Episode 01 - Chapter9-Ahalya.

CHAPTER 9 – CANTO ON AHALYA -  அகலிகைப் படலம்

 

Looking back on the வேள்விப் படலம் (vELvip padalam) we just left, I, as the privileged compiler of this engrossing discussion, am left with a feeling of inadequacy – That canto offered exciting, highly elevating, and very rich grist for debate and erudite discovery, especially the episodes covering Mahabali and Sri Vaamana Avataara and we could get hold of a measly fraction of all that heady matter. Thanks to the kind intervention of Mr.B.S.Raghavan there was a bit of redemption. But, that canto had become quite memorable for the fiery interventions by the young but very brilliantly incisive women in this celebrated group. I wish to acknowledge and convey my grateful vote of thanks for the interventions.

 

அகலிகைப் படலம் (Agaligaip padalam).promises to be equally rich, as we shall see.

 

In this canto we would see the unveiling of Rama’s divinity in this cantos. We would also run through a big clutch of : “Come let us go: let us go see the grand ritual being performed by that grandmaster of a king, Janaka, in Mithila.”

 

They reach the river Ganges again walking along the banks of her anecdotal history. And, of course, we would continue to marvel at the poesy of the two great masters presenting this peerless epic.

 

Rama and Lakshmana follow Sage Viswamitra after his enticing command tributary, Sona.

 

Kamban describes the setting sun thus:

 

 “கதிரோன். உதிக்கும் காலையில் தண்மை   செய்வான். தனது உருவில் கொதிக்கும் வெம்மையை ஆற்றுவான்

 போல். கடல் குளித்தான்.”

 

Let us savour this: The Sun, remorseful that he had burnt the earth and its inhabitants harshly, seized with a desire to bring some cool when he rises again, bathed into the sea to shed his heat.

 

 “கறங்கு தண் புனல். கடி நெடுந்  தாளுடைக்  கமலத்து

அறம் கொள் நாள்மலர்க் கோயில்கள்    இதழ்க் கதவு அடைப்ப.

பிறங்கு தாமரைவனம் விட்டு.  பெடையொடு களி வண்டு உறங்குகின்றது.” 

 

This is even more intoxicating: The lotus flowers, with stalks matching in length the water level in the pond,  resembling temples that compassionately offer food for everyone who seeks, proferring their honey to the bumble bees liberally all day, close their doors as the sun sets; the bumble bees, thus interrupted in their feasting, leave the lotus pool along with their females,and retire to the grove to have an (intoxicated) sleep.

 

About the stalks of water plants matching the water levels, here is a sobering verse of wisdom:

 

நீரளவே ஆகுமாம் நீராம்பல், தான் கற்ற

நூலளவே ஆகுமாம் நுண்ணறிவு; மேலைத்

தவத்தளவே ஆகுமாம் தான் பெற்ற செல்வம்

குலத்தளவே ஆகுமாம் குணம்

 

 (Avvaiyar’s Moodhurai.)

 

The water lilies are as tall as the water level; knowledge is as deep as the books studied; the wealth (of family, material well-being, offspring) would measure up to one’s austerities in the previous lives; and, one’s character would match one’s family background and upbringing. (“kulaththaLavE” is an expression that is widely critiqued and also criticized as connoting “caste”. That doesn’t seem to be the intent. “kulam” is limited to one’s family background and upbringing that most definitely have an impact on the character of a person)

 

The trio retire to this richly enchanting grove. Rama, as is his wont, enquires of the Sage about the cool and luxuriant grove, absolutely certain to hear another pithy anecdotal history. And, he would: The sage relates the story of “Thithi”, the second amongst the thirteen wives of Sage Kasyapa. (The first one, Athithi, mothered the Devas aka Suras; they are called “Adithyas” – offspring of Adithi. The second one, Thithi, gives birth to the opposite numbers – “Daityas” – offspring of Thithi; aka “Asuras”; we see how closely related are good and evil.) Devastated by the destruction of all her offspring by the Devas in the unrelenting war between the two factions,

