Lesson 79

Beginning Prayers:

• शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुम् - shuklaambaradharaM viShNum
• सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhyam 
• गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः - gururbrahmaa gururviShNuH 

Topic Summary:

• 2nd verse of saMkShepa raamaayaNam
• Chandas

Home Work:

• Notice the different meters(Chandas) in the daily prayers and verses 

Topic Details:

We saw that 'sage vaalmIki asked devarShi naarada..'  The ditransitive verb 'asked' had the answer to only one question - vaalmIki asked whom?  The second natural question would be - what did he ask?  The following verse answers that in part.

को न्वस्मिन् साम्प्रतं लोके गुणवान् कश्च वीर्यवान् ।
धर्मज्ञश्च कृतज्ञश्च सत्यवाक्यो दृढव्रतः ।२।
ko nvasmin saamprataM loke guNavaan kashcha vIryavaan |
dharmaj~nashcha kRutaj~nashcha satyavaakyo dRuDhavrataH |2|

To get to the meaning of this verse, lets jot down the language aspect of the individual words.  Upon breaking the sandhi-s

कः नु अस्मिन् साम्प्रतं लोके
गुणवान् कः च वीर्यवान् ।
धर्मज्ञः च कृतज्ञः च
सत्यवाक्यः दृढव्रतः ॥

कः - who - विसर्ग सन्धि; अकारान्त पु., प्र. वि., एकवचन

नु अस्मिन् - indeed in this - यण् सन्धि

     नु - अव्यय

     अस्मिन् - सप्तमी. वि., एकवचन

साम्प्रतं - current - अव्यय

लोके - in this world -सप्त्. वि., एकवचन

गुणवान् - embodiment of virtues - मतुप् प्रत्ययान्त (*तद् अस्य अस्ति इति मतुप्); प्र. वि., एकवचन

      गुणाः अस्मिन् सन्ति इति गुणवान्

कः च - also, who - श्चुत्व सन्धि

     कः - प्र. वि., एकवचन

     च - अव्यय 

वीर्यवान् - embodiment of courage - मतुप् प्रत्यान्त; प्र. वि., एकवचन

धर्मज्ञः च - श्चुत्व सन्धि

     धर्मं जानातीति धर्मज्ञः - who know dharma (righteousness) - उपपद समास; प्र. वि., एकवचन

     च - and - अव्यय

कृतज्ञः च - श्चुत्व सन्धि

     कृतम् जानातीति कृताज्ञः - grateful - उपपद समास; प्र. वि., एकवचन

     च - and - अव्यय

सत्यवाक्यः - words are always true - विसर्ग सन्धि; प्र. वि., एकवचन

     सत्यानि वाक्यानि यस्य सः सत्यवाक्यः - बहुव्रीहि समास

दृढव्रतः - has a firm vow - प्र. वि., एकवचन

     दृढाः व्रताः यस्य सः दृढव्रतः - बहुव्रीहि समास

Deviating from the verse and its meaning, lets learn a little more about Chandas.

The number of syllables in the paadam (quarter) of a verse is the qualifier for a particular Chandas (meter). 

The laghu (denoted with 'u')  and guru (denoted with '-') combinations within the meter attributes to the 'vRutta' वृत्त.  There can be many vRutta-s in any given meter.

Potentially, any given meter can have 2^no. of syllables in the paadam!  

Another commonly used Chandas is the त्रिष्टुप् .  It contains 11 syllables in each paadam, with a यति after the 6th syllable.  (यति (,) is a minute pause within the paadam in longer meters.)  

The vRutta-s seen commonly in triShTup are इन्द्रवज्र, उपेन्द्रवज्र, उपजाति 

इन्द्रवज्र laghu guru notation would be

- - u - - u, u - u - -

उपेन्द्रवज्र 

u - u - - u, u - u - - 

उपजाति 

is a combination of both इन्द्रवज्र and उपेन्द्रवज्र vRutta-s

Until next lesson, happy practicing!

Ending prayer:

•  ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् - om pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

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Lesson 78

Beginning Prayers:

• शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुम् - shuklaambaradharaM viShNum
• सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhyam 
• गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः - gururbrahmaa gururviShNuH 

Topic Summary:

• Language aspect - Break up words in the verse and deduce their case, tense, number, etc 

Home Work:

• Practice doing this with one paadam of any verse 

Topic Details:

Having seen the verse and its meaning, now lets go to the language aspect of individual words.  They can be as follows -

मा - don't -अव्यय
निषाद - O hunter - अकारान्त पु., सं. प्र. विभक्ति, एकवचन
प्रतिष्ठां - good merit - आकारान्त स्त्री., द्वि. विभक्ति, एकवचन
त्वम् - you - युष्मद् प्रातिपदिकम्, दकारान्त पु., प्र. विभक्ति, एकवचन
अगमः - not attain - गम् धातु (नञ् तत्पुरुष समास), लुङ् लकार, मध्यम पुरुष, एकवचन
शाश्वतीः - for many - शाश्वत् प्रातिपदिकम्, ईकारान्त स्त्रि., द्वि. विभक्ति, बहुवचन
समाः - years (to come) - आकारान्त स्त्रि., द्वि. विभक्ति, बहुवचन
यत् - because - अव्यय
क्रौञ्चमिथुनात् - from a stork pair - क्रञ्चमिथुनम् प्रातिपदिकम्, अकारान्त नपुं., पञ्चमी विभक्ति, एकवचन
एकम् - one of which - एकः प्रातिपदिकम्, द्वि. विभक्ति, एकवचन
अवधीः - have killed - हन् धातु, लुङ् लकार, मध्यम पुरुष, एकवचन
(आशीर्लिङ्ग्, विधि. अन्द् लुङ्ग् लकारार हन् वध् as per the below two paaNini sUtra-s)
      * हनोवध् लिङ्गि
      * लुङ्गि च

काममोहितम् - which were in love - काममोहितः प्रातिपदिकम्, दिव्. विभक्ति, एकवचन

Now, let's see the language aspects of the words as per the second meaning.  The only two words that would change are maaniShaada and krauncha here.  The rest would follow as above.

