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SrI vishNU sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - kumudah: Correction.

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champakam • March 3, 2003 


   SrI vishNU sahasra nAmam - Slokam 87 - kumudah: Correction.

In the write-up I had posted a couple of days back on this nAma, I 
had included the following sentence, where I had translated the word 
dvijah as "Brahmin", in reference to jaTAyu:

"Lord rAma Himself describes His miseries – rAjyAt bhramSah vane 
vAsah sItA nashTah hato dvijah –"I was driven away from My kindgdom, 
I have to live in the forest, I have lost sItA, and now this great 
brAhmin (jatAyu) has been slain"".

SrImAn Sadagopan Iyengar and SrI M. G. Srinivasan have written to me 
indicating that the traditional translation of this word "dvijah" in 
this context is "a bird", and not "a Brahmin".  Indeed, this is how 
SrI v.v. rAmAnujan had given the translation.  On further looking at 
the two comments I have received, I agree that the translation " a 
bird" is more appropriate in the current context.  

It is true that Lord rAma performed the religious rites appropriate 
for a Brahmin for jaTAyu during jaTAyu's cremation -   

yat tat pretasya kathayanti dvijAtayah   |  
tat svarga gamanam tasya pitryam rAmo jajApa ha   ||   (AraNya. 68.38)

"SrI rAma performed the same rites (pitR-karmA-s that enable them to 
attain the svarga loka)  for jaTAyu that are performed for the bodies 
of brAhmaNa-s after their death."  

It is also held that jaTAyu is the grandson of kaSyapa muNi, who is 
considered to be a brAhmin in at least one account that I came across 
(garuDa and aruNa are sons of kaSyapa, and jatAyu and sampAti are 
sons of aruNa).   However, when a direct meaning (bird) is available, 
it is not warranted to use a derived meaning for the word "dvijah" in 
this context.  So I would like to make the following correction to 
the posting I had submitted on the nAma kumudah, to read as follows:

"Lord rAma Himself describes His miseries – rAjyAt bhramSah vane 
vAsah sItA nashTah hato dvijah (AraNya kANDam 67.24) –"I was driven 
away from My kingdom, I have to live in the forest, I have lost sItA, 
and now this great bird (jatAyu, the eagle) has been slain"".

I sincerely thank SrI Sadagopan Iyengar and SrI M. G. Srinivasan for 
pointing out this correction.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan












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