Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger (Audio)

कौसल्या सुप्रजा राम पूर्वासन्ध्या प्रवर्तते ।
उत्तिष्ठ नरशार्दूल कर्त्तव्यं दैवमाह्निकम् ॥१॥

kausalya suprajA rAma pUrvAsandhyA pravartate|
uttiSTa narashArdUla karttavyaM daivamAhnikam||

Most of us are familiar with the verse above which is the first verse in the Shree Venkateswara Suprabhatam.

This stanza originates from the Valmiki Ramayana (Balakhanda) where Sage Vishwamitra wakes up the then teenage Lord Rama who was sleeping in the ashram.

There is an very interesting word which is used here.

 नरशार्दूल (narashArdUla) which is made up of two words

 नर(nara)  + शार्दूल(shArdUla)

 नर (nara) means man

शार्दूल(shArdUla)means Tiger.


The word शार्दूल(shArdUla) is at times also translated as panther,leopard  and lion too but the usage of it as lion is very rare.

The default meaning of शार्दूल(shArdUla) is Tiger.

In the poetical sense at times शार्दूल(shArdUla) is also used to mean Eminent person.

Now, let's have an eye of the tiger here.

Why is Lord Rama called नरशार्दूल(narashArdUla) which means a Tiger among men?

Why not call Him a lion among men?

Well, let's compare a Lion and a Tiger.

A lion has a pride and maintains a harem of lionesses.

A lion plays with its cubs.

A tiger on the other hand is a solitary animal and does not have a harem of tigresses and the male tiger does not play with its cubs and only a female tiger looks after the cubs.

Lord Rama was Eka Patni Vrata(One wife only) and Lord Rama had not looked after his sons when they were young because Sita was exiled and was staying at Sage Valmiki's ashram with both her sons.

Lord Rama led a solitary life mostly and never truly led a family life though He had a wife and two sons.

Therefore नरशार्दूल(narashArdUla), Tiger among men seems the most accurate description by Sage Vishwamitra who could surely foresee the future that Lord Rama's life would be more of that of a Tiger.