Swami Desikan’s Garuda Dandakam

ANNOTATED COMMENTARY IN ENGLISH BY: OPPILIAPPAN KOIL SRI VARADACHARI SATHAKOPAN sadagopan.org hoa3 14 13 13 8 11 9 8 Nigamanam 3 Shloka 3 15 Shloka 2 Dhandakam Padam 4 Dhandakam Padam 3 Dhandakam Padam 2 Dhandakam Padam 1 Shlokam 1 Dandakam toGaruda Introduction CONTENTS

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sadagopan.org sadagopan.org 2 After his Acharya’s passingaway,SriDesi After hisAcharya’s initiated himin Vyaakarna, SriAppuLLar instructing SriDesikanona family.After Pakshi. TheGarudaMantramwasaofAppuLLar’s includes thereforeamong itsfive syllables Pakshi bird, Garuda,whoisalsoknownas Incidentally, theTamilwordPuLstandsfora intoGaruda Swami Desikanwasinitiated I NTRODUCTION : ïImte ingmaNt mhadeizkay nm> nm> mhadeizkay ingmaNt ïImte ïI géf d{fk> géfd{fk> ïI ïImte ramanujay nm> ramanujay ïImte ll relevantSriVaishnavagr Sri DevanayakaPerumal . ïI>. . ïI>. 3 to therecitation ofGarudaMantram. Raja (thekingof the twosyllablesconstitutedbyword mantram by his Acharya, Sri AppuLLar. mantram byhisAcharya,SriAppuLLar. kan settled at Thiruvahindrapuram and kan settledatThiruvahindrapuram bird. Here the reference is to the divine bird. Herethereferenceistodivine

anthas, Rahasyas,Tarkaand Birds). GarudaMantram

sadagopan.org sadagopan.org defeat SwamiinavigrahanirmAnamcontest. hisownhands,whenhewasch sculpted by Garuda Bhagavaancanbeseeneventoday, Thiruvahindrapuram. Thearchamurthyof conferred byBothGarudaBhagavaan All theachievementsof Swami Desikanas incorporated theMantraofSri received Hisblessingsaswell.Swami Hayagreeva mantramandhad Garuda Mantraminoneofthe50slokas Panchaasat torecordhisgratefulness Vaishnava SampradhayaasVeda Swar the AnugrahamofSriGarudaBhagavaan, Hayagreeva Mantram.Theenormous achiev Aaraadhanam. SriGarudaalsoinitiatedSw gave anarchamurthyofYogaasikaHayagr Desikan andappearedbeforehimble intense concentration.GarudaBhagavaan Garuda Aswatthatreeandrecited under an there, heascendedthehillocknearLord worshipped SriDevanayakaPerumaland Sri YogaasikaHayagriva Hayagreevan inthisstotram. the goodfortuneofseeingSriHayagreevanand 4 Sri Garuda Bhagavaan and incorporated the andincorporated Sri GarudaBhagavaan oopi. Swami Desikan Composed Garuda oopi. SwamiDesikan ComposedGaruda ssed SriDesikan.GarudaBhagavanalso composed theHayagreevaStotramand a Great Acharya arose from the blessings a GreatAcharyaarosefromtheblessings ’s templeknownasOushadhadriandsat Hemabujavalli Thaayar.Whileresiding the YogaasikaHayagreevapresentedby nexttothe Vigrah and HisLordSriHayagreevan at was pleased with the devotion of Sri was pleasedwiththedevotionofSri ami DesikanintotherecitationofSri ivan to Sri Desikan to useinhisdaily ivan toSriDesikan ements ofSwamiDesikancameout of allenged by asculptor,whowantedto allenged by Mantram for a considerable timein Mantramforaconsiderable thatPanchasat. HethenrecitedSri who is generally recognized in Sri who isgenerallyrecognizedin

