Dear BhakthAs of Sri Vijaya Raghavan:
I will cover Gadhyam salutations 79 to 84 in this posting.
GS 73: pithru vadha kupitha dhara muni vihitha nrupa hanana kadhana poorva kaala prabhava satha gaNa prathishtApitha dhArmika rajavamsa! Jaya! jaya!
(Meaning ): Hail to Thee! O Raghu Veera who re-established the righteous royal lineages and grew them hundred fold after they were decimated by the enraged Parasurama when a king committed the despicable crime of killing his father, the sage Jamadagni! Hail to Thee!
During the beginning of the TretA yugam, king KaarthaveeryA offended Jamadagni, the father of ParasurAmA. The furious sage destroyed the king through a powerful curse. The sons of the king came to the Aasramam of sage Jamadagni, when ParasurAmA was not at home and killed his father. When ParasurAmA learnt about this heinous act of the sons of Karthaveerya, he vowed to rid the earth of the KshatriyAs for 21 generations ( Trissaptha akshathra imaam kshithim kruthva: Muni: ) ParasurAmA used his axe (Parasu) to cut off the heads of the twenty generations of kings. The predecessors of King DasarathA were unaffected.
In the next yugam, RamA was born in the Kshatriya race as the son of King DasarathA. ParasurAmA confronted the young bridegroom RamA and was taught a lesson by RamA, who removed the divine sakthi of ParasurAmA and absorbed it in himself. ParasurAmAvatharam is not a PurNa avathAram of Sriman NaarayaNA as Rama, KrishNa and other avathArams.
In this salutation, Swami Desikan pays tribute for Sri Rama for protecting the KshtriyA kulam from the rage of the angry ParasurAmA and blessing that kulam to develop hundred fold during His long dhArmic reign as the emperor of AyodhyA.
GS 80: subha charitha ratha Bharatha garvitha garva ghAndharva yootha geetha vijaya ghAthaa satha! Jaya! jaya!
(Meaning ): Hail to Thee O Lord whose glory has been eulogised through hundreds of songs by the groups of GandharvAs after their arrogance was destroyed in the battle field at your request by your brother BharathA of most auspicious deeds! Hail to Thee!
On the banks of river Sindhu, GandharvAs had their kingdom. The profession of gandharvAs is to sing the praise of the Gods. They forgot their customary duties and began to harass the people of the land. The uncle of BharathA by the name of YudhAjith journeyed to Sri Rama’s court and appealed to Sri RamA to control the misbehaving GandharvAs. Sri Rama sent Bharatha to undertake this task. Bharatha was mostly involved in performing auspicious deeds in the service of his elder brother. At the command of his respected brother, he traveleld to the land of GandharvAs and soundly defeated them as the deputy of emperor Rama and restored peace. The GandharvAs were thankful and sang the praise of Sri Rama through hundreds of songs over the victory of RamA’s army led by BharathA.
GS 81: saasitha madhusoodha satrugna sevitha! Jaya! jaya!
(Meaning ): Hail to Thee! O Sri RamachandrA worshipped by your heroic brother SatrugnA, who killed LavaNAsuran, the son of Madhu at your request! hail to Thee!
Here Swami Desikan pays tribute to another brother of Sri RamA for his valour and salutes Sri RamA for Dharma SamrakshNam as a righteous king. In the kingdom of MathurA was an ogre by the name of Madhu. He had a son by the name of LavaNan, who harassed the sages doing penance in that kingdom. DevAs were affected too. The afflicted DevAs appealed to Sri Rama for help in getting rid of LavaNA and to re-establish peace and righteousness in the land. Sri RamA sent his youngest brother SatrugnA on the mission of destroying the evil LavaNA. SatrugNA with his brother’s blessings killed LavaNA in battle and returned to the side of his beloved brother and continued with his dedicated service to Sri RamachandrA.
GS 82: Kusa Lava parigruheetha kula gaathaa visesha! Jaya! jaya!
(Meaning ): Hail to Thee O Lord who is affiliated with the Sri Sookthis of your illustrious vamsam learnt and sung by Your sons Kusa and Lava!
Swami Desikan salutes Sage Valmiki for composing Srimadh RamAyaNam and for instructing the twin sons of RamA to sing the 24,000 slokas contained in the 500 cantos of the seven KhAndams.The properly instructed sons of SitA and RamA sang in front of Sri RamA the divine story of their father to the accompaniment of lute. They sang the verses set in chandas and beats of time (TaaLam). Sri Rama was thrilled to hear that superhuman (Ghandharvaa) music with perfect layam and Taalam. The asembled expert audience in Sri RamA’s court for the performance of Asvamedha Yaagam were also thrilled. Valmiki describes the sweet singing of Kusa and Lava this way in the 94th chapter of Uttara KhAndham:
“susrAva tath taaLa layOpapannam sargAnvitham susvara sabdha yuktham”
Sri RamA honored the two bards with a gift of 18,000 gold coins each. They refused to accept stating that money is of no use to them in the asramam of Sage Valmiki and returned there. Rama learnt from the songs that Kusa and LavA were his own sons born in the Asramam of Valmiki. Sri Rama pined for his wife and wanted to reunite with Her. He sent sages to Valniki’s asramam to bring her back to his side.
GS 83: vidhivasa pariNamadhamara bhaNithi kavivara rachitha nija charitha nibhandhana nisamana nirvrutha! Jaya! jaya!
(Meaning ): Hail to Thee O Lord, who delighted in hearing the story of your glories eulogized in Srimadh RamAyaNam composed by Sage Valmiki, whose words due to the divine blessings of Brahma and Sarasvathi transformed themselves into appropriate sanskrit slokaas adorned with the right meter and meaning automatically! Hail to Thee!
One day, Sage Valmiki went for his ritual bath to the river. There, he witnessed the cruel sight of a hunter killing one of the pair of the love-stricken birds with an arrow. He heard the heart-rending wailings of the female bird left behind. Sage Valmiki started to curse the hunter over this act of wanton cruelty and was amazed to find that his curse came out of his mouth as a Sanskrit slokam with an impeccable rhyme and metre. That incident led to the birth of Srimadh RamAyaNam as the Adhi Kaavyam and this was sung by Lava and KusA in the Asvamedha Mantapam of Sri RamachandrA.
GS 84: Sarva jana sammaanitha! Jaya! Jaya!
(Meaning ): Hail to Thee O Lord, who was eulogized by all those assembled in your Asvamedha Yaaga Mantapm after hearing your divine story sung by your own twin sons!
Sage valmiki describes in the 94th canto the assembly of people in Sri RamA’s court. He says that there were specailists in the recitalof PurANAs (PourANikAs), experts in the field of the meaning of words (Sabdha VidhAAs), authorities in the appreciation of the intricacies of music, knowers of the relation between the syllables of the stanzas and those with proficiency in metres, experts in Jyothisha Saastram and the performance of sacred rites, logicians, vedic pandits, knowers of Dharma sutrAs and skilled ones in Bharatha Naatyam. All of that august assembly heard with rapture the Sri Sookthi of Sage Valmiki sung brilliantly by the twin sons of SitA Raman in the Asvametha Mantapam. They saluted Rama afterwards for his glorious deeds celebrated by the divine slokAs of Srimadh RaamAyaNam.
Sri Ramachandra srithapaarijAtha: Samastha KalyANa guNAbhirAma: |
SitAmukhAmbhOruhachancharEkO nirantharam MangaLam aatanOthu ||
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan
To be continued…
