Veda gyan
Welcome to the 10th Issue of Veda Gyan.
In this issue let us start learning about certain methods of reciting Veda that helped the students remember the renderings as well as the words without the help of written communication.
There are eight ways of reciting Vedas especially Rig, Yajur, Vedas. They are 1.Jatha 2.Mala 3. Sikha 4. Rekha 5.Dwaja 6.Danda 7.Ratha and 8.Ghana.
Let us have an idea of how the Ghana recital would sound like for example:
Verses containing two halves or four quarters will be as follows, if for instance the first half contains six words,we shall take them to be A, B, C, D, E, F.
Now the repetition would be as below in Ghana.
- AB, BA, AB, C; CBA! ABC!!
- BC, CB, BC, D; DCB! BCD!!
- CD, DC, CD, E; EDC! CDE!!
- DE, ED, DE, F; FED! DEF!!
EF, FE, EF! F iti F!! (This last line gives the meaning for the word used) By reciting in this manner they were able to make the students remember the verse, its octaves, tone, the set music as well as meaning!
In the last few issues we learnt about the lives of many saints and we will continue the story of Sri Ramanuja in this issue also.
Ramanuja wrote many books like Vedanta Deepam, Saranagati Gadyam, Vaikunda Gadyam, Sriranga Gadyam, and Nityam detailing the Tiru Aradhana Kramam a method of performing Pooja to Lord at temples or homes.
Most famous work of Sri Ramanuja is the Bashya or Commentary for Brahma Sutra of Vyasa. He went to Kashmir and presented this work before Goddess Saraswati. She appeared in person and accorded her approval and also called his work as SRI BASHYAM. And also called him Bashyakarar!
Story Time!
During those days the Muslim kings used to invade and attack the Hindu temples!
On one such occasion the sultan of Delhi entered the temple at Melkot Karnataka. Along with the king, his daughter also came to the shrine. When she saw the Utsava idol of Tirunarayana she simply fell in love with him. She was so infatuated she refused to go back to Delhi! Finally the King took the idol along with him. She kept the idol at her private quarters and treated Him as her lover!
For a long time the temple went without the idol and when Sri Ramanuja was told about this he decided to go to Delhi risking his life!
He went to the Sultan and enquired about the idol, initially he was reluctant later he agreed and allowed Sri Ramanuja to go to his private quarters of his daughter. The King also explained to him the predicament he is placed in because of his daughter’s love towards the Lord! Ramanuja realised that her bhakti must be unparalled and went to her quarters to check. She was totally lost in the adoration of the Lord! He waited for a while and as she noticed his presence explained that the idol should be returned to the temple and the King had agreed to do so, on her giving the required consent. She said to every one’s surprise that she would marry on the Lord and none else! Hearing this Sri Ramanuja addressed the Lord as Chellappillai and requested him to come along with him to Tirunarayanapuram.
Immediately the idol came and sat on the lap of Sri Ramanuja! Every one present heard the divine command that he would full fill the desire of the princess and would marry her at the temple! King was also dumb struck and finally agreed to this. He sent his daughter along with Sri Ramanuja as he would send a daughter for the marriage! with a retinue of his trusted officers to escort.
On reaching the temple along with the idol and the princess, she walked into the sanctum sanctorum in her bridal attire and disappeared!
This version of the story is told at the temple and you could see a shrine dedicated to the Muslim princess, even today the deity of Lord is offered Roti and Butter as his dinner!
Sri Ramanuja breathed his last, amidst his disciples in the year 1137 AD, at a ripe age 120 years, listening to the Nalaira Divya Prabhanda recitation!
The life history of the famous music trinity!
Tiruvarur in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu is the place that gave the music world of South India the three gems known as the Trinity.
They are Syama Sastrigal, Saint Thyagaraja, and Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Their krtis set the tone and tenor of Bakthi movement in South India after the Alwars and Nayanmars.
First among them is Syama Sastrigal.
Syama Sastrigal was born in 1762 AD. He was adept in Telugu and Sanskrit. At the young age of 18 he moved to Tanjore from Tiruvarur and started learning music from his uncle,Sangeetha Swami and Pachimiriam Adaiappar.All of them taught all intricacies of music. He was a great devotee of Bangaru Kamakshi Amman. By the grace of the Goddess he became an expert composer. He sang nine kritis on Meenakshi of Madurai, which were so good, and the temple authorities received him with great honours. These were known Navaratnamalika. He attained eternal bliss in 1827 at the age of 65.
Next is the Saint Thyagaraja.
