SrIrAmanavami special

Of late, I am studying the metre maMdAkrAMta in great detail. maMdAkrAMta has been made famous by kAlidAsa. He wrote his entire mEghadUta in this metre. mEghadUta is perhaps one of the first books of messenger poems. In this the cursed yaksha, separated from his beloved, spends a year in rAmagiri, where rAma and sItA too spent some time during their years in the forest. Here is a maMdAkrAMta in telugu marking hanumaMta as rAmA's emissary to sItA. I imagined him using this metre for this purpose.

ఉన్నాడమ్మా యొకడు వనిలో, నుల్లమందెప్డు నిన్నే
గన్నాడమ్మా, కమలదళముల్ కార్మొయిల్వాని గన్నుల్,
విన్నాడమ్మా విరహమున నీ ప్రేమహృద్వాక్కులన్, రా-
నున్నాడమ్మా యుదధి గడచన్ యుద్ధసన్నద్ధుడై తాన్

unnaaDammaa yokaDu vanilO, nullamaMdepDu ninnE
gannaaDammaa, kamaladaLamul kaarmoyilvaani gannul,
vinnaaDammaa virahamuna nee praemahRdvaakkulan, raa-
nunnaaDammaa yudadhi gaDachan yuddhasannaddhuDai taan

hanumaMtA after reaching the aSokavana, found sItA under a tree. He did not utter the word rAmA, as he thought hearing the word rAmA, she may swoon. So he said first "He is there". He is there, all alone in the forest. hanumA then says "He always sees you in his mind's eyes." This will give comfort to sItA as she will feel happy that rAmA has not forgotten her. Then hanumA says, "His complexion is like dark clouds (sorry not blue clouds and his eyes are the petals of lotus". In this way hanumAn tries to plant a seed of joy in her heart. hanumAn continues, "In his separation, he also listens to your loving words. He is all prepared to cross the waters and is battle ready." This is my imagination of sundarakAMDa. By the way, do you know who the sundara in sundarakAMDa is? It is none but hanumaMtA!

The accompanying drawing is a symmetric figure using the letter R and its mirror image forming a nAma (on rAmA's forehead) as the motif. Enjoy!

Regards! - mOhana