a of Swami Desikan a ofSwamiDesikan from the harms caused by poisonous anim from theharmscaused by poisonous It isgenerallybelieved that therecitation orBrahmaVidya withthetrueknowledge His powertoblessone 14. of His incarnationasGarudanaresult 13. His powertoblessonewithth 12. HispowerastheGaruda MantraMoorthy 11. andsaints scholars Garudanbylearned The worshipofLord 10. devotees(i-e) hisstatusasan Vidyatohisaspiring ofVedhanta Hisconferral 9. forms individual infive Hismanifestion 8. HissplendourastheAmsa(aspect)ofParaVasudeva(i-e)hisSankarshana 7. Hisotherheroicdeedsinba 6. Hisheroicdeedinbringi 5. ofgreatserpents Hisadornment 4. Hismatrimonialstatuswithhi 3. Garuda"sservicetoSrimanN 2. GarudaBhagavaan. Vedaspraising 1. Sriman NaarayaNaninSriVaikuntam: glory, powerandstatusofGarudanason In thisstotram,SwamiDesikancovers structure. Garuda Dhandakam,isamarvelous comp am aspecialplace occupies of Learning Thus, theStotrasassociatedwithGaruda Kanchipuram. thank SriGarudaBhagavaanforhisinterv Garuda Bhagavaantoreturn forforgivene feet ofSwamiandasked Thesnakecharmerlostthushis Bhagavaan. Desikan recitedtheGarudaMantraand snakes.Swami thosepoisonous snakes towardsSwamitotesthispowerinhandling challenged SwamiDesikan'stitleasSarvat Sri GarudaDhandakamwascomposedon Acharya. Swaroopam. ng nectar from IndraLoka thesnakesandcomposed ttles onbehalfofhisLord aarayaNa asHis VehicleandFlag e 4Purusharthas (goals)ofLife s twowives(RudraiandSukeerthi) as his jewellery on his limbs. ashisjewelleryonlimbs. 5 of this Dhandakam daily would protect one Dhandakamdailywould protectone ofthis ss. SwamiforgavehimandrequestedSri the FOLLOWINGtopics als such as snakes, scorpions et al. scorpions als suchassnakes, ong the28stotrasof Bhagavaan andSriHayageevan,theLord the snakeswerecarriedawaybyGaruda antra Swatantrarandsentsomepoisonous theprayersofVaalakilyasages. a lateroccasion, wh e oftheforemost NityaSoorisserving snakes andhisliveli osition as seen from its Dhandakam asseenfromitsDhandakam osition ention. This stotra was composed at ention. Thisstotrawascomposedat theGarudaDhandakamto en aSnakecharmer Swami Desikan. Sri Desikan. Swami hood. Hefellatthe to illustrate the

sadagopan.org sadagopan.org nuances of meter andGaN nuances of adherestotherulesofth scrupulously Desikan asapoetis revealedfromth remainin isLaghuandthe middle Akshara char arelaghuin Aksharas/Syllables,which remaining 34aremadeupof the beginningofeachPaada, the flightmovementofthisDhandakamis and makesharpturnslikethehighsoar Dhandakamparsedbyits Paadas ofthis Desikanisabun The poeticgeniusofSwami PaadasofGarudaDhandakam. (32X4) lettersforthefour the Paadain aDhandakam.SwamiDesikan 9GaNaas.There isge lettered Paadawillhave is recognizedasaDhandakam.The3letter each Paadas increaseto27,30,33,36(other In sanskritpoetry,eachofthe4Paadas P OETIC S TRUCTURE

OF

THIS aas constituting them. D thefirsttwoGaNaasarema RagaNaas.NagaNaasarethoseGaNasortriadsof HANDAKAM “ Kanchi Garudan” “ KanchiGarudan” 6 144 GaNaasmakeintric ing PakshiRaja(Garuda).Thegrammarof e Dhandakam construction, including the including the e Dhandakamconstruction, multiples of3beyond27),thenthisslokam

e study of this Dhandakam, wherehe Dhandakam, e studyofthis a slokacanhave26letters. Iftheletters of definedbyNagaNaasandRagaNaas.At ed unitsareknownasaGaNa.Thus a27 dantly evident in this Composition. The dantly evidentinthisComposition. g twoareGuru. ThegeniusofSwami chose Paadaswith36GaNaas or108= acter; RagaNaas arethose,wherethe nerally no restriction on the length of nerally norestrictiononthelength de up of NagaNaas andthe NagaNaas de upof ate swoops in the air ate swoopsinthe containing 36ganaas. withits forms thebodyofdhandakam meter. Theslokapriortothe anushtub with32syllables.Thelastsloka The firstsloka(nama:pannaganaddhaya)issetinthevedicmeterknownas METERS “Salutations to Sri Garuda with beautiful wings” “Salutations toSriGaruda withbeautiful last oneissetinaaryavr 7 (vichitra siddha:) is also setinthesame (vichitra siddha:)isalso four paadasandeachofthe ittham. Theremainingsloka

sadagopan.org sadagopan.org S in churning themilky oceanofVedasand in churning servic devoted alwaystotheLord andHis the intimatekainkaryastohisLordan mighty serpentsthathehasconqueredin My salutationstoGarudawiththebeauti LOKA 1:

