The carved dragon on Veenas
Vineet Kapur
I recently saw Chitti Babu in concert. His Veena had an
exquisitely carved dragon on it. Where does that dragon come
from? I do not associate dragons with Indian Classical music.
Recently, somebody brought up this topic but I failed to obtain
a plausible reason for existence of the dragon.
Just curious. That dragon looks cool.
Sincerely,
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Vineet Kapur
Miami University Applied Science Microcomputer Laboratory Attendant
Secretary, Indian Students Association
E-mail: kap...@muohio.edu
Phone (Univ): 513-529-2066
Phone (Home): 513-427-1274
WWW (World Wide Web) Personal Page:
http://phoenix.sas.muohio.edu/users/vkapur/www/vkapur.html
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Ravi Shankar
|> Hello,
|>
|> I recently saw Chitti Babu in concert. His Veena had an
|> exquisitely carved dragon on it. Where does that dragon come
|> from? I do not associate dragons with Indian Classical music.
|>
|> Recently, somebody brought up this topic but I failed to obtain
|> a plausible reason for existence of the dragon.
|>
|> Just curious. That dragon looks cool.
As far as I can remember (read somewhere or heard from someone long back),
carved dragon head is actually head of "YaLi Mruga" (a huge animal called
YaLi). It seems YaLi could even kill lions; hence deemed *greatest* of
all animals. It is *supposed* to be used as a symbol to suggest that veena
is the greatest of all the musical instruments.
There are all kinds of references to veena in various mythological stories.
Ravana (of Ramanyana) made a veena out of his own body and played in praise
of Shiva. Kings were accompanied by veena players during their elephant hunt.
YaLi could be a mythical animal. It would be nice hear from someone
knowledgeable.
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Ravi Shankar, (415) 390 3341
Silicon Graphics, Inc. ra...@sgi.com
Do not oppose violence with violence.
(125th anniversary of Mahathma Gandhi, 1869 - 1948)
C.R.Selvakumar - Electrical Engineering
Ravi Shankar <ra...@gandhi.engr.sgi.com> wrote:
>
>As far as I can remember (read somewhere or heard from someone long back),
>carved dragon head is actually head of "YaLi Mruga" (a huge animal called
>YaLi). It seems YaLi could even kill lions; hence deemed *greatest* of
>all animals. It is *supposed* to be used as a symbol to suggest that veena
>is the greatest of all the musical instruments.
>
>There are all kinds of references to veena in various mythological stories.
>Ravana (of Ramanyana) made a veena out of his own body and played in praise
>of Shiva. Kings were accompanied by veena players during their elephant hunt.
>YaLi could be a mythical animal. It would be nice hear from someone
>knowledgeable.
>
I'm not knowledgeable, but you are right yaaLi is an animal.
It is considered to be a mythical beast. It is portrayed as
a 'composite' animal having an elephant's tust and trunk *and*
having a *face* otherwise like a lion and the body like a lion.
In some ways it is like the sabre with a trunk. In Tamil yaaLi
can signify 'great'.
Your statement about RavaNa using 'his body as veeNai' is
a significant one. The spinal cord and his brain is what is
meant. It is a tantric message. ( unfortunately Ravana is
thought to be some demon by people and effigies are burnt.
Almost every eigth stanza of Saint ThiruNYaana Sambandar 's
musical numbers and the last stanza of Saint Sundarar's musical
numbers are devoted to RavaNan).
-selvaa
minial...@gmail.com
There is an interesting but little known legend illustrating the magic of the sonorous notes coming out of the Veena. Once the sages, who were performing a Yajna in a forest, were troubled by a fire-spitting dragon that impeded their sacrifice and caused them untold miseries. So, they sought Brahma's help. Brahma wondered if his consort Saraswathi could tame the dragon with her music. Saraswathi agreed and hid herself in the forest and played on the Veena. The dragon, attracted and bewitched by the melodious music, stopped its destruction and went in search of the source of the elusive melody. Soon it relinquished its havoc and developed such a yearning for the mellifluous music that it became restless without it. Finally it prayed to God to let him know who was producing the music.
Saraswathi then appeared before the dragon and played the Veena. The enchanted dragon pleaded for salvation and a permanent place near the music. Satisfied by the earnestness of the seeker, Saraswathi agreed to the request of the dragon and replaced the peacock [which became her vahana] in her Veena with the dragon's head so that it could always remain an integral part of the Veena and hear the music always.
There is another interesting episode in the Rigveda from which we can infer that in ancient days Veena was played early at dawn. It is said that Sage Kanva was once captured and imprisoned by the demons and was kept blindfolded in a dark room. The condition for his relief was that with his eyes completely blinded, he should be able to tell the time of the day. Hours passed, night passed into day and at the break of dawn he heard the melodious notes of the Veena. He knew that the day had dawned since it was the practice in ancient days to practice Veena at the break of dawn. He told the captors that it was dawn without letting them know the source of his answer. He was set free.
A great deal of religious significance is attached to the Veena and its components. Parts of the Veena are said to represent various gods. According to 'Sangitha Ratnakara' of Sarangadeva, even the seeing and touching of the Veena takes away several sins and confers Moksha. The Veena's danda represents Shiva, the strings represent Uma, the shoulder represents Vishnu, the bridge represents Lakshmi, the gourd Brahma and so on. Thus, the several parts of the Veena represent various gods and goddesses and are capable of bestowing prosperity. The 24 frets are supposed to represent the 24 letters which form the Gayatri Mantram while the four strings represent the four Vedas.
The wood used for making the Veena is jack wood which is considered sacred. In Kerala it is considered that Goddess Mahalakshmi resides in the jack wood and it brings prosperity to the Veena player. It is on this account that the Veena is particularly worshipped during the Navaratri festival. In ancient days, wood from jack trees grown in the temple courtyard was used to make the Veena. It was believed that such wood absorbed the resonance of the temple bells. Nowadays other types of wood are also used.