 

The war triggered thus:

 

A vidhyadhara maiden, (vidhyadharas are, as the name would suggest, artistes adept in the fine art of music, dance, etc.) wholesomely pleased Sri Mahalakshmi by her vocal and instrumental music and receives from the Goddess of All Wealth and Auspiciousness, a lovely, divine flower garland. She returns with this priceless reward, singing and dancing and encounters Sage Durvaasa on the way. Thinking that the priceless garland would be a more fitting trophy for the peerless Sage, she presents it to him. The Sage proceeds with this unexpected gift in his hand. He sees Devendra in a full regal procession. He thought that the garland would be more in place with the Lord of Indra Loka and King of all Devas. Indra, in a moment of haughty arrogance, mocks at this mere flower garland “gifted” to him by the Sage and hands it to his ride – “AIRAVATHAM” the divine elephant. The beast, also drunk perhaps, threw the garland under its feet and crushed it disdainfully.

 

Sage Durvaasa, seeing what happened to the priceless floral piece that had adorned the crest of Sri Maha Lakshmi just a while ago, got wild and did what he does best: cursed Indra and all the Devas with him, that all their privileges, splendor and appurtenances be lost to the sea and they lose their heavenly abodes.

Indra’s splenderous riches included: Nava Nidhi (nine great riches viz. maha padmam, padmam, sankam, makaram kachapam, mukundam, kundam, neelam, varam), the KARPAGA TREE that granted every wish, the seven-headed flying stallion’UCHCHAISRAVAS”, airavatham, the courtiers – Menaka, Ramba, Urvasi, Thilothamai and the KAMADHENU).

 

The Devas seek refuge in Lord Maha Vishnu and seek deliverance. Sri Maha Vishnu orders that the sea (of milk) be churned, so that all the riches lost to it could be regained in the churning. The mountain Mandhara is used as the churn, the immense cobra Vasuki is used as the cord and the sea of milk is churned with devas on one side and the asuras on the other. Lord Maha Vishnu provides the base support for the churn, by taking Koormaavataara and bearing the churn on His back.

The churn throws up a lot of riches and a few unwanted ones too. The riches of the devas are regained. And, the churn also throws up the immortal nectar Amritham (the word translates as endless or deathless). Sri Maha Vishnu, taking the form of Mohini distributes the Amritham to the devas and denies it to the Daithyas aka Asuras.

That triggers the Deva – Asura War indicated above when Daithyas – Thithi’s offspring are all defeated and killed.

 

Thithi wants to undertake severe and very exacting austerities, not only to have her sons back, but to get them to vanquish the Devas in sweet revenge. Thithi undertook her “taps” in this grove, said the Sage to the young divine princes.

 

The three of them, exhausted from the trekking and the story-telling, fall asleep, sleep administered so very sweetly by the quiet and enveloping darkness of the grove.

As the sun rose, they trak further on and reach the banks of the holy river, Ganges.

Here, Kamban is once again carried by his affiliation – being born in Chozha country and adoring the river Cauvery as the priceless jewel of the peninsular south, he deigns to bracket Ganges to his own Cauvery, exalting Cauvery and comparing Ganges to his own river-mother.

 

செங் கண் ஏற்றவன் செறி சடைப்  பழுவத்தில் நிறை தேன்

பொங்கு கொன்றை ஈர்த்து ஒழுகலால்.பொன்னியைப் பொருவும்

கங்கை என்னும் அக் கரை பொரு   திரு நதி கண்டார்.

 

As the Ganges flows through the matted hair of Siva, who wears a lot of “KondRai” flowers on his crest, and the flow carries a lot of honey imbedded in the “kondRai” flowers, and for this reason of the flow rich with honey, river Ganges is comparable with the river Cauvery; that Ganges is flowing challenging its banks all the time. (Cauvery is not just rich with honey; it also carries a lot gold in its flow, washed from the rich veins of gold upstream. So the acquired name “Ponni”.)

 

Rama is getting ready for another anecdotal history – about the Ganges.