Vedanthaacharya VaryomeSanni Sruti-sindhu Sudhothpaada-mandaraayaGarutmathe II Nama: pannaganaddhaayava Sriman Venkatanaatharya:kavithaarkikaKesareeI ïIman! ve»qnawayR> kivtaikRk kesrI, kesrI, kivtaikRk ve»qnawayR> ïIman! vedaNtacayR vyaeRme siÚxÄa< sda ùid. ïuitisNxu suxaeTpad mNdray géTmte. Srimathe Nigamantha Maha Desikaaya Nama: Srimathe NigamanthaMahaDesikaaya nm> pÚg nÏay vEk…{Q vzvitRne vzvitRne nm> pÚgnÏayvEk…{Q ïImte ingmaNt mhadeizkay nm> nm> mhadeizkay ingmaNt ïImte Kall Garudan 8 d isHisAntharangadhaasan.Garuda es. He isadeptlike theMandara Mountain

battle. Theyarehisjewellery.Hedoesall ful wings. His limbs are adornedbythe limbsare ful wings.His to bringouttheBrahma Vidyas.Wecan dhattaam sadha Hrudhi II dhattaam sadhaHrudhiII ikunta vasavardhinehI missions, hiswives-Rudrai andSukeerthi the shouldersofGaruda ashistransport. these endeavors.WhenHesetsabouttode devotees ofHis theenemies destroying upon prai his (This suggeststhattheVedassing Garuda Bhagavanhasdesigned D salutations aretohim. get thebenefitsoftheseBrahmaVidyas pIQIk«t SkNxmIfe SvnI SkNxmIfe pIQIk«t HANDAKAM S)…rTk{qkìat vexVywa vepman iÖijþaixpakLp iv:)ayRma[ S)qa dhvijihavaadhikalpa vishppaaryamaaNas Garudamakhila Veda NeeDadhirooDam Garudamakhila VedaNeeDadhirooDam géfmiol v vaikuntapeetikrta skandhameedhe Svan vaikuntapeetikrta skandhameedhe sthanaabhoga-gaaDopakuDa sphuratkan vaiqka rÆ raeicZDqa raijnIraijt< kaiNt k‘aeilnI raijtm! : P “Sri Garudans wives Rudrai, Sukeerthi – Bindignavile” “Sri GarudanswivesRudrai,Sukeerthi–Bindignavile” AADA 1 ed nIfaixêF neerajitham kaantikallolineeraajitamI fagit àIt éÔa sukIiÄR sukIiÄR àItéÔa fagit the Vedasashiscageandus < iÖ;t! pIfnaet! ki{Qtak…{Q vEk…{Q vEk…{Q ki{Qtak…{Q pIfnaet! iÖ;t! < 9 -- misshisabsencefrom home.Whenthe When Garudatransports hisLordonHis stroy theenemies ofHisdevotees,heuses phataavatikaa ratnarochischataaraaji- byofferingourworshiptohim.My eeDaa gatipreethaRudraaSukeerthi Dhvishath Peedanothkantithaakunta se). HisLordSrimanNarayanaisbent . NoonecanstopSrimanNarayanain takavraata vedavyataavepamaana StnaÉaeg gaFaep gUF es thatcageashisseat.

