Thursday, September 9, 2021

Gaṇeśa-caturthī and Śrī-Rādhikā's moon-like Face




Today is the fourth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Bhādrapada, also popularly known as Gaṇeśa-caturthī. This festival is celebrated with great fervor in the western part of India in the state of Maharashtra. There is a wonderful historical incident that took place on this day.​

In 19th Century India, there lived a great scholar of the Sanskrit language and poetics in Maharashtra. His name was Śrī Acyutarāya Moḍaka, and he lived in the town of Nāsika. He was a Sanskrit poet par excellence and a connoisseur of traditional arts and music. His magnum-opus is named "Sāhitya-sāra", and it is one of the finest manuals of Sanskrit poetics of its time.​
He was a devout worshipper of Śrī Gaṇeśa and Tryambakeśvara Mahādeva. One particular year, on the occasion of Gaṇeśa-caturthī, he composed the following verse:​
bhādrasya śuklasya tithau caturthyāṁ​
śrī-rādhikāyā vadanaṁ vilokya​
sarve'pi vṛndāvana-vāsinas te​
cakruḥ svakīya-vrata-pāraṇāni​
Translation: Seeing the face of Śrī Rādhikā on the fourth night of the bright fortnight of the month of Bhādra, all the Vraja-vāsīs [confused her face for the moon and] ended up breaking their respective Gaṇeśa-caturthī fasts.​
Of course, there is no record in the Purāṇas of the Vraja-vāsīs ever keeping a fast on Gaṇeśa-caturthī. There is a mention of the cowherd men of Vraja keeping a fast on Śiva-rātri (Canto 10, Chapter 34), but there is no mention of any such fasting on Gaṇeśa-caturthī. This verse was clearly a result of the intelligent thought process of Śrī Acyuta-rāya.​
In the same town of Nāsika, there lived another contemporary scholar of an unprecedented caliber. Besides being a great scholar and a connoisseur of Sanskrit poetics, he was also a mahā-bhāgavata devotee of Śrī Krishna. His name was Śrī Harisūri. When the news reached Śrī Harisūri that a verse glorifying Śrī Rādhikā's moon-like face had been composed by Śrī Acyuta-rāya, he wanted to hear that verse.​
On hearing the verse however, Śrī Harisūri was disappointed to say the least. Firstly, he knew that the purāṇas do not describe the Vraja-vāsīs fasting on Gaṇeśa-caturthī. Secondly, he did not like the fact that Śrī Acyuta-rāya compared Śrī Rādhikā's face to the partial moon of the fourth night. Śrī Harisūri knew well that Śrī Rādhikā is — sampūrṇendu-mukhī (having a face like the brilliant full-moon).​
Thus, even though Śrī Harisūri knew that pointing out mistakes and correcting the verse of a great scholar such as Śrī Acyuta-rāya could potentially draw his ire, he went ahead and sent a corrected version of the verse to Śrī Acyuta-rāya. Śrī Harisūri's verse was as follows:​
vāso'ñcalācchādita-bhāla-deśaṁ​
saudhastha-rādhā-vadanaṁ vilokya​
sarve'pi vṛndāvana-vāsinas te​
cakruś caturthī-vrata-pāraṇāni​
Translation: Śrī-Rādhā was standing on top of her mansion, and seeing her brilliant face covered with the end of her saree, all the Vraja-vāsīs [confused her partially covered face for the partial moon of the fourth night and] ended up breaking their respective Gaṇeśa-caturthī fasts.​
In this way, he kept the essential message of the verse of Śrī Acyuta-rāya intact and also did not compromise on the fact that Śrī Rādhikā's face can only be compared to the full moon. Although this incident created a rift between the two scholars, Śrī Harisūri tried his best to restore normal relations with Śrī Acyuta-rāya. He would often bring prasāda of Tryambakeśvara Mahādeva to please Śrī Acyuta-rāya, and wanted good relations with one and all.​ 🙂 _/\ò_
— Article and Translations by Hari Pārṣada Dāsa. 11-September-2021.​
PS: Śrī Harisūri later went ahead to compose his own magnum-opus named Bhakti-rasāyanam — a commentary of 4500+ verses on the tenth canto of Śrīmad-bhāgavatam. It was published by his son with great financial difficulty at the end of the 19th century. Śrī Acyuta-rāya's work on poetics was published by the Nirnaya Sagar Press in Mumbai in 1906. It has been digitized and can be viewed at the following link : https://bit.ly/3C5uEi1

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