 

We saw  Kamban’s deeply imbedded penchant to glorify Chola country and everything affiliated with it – in the context, the river Cauvery which is a Chola pride. He says பொன்னியைப் பொருவும் கங்கை –

 

He compares Ganga with Cauvery – the figure of speech “பொருவும்” is ‘simile’. The object that Ganga is compared with (Cauvery) is more exalted. Here is Thondaradippodi Azhwar who goes a step further and accords Cauvery accreditation that is more sacred than the most sacred Ganga:

 

கங்கையில் புனிதமாய காவிரி நடுவு பாட்டுப்

பொங்கு நீர் பரந்து பாயும் பூம் பொழில் அரங்கம் தன்னுள்

எங்கள் மால் இறைவன் ஈசன் கிடந்தோர் கிடக்கை கண்டும்

எங்கனம் மறந்து வாழ்கேன் ஏழையேன் ஏழையேனே

 

(Thondaradippodi Azhwar’s Thirumaalai – 38)

 

The allegory is that Cauvery is more sacred than Ganga by virtue of the fact that Ganga had the privilege of washing the feet of Sri Maha Vishnu just once; but Cauvery washes His feet all the time in Sri Rangam.

 

As we could expect, Rama queries about Ganga and Sage Viswamitra brings to the two divine princes, the stories of Sagara, Bhagiratha, and Ganges’ descending to the earth and thence to the nether world to provide salvation to the Sagara Putras lying there burnt into ashes by Sage Kapila. We would skip these exhaustive anecdotes as all of us would be fairly well-acquainted with them.

 

But let us savour what the poet says about the severely ascetic thapas undertaken by Bhageeratha to fetch the Ganga down – a byword for incomparable perseverance “Bhageeratha Prayathnam”: (Bhageeratha was from the Raghuvamsa lineage and a forebear of Rama)

 

‘பெருகும் நீரொடு. பூதியும்.    வாயுவும். பிறங்கு

சருகும். வெங் கதிர் ஒளியையும்.    துய்த்து. மற்று எதையும்

பருகல் இன்றியே. முப்பதி னாயிரம் பருவம்.

உருகு காதலின் மன்னவன்    அருந் தவம் உழந்தான்.

 

Bhageeratha’s intakes were: water, sunlight, dry leaves and air during his long, long thapas: 10000 years seeking Brahma, 7500 years seeking Ganga and 12,500 years toward Siva – totally 30000 years in all.

 

As we traverse through, we find that the various places and water courses (rivers) referred to in this ancient epic could be related to in today’s India – like the river “Kausiki” (Viswamitra’s sister who chose to flow as a tributary of Ganga) which is now known as “Kosi”. River “Sarayu” adjacent to Ayodhya is still flowing adjacent to today’s Ayodhya. Sidhaasramam is still there flourishing. We could keep count of numerous lands, forests, rivers and lakes that the epic refers to and identify these with those very same lands, forests, rivers and lakes today – albeit in an unidentifiable transformation from their ancient glory.

 

The trio arrive in Vidheha land with its capital Mithila.

 

Kamban gets into raptures in narrating the richness of this land – like he does while presenting to us Kosala land earlier. Let us savour just one of his hyperboles:

 

RIVERS FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY:

 

முறையினின் முது மேதியின்  முலை வழி பாலும்.

துறையின் நின்று உயர்மாங்கனி   தூங்கிய சாறும்.

அறையும் மென் கரும்பு ஆட்டிய   அமுதமும். அழி தேம்

நறையும் அல்லது. நளிர் புனல்  பெருகலா - நதிகள்.

 

Lactating buffaloes dripping their milk from their overflowing udders, tall mango trees lining the river banks, laden with ripe fruit, dripping the fruit pulp copiously down,

Nectar-like juice from sugarcane being crushed all over, honey flowing from uncared for honey-combs, combine to fill the rivers of Vidheha, leaving no room for clear water at all.

