Tuesday, November 09, 2021

Subramanya Bhujangam & the snake connection

I don't know anything, the words, meanings, poetry or prose. It is you in my heart who composes. -Adi Sankara in his Subramanya Bhujangam

न जानामि शब्दं न जानामि चार्थं

न जानामि पद्यं न जानामि गद्यम् ।

चिदेका षडास्या हृदि द्योतते मे

मुखान्निःसरन्ते गिरश्चापि चित्रम् ॥२॥ 

श्रीसुब्रह्मण्यभुजंगम्

आदि शङ्कराचार्यः

Brahman is the all-pervading divinity.

Su as a prefix means good.

Subrahmanyan is the good aspect of the all-pervading divinity.

Bhuja is arm/shoulder. Anga is limb. Bhujanga is muscle. Bhujanga also means a snake which uses all its body's muscles to move. Bhujangasana is the snake pose (commonly called as the cobra pose by US YogAsana instructors), that uses the arm & shoulder to lift up & bend backwards.

Subramanya is sometimes represented as a snake, indicating the Kundalini. An example is the famous Kukke Subramanya temple in the Western Ghats in Karnataka. His Vahana is the peacock & the rooster, both birds normally inimical to snakes. With divinity, the opposites no longer exist.

The Subramanya Bhujangam is composed with twists & turns in the lyrics with highs & lows in the melody, to indicate its snake-like quality. 

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