Sunday, July 17, 2011

maa nishaada

मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वं अगमः शाश्वतीम् समा
यक्रौञ्चमिथुनादेकमवधीः काममोहितं॥
श्रीमद्वाल्मीकिरामायणं
mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṁ tvaṁ agamaḥ śāśvatīm samā
yakrauñcamithunādekamavadhīḥ kāmamohitaṁ||
śrīmadvālmīkirāmāyaṇaṁ
maa nishaada pratishtaam twam agamah saaswatee samaa
yatkraunchamithunaadekam avadheeh kaamamohitam


This couplet in anushtup chandas was the harbinger of poetry in Sanksrit Language. The great Sage and poet  Valmiki was on his  way to the morning bath in Tamasa River near his aashram.  On a lush tree there perched two lovebirds, holding tight to each other in ecstatic love.  Suddenly came a hunter from nowhere and shot his arrow at the birds as is his wont.  The honeymoon stopped and the  male bird lay on earth writing in death, levaing his mate to eternal agony.  The sigh of this hurt the sensitive heart of the Sage, who cried.
"Oh, hunter, curse on you who mercilessly slayed the male bird while he was in a session of intimate love with his lady love, and has left her in sorrow beyond consolation.  May nothing good and praiseworthy ever happen to you."
The sage was aghast.  He has uttered something sublime, the first ever poetic creation in sanskrit well structured in metre and formation of words.  Why should it be a couplet of curse? 
Then he remembered the story of Ramayana which was recounted to him just earlier by the Sage Narada. He though of the Maryadaa Purushotham, the embodiment of virtue, Rama.
The couplet appeared to  assume a different meaning
"O(Rama), do not grieve.  You have attained eternal and unchangeable  place in the hall of fame due only for  the greats for eternity.
You have done indeed right in slaying Ravana, the male of the demon couple, who, in his unquenchable lust had abducted and given grief to the Divine Mother Seetha."
The outpouring of great minds never become curses.  The first ever epic poetry was born...this stanza finds a place in the first chapter of Ramayanam/
The month of Ramayanam  starts today.  The Great Rama without any comparisom, the Divine Mother Seetha the epitome of love and purity and Sri Hanuman the embodiment of valour and faithfulness  may bless us all.

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