Episode 02 - Chapter 1 - Invocation.

Invocation

We are venturing into Ayodhya Kanda:  let us hold our breath for some intense, heart-wringing, soul-scorching scenes, intrigue, frontal assault on humaneness, death-dealing mental shocks, all bested by some of the grandest, towering, show of character. Sri Rama’s pitru vaakya paripalanam, an attribute that stands out as unique amongst all of Sri Bhavagan’s avatars, and in the context, towering over all the whiplash of emotions, good and bad, shall be witnessed in this particular Kanda . We would live through a whole people’s rejoice to be done in by flooding, grief – that would not spare even poor creatures like cats . “பூவை அழுத” Every shade of emotions would be dramatized by one of the greatest geniuses of poesy and drama the literary world has given birth to – Kamban – investing every syllable with his emotions, compelling us, the hapless readers, involuntarily to relive those emotions in ourselves.  Let us not miss a single syllable of this incomparable portrayal from this incomparable artist. Let all of us swim through this emotional churn with him and get ourselves completely drenched by the divine drama that only Kamban could present.  (No aparadha meant to the Aadi Kavi).

One of the most practical suggestions from the mine of feedback that your narrator has received so far is to see that we cover at least one “padala” (canto) every week. We are left with 101 of them (Total 123 of which we have gone through 22 in the Bala Kanda). That would require us to invest 100+ weeks for this further journey. We would be journeying through an emotional vortex and we would do that at break-neck speed. Hope the Group is game for this.  Here we go!

Kamban’s Invocation itself launches us into the drama!

வான்நின்று இழிந்து, வரம்பு இகந்த மா பூதத்தின் வைப்பு எங்கும்,

ஊனும் உயிரும் உணர்வும்போல்,  உள்ளும் புறத்தும் உளன் என்ப -

கூனும் சிறிய கோத்தாயும்  கொடுமை இழைப்ப, கோல் துறந்து,

கானும் கடலும் கடந்து, இமையோர் இடுக்கண் தீர்த்த கழல் வேந்தன்.

Even the space (aakaasa) yields the ether/air, the ether/air yields heat,  heat yields water and water yields the mass (the earth), even as these five elements intersperse each other interchangeably in creation, the Almighty,  present in the body, in the spirit, in the emotions, manifests inextricably in the creation externally and internally.  That very Almighty, Sri Rama, the Royal One with anklets of valour, due to the injustice wrought by His stepmother at the instigation of “Kooni” the deformed one, abdicated the Kingdom (of Ayodhya), then tread the forests and crossed the seas, for the sole mission of delivering the Devas from their misery by getting rid of the source of that misery, Ravana.

Kamban exquisitely capsulates in the first two lines, the srishti tatva enunciated by Sri Bhagavan in Srimad Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 7:

bhoomiraaponalo vayuhu kham mano buddhireva cha |

ahankaara iteeyam me bhinnaa prakritirashtadhaa || 4 ||

Earth, water, fire, wind and space, along with mind, ego and intellect, in this manner, this is my eight-fold differentiated nature.

Earth, water, fire, wind and space here do not mean tangible physical elements that we can perceive through our senses. They refer to the qualities of the physical elements. For example, water here refers to the quality of liquids that enable them to flow. Fire refers to the quality of a flame to generate light and heat. When these elements combine with each other, they have the potential to create every object in this universe. In other words, Shri Krishna says that the building blocks of the universe are nothing but his manifestation.

In the next verse, Sri Bhagavan caricatures the nature of the nexus between Him and creation:

mayi Sarvamitham prOdham SoothrE maNikaNaa iva: All these elements and forces of life and the universe are attached to me like beads are strung together in a string; (but I am not attached to them.)