 

Admiring all these riches, they arrive at outskirts of Mithila, where they encounter a mound where Ahaliga (Ahalya in Sanskrit) lay, for ages, cursed into a stone by her husband Gautama for having allowed herself into the embrace of Indra’s lustful arms: Indra coming to her impersonating as Gautama, but Ahaliga realizing that it wasn’t her husband that was craving for her embrace, still succumbed momentarily to that lust and got cursed.

 

She wakes up from this curse, cleansed of all her sins and the curse, when dust from Rama’s feet touched her stony recline.

 

கண்ட கல்மிசைக் காகுத்தன்  கழல் - துகள் கதுவ.-

உண்ட பேதைமை மயக்கு அற  வேறுபட்டு. உருவம்

கொண்டு. மெய் உணர்பவன்  கழல் கூடியது ஒப்ப.-

பண்டை வண்ணமாய் நின்றனள்;  மா முனி பணிப்பான்;

 

காகுத்தன் (kaakuththan) – is an appellation Rama is identified with frequently in Valmiki’s Adi Kavya and other versions of Ramayana including the peerless Kamba Ramayanam. It also is a favourite term used by Azhwars in the Divya Prabhandams. It is worthwhile to understand this term.

 

The Raghu Vamsa is believed to have been started with “Vaivasvata” Manu (we are living in the “Vaivasvata” manu’s universal cycle), followed by his son and famous Ikshwaku. Ikshwaku’s eldest son was Vaikuksi. Vaikuksi’s only son was Kakustha (Indra Vahana or Puranjaya). He was amongst the most powerful of descendants of Raghu and derived that name thus: it was during his reign that the Devas were being worsted by the Dhanavas (Asuras) and Indra sought Kakustha’s help in defeating the Dhanavas on the counsel of Sri Maha Vishnu himself. Kakustha agreed on the condition that Indra should become his carrier (ride). Indra, swallowing his pride and reluctantly, did so and took the form of a bull and Kakustha rode this bull's hump and defeated the Dhanavas. (“Kakud” denotes a bull in Sanskrit; the rider of the bull acquired the name “Kakustha” (also Indravahana). Other famous successors in this lineage till Dasaratha are: Prithu, Yuvanasya, Maandhaata, Satyavrata aka Trisanku (we know this story well), Harischandra.

 

Now to the verse – deliverance for Ahalya:

 

When dust from Rama’s feet fell over the stone-froze Ahaliga, she rose as if from a spell of swoon, cleansed of her ignorant sin and glowing with jnaana, with her famously beautiful form restored to her but with deliverance resonating as if she had reached the lotus feet of the Lord. And, Viswamitra relates to Rama the whole story of Ahaliga at that juncture.

 

As Ahaliga rises from her stony reverie, in her captivatingly beautiful form and shyly stands aside, Rama, taken aback at this unexpected, unheralded event, enquires of Sage Vishwamitra for explanation.

 

Sage Vishwamitra introduces Ahaliga as the wife of Sage Gautama who, besides cursing her to her stony fate, also cursed Indra, the perpetrator of the sin, to have countless eyes all over his body – for the sin of having roved his eyes on someone else’s pristine and innocent spouse.

 

The Sanskrit name of Ahaliga is “Ahalya”.  “Halya” means deformity – lack of beauty. The story goes that Brahma was not happy with his creation efforts and wanted to create at least one human to his entire satisfaction. He chose limb by limb and carefully eliminated the slightest deformity or lack of perfection; at the end of this remarkable creative indulgence, he came up with the form  of the most beautiful, totally blemish less, flawless, female form and named it “Ahalya” – “No deformity or No imperfection”.