sadagopan.org sadagopan.org D inthatfloodofredlight. and hesparkles splendorous groupofredrays occasions, theratnasposition serpentsareovercomehis body.The withfe tu Thisin thorns. Garuda becomestifflike embrace himintimatelywithaffection.Inthat conclude issuccessfully Lord’s mission jy géf sup[R dvIRkrahar devaixpaha dETyairjEÇ Xvjaraeh inxaRirtaeTk;R s. punSte nmSte smSte nkiít! sTyaidmUteR : P AADA “Sri ananthan&SriGarudan –Thiruvallikkeni” 2 ed ontheirhoodsradiateth appearatthattimeas 10 paedyanLp vIraiytaeXy½mTkar vIraiytaeXy½mTkar paedyanLp r hairn ! idvaEkSpit i]Ýr hairn! dMÉaeil d, Garuda returns to his wivesandthey d, Garudareturnstohis rn hurtstheserpents rn ar and they raise their hoods. On those ar andtheyraisetheirhoods.Onthose ecstaticstate, thehairsonbodyof the mangalaAarathitoGaruda eir brilliantredrays.That , whicharecovering D salutations. is equaltoyou.Ioffermysalutations Devan. OLordwiththemostexquisitely be Apaanan, Samaanan,Udhaanan andmatchedthosefive and VihagEswarar-- form five into You havedividedyourself which areVasudeva,Sankarshan incarnated asSankarshanaamongthefo your positionontheflagofLord,we yourLord,which flagof sitting onthe durin theuniverse mighty windsthatsweep your heroicdeedindefeat welts fromthosewoundslooktodayaspieces of thatpowerfulweaponcausedwounds got angryatyouduringthattimeand thre the Devas-fromIndraLokatoreleaseyour wings. Serpentsofimmensesizeserveasyo O GarudaBhagavan!YouhavebeennamedS Sankarshanaatman Garutman cpeqahtagax patal ÉaIndra. Your otherheroic ing Indra.Your Marutpanchakaadheesa Sathy a, Pradhumna andAniruddha. a, Pradhumna andVyaanan)shine 11 denotes His victory over His enemies; from Hisvictoryoverenemies;from denotes m Adhyaatmavidyaavidheyaa vidheyaa w his Vajra weapon at you. The sharp edge w hisVajraweaponatyou.Thesharpedge paatala Bhankarasankrutthanagendra s-- Satyar,Suparnar,Garudar,Taarkshyar on yourwingsandrestofthebody.The mother from the bonds of servitude. Indra servitude. motherfromthebondsof Kalpaantha VatoolaKalpodhayaanalpa ur Vyuha Murthys of Sriman Narayana, ofSriman ur VyuhaMurthys to you first and then again repeat my repeatmy thenagain to youfirstand are able to infer your glories. You have areabletoinferyourglories.You autiful golden Wings! There is none, who ur food. YoubroughtNectar,thefoodof ur food. g thetimeofgreatdeluge.Youare niryaata- pakshaanilaasppalanodhvela yE chandatundaaya nrtyat bhujanga yE chandatundaaya vaadhipaahaarahaarin diwowkaspati forms with the five Vayus (Praanan, formswiththefiveVayus(Praanan, itra Dhwajaarohanirdhaaritothkarsha of jewellery on your body andattestto body of jewelleryonyour uparna, because ofthebeautyyour uparna, because deedsstandoutlikethe aathimurthe naKascchit thereafter asasupreme

sadagopan.org sadagopan.org O GarudaBhagavan!Learnedsc so thatIcanhavethegoodfort Please byme! become easytobepossessed salutations toyouofsuchlimitlessglory! like theVajraweaponofIndraandstrikeste itlookslikethemovementofth your brows, them. Yourmightybeakraisesterrorin acting astheelephantgoadattack those runtoattackyou,thegenerator "Bhaam" and The mightyelephantsguardingthequarters heardas"Bhaam"reverb sound A frightening by thepalmofone’shand. reach downtothenetherworld(Paatalam)and flow overtheirboundaries.Thewavesthat mightywinds generate inflight Your wings “Bindignavile Garudan” une toofferkainkaryamsyou. holars offertheiruninterr 12 the mindsofyourenemies.Whenyouknot MaythoublessmesothatBrahmaVidyas angry elephants of the quarters and repulse elephantsofthequarters andrepulse angry e hood of a Cobra. Your canine teeth look e hoodofaCobra.Yourcanineteethlook that stirupalltheoceansandmakethem bless meoutofyourinfinitecompassion rise and fall from those powerful winds powerfulwinds fromthose rise andfall are shakenupbythismightysoundof rror intheheartsofyourenemies.My of thatsound.Your erates around theworldatthattime. the effectislikeaviolentblowgiven upted worships to you. upted worshipstoyou. rows ofsharpnails S devotion toyourLordandTrueKnowledgeabout Him! pleasures oflife!Maythouconferonme devotion ofminebefreefromthedistra devotion toyourLord,sothatitcanyi cause ofalltheuniverses.Pleaseblessme (inferior)knowledge.Yo (superior) andfalse Please blessmewiththediscriminating You serveasthelordofDeathformigh that youdestroythemighty arrogance of (Garuda) onafuturedate).Youwereborn bedestro cursed thatIndra’sarrogance (T the SageswithnameofVaalakilyAs. structure protectus!Once,Devendranbecame end, itcarriesthesyllableassociatedwith 5syllables,has mantram ofyoursmadeup to therecitersfourfold(Dharma- O GarudaBhagavanresidingpermanentlyin D niôvgaRpvgR àsUit> prVyaem xamn LOKA valadhveshidharpajjvalath VaalakilyaPr valadhveshidharpajjvalath HANDAKAM paraam bhaktidhenumjaganmoolakandhe [R iSwra

