Re: Kaisika Puranam/Natakam
From the Bhakti List Archives
• November 13, 2002
On Thu, 7 Nov 2002, Malolan Cadambi wrote: > Dear Members, > > Here is a link on Kaisika Puranam and nampAduavan > > http://www.narthaki.com/info/intervw/intrvw35a.html > > Sometime back Sri M N Ramanuja of IISc, Bangalore posted a note on >Kaisika Ekadasi. I am requesting him to share his reflections on this >topic. > > Regards, > > Malolan Cadambi > > Dear Members, It was really a pleasure to go through the link posting the interview of Prof S.Ramanujam of Thanjavur University regarding the revival/reconstruction of the almost lost art of Kaisika Natakam running to five hours duration which was conducted with great fanfare and attendance at Tirukkurungudi till 1955 with the efforts of Sri T.V.Sundaram Iyengar. It is unfortunate that no records or scripts are easily available, we have to be grateful to the efforts of Prof S Ramanujam who could collect relevant manuscripts from Sri Tirunarayanaiyengar. We hope that the Prof and Smt Anita Ratnam team will be able, with their theatrical and dramatic expertise, to reconstruct the Kaisika Natakam and play it regularly at various places. What is the origin of this word kaisika? Was NampAduvAn the opener of this word? Has it been cited in any reference before? Why is the name kaisika ekadasi/dvadasi given to that day? are some questions that arise in our mind. It will be great if some bhakta can throw some light on these? Meanwhile, adiyen has some clues about this, which have to be authenticated by very enlightened members of the list. This word kaisika has appeared first of all in Srimad Valmiki Ramayana in the first canto of Sundara kanda *sEvitE vAridhArAbhi: patagaischa nishEvitE; charite kaisikAchAryai: airAvata nishEvitE* etc. Hanuman flew in the skies which had a number of waterfalls, and various birds frequented. where the great order of gods or preceptors who were expert in singing the raga or svaras of kaisika cruised; where airavata or indra's elephant resorted to. Here 'kaisika' is already referred to as well known in treta yuga as a special kind of singing or raga or svara. In the introduction of kaisika purana vyakhyanam by Sri Parasara Bhattar, there is no reference to the genesis of the name kaisika purana. It is only referred to as 'bhagavad guna apadAna gAnam' or singing in praise of the qualities and heroic deeds of Lord Narayana. Nampaduvan, as is well known, was caught by a brahma rakshasa, in a forest and ultimately transferred a small amount of his good deed of singing in front of varAha nAyanAr by which the brahmarakshasa was released of his bad birth and went to heaven. Sri Parasara Bhattar makes an interesting remark about the holding of nampaduvan (singer to god) or the chandala (shvapacha dog-cook or dog eater) by the brahma rakshasa. "Avan brahmananallAmeyAle oru panjAdiyai chcholli tannai viduvittuk kolla mATTitthilan. durbalanagaiyAle parakramatthAle viduvitthuk kolla maTTitthilan. Avan nam pakkalile bharanyAsam panninAn kANum." as said by Sri varaha nayanar to bhoomi piratti. Not being a brahmin he (nampAduvan) could not recite a panjAdi from veda and get himself freed from the brahma rAkshasa and not being strong he could not fight his way free from the captor. He did only surrender to Me and waited. This shows that in sri Bhattar's opinion veda mantra had powers to free one from the clutches of brahma Rakshasa. After sixteen shlokas of various swearings taken by nampAduvan promising to return to him after singing till daybreak, brahma Rakshasa allows nampaduvan on his mission. He returns after daybreak and offers himself as food to the demon, when he changes his mind and requests him to transfer all his merits earned by singing throughout the night of kaisika ekadasi and help him be released from the janma as a demon. Nampaduvan refuses to part with any punyam and finally after listening to the story of previous birth as a vile brahmin and death during a sacrifice and consequent birth as a brahma rakshasa, nampaduvan's heart softens and offers to give the punyam of singing the last song. "yanmayA pashchimam gItam svaram kaisika samjnakam; phalena tasya bhadram tE mokshayishyAmi kilbishAt". Here what he said is to be noted. He said that he sang a last song with the svara named kaisika. This particular single song earned so much merit as to be powerful enough to release the brahma rakshasa from his mean life and send him to heaven. Perhaps, to point out the significance of this song, the whole episode was named as kaisika puranam. We know that in music, kaisika is associated with the svara nishAda as 'komala kaisiki nishAda and kaisiki nishAda' which is a part of several enchanting ragas as nathabhairavi, kharaharapriya, rathnangi etc, of which bhairavi etc, are janyaragas. Perhaps, it can be guessed that one of these ragas was sung by nampaduvan. We do not know if any specific song was sung or any song in those ragas could be sung concerning His praise. We have to wait and see what the research of Prof S.Ramanujam will reveal regarding Kaisika puranam from the manuscript obtained from Tirukkurungudi. The photos of nampaduvan's and brahma rakshasa's roles posted in the website in the kaisika nataka are very interesting and we all do wait eagerly to see the drama and enjoy it. As srivaishnavas, though, we do not think in terms of the other angles viz., societal and social aspects as mentioned by the Prof. For us, it is forbidden to inquire into the birth aspects of a srivaishnava devotee, as in "vIttinba inbappAkkaLil dravyabhAShA nirUpaNa samam inbamAriyil ArAychi" and "mlEchchanum bhaktanAnAl ... pUjai konDu, tIrthaprasAdanAm" and "janma vritta vidyAnaipuNAdigal ... shava vidhavAlamkAramenru kazhippargal". It may be of academic and political interest to say that a svapacha gave moksha to a brahmin, though in fact it was the power of kaisika mahatmyam that cleansed the sins of the brahmarakshasa. dasan Ramanuja Adiyen had posted the moolam of the kaisika puranam last year in the site http://mannaram.tripod.com/ramanuja I will try to post the translation of Bhattar's vyakhyanam asap. Meanwhile, a posting of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan in bhakti-list has thrown more light on the kaisikam for which we are thankful to his respected mother. According to this information, it is a fact, that bhairavi raga was sung, agreeing with adiyen's guess. -------------------------------------------------------------- - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH - To Post a message, send it to: bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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