 

Ahalya was therefrom such a peerless, ravishing beauty. Indra, in his intoxicated arrogance, thought that she belonged to someone like him – the powerful Lord of the Gods and not to an unattractive mendicant like Gautama. Sage Gautama’s ascetic powers, though, put him off but he never lost the dream of holding Ahalya in his arms at least once. He sought out Ahalya, imitating the early morning crowing of a crow to herald, for the Sage, the arrival of the Brahma Muhoortha – very early morning (3.30 A.M. to 5 A.M.) and getting to leave for his early morning ablations,  taking the form of Gautama himself. Though Ahalya realized when Indra embraced her that she was in the arms of Indra the imposter and not her husband Gautama, the momentary engulfing lust made her remain entwined in that embrace:

 

புதுமணமதுவின்தேறல்ஒக்கஉண்டுஇருத்லோடும்.   உணர்ந்தனள்; உணர்ந்தபின்னும். ‘தக்கது அன்று’ என்ன ஓராள்;  தாழ்ந்தனள்

 

They were rapturously drinking the nectar of pleasure as if in a nuptials night; in that moment of engulfing pleasure, she realized “this is not right”; still she allowed her body to get the better of her mind; (starved) lust to get the better of her discretion; thus did she lower herself.

 

Sage Gautama, on reaching the river front and realizing that the ablation time was far ahead, clearly saw Indra’s trick in his mind and hastened back to his hermitage; he finds Ahalya in the arms of Indra. Curses both of them.

 

Valmiki narrates the scene thus:

 

तथा शप्त्वा च वै शक्रम् भार्याम् अपि च शप्तवान् |

इह वर्ष सहस्राणि बहूनि निवषिस्यसि || १-४८-२९

वायु भक्षा निराहारा तप्यन्ती भस्म शायिनी |

अदृश्या सर्व भूतानाम् आश्रमे अस्मिन् वषिस्यसि || १-४८-३०

 

tathaa shaptvaa ca vai shakram bhaaryaam api ca shaptavaan |

iha varSha sahasraaNi bahuuni nivaShisyasi || 1-48-29

vaayu bhakShaa niraahaaraa tapyantii bhasma shaayinii |

adR^ishyaa sarva bhuutaanaam aashrame asmin vaShisyasi || 1-48-30

 

"On cursing Indra thus the sage cursed even his wife saying, 'you shall tarry here for many thousands of years to come without food and consuming air alone, and unseen by all beings you shall live on in this hermitage while contritely recumbent in dust.

 

यदा तु एतत् वनम् घोरम् रामो दशरथ आत्मजः |

आगमिष्यति दुर्धर्षः तदा पूता भविष्यसि || १-४८-३१

 

yadaa tu etat vanam ghoram raamo dasharatha aatmajaH |

aagamiShyati durdharShaH tadaa puutaa bhaviShyasi || 1-48-31

 

" 'When that unassailable son of Dasharatha, namely Rama, arrives at this squalid forest, for it will be henceforth rendered so along with you, then you will be purified.

(Valmiki says that Sage Gautama curses Indra to become “infecund” (impotent) विफलः त्वम् भविष्यति (vipalah twam bhavishyati). Puranic versions and Kamban’s own version however describe the curse as Indra to have eyes all over his body (for having allowed his eyes to be roving over another man’s spouse).

 

An interesting side-plot: “Halya” in Sanskrit also means “ploughs” or “agriculture”. Picking that version, some scholars including the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, believe that Rama with his feet’s dust only restored uncultivable land fit for rich agriculture and that there was no woman nor her sin involved. This narrative is not at all supported by most renderings of the epic including Valmiki and Kamban.

 

There is a puranic version (Brahma Purana) that provides a long history behind Indra coveting Ahalya. It says that having created the most beautiful, absolutely blemish less, female in the whole universe, set a swayamvara for her hand.  The challenge was to go round the three worlds and come first and claim her hand. Indra accomplishes that with all his divine abilities in command and claims Ahalya’s hand. As Brahma was about to proceed with this claim by the Lord of the Devas, Narada intervenes and says that Indra was just a poor second: the first to accomplish to challenge was Gautama. He circumambulated Surabhi the divine cow as she was yielding a calf and according to the scriptures, the cow and the calf that was being delivered represented the three worlds. Gautama thus wins Ahalya’s hands and Indra could never live down that disappointment. Ahalya became his one-point ambition. That played out eventually in Gautama’s Asrama as related above.

