In the first few slokas of Sri Lalita Sahasra Nama Stotra, Vasinyadi Vagdevatas glorify the face, ears and the eyes of Lalithambika along with their adornments! Sankara later in his Soundarya Lahari embellishes their description! “ Vaktra Lakshmi Parivaha chalan meenabha lochana navachampaka pushpabha nasadanda virajita Tarakanti tiraskari nasabharana bhasura Kadamba manjari klapta karnapura manohara Thatanka yugalibhuta thapanodupa mandala”!
Her eyes are like the criss crossing fish in a lake; the nosegay bright and fragrant as the fresh Champaka flowers; the ears that have the sun and the moon as their studs!
Explaining the beauty of Devi's eyes, Sankara says that they are exceptionally attractive with collyrium applied to them! The combination of the white, black and red colours represent the three Gunas, Satwa, Rajas and Thamas with which Devi wants to recreate the Trimurtis after the Mahapralaya or the Great Deluge! Sankara further envisions Her eyes as the arrows of the Love God Manmatha that destroyed the penance of Lord Siva and made him romantic! He points out that Devi always keeps Her eyes open so that the universe, Her own creation, is not annihilated! The fish hide themselves fearing that they may be called thieves for keeping their eyes open! Having said these things, Sankara requests Devi to extend Her Divine looks to him who is at a distance. That would be the fulfilment of his birth!
In the fifty eighth sloka of Soundarya Lahari, Sankara once again brings in the idea of Manmatha and his sugarcane bow! This time Sankara comes a little below and describes the two ear lobes!
Says Sankara, “O Parvathy! the daughter of the Himalayas! Your two ear lobes are bent even as your eyes cross them! All mistake them as the flower arrows and the ear lobes as the sugarcane bow of Manmatha! It is an illusion created by the situation of the eyes and the ear lobes!”
Sankara suggests that Devi's eyes are so wide that they reach Her ears! She is described as “Rajiva pathrekshana”- one having eyes as broad as the petals of the lotus flower! This is one of the most important qualifications of beauty! Being so wide, the eyes naturally reach the ears of Devi! The earlobes are semicircular and fit enough to have the Sun and the Moon as thatankas! Sankara's imagination leads him to think that the earlobes, being bent like a bow, look like the bent bow of Manmatha! The eyes of Devi, crossing the bent earlobes, appear to be the flower arrows shot by the Love God Manmatha!
Ingenious imagination indeed! Devi, despite Her divinity is the embodiment of Sringara rasa--romantic feelings! “Sringara rasa sampurna Jaya Jalandhara sthitha!” She is also described as “ Kamya kamakalarupa Kadamba kusumapriya”- She is desire Herself and the personification of “Kamakala-- the art of Love! We may wonder why Sankara often refers to Manmatha, his bow and arrows in describing Sri Mata! It is because Mamatha and his spouse Rati Devi are the standards of beauty! Whenever we want to praise people we say he or she is as beautiful as Manmatha and Rati Devi respectively! Sankara as the dear child of Sri Mata, thus brings in the name of Manmatha, his bow and arrows to heighten the Divine Beauty of his chosen Goddess Tripurasundari! What is wrong with the dear son of Devi when he so minutely describes the beauty of his own Mother?
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