SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam – 14 – ayOdhyA kANdam 23.29 – rAjyancha, 30.3 – kim thvAmanyatha – Part 1

_{SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:}

In the previous article, we enjoyed the vyAkhyAnam for 2 SlOkams.

First SlOkam described the greatness of SrI rAma – his impartiality in speaking words, which are not only sweet but also beneficial to all beings, his pridelessness, and his persistent and active pursuit to learn from the brAhmanas.

The second SlOkam described the predicament of a person who neither sees emperumAn nor is seen by emperumAn. Such a person is condemned not only by all people in the world but also by his AthmA (self).

This article provides an explanation for two SlOkams. Both the SlOkams describe the words of displeasure uttered by lakshmaNAzhwAn and sIthAp pirAtti. Both of them, because of their excessive love for SrI rAma, express their unhappiness about SrI rAma’s decision.

avathArikai (Introduction)

lakshmaNAzhwAn expresses his anger/disagreement and dislike for SrI rAma’s decision to leave for the forest upon hearing king dhaSaratha’s and kaikEyip pirAtti’s words.

rAjyancha thava rakshEyamaham vElEva sAgaram l
prathijAnAmi thE vIra mAbhUvam veeralOkabhAk ll

Word-by-Word meaning

aham – I

thava – your

rAjyam cha – including your kingdom

sAgaram – ocean

vElA iva – like the coast

rakshEyam – I will protect

vIra – the chivalrous one!

thE – in your presence

prathijAnAmi – I promise

(Otherwise)

mA bhUvam – (in your country too) I will not live

veeralOkabhAk – I will attain the same world that is to be attained by the brave dhaSaratha

Simple Meaning

lakshmaNa says to SrI rAma, “I will protect you and your kingdom like a coast that protects the large body of water. I promise this, in your presence, oh, the chivalrous one! Otherwise, I will not live in your country too and will attain the same world that the brave dhaSaratha would attain”.

Notes from periyavAchchAn piLLai’s vyAkhyAnam

rAjyancha thava rakshEyam

lakshmaNa says to SrI rAma, “I will not only protect you but also your kingdom”.

SrI rAmAyaNam kishkindhA kANdam 1-128 “raraksha dharmENa balEna” [lakshmaNa protects SrI rAma by his dharma (righteousness) and strength].

lakshmaNa due to his excessive love for SrI rAma, takes liberty in saying, “While existing for you alone is apt for my svarUpam (basic nature), it is not possible for you to go against my wishes”.

aham vElEva sAgaram

lakshmaNa says, “Like the coast that protects the ocean, I will protect you”. The ocean is vast and encompasses a large body of water, while the coast is a boundary line. Even though the coast is relatively small when compared to the large expanse of ocean, the ocean stays within its boundaries. So lakshmaNa says to SrI rAma, “Even though you are elder to me, you cannot go beyond my words. So, please do not leave the kingdom and go to the forest”.

prathijAnAmi – promise

lakshmaNa says to SrI rAma, “I promise to protect you”.

thE vIra

lakshmaNa says, “I will make this promise in front of you (thE), Oh, brave one! (vIra)”.

He continues, “Since I am making this pledge in your presence, the chivalrous one!, you can easily fulfil the promise even if I am unable to fulfil it”.

mA bhUvam – (in your country too) I will not live

lakshmaNa says, “If I don’t act as per my promise, I will neither be able to live in your presence nor anywhere else within this kingdom”.

veeralOkabhAk

lakshmaNa pledges, “I will attain the same world that is going to be attained by the brave dhaSaratha”.

Here, ‘same world’ refers to ‘svarga’. Since the events of SrI rAmAyaNam are known, it is pointed out by periyavAchchAn piLLai as ‘same world as king dhaSaratha’ instead of ‘svarga lOkam’.

