The Ocean Gave Devi Two Garlands and a Lotus to Play With

After Devi manifested herself from the fire, this fire was like a mountain. All the rages and angers of all the Devas and the Trimurtys towards Mahishasura merged together and became this mountain of fire. That mountain of fire turned into Devi.

Then the Devas started equipping her with various weapons. These weapons they produced out of their own weapons as replicas, equally powerful, and gave them to her. We have seen up to Vishwakarma.

Now:

अम्लानपङ्कजां मालां शिरसि उरसि चापराम् अददत् जलधिः तस्यै पङ्कजं चातिशोभनम्

In this shloka, the word 'Pankaja' is used twice. 'Pankajam' means lotus.

पङ्के पङ्कात् वा जायते इति पङ्कजम्

Panka means clay, mud. Generally, we are not very comfortable with clay or mud. If mud sticks to the feet or hands, we wash it away. When we say mud, it just falls short of dirt. Panka also has another meaning – papa, sin. It is a human tendency to hide shortfalls, deficiencies, and wrongs that one has done.

Here in Sanskrit, while giving a name to something as beautiful as a lotus, they are so direct, so straightforward. 'Pankajam'—it's like saying, 'You know that flower that comes out of mud, dirt. You know that flower which comes out of sin.' Associating a beautiful flower with mud and sin.

Mud and sin both are unclean. That is why they have the same name as well. But a beautiful flower can blossom out of an unclean matter. Do you see the concept here? Knowledge can blossom out of ignorance. Good deeds can blossom out of sin or papa. Nothing is permanent. A thief turned into Adi Kavi Valmiki. What more proof do you want? Same as our lotus here. A sinner is not always a sinner. He can reform and become a saint.

Or, if you want, you can look at it the other way around also. Something may look great on the surface, like the lotus, but it may have at its roots, in the background, some dirt, something not so clean. Don't completely go by what you see on the surface. Beauty can be just skin deep also.

Here, Jaladhi, the ocean, gave her a garland made up of lotuses that never wither away, and also another garland made up of gems to adorn her chest. Both are under his command. Ocean means water. Lotuses are there in water. Gems such as pearls, coral—they are all there in the ocean.

Just to give you an idea of how deep Sanskrit can be:

उरसि चापराम्

Here, you can take it as 'urasi cha aparam'. For the chest, another garland—'aparaa' in simple terms means another. अपरा पृथग्भूता—another.

अपराः – न विद्यन्ते पराः शत्रवो यत्र धार्यमाणायां सा तां

If this garland is worn, then there are no more enemies. Enemies disappear if you wear this garland.

अपरा न परा – अभिन्ना – देवितः न परा – this garland is never separated from Devi. Once the ocean gave it to her, you will always find her wearing it.

Now, 'chaparaam' can be 'cha aaparaam' also. That way, it can be split. 'Aaparaa' has different meanings:

आपरा आसमन्तादाप्ता – another garland with lotuses brought from all around, from different places. The first one, for the head, has the speciality that the lotuses on it would never wither. In the second one, for the chest, the lotuses have been collected from different places.

नास्ति परं श्रेष्ठं यतः सा अपरा – अनुत्तमा – there is no garland better than this. Another meaning of 'aaparaa'.

There are two kinds of garlands: one worn on the head, one worn from the neck extending down to the chest. Here also, there are two garlands. The first one is worn on the head (shirasi), and the second one on the chest (urasi).

By definition:

माल्यं मालास्रजौ मूर्ध्नि – the one worn on the head is also called 'malyam'.

कण्ठात् वक्षसि अवलम्बमानं माल्यं प्रालम्बमुच्यते – this is called 'pralamba'.

So when we say 'aparaa', it means talking about the first one, which is worn on the head, and the other kind 'aparaa', the one that is worn on the chest—the 'pralamba'. That also he gave. It can be interpreted like this as well.

'Aapaha', in addition to water, also means lotuses:

आपानि राति आपरा – garland which holds lotuses. The second one is also made of lotuses.

He also gave her another lotus, a beautiful lotus to hold in her hand. This is called 'Leelaravinda'—a lotus that she plays with. Not holding it like it is frozen, like in an idol. She plays with it. She twirls, spins it around.

So, the ocean gave her two garlands—one for the head, one for the chest—and another lotus to play with.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi