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Life of Sri Ramanuja, A Play. Scene 01 and 02 of 67 - forwarded from SCT
>Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil
>From srini@ireq.hydro.qc.ca ()
This play is based on the life story of Sri Ramanuja from the following
references. The references themselves differ at some places and so
no authority is claimed for this either. This play follows the
third reference very closely. This play is in 67 scenes.
Feel free to send in your suggestions.
Life of Sri Ramanuja (in English) by Swami Budhananda based on
original in Bengali by Swami Ramakrishnananda.
Sri Ramanuja, A movie in 70% Tamil, 25% Sanskrit, 5% Kannada,
directed by G.V. Iyer.
aRpudhar Ramanujar, (in Tamil) by T.P.Ramanujam, Saiva Siddhantha
nool padhippagam, 346 pages. August 1993.
nAdhamuni
|
|son
|
Isvaramuni
|
|son
|
ALavandhaar
|
|disciples
|
------------------------------------------
| | |
thiru kOttiyUr nambi periya thirumalai nambi periya nambi
|
|sisters
|
--------------------------
AsUri (husband) | |
sOmayaaji------kAnthimathi mahAdhEvi
kEshava dAsan | |
| |
------------- --------------
daughter| son| |son |daughter
| | | |
?? Sri Ramanuja GOvindhan aththuzhAy
| |
son| ---------------------------
| | |
dhAsarathi |74 disciples |Teachers
| |
mudhali Andaan (nephew dhAsarathi) ALavandhAr(spiritual)
koorath AzhvAn thiru kacci nambi
embAr (cousin GOvindhan) peria nambi
vaduga nambi thiru kOttiyUr nambi
villidhAsan thiruvangaththu araiyar
ponnAchchi thirumalai Andaan
kidAmbi AcchAn
mudumbai ammAL
mudumbai nambi
thirumalai nallAn (chakravarthy) etc..
Scene-001
Location: The temple of varadharaaja perumaaL (Vishnu) in thirukkachchi,
now called aththigiri, located in Conjeevaram, Tamil Nadu. The PerumaaL
and a man named thirukkachchi nambi are in conversation. aadhisEshan,
the serpent who is the bed of the perumaaL is standing by the side.
V.Perumal: NambiyaarE, What is your problem today?
TKC.Nambi: perumaaLE! I have everything, I do not need anything. But I
am saddened to see that people around me are giving wrong interpretation
to our scriptures. They are using the vedas to exploit and subjugate
innocent ordinary people.
V.Perumal: Well! Why don't you preach your knowledge and correct the
wrong things. You know you have the exclusive previlage of talking to me,
like this.
TKC.Nambi: Nobody will listen to me, my lord! I am after all born in
the Sudra caste. They laugh at my words. But I do not care; I have you
to listen to me anyway.
V.Perumal: So you want me make another incarnation to set things right?
do you?.
A.Seshan: Leave this assignment to me perumaaLe!.
V.Perumal: (sigh) I should do without my bed for a while, um..
A.Seshan: I shall be back in wink of your eye.
V.Perumal: You mean in 120 earth years.
A.Seshan: I shall be born on kali era 4138, pingaLa varusham,
chitthirai thingaL, viyaazhan kizhamai, mid day, thiruvaadhirai nakshatram
kadaga lagnam.
TKC.Nambi: You mean 1017 A.D. 8 th May at about noon.
A.Seshan: I shall be born to Kanthimathi, who is the wife of a brahmin
AsUri Somayaajiyaandaan keshava dasar and is the sister of periya
thirumalai nambi. I shall be born at the little village of
thirupperumbudhoor (Sri perumbudUr). I shall be known as ethiraajar, udaiyavar,
iLaiyaazhvaar, thiruppaavai jeeyar and Ramanujar. I shall leave the
earth in 120 years from the great city of thiruvarangam (Sri Rangam).
[ A child is born to the Somayaaji couple in Sriperumbudur. Maternal uncle
thirumalai nambi rushes to Sriperumbudur from thirumalai. The child is
named iLaiyaazhvaar and raamaanujan. The child grows with divine talents.]
