respect for the scholarship of
Dr.VNV ,Sri Murali Rangaswami (MRS)initated a Kaimkaryam 
of posting the text of the individual slOkams of Dr.VNV's
monograph released by LIFCO .These postings are appearing in
another net . 

As a native of Poundarikapuram and Oppilappan Koil 
and the neighbor of Dr. VNV ,adiyEn was induced to write 
foot notes for Sri MRS's postings of Dr.VNV's monograph 
to bring out the many special meanings of 
the individual slOkams and the words chosen
by Swami Desikan during his marathon effort
to compose this sthuthi within three hours 
of a night at Srirangam . I have relied upon 
Sri PeriyANdavan , Sri UtthamUr Swamy's 
commentaries and added other information points 
that adiyEn could come up with on my own to expand 
the anubhavam of this great Sri Sookthi of
Swami Desikan .

These postings may not be of special interest to
every one .Hence I will not be posting them
on the Bhakthi list regularly .I will be happy 
however to send copies of these postings released 
elsewhere for only those who wish to receive them . 
Please send me a personal note , if you wish to 
receive them as and when they get completed 
and released . It will take us two years to complete 
the kaimkaryam at the rate of one slOkam per day .
I will therefore limit my Bhakthi list postings from
a Zero to a maximum of THREE per week from here on .

I am enclosing a sample posting of ours
(VNV/MRS/VS) that deals with the 17th slOkam of 
Sri PaadhukhA Sahasram . 

Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Oppilaippan Koil VaradachAri Sadagopan(V.S)   
 
the posting on the 17th SlOkam 
*******************************    
>>Sri:
>>SrimatE Gopaladesika MahadesikAya Namaha,
>>Translation of Paaduka Sahasram by U.Ve. Sri V.N. Vedanta Desikan Swamin
>>
>>17. VruttiBhirbahuviDhABhirAshritA VenkateshvarakavEssarasvatI
>>    adya RangapatiratnapaadukE! NartakIva BhavatIm NiShevatAm
>>
>>Oh Ranganatha-Paaduka! May the Muse of my poetry, dance to your pleasure
>>with a variety of poses, styles and expressions!
>>
>>Namo Narayana,
>>Adiyen,SriMuralidhara Dasan
>
>NOTES by V.S :
>
>(1) The namaskaraNam of the divya Paadhukhais 
>    in this slOkam is : " Sri Rangapathi Rathna
>    PaadhukE ! Thubhyam nama: " ( Oh gem-bedecked
>    Paadhukhais of the Lord of Srirangam ! Salutations
>    unto You !
>
>(2) Here , Swami Desikan describes his Vaak (speech )
>    entertaining and delighting the Lord's Paadhukhais
>    in the role of a nimble and versatile dancer .He says :
>    " Rangapathi Rathna PaadhukE !VenkatEsvara kavE: 
>     SarasvathI ,narthakIva bhavathIm nishEvathAm " ...V.S
>
>(3) In the previous verse , Swami Desikan referred to
>    pleasing the Lord and amusing Him ; here , he states 
>    that he is more interested in delighting the bejewelled 
>    PaadhukhAs of the Lord . He says : " May poet VenkatEsA's
>    speech glorify You like a great lady dancer , who intreprets 
>    the music and the meaning behind the songs in an outstanding
>    manner through her renowned dancing skills "...UtthamUr Swami
>
>(4) Swami Desikan compares his speech to that of 
>    a quick-footed dancer (narthakI), who pays her homage
>    to the Lord through abhinayam , which is some times direct
>    in meaning and at other times suggestive 
>    (jaaDai/soochakam )......... ANDavan Aasrama sampradhAyam
>
>(5) In the context of Bharatha Muni's Naatya Saasthram ,
>    Swami Desikan is referring here to the Aangikams
>    ( the movement of the Body of a dancer, here his Vaak)
>    and the positions taken by the dancer (sthAnams ,the movement 
>    of his tongue to create the Vaak /SarasvathI).......V.S
>
>    The Aangikams of a lady dancer are NINE in number: 
>    Samam, UdhvAhitham ,adhOmukham , AalOlitham , dhutham , 
>    kampitham , ParAvruttham ,Ukshiptham and ParivAhitham .
>
>    The sthAnams of a male and female dancers together 
>    are NINE in number . The Six sthAnams associated with 
>    the male dancer are : Samam , MaNDalam , VAISHNAVAM , 
>    VAISAAKAM ,AalIDam and PRATHYAALIDAM . The three sthAnams
>    associated with the lady dancers are: Aayatham , avahittham 
>    and asvakrAntham .
>
>    It is facinating to note that the three sthAnams assoicated
>    with the male dancer are VaishNavam ( linked to VishNu), 
>    VaisAkam ( linked with NaamAzhwAr of VaikAsi VisAkam Thiru-
>    nakshathram ) and PrathyAlItam ( the thribangi pose adopted by
>    Sri Raaja VeNu GopAlan , while he plays His divine flute 
>    as saluted by the Paasurams of PeriyAzhwAr and KulasEkarar ). 
>    The 19th slOkam of Sri GopAla Vimsathi celebrates this
>    special sthAnam of the Lord , who was ready for JalakrItai:
>    " PrathyAlIDa sthithim adhigathAm--" ..........V.S
>
>(6) Swami Desikan starts this seventeenth slOkam of 
>    Sri ranganAtha PaadhukhA sahasram with the words,
>    "vrutthibhir bahuvidhAbhi: aasrithA --VenkatEsavara KavE:
>     SarsvathI narthakIva bhavathIm nishEvathAm "."BhauvidhA-
>     vrutthi" refers in the case of a dancer here , the many 
>     aangikams and sthAnams of a dancer. Swami Desikan himself 
>     uses the word "Vrutthi " in the sixteenth slOkam of 
>     Sri GopAla Vimsathi to suggest abhinayam based on 
>     aangikams and sthAnams . This is the slOkam dealing
>     with the visualiszation of the RaasakkrItai of the Lord
>     on the banks of the moonlit YamunA river . Swami suggested
>     there that Sri Raaja GopAlan taught the Gopis an 
>     abhinayam known as "LaLitha Vrutthi" :
>  
>     " Jayathi laLitha Vrutthim sikshithO VallavInAm 
>        sithila valaya sinchjA seethaLai: hastha thALai:
>       akhila bhuvana rakshA Gopa vEshasya VishNO:
>        adhara maNi sudhAyAm amsavAn vamsanALa:"
>
>Swami Desikan as a Sarvatantra Svatantrar has used 
>the analogy of a narthaki (lady dancer)to describe 
the Kaimkaryam that his tongue was doing to eulogize 
the Rathna PaadhukhAs Sri RanganAthA in this slOkam ....V.S