मानिषाद - viShnu/raama (in whose heart resides mother lakShmI) - मा निषीदति अस्मिन् इति मानिषादः, मानिषाद प्रातिपदिकम्, अकारान्त पु., सं. प्र. विभक्ति, एकवचन
(योगिनः अस्मिन् रमते इति रामः)

क्रुञ्चा = असुर स्त्री
कैकसी is raavaNa's mother's name, who was a raakShasa strI.  His father was a braahmaNa named vishrava
क्रुञ्चायाः अपत्यं पुमान् क्रौञ्चः - hence क्रौञ्चः is a तद्धित in this context.  It refers to raavaNa with this meaning.  raavaNa was deluded with lust for sitaa and hence we get the second meaning discussed in the previous lesson.

Happy practicing till next lesson!

Ending prayer:

•  ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् - om pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

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Lesson 77

Beginning Prayers:

• शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुम् - shuklaambaradharaM viShNum
• सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhyam 
• गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः - gururbrahmaa gururviShNuH 

Topic Summary:

• The very first shloka ever written - आदिकवि's आदिकाव्य's आदिश्लोक!  (a re-visit from Lesson 48) 

Home Work:

• Learn by heart this very important, milestone of a shloka!

Topic Details:

After sage naarada narrated the raamaayaNa to sage vaalmIki, the sage went to the तमसा river bank for performing his sandhyaavandana. He saw a pair of happy krauncha birds.  Even as Sage vaalmIki was delighting in seeing the loving pair of birds, a hunter’s arrow killed the male bird. The vision of lamenting female bird and dying male bird filled the mind of ValmIki with compassion and grief. These (seemingly curse) words just emerged from  vaalmIki’s mouth: -

मानिषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीः समाः ।
यत् क्रौञ्चमिथुनादेकम् अवधीः काममोहितम् ॥

Word translations:-
nishaada - O hunter
tvam – you
pratiShThaam - good reputation
maa agamah - not get
shaashvateeH samaaH  - for several years
yat - because
krauncha mithunaat - out of the kranucha pair
ekam - one
avadheeH – (you) killed
kaamamohitam - filled with passion

Thus the verse translates as: -
O hunter, may you not get any good reputation (or may you get ill-reputation) for several years because, out of the pair of krauncha birds, you killed one, when it was full of passionate feelings.

Later that day, Lord Brahma arrived at ValmIki’s ashram and told Valmiki to compose the life-story of Raama. Sensing the mind of ValmIki, agitated due to the fact that he happened to utter a curse earlier, Lord Brahma told him that the words ValmIki uttered are nothing but the play of Saraswati in his mouth. It is not a curse but a mangalavaakyam. It is set in a metric composition (later became popular as shloka) with four lines (paada) of eight syllables each. This verse could be sung beautifully on a stringed musical instrument.  This is the first verse in the popular Anushtup chandas or meter. ValmIki was asked to compose Raama kathaa in this meter. Why this verse is not a curse but an auspicious poem? Let’s see…

maa nishiidati asmin iti maanishaadaH. maa (mahaalakshmi) nishiidati (sits) asmin (in whom) is maanishaadaH (Lord VishNuH). Maanishaada is the sambodhana form.

maanishaada – Oh Lord ViShNu
pratiShThaam - good reputation
tvam - you
aagamah - get
shaashvateeH samaaH - for several years
yat – (due to) that

kraunchamithunaat – out of the raakshasa couple (RavaNa and Mandodarii)

[krunchaa = raakshasii {kaikasii}, kraunchaH = krunchaayaaH {kaikasyaaH} putraH, RaavanNaH]
ekam - one
avadheeH – (you) killed
kaamamohitam - filled with lust

As above, mother lakShmI is referred as maa and nishaada means place of residence. Mother lakShmI resides in the heart of Lord viShNu. Thus maanishaada means lakShmIpati, viShNu.  The word maa can also be used for mother sItaa. So, maanishaada can mean Lord Raama too.

The verse now becomes,

मानिषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीः समाः ।
यत् क्रौञ्चमिथुनादेकम् अवधीः काममोहितम् ॥

Thus the translation of the shloka becomes: -
O ViShNu/Raama, may you get reputation for several years because, out of the couple (raavaNa and maNDodarI), you killed one (RaavaNa) who was filled with lust.

Notice that मा निषाद are not two words,  मानिषाद  just like
माधव = मायायाः  धवः (लक्ष्मीपतिः)

Hence, one meaning of the shloka is a curse and another is glorification to Lord Raama!  Isn't this so unbelievably beautiful!!

Lord brahma said to sage vaalmIki that this verse would be the maNgaLa shloka of the epic he would compose.  It would be the very first epic ever composed!  Remember, there was no shloka or poetry form of writing before this!  It appears in raamaayaNa's baala-khaaNDa, 2nd sarga as the15th verse.

The meter (छन्दस्) of the verse is called अनुष्टुप् छन्दस्.  The verse of 4 quarters will have 8 syllables each.  Not just that the laghu, guru have to follow certain rules as well.

लघु is a syllable that takes one मात्रा कालम् to pronounce
गुरु is a syllable that takes two मात्रा कालम्s for its pronunciation

There are many many meters in poetry.  But अनुष्टुप् is the most frequently and abundantly used Chandas.  We will see the further intricacies and details required for अनुष्टुप् in further lessons.

Until then, happy practicing.

Ending prayer:

•  ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् - om pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

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