Sloka 10
The silence of the forest peacocks en route after seeing the Raaja Hamsam
Meaning:
My Swan Friend! The Maanasa saras (Lake Maanasam) is in KailAsa Mountain. During the rainy season, Your community lives in that sacred lake. When You go away to the KailAsa Mountain, the peacocks of the forest that stayed behind get arrogant and make loud and harsh shrieks. This situation is similar to the case when the ignorant ones make a lot of noise, when the renowned poets are away. When the poet returns amidst them, these ignorant ones shut up. This is the way of the world. When the rainy season is over and You return, the forest peacocks will lose their bright eye like spots on their feathers and will stay mute. When You travel towards LankA, You will witness these amusing incidents.
Comments:
SrI Raaman amuses the Swan by describing some incidents to focus on the nobility of the Swan and contrasts it with the harsh-sounding and narcissistic forest, garden-variety peacocks. The Swan is compared to a noble poet (sat kavi) and the haughty peacock is compared to a dullard (jaDa dhiyA). SrI Raaman points out that the clumsy forest peacocks do not open their mouth (vAcamyamatvam) and observe Mounam in front of the sweet sounding Swan.
Sloka 11
The help of the Wind to the Swan as it flies South
Meaning:
The upacArams offered by the wind are described here. SrI Raaman says: Oh Beautiful Swan! The lotus flowers in the ponds under your aerial path have a robust redness. The wind (gandhavAha:) will blow over them and extract slowly (Sanai: Apiban) the freshly formed honey (padminInAm nava madhu:) from them. Next, the wind will swirl playfully (salIlam ghUrNamAna:) around the Ambal flowers that open in the night (kAla unnidre kuvalaya vane) and add their coolness and fragrance inside it. The wind will travel now towards the wild elephants (vipina kariNAm) in the forest and blow its pollen pockets and get them moistened with their (elephant’s) madha jalam. After all these preparatory steps, the various fragrances housed in the wind are going to compete with one another (ahamahamikAm) to offer their worship to You (sevishyate). The dhvani in this Slokam is about a young man (the wind devan) sipping slowly the new wine offered by the ladies from high kulam, getting progressively intoxicated and staggering as he moves around.
The key words are: “AmodAnAm ahamahamikAm AdiSan tvAm sevishyate”. The various fragrances borne by the wind are going to compete with one another to elbow themselves to the front to be the first to offer their worship to the swan.
English Commentary by Sri Oppiliappan Sadagopan
Courtesy: Smt Jayanthi Sridharan (Carnatic vocalist)