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil
>From srini@ireq.hydro.qc.ca ()
Subject: Life of Sri Ramanuja, A Play. Scenes 2 to 5 of 67
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 22:37:40 GMT
Scene-002
Location: House of Somayaaji in Sriperumbudur. Year 1017 AD. Mother
Kanthimathi is trying her level best to console the crying baby. Father
Somayaaji enters, reciting thiruvaaymozhi, "uyarvaRa ....". The child
stops crying and watches carefully.
Somayaaji: What a surprise! Only the beautiful thamizh paasurams can
calm our child. Let us sing more.
[ Both Kanthimathi and Somayaaji sing a thaalaattu paasuram composed by
periyaazhvaar ].
Scene-003
Location: Street in Sriperumbudur. Around 1030 AD. The boy Ramanujan is
wearing a sacred thread. He is calling the children of the untouchable
neighborhood.
Ramanujan: Hey! muniyaa! maadasaami! sodalai! come here!
Muniyan: We did not do anything wrong, leave us alone. Don't
come near us, you will loose your sanctity.
[Ramanujan join hands with them].
sodalai: Oh No! please you stay with the temple and the God,
we will stay with our cows and goats.
Ramanujan: God is for everybody. He is everywhere including in you.
[Ramanujan recites from the Bhagavathgeetha].
Maadasaami: That is in God's language; it is not for us, we do
not understand anything.
Ramanujan: Quite true! Nothing is greater than the sweet words of
your own mother. The thamizh paasurams will enlighten you.
Muniyan: Whatever you say, we are different from you, look we have
no sacred thread.
Ramanujan: No problem, I anticipated that. Let me put one on each
of you.
[The village adults get furious looking at what the boy Ramanujan
is up to.]
Scene-004
Location: Street in front of the temple. Somayaaji is coming
to pray at the temple.
A Brahmin: Oy! Are you aware of what mischief your son is doing?
He has made your family loose all sanctity. Don't come near us
any more.
A Kshatriayan: Oh Somayaaji! The five fingers are not created
equal. So are the people of the world. Don't dream that you
or your son can change the world order. You better know your
duties and responsibilities.
A Vaisyan: Let us not upset the peace. We all have our tasks
to do. Keep yourself and your son with the temple and keep out
of trouble.
A Sudra: Don't we need some one to work in the fields?
Otherwise we will all starve. We should not disturb the rules
laid by our ancestors.
An untouchable: Please pardon us. It is our sin of the previous
life that we are born as a panchamar. Please let us not sin again.
The Brahmin: We have to punish your son. Unless you and he offer
public apology for his deeds, we will not let you enter the
temple.
[Somayaaji has tears in his eyes and prays from outside the temple]
Somayaaji: (to himself) Oh! paaNaa! I know how you felt.
[Then sings a paasuram of thirupaaN aazhvaar, an aazhvaar of the
untouchable caste.]
Scene-005
Location: House of Somayaaji
Ramanujan: Father! Am I doing wrong? Am I not following what is
said in Gita, that the Lord is equally present in all living
beings. That the lord hates no one, prefers no one. People
attain him by their own actions.
Somayaaji: You are right son. But varNaasrama dharmam is also accepted
by the vedas and the gita.
Ramanujan: varNaasrama dharmam was created for on orderly conduct
of day to day affairs. But if a farmer or an untouchable wants to
know the true meaning of his existence, do we have a right to prevent
them? I will consider this the mission of my life.
Somayaaji: I can understand you, my son! But will the other people
understand you?
Ramanujan: I will try my best. Other religious faiths are treating
all their followers as equals. Why should we also not do it?
Do we still need the varNaasrama dharmam, which was devised when
there was no other religion in the world?
Somayaaji: We have antagonized the whole city.
Ramanujan: But we have not antagonized our Lord thirumaal.
[ Time heals the damage done to Somayaaji's family name by boy
Ramanujan's actions. Ramanujan thinks that he should wait till
he is more powerful to express his ideas. He learns all the
Vedas in 16 months.]
(to be continued)
K. Srinivasan srini@ireq.hydro.qc.ca