Thus, lakshmaNa spoke intensely due to his unwavering devotion to bhaghavAn. These words reflect his protective nature and deep love for SrI rAma.

rAjyancha thava rakshEyamaham vElEva sAgaram l
prathijAnAmi thE vIra mAbhUvam veeralOkabhAk ll

SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam – 14 – ayOdhyA kANdam 30.3 – kim thvAmanyatha – Part 1

This SlOkam, where sIthAp pirAtti expresses her unbearable emotions, has been quoted by our pUvAchAryas in many places in their vyAkhyAnams. sIthAp pirAtti only on rare occasions displays such emotions. Predominantly her behaviour reflects the nature of SEshathvam and pArathanthryam.

Let us quickly recapitulate the events which lead up to this moment where sIthAp pirAtti utters these words.

The entire city of ayOdhyA is happy and awaiting SrI rAma’s coronation. At this point, kaikEyip pirAtti has a change of heart influenced by mantharA. Urged by the words of mantharA, kaikEyip pirAtti asks king dhaSaratha to fulfil the two boons which were given to her by him – the first boon to make bharathAzhwAn as the king and the second boon to send SrI rAma to forest for 14 years. King dhaSaratha and kaikEyip pirAtti convey this to SrI rAma. SrI rAma appears undisturbed upon hearing the news. He takes leave from kausalyAp pirAtti and then meets lakshmaNa. After that, he comes to meet sithAp pirAtti. sIthAp pirAtti requests SrI rAma to take her along with him.

But SrI rAma says, “You are the princess of mithilA dhESam, you should not undergo any hardship in the forest”. Saying these words, he refuses to take her along. At this juncture, sIthAp pirAtti utters this SlOkam.

sIthAp pirAtti, unable to bear the pain of SrI rAma’s words, utters some harsh words to express her feelings.

She says, “My father, the king of mithilA, will think that you are a woman in a man’s body”.

(This conversation between sIthAp pirAtti and SrI rAma is praNaya kalaham. praNaya kalaham is a friendly quarrel between beloveds – perumAL and thAyAr. During panguni uthram, this is celebrated with great joy in SrIrangam as mattaiyadi uthsavam.

These kind acts are leelAs of bhaghavAn which are displayed by bhaghavAn and pirAtti to attract the jIvAthmAs. perumAL attracts the jIvAthmas by his beauty, auspicious qualities and leelAs).

avathArikai (Introduction)

kim thvA

SrI rAma to uphold the promises made by his father was prepared to go to the forest.

SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 22-29 “vanavAsO mahOdhaya:” (It is my desire to live in the forest).

He appeared undisturbed upon hearing the decision to go to the forest. In fact, looking at his cheerfulness, the people of ayOdhyA thought it would even be suitable to name SrI rAma as “vanavAsa samukar” (one who is happy to live in forest).

At this time, SrI rAma considering the delicate (ethereal) nature of her body, requests sIthAp pirAtti (the daughter of king janaka and one who is mother to the entire universe), “Until I am back from the forest, remain in SrI ayOdhyA [divine abode of ayOdhyA] to serve and take care of your respected father-in-law and respected mothers-in-law”.

sIthAp pirAtti felt unbearable to hear these words. The sounds of these words to her were as though adding sourness to an existing wound. Out of extreme love for SrI rAma, sIthAp pirAtti felt rightful to show her anger. She expresses a strong reaction out of excessive love and utters words which are not very conventional.

Her words are expressed in the following SlOkam.

kim thvAmanyatha vaidhEha: pithA mE mithilAdhipa: l
rAma jAmAtharam prApya sthriyam purushavigraham ll

Word-by-Word meaning

rAma – (by your external beauty) one who makes others happy

mithilAdhipa: – as a king of mithilA

vaidhEha: – one born in vidhEha clan/lineage

mE pithA: – my father – king janaka

purushavigraham – one who has a male body

sthriyam – (but) a female

thvA – you

jAmAtharam – son-in-law

prApya – attained

kim amanyatha – what will he think?

Simple Meaning

sIthAp pirAtti says, “What will my father, the king of mithilA, of vidhEha clan, think? Will he not think that his son-in-law is a woman in a man’s body?

Notes from periyavAchchAn piLLai’s vyAkhyAnam

kim

kim – periyavAchchAn piLLai gives two different interpretations for this word.

