THE EYES...

THE EYES....

        I wrote this piece, a few years ago.

It was part of an interesting discussion.
The incidence formed the crux of a small novel by Sandilyan - 'Kavarndha KaNkaL'.
But there is more to it than the novel.....


There was this wrestler called 'URangga Villi Dhaasan'. 'uRanggaa villi' is one of the titles of Lakshmanan. 
'Sundaravilli' is the elder brother.
Sundara Villi and URanggaa Villi are none other than SriRama, and his younger brother Lakshmana.
Sundara Villi got his name because of his incomparable beauty.
As Kamban puts it so succinctly, 


"ThOL kaNdaar thOLE kaNdaar, thodu kalzal kamalam anna 
thaaL kaNdaar thaaLE kaNdaar; thadakkai kaNdaarum ahthE
vaaL koNda kaNNaar yaarE, vadivinai mudiyak kaNdaar?
uulz koNda samayaththu annaan uruvu kaNdaarai oththaar"


" Those that saw the shoulders, saw only the shoulders; So were they who beheld the lotus-like feet which were adorned by the anklets. Similar were those that beheld the strong arms. 
Were there any of the ladies with sword-like eyes who could capture the wholeness of his appearance?"
Lakshmana followed his elder brother Rama and sister-in-law Sita to the forest in an exile which was to last for fourteen years.
During that time, he vowed not to eat nor sleep. But guard both of them. 
Since Lakshmana was the sleepless guardian bow-man, he was called the uRanggaa Villi - 'The Bowman who would not sleep'..
Now coming back to our uRanggaaVilli Dhaasan......
Our Dhaasan was obsessive and passionate about his wife to whom he was very very much attached.


One day, Ramanuja asked him why he was so much attached to his wife.


uRanggaavilli Daasan told him that it was her astounding beauty; especially those breath-taking eyes which were totally captivating.


So Ramanuja threw a challenge to him: 
"If I showed you a pair of eyes which are more captivating than your wife's eyes, would you discard that obsession?"


"If you can show them....", scoffed our friend.


Ramanuja asked him to follow and took him straight to the sanctum sanctorum of Thiruvarangganathan within the SriRangam Temple.


He pointed.


uRanggaavilli dhaasan saw....


Those eyes......


Beyond any description.


Nor comparison.


Thus URanggaaVilli Dhaasan lost himself and dissolved himself within VishNudom and became a monumental model of the prabhathi margam that Ramanuja was striving to show the world.


Well.....


Such were the eyes.

The eyes of SriRanganathan.


About which there is more to say....

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