Madurai T N Seshagopalan gave a rare treat to his rasikas by doing the harikatha on Kambaramayana for five days at Hamsadhwani from 5th to 9th of April2006. It was like triveni sangamam with the lyrics of Kamban flowing like the holy Ganges, the eloquence of Seshagopalan was like the cool waters of Yamuna while his music was the antarvahini, Sarasvati. Seshagopalan plunged deep into the ocean of Kambaramayana and collected the precious pearls and strining them in the double strands of his flowing tamil and lilting music presented a beautiful necklace to Sri Rama.
In the beginning itself TNS made it very clear that it was not a mere literary discourse or a wayside carnival with a flourish of overacting , music thrown in between, but it was going to be a depiction of the deep devotion which underlies the work of Kamban which earned him the title of Kambanaattaazvaar among the devotees. It was not Ramanatakam but Raamakaadhai,or Ramavathaara as it was originally named by Kamban, steeped in devotion, culture and above all, in dharma. So those who had come with such expectations would not have been able to enjoy the rich cultural and devotional nevertheless poetical repast.
TNS has enhanced the enchantment of the lyrics of Kamban by his novel and imaginative explanations and his divine music. To describe his performance one would echo the words of Sri Ramachandran, secretary of Hamsadhwani, that the description of the land of Kosala by Kamban, 'thandalai mayilgal aada thaamarai viLakkam thaanga--------marudham veetrirukkum maalo' alone, which TNS explained beautifully, can be the fitting tribute. Sri Ramachandran has also praised the subtle and refined humour, the second nature of TNS, that ran undercurrent in the harikatha and his cultured manner of presenting even the episode of Ahalya and above everything else his gurubhakthi which manifested through out, all of which made his harikatha unique.
The rasikas come to hear TNS not for the mere story or for the monoacting but to enjoy his depth of knowledge and inspiring and involved devotion which even brought tears to some in the audience as one gentleman openly confessed on the stage on the last day. So sentiment, rasa, was not lacking but without ostentation.
Kamban upheld Rama as the paramporuL, the ultimate reality and this was explicit in the very first verse 'ulagam yavaiyum thaamulavaakkalum,' said TNS, who also pointed out that Kamban has made reference to Ramayana as a sarnagathi sastra, as it is called by devotees, by the last line of the above verse, annavarkke saran naangaLe.'
` There were various instances to show the deep study and thinking TNS has put forth in this venture such as his explanation of 'irukai vezam ,' by which Kamban refers to Rama; the 'iru kai' being ,one for dushtanigraha and another for sishtaparipalana as in the case of the elephant, 'vezam,' which can uproot the tree with its trunk as well as lift a child gently and put him on its back In 'sEl unda senkanaarin,' in which kamban paints the picture of the young swans seated on the lotus drinking the milk given out by the 'sEtrumedhi,' buffalo, TNS quoted aptly the thiruppaavai pasuram 'kanaitthiLam kattrerumai kanrukkirangi, the buffalo giving out the milk simply by thinking of its calf. In the verse'karaamalaiya thaLar kaikkari eytthE,' describing the namakarana of Rama, in which Kamban refers to gajendhramoksha episode, the word 'kaikkaliru, ' as explalned by TNS, iindicates that only the hand of gajendhra was visible above the water and at that juncture the Lord gave His hand to resque him..
One feels, to put it in words of Kamban ,'thOLkandaar thOLe kandaar'.in describing the salient features of the harikatha by TNS. Still one cannot do full justice to a review without mentioning some of his gems, notwithstanding the bavaladen music, such as that in ,annal nokkinaal,' the meeting of Sita and Rama, and his explanation for the word 'nOkki' was superb as he has brought out the purushakara of piraatti and the need of lakshmikataaksha even for Rama to finish his avatarakarya. It is to be noted that he has tuned 1000 verses of Kamban in apt ragas.It would be a great treasure to posterity if someone comes forward to make a recording of it.
Some of the gems are;
1) Sita remembers Rama and pines for him and here Kamban uses the word ' thaazndha kaigal ' of which TNS said that it reminds of Vamana whose hands were low on account of receiving the dhaana, which is an implication that Rama is none other than Narayana.
2) His explanation of ' thaLLaadhakaalam' as 'edhaiyumthaLLaadhakaalam' which results in misery for man.
3) Why does the elephant puts mud on its head soon after bathing? TNS gave a beautiful reason. The earth has been covered by the Lord in all His avatharas and the elephant sprinkles the particles of earth touch by His feet to purify itself.
4) Kamban describes Rama as mazaimugilvaNNan while he calls Thataka maivaNNattharakki, said TNS, to show the colour of the former is like rainbearing clouds indicative of His mercy while the colour of the latter was the darkness of thamas.
5)Why does kamban refers to Paarkadal as karumkadal? It is because the Lord is the emerald, maragathavaNNan, which, when put in the milk will change its colour from white to black
6)TNS gave a beautiful explanation for the words of Kamban 'anjil aimbadhil onrariyaadha' in the verse 'nanjam annavarai,' the message to Sugriva, who forgot his promise, from Rama through Lakshmana. He gave out several meanings with reference to Sita, Ravana and The lord Himself who has come as Rama and so on by different grouping of the letters.
7) Rama says to Sita ' ippiraviyil irumaadharai chindhaiyalum thodEn.' TNS elucidated it to mean that Rama, as Narayana, promises not to think even about His own consorts, Bhoo and NeeLaa , in that incarnation as Rama. The word was 'irumaadhar' and not 'piramaadhar' as it could have been.
8) TNS highlighted the humour of Kamban in the lines ' venjina vaali meeLaan vaalum poi ozindhadhu anre,' where Hanuman informed Ravana of the killing of Vali, as Ravana had a reason to fear the tail of Vaali.
9)Hanuman tells Rama ' kandanan karpinukku aNiyai kaNgaLaal'. TNS gave a wonderful explanation of the word 'kaNgaLaal' and said that all would see only with eyes which was not meant here but that Hanuman saw the chastity of Sita through her eyes as eyes are the windows of the soul.
10) Last but not least was the scene of Vibheeshana saraNaagathi where TNS gave out the essence of Vaishnavadharma, consisting in selfless service, hospitality, self effacing devotion to Bhagavaan and Bhaagavathas, Ahimsa, sathyam etc.
On the whole the Harikatha, besides the enchanting music of Seshagopalan, brought out the real spirit of Kamban as a devotee, simultaneously enhancing his lyrical value. Kamban portrayed Rama through out as the Supreme Lord who covered Himself with His own Maya, athireka maayaa, to quote TNS, and enacted the role of chakravarthitirumagan. TNS explained this athireka maayaa with excellent examples. One would conclude that those who can find anything disparaging to say about this harikatha programme must have been covered with athireka maayaa, that is, an illusion of their own making