 

The story of Ahalya is as intensively discussed, debated, variants proferred and value judgements delivered, as that of Panchali (Draupadi); even more intensively than Sita’s agni pravesa or her later banishment to the forest by Rama.

 

Was Ahalya a sinner? Did she or didn’t she know she was committing adultery (with she consenting)?

 

Interestingly, while lore and story-telling would paint Ahalya as a sinner, equally to be blamed with Indra, the ancient construction of social  and cultural law would say: Ahalya did what women naturally do, seduce in Indra. But Indra, as a man, the stronger of the two sexes and with a much greater social and moral responsibility as a male to observe restraint, was decisively the sinner in this episode.

 

Quoting from an article by Rohini Bakshi in the blog site “Daily – O” that discusses diverse opinions on issues religious, social, cultural and personal:

 

Quote: Wendy Doniger points out that the law books of ancient India (the dharma-texts) blame the man squarely. This is on the basis of the assumption that all women are seductive, just as all snakes bite; but the man is culturally responsible. Knowing that all women are seductive, the male adulterer is at fault when a woman is allowed to do what she is naturally inclined to do. InWendy Doniger points out that the law books of ancient India (the dharma-texts) blame the man squarely. This is on the basis of the assumption that all women are seductive, just as all snakes bite; but the man is culturally responsible. Knowing that all women are seductive, the male adulterer is at fault when a woman is allowed to do what she is naturally inclined to do. Unquote

 

“Ahalya” has evoked quite a lot of reactions in the Group. The diverse opinions articulated in judging this dramatis personae, a greatly emotive one in the epic, has enriched this discussion considerably. As the narrator, I express my gratitude and appreciation.

 

Just one more word on Ahalya and we shall move on: in unison with the majority of opinion in the group, Kamban delivers his judgment as well about her: “ தாழ்ந்தனள் “ – she lowered herself. Created as a pristine blemishless female by Brahma himself and having acquired rectitude of the highest order under the tutelage of the great sage and her husband Gautama, she fell momentarily from that great perch due to two failings – her own ego (conscious about her unrivalled beauty) and the fact that the lord of the celestials himself was courting her and her biological urges taking over her discretion (mind). Rajaji uses an unusual term about this event: “the sin had been sinned” – a strange metaphor!

 

 

 

The three of them – Sage Viswamitra, Rama and Lakshmana enter the glowingly beautiful city of Mithila. Kamban gets into his best poetic perch to describe Mother Nature herself providing an unforgettable welcome to Rama, to the city, which would be where he would gain (regain, in actual fact) the hands of Sri Piraatti, Sita.

 

மை அறு மலரின் நீங்கி.    யான் செய் மா தவத்தின் வந்து.

செய்யவள் இருந்தாள்’ என்று.    செழு மணிக் கொடிகள் என்னும்

கைகளை நீட்டி அந்தக்  கடி நகர். கமலச் செங் கண்

ஐயனை. ‘ஒல்லை வா’ என்று  அழைப்பது போன்றது அம்மா!

 

அந்த கடிநகர் (andhak kadinagar) – that great, well-secured, well-protected city (of Mithala)  செய்யவள் (seyyavaL) – the gold complexioned Sri Mahalakshmi Herself ;   மை  அறு  மலரின்  நீங்கி (mai aRu malarin neengi)  -emerging out of that spotlessless beautiful lotus flower (which is her usual seat) ; யான் செய் மாதவத்தின் (yaan sey maathavaththin) – as a result of the great ascetic thapas performed by us (the countless multicoloured flags (or flower creepers?) ;  வந்து இருந்தாள் (vandhu irundhanaL) – ‘she was born her in our midst and is with us’  என்று செழுமணிக் கொடிகள் என்னும்  (endRu sezhumaNik kodigaL ennum) -  those flags, heralding that message, ; கைகளை  நீட்டி  (kaigaLai neeti) – extending and waving their lovely arms (flaps / rich leaves) in an act of a dramatic welcome; கமலம் செங்கண் ஐயனை (kamalach cengaN aiyannai) – the one with eyes resembling lotus petals, Sri Rama  ஒல்லை வா  என்று (ollai vaa endRu)  -  orchestrating the welcome message: “come hither unto us, immediately” ; அழைப்பது போன்றது (azhaippadu pOndradhu) – resembled such a tumultuous welcome.