He was born to Ramabrahmam and Sitamma in the year 1767. He was trained in traditional music by Sonti Venkataramanayya.His won grand father Giriraja Kavi was a great poet of Sanskrit. He was married and soon after he lost his wife and he remarried Kamalamba in 1790.
His music was not a pass time but an Upasana. His ishta devatha was Rama whom he adored. Once Thyagaraja sang before a group of musicians and on hearing his
Kriti in Kamboji, King Serfoji of Tanjore wanted him to come to his court and sing and also expressed his desire to honour the saint.
Sri Thyagaraja declined his invitation and said that the honours and the wealth that the king could offer are not important to him and singing in praise of his Lord was his only honour! The King realised his mistake and came down to meet the saint personally. The King who was suffering from an acute pain in the abdomen was cured of his ailment.
In 1805 Saint Thyagaraja had a great misfortune of his ishta devata Sri Rama’s idol being thrown into the river Kaveri by his own brother due to a family quarrel!
After about three months he got back the idol having been directed by the Lord to search in particular spot in Kaveri. During this period the saint sang a number of songs expressing sorrow at the loss of the idol.
It was the practice of the saint to go for alms every day around the streets of Tanjore. During one such trip a sage called Haridas appeared and directed the saint to recite the name of Sri Rama 96 crore times! Thyagaraja carried out the sage’s instructions. On the last day he heard the knock at his door while he was doing his pooja and when he opened, to his surprise he found Lord Sri Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman standing at the door. They all went straight to his pooja room. There they gave the darshan of Pattabishekam to the saint. The saint sang the krti “Balakanakamaya” in Atana.
When Saint Tyagaraja visited Tirupati the temple was closed and the saint felt sad that he could not have darshan immediately and started singing in praise of the Lord and all the temple priests assembled around him listening to his songs! To every one’s surprise the temple door opened and the screen fell down and the saint had the darshan instantly. He sang “Venkatesa ninu sevimpa” and all the temple honours were bestowed on him!
His 690 krtis in 160 ragas are available today. He took sanyasa in 1847 and the very next day he passed away in the presence of all his disciples at the age of 80!
The third in the line is Sri Muthuswami Dheeshita
He was born in 1766 to Ramaswamy Dheekshita and Subbulakshmi ammal. He acquired expertise both in music and Sanskrit at his very early age! At the request of Manali Muthukrishna Mudahar the family migrated to Manali along with the three sons and the daughter Balambal. At Manali Chidambaranatha Yogi of Varanasi met the family of Sri Muthuswamy Dheeshitar and took him to Kasi along with him as a student! During the 5 years of stay there he also learnt Hindustani music, and after the passing away of his Guru he returned back. According to the wish of the Yogi, Sri Muthuswamy went to worship Lord Muruga at Tiruttani and the Lord appeared before him and asked him to open his mouth and offered a sweet! From that moment the music that he composed was of celestial nature!
Sri Dheeshitar had undertaken a journey to Ettayapuram from Tiruvarur and on his way he found the entire country dry without rain, he sang a song in the raga Amrtavarshini and prayed to the Lord for rain. Immediately it rained so well the draught vanished in no time!
His famous compositions were 1.Pancha Bhootah stala keerthanas (The five shrines of Lord Shiva representing the five forces of nature namely Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether) 2.Navagraha krtis 3. Sri Abayamba Navavarana krtis (The goddess of Mailaduthurai temple) 4. Shodasa Ganapati Krtis (16 krtis)
- Vibakti Krtis ( 8 krtis one in each vibakti of Sanskrit grammar)
His last composition was on Goddess Meenakshi and he reached the abode of Lord in 1835.
Titbits
Do you know who are the 18 Siddhas?
1.Agastiar
2.Tirumoolar
3.Sivavakkiar
4.Pattinathar
5.Badragiriyar
6.Pambatti Siddhar
7.Idaikattu Siddhar
8.Agappai Siddhar
9.Khudambai Siddhar
10.Azugunni Siddhar
11.Kongana Siddhar
12.Kaduveli Siddhar
13.Karuvoorar
14.Chattaimuni
15.Romanathar
16.Nandeesar
17.Ramadevar and
18. Khakapusundar.
The Siddhas are saints with great powers of tapas and they were known to perform many miracles and cure ailments and also sing a number of songs, which give hidden meaning to those who concentrate on them. They were endowed with powers like becoming as light as cotton, as heavy as a rock, appearing in two different places at the same time, going to places that are thousands of miles away instantly, becoming invisible, materialising objects from thin air and getting into the dead body of another person etc! some of them are supposed to live even today in the dense forests and mountain ranges!
Bye now and meet you in the next issue!