IN A ARYA iv:[urw d{fkae=y< iv"qytu ivp]vaihnI VyUhm!. P ;q AADA

dxIwa muxakamhInam! AhInamhInaNtk. METER ! dhatiTaa mudhaakaamaheenamaheenaanthaka II dhatiTaa mudhaakaamaheenamaheenaanthaka iÇ ,

OUTLINING

THE 13 ! vlÖei;dpRJvlÖalioLy àit}a vtI àit}a vlÖei;dpRJvlÖalioLy ! ty serpentsthatchallenged you. Artha-Kama -Moksha) goals of Life. That Artha-Kama -Moksha)goalsofLife.That

atigynaavatheerNa sT Indra andyoumadetheirwordscometrue. Indra STRUCTURE ctions of the insignificant and evanescent evanescent and ctions oftheinsignificant eld formeitsdelectablemilk.Maythat the wifeofAgni.Maymantram that

knowledge to distinguish betweentrue todistinguish knowledge he sagesgotangryand the boon of possessing such a superior asuperior such possessing of boon the to havethecow repres yed by an incarnation of Sankarshana yed byanincarnationofSankarshana ur Lord is the fundamental and principal fundamentalandprincipal Lordisthe ur arga prasuthi: paravyoma dhaaman arga prasuthi:paravyoma Mukundhe mahaanandadhogdhreem Mukundhe from thevowmadebyVaalakilyAs arakas taavakaschitrabhanupriyaa arakas taavakaschitrabhanupriyaa SriVaikuntam!Yo the Pranavamasitsfirstsyllable.At arrogantoverhispo

OF G ARUDA

iraam tatvabuddhim iraam tatvabuddhim ur mantram confers ur mantramconfers D enting thelimitless cursed Indra.They wers andinsulted HANDAKAM

sadagopan.org sadagopan.org C have assembledtodobattlewith willde recites thisGarudaDhandakam,it RagaNaas ineachofthePaadasandyiel follows strictlytherulesofcomposin Each ofthePaadashas36GaNaas. Each ofthefo This entireGarudaDhandakamis ONCLUDING Shat-thrhimsathgaNa-charanoh nara “Bless uswiththesuperior devotion VishnuraTa-dhaNdakoyam Vigatayat S LOKA ivicÇ isiÏd> sae=y< ve»qez ivpiíta, géfXvjtae;ay gItaegéfd{fk>. gItaegéfd{fk>. géfXvjtae;ay

IN

THE A NUSHTUB us andscatterthemtothewinds. 14 g Dhandakams and has the NagaNaasand hasthe and g Dhandakams

METER Gana has three syllables. This Dhandakam Ganahasthreesyllables.ThisDhandakam to your Lord – Garudan, Pomona” toyourLord–Garudan, Pomona”

paripaati naveena GhumbhagaNa: I paripaatinaveenaGhumbhagaNa: stroy theformationsofenemies,who ds novel word constructions. When one novelwordconstructions.Whenone ds rm ofoneslokam.ThishasfourPaadas. hu vipaksha Vaahini VyuhamII hu vipakshaVaahini

heartfelt wishes ofeverykind. their andfulfill therecitermultifoldblessings Garuda Dhandakamwillconferon Venkatesa topleasetheLord,whohasGaruda wascomposedand This GarudaDhandakam Oppiliappan KoilVaradachariSadagopan Oppiliappan Dasan Garudadhwaja-thoshaaya Gh Garudadhwaja-thoshaaya Vichitra siddhidada: sOyam VenkatesaVipascchitaaI sOyam Vichitra siddhidada: shrImate ve~NkaTeshaayavedaantaguravenamaH. kivtaikRk is. 15

eetho Garudadhandaka: II eetho Garudadhandaka: sung byadiyEn,theVidwanknownas on hisflagstaff.Therecitationofthis

sadagopan.org