 

The welcome in this verse singles out Sri Rama; the poet introduces right at the start of the cantos (Mithilaip padalam), the hero who shall hold centre-stage throughout its course.

 

நிரம்பிய மாடத்து உம்பர்  நிரை மணிக் கொடிகள் எல்லாம்.

‘தரம் பிறர் இன்மை உன்னி. தருமமே தூது செல்ல.

வரம்பு இல் பேர் அழகினாளை மணம் செய்வான் வருகின்றான்’ என்று

அரம்பையர் விசும்பின் ஆடும் ஆடலின். ஆடக் கண்டார்.

 

பிறர்   தரம் இன்மை உன்னி (piRar tharam inmai unni) – no one else has the mettle or merits (to win Sita’s hands, other than Sri Rama)  தருமமே தூது செல்ல (dharumamE thoodhu sella) -  The God of Dharma himself carries that message as the messenger  வரம்பு  இல் (varambu il)  -immeasurably, peerless  பேர் அழகினாளை (pEr azhaginaaLai)  -  most beautiful maiden – Sita  மணம் செய்வான் (maNam seyvaan)  = the one who would be marrying that most beautiful princess of Mithila ;வருகின்றான் என்று (varugindRaan endRu)  - swaying joyously with the message: ‘is coming thither’ ;  அரம்பையர் (arambaiyar) – the celestial courtesans, Ramba, etc.  விசும்பின் ஆடும் (visumbin aadum)  - the joyful dancing of these celestial damsels across the heavens;  ஆடலின்(aadalin)  -  reflecting that joyous celestrial dance   நிரம்பிய மாடத்து உம்பர் (nirambiya maadaththu umbar)  -  over the countless palace terraces of that great city of Mithila  நிரைமணிக்  கொடிகள் (nirai maNik kodigaL)  -  rows and rows of very colourful flags எல்லாம் ஆட (ellaam aada) – all of them swaying and flapping with joy கண்டார்(kaNdaar)   -  (the three of them) witnessed.

 

ஆதரித்து. அமுதில் கோல் தோய்த்து.   ‘அவயமம் அமைக்கும் தன்மை

யாது?’ எனத் திகைக்கும் அல்லால்.   மதனற்கும் எழுத ஒண்ணாச்

சீதையைத் தருதலாலே.   திருமகள் இருந்த செய்ய

போது எனப் பொலிந்து தோன்றும்.  பொன் மதில். மிதிலை புக்கார்.

 

 

 

The poet invokes as the pride of the city of Mithila its priceless possession – Princess Sita. The God of Love, Manmadha, set out recreating a portrait of Sita, by dipping his brush in the divine nectar itself and trying to reproduce Sita’s matchless features, giving up in exasperation. Because of Sita’s residence in that great city, the city glowed like Sri Mahalakshmi’s resplendent lotus.

 

We witness a rehearsal of the Sita Swayamvara as the trio enters the city. Even the inanimate flags flapping away joyously, welcome them – Sri Rama in particular – with the conclusive forethought:  the one, the only one, none else, who has the mettle and merit to have their priceless princess Sita’s hand is hither, let us welcome Him. The poet says that the God of Dharma carries that advance message for the great wedding, as a messenger ‘தருமமே தூது செல்ல  ” – why is the God of Dharma carrying this message, as a messenger? Rama is the progenitor, preserver and the ultimate repository of all dharma, isn’t he? What better role for the God of Dharma than heralding Sri Rama as the groom?

 

These first verses are much celebrated amongst connoisseurs of Kamba Ramayana for the metaphors used – inanimates knowledgably recognizing Sita’s Consort and welcoming Him with joy and abandon.