DhyAnam:
dandakAranyavAsAya kandithaamarasatrave |
Janakee prANanAthaya sadhaa RamAya mangaLam ||
Dear Bhakthaas of Raghu NandanA:
In the remaining four salutations relating to AaraNya KhAndam, Swami Desikan covers mAricha vadham,JatAyu samskaram (final rites), Kabhandha vadham and Sabhari Moksham. Thereafter, he moves on to salute the incidents of KishkindhA khAndam. I will cover two of the four salutations in this posting.
GS 38 : mAricha mAyA mruga charma parikarmitha nirbhara dharbhAstharaNa! Jaya! Jaya!
O Lord whose darbhAsanam is decorated by the skin of the deceitful mArichA, who appeared before You as a beautiful deer! Hail to Thee! Hail to Thee!
RavanA ws intent on kidnapping Sita by deceit and hencecommanded mAricha to take the form of a beautiful deerand to prance in front of Sita’s parNasAlaa at Panchavati.Sita dEvi was charmed by the golden deer and begged her husband to catch it and present it to her for use as a pet.Rama followed the ” deer ” and killed it and brought back itsskin. He returned to the parNasAla and put that deer skin(KrishNAjinam) under the darbhaasanam for His dailyanushtAnam. That Aasanam got beautified by that deer skin.
GS 39 : vikrama yasO lAbha vikreetha jeevitha grudhrarAja deha didhakshaa lakshita bhakthajana daakshiNya! Jaya! Jaya!
O DayALu who demonstrated your special attachment to Your devotees through Your act of performing the final rites for the mortally wounded eagle king JatAyu, who put his life on line to fight the evil RavaNA and to foil RavaNA’s attempt to get away with the kidnapping of SitA dEvi.
(Background) :Maricha gets killed by the arrow of Sri Rama. While Rama was away on pursuit of Maricha, the golden deer, RavaNa arrives at the parNasala of Rama in the guise of an ascetic. Sita invites him to accept her hospitality. She tells the visitor about Her husband and the reasonfor their visit to the forest. RavaNa now takes his real formand expresses his desire to make Sita his chief queen in Lankhaa. Sita is shocked by the audacity of the insolent and deceitful Visitor. She reproaches RavaNa for his unrighteous thought.
RavaNa gets angry at her harsh words and forcibly kidnaps her and places her in his celestial car and begins his travel to his kingdom. The heart broken Sita wails and calls all the animals and plants of the forest to tell her consortthat she is being borne away by the evil RavaNa and for him to come to her rescue. As she was being carried away, Sita catches sight ofthe eagle king Jataayu perched on a tree. She addresses JatAyu and begs him to report her abduction by RavaNa and to ask her husband to hurry and rescue her. Jataayu, the friend of Dasaratha engages RavaNa in a fierce battle to deter him form taking Sita away. JatAyu is mortally wounded in that ferocious battle and lies half dead on ground. Soon, Rama searching for his missing consort arrives on the scene and learns from JatAyu about the eventsthat transpired. JatAyu had hung to his life until he could see Rama and brief him on the terrible events that happened. At the end of his narration, JatAyu dies. Rama was overcome with inconsolable sorrow over the heroic fight of JatAyu. He performed the finalrites to the dead eagle king, which even his own father Dasarathawas not priveleged to receive. Swami Desikan salutes the Bhaktha Daakshinyam (Partiality for the Bhakthaas) by Rama.
The first slokam of Swami Desikan’s Parmaartha sthuthi salutesVijayaraaghava PeruMaaL of Thirupputkuzhi divya desam as “Srimadh grudhra sarastheera PaarijAtham”. The sthala puraaNam states that Rama and LakshmaNaa conducted the anthima Kriyaas for Jataayu at Thirupputkuzhi (Thiru = sacred; Putkuzhi = hole in the ground dug for the bird, Jataayu).
The site of cremation is recognized today as Jataayu PushkaraNi (Grudhra saras). Swami Desikan salutes the valor of Vijaya Raaghavan of Thiruputtkuzhi byaddressing Him affectionately as Aahava Pungan, RaNa Punghan(the supreme hero in the battles). That RaNa pungavan recognizes the valour shown by jatAyu and responds to it by performing the final rites and giving Moksham to JatAyu asa token of his gratitude.
“saraNaagatha rakshaNa vrathi maam na vihaathum RaNapungavaarhasi tvam” — ParamArtha Sthuthi : slokam 8
(O Lord of unmatched valor in Your battles! O Lord who has taken the vow of protecting Your SaraNaagathaas! it is not appropriate for you to
forsake me).
Sri Raamam nisaachara vinaasakaram vandEh
Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan
After the break…
