Reply from London Swaminathan

Date: 17 May 2017

Time uploaded in London: 20-14

Post No. 3917

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Who was DRAVIDA SISU? 16 may 2017

With reference to your blog with the above title, you state that Dravida Sisu refers to Sankara Himself.

According to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the term refers to Sambandhar.  Since Ramana was an acknowledged jnani and jeevanmukta, His devotees would take that to be the correct interpretation.  Here is the extract from Suri Nagamma’s “Letters from Ramanasramam”:

85. DRAVIDA SISU:

Yesterday, Sri Bhagavan said that Sankara sang about Sambandha in Soundarya Lahari, referring to him as ‘dravida sisu’ didn’t he?  Last night I took out Soundarya Lahari with a Telugu commentary and saw the sloka written by Sankara about Sambandha which is  as follows:

O Daughter of the Mountain, I fancy that the ocean of the milk of poesy rising out of Thy heart verily caused the milk of Thy breasts to flow. On swallowing this milk given by Thy Grace, the Dravidian child became a poet among great poets.

The Telugu commentary stated that the words ‘dravida sisu’ in the sloka meant Sankara himself. On the next day, I mentioned this to Bhagavan. Sri Bhagavan replied, ‘The Telugu commentators must have stated it wrongly. The Tamizh Soundarya Lahari stated that the words ‘dravida sisu’  meant Sambandha and not Sankara. And He sent for the Tamizh book and red out all that was written in it about the reason for Sambandha receiving the title dravida sisu and explained to us as follows:

Sambandha was born in an orthodox brahmin family in the town of Sirkazhi. The parents were Sivapada Hridayar and Bhagavatiyar.  The parents named the child ALudaya Pillaiyar. When the child was three years old, one early morning, the father took him to Tiruttoni Appar Kovil. There in the tank, when he was taking bath, he immersed into the tank for repeating the aghamarshana mantram. When the child on the steps, could not see his father, he cried, Father, Father! Parvati and Lord Siva appeared in the sky, seated on the sacred bull and gave darsan to the child. Siva directed Parvati to give the boy a golden cupful of her breast milk, the milk containing Siva Jnana. She did accordingly. The boy drank the milk and became free from sorrow and the divine couple disappeared.

Having drunk the milk of Jnana, and feeling quite satisfied and happy, Sambandha sat on the tank steps with milk dribbling from the corners of his mouth. When the father came out of the tank after his bath, he saw the boy’s condition and angrily asked, flourishing a cane, ‘Who gave you milk? Can you drink milk given by strangers? Tell me who that person is or I will beat you.

Sambandha immediately replied by singing, ten Tamizh verses. The gist of the first verse is: ‘The Man with kundalas (sacred ear rings), the Man who rides the sacred bull, the Man who has white moon on His head, the Man whose body is smeared with the ashes of the burning ghats, the thief who has stolen my heart, He who came to bless Brahma the creator, when the latter did penance, and He who occupies the sacred seat of Brahmapuri, He, My Father is there, and She, my Mother who gave me milk is there!’ So saying he described the forms of Siva and Parvati as he witnessed with his eyes and who gave him milk to drink and also pointed towards the temple tower.

It was clear from the verses, that the people who gave milk to the child were no other than Parvati and Lord Siva. People gathered round. From that day onwards the boy’s  poetic flow began to run unimpeded. That is why Sankara sang, Thava Stanyam Manye… The commentators therefore decided that the word dravida sisu referred to Sambandha alone. Nayana also wrote of him as dravida sisu in Sri Ramana Gita.

regards,

vanamali

MY REPLY:

Thanks. No doubt Ramana was one of the greatest saints of modern era.  Kanchi Paramacharya also acknowledged his greatness and sent Paul Brunton to him. Paramacharya says Shankara lived before first century BCE  I believe Paramacharya.
Link for my old research article

Adi Shankara & Mysterious Sundara Pandya ! | Swami’s Indology Blog

swamiindology.blogspot.com/2014/08/adi-shankara-mysterious-sundara-pandya.html

2 Aug 2014 – Age of Adi Shankara is shrouded in mystery. Most of the scholars …. Swami’s Indology Blog. Flipcard … Recent; Date; Label; Author. Loading.

Dravida Sisu | Tamil and Vedas

https://tamilandvedas.com/tag/dravida-sisu/

There is no positive proof to support this date. The confusion in datinghappened because of another Shankara who was a copy of Adi Shankarain all aspects.

–Subham–