1) kim – what ( a question)

2) kim – kim vakshyathi – what will he say?

what – inferring (unfavourable connotation) to something that is less defiant (submissive).

amanyatha – think

kim amanyatha- what will he think?

what – inferring (unfavourable connotation) indicating – what will my father (king janaka) think, maybe he will think less of you.

thvA – you

periyavAchchAn piLLAi provides different interpretations for ‘thvA’.

thvA – you – that kind of person – “uLuththa villai muRiththu” – A person who broke a bow that was already fragile/fragmented. periyavAchchAn piLLai says that this is similar to how Umaththai is given credit for curing all ailments irrespective of whether it has actually been a cure. [“Umaththai” is a plant that was used as a cure for many ailments on many occasions]

sIthAp pirAtti says, “You are that person (thvA) who have proved your prowess by breaking a bow that was already fragile”.

SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 75-20 “thadhA thujruma bhitham Saivam dhanur bhImaparAkramam” (that mighty Siva dhanus (bow ) was broken by vishNu’s humkAram (making a sound ‘hUm‘)).

The following is a brief anecdote to understand this context.

viSwakarma (the divine architect) creates two bows – Siva dhanus and vishNu dhanus.

rudhran uses one of the dhanus for thripura samhAram, this bow is the Siva dhanus. And the bow that is with perumAL is vishNu dhanus.

During thripura samhAram, perumAL (vishNu) as antharyAmi of rudhran and also as Sakthi (energy) on the tip of the arrow magnificently executes the samhAram. But outwardly it appeared to be done by rudhran. So, after seeing this remarkable feat, the dhEvas were momentarily confused as to who is the supreme lord. At that time to establish supremacy, a competition was held.

Before the fight, first bhagavAn vishNu made a loud humkArAm sound. The Siva dhanus broke just by the sound of humkAram. Instantly, all the dhEvas were convinced about the vishNu’s superiority.

Thus, it can be understood that Siva dhanus was already in a fragmented state. And hence, sithAp pirAtti, refers to SrI rAma breaking the Siva dhanus as – “uLuththa villai muRiththu”.

thvA – one who is prejudiced

sIthAp pirAtti says to SrI rAma, “You have served sage vasishta and learned many things from him. So you are prejudiced and think that I do not know any dharmam”. Here, sIthAp pirAtti is referring to the dharmam to be followed by sthrIs (women).

thvA – one who thinks that I am not brave

sIthAp pirAtti says to SrI rAma, “Looking at my beauty, you(thvA) think that I do not have strength, courage, and fortitude”.

kim thvAmanyatha – what will my father think?

kim vakshyathi – what will he say?

sIthAp pirAtti says to SrI rAma, “By looking at you, my father may not suspect”.

that you are not a king, because you look like a king.
that you do not know the dharmam to be followed by kings
that you have not stayed with a guru and learned by serving him
that you do not know the virtue and moral values followed by kings in raghu dynasty
that you do not know what is kula SrI dharmam (duty of women) – i.e. to always be by their husband’s side
that you are not a person with a ‘vow to be married to only one woman’”.

As such, sIthAp pirAtti says that a person who is vowed to be married only to one woman will not abandon his wife.

So, she says, “By looking at you, none of these could be said. There is no use in saying so many things because your conduct does not reflect any of it. It seems as though we have not understood you correctly”.

kim thvAmanyatha vaidhEha: – What will my father think about you?

SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 17-26 “iyam sIthA” (this sIthA).

sIthAp pirAtti says, “What will my father think about you? He did not give my hand in marriage to my respected father-in-law or to my respected mother-in-law. He gave my hand to you”.

vyAkhyAnam for the remaining SlOkam will be continued in the next article.

AzhwAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

periyavAchchAn piLLai thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Source – SrI rAmAyaNa thani SlOkam -14 – ayOdhyA kANdam – 23.29 – rAjyancha, 30.3 – kim thvAmanyatha – Part 1 Audio Video

adiyEn chithrA rAmAnuja dhAsi

Proofreading/Curating done by – kOsalEndhra rAmAnuja dhAsan, krishNan rAmAnuja dhAsan

Artwork – namperumAL rAmAnuja dhAsan

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