Post 5
Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
In the previous post, we saw the bow was broken by raamaa and king janaka says
"seethaa bharthaaram aasaadhya raamam" - thus assures the hand of seethaa to
raamaa.
The next slOkam is "more showing" the winning ways of raama. King janaka says
mama sathyaa prathignaa saa veerya sulkEthi kousika |
seethaa praaNair bahumathaa dhEyaa raamaaya mE suthaa || 1-67 -23
kousika = oh, kousika;
saa + veerya + sulkaa = she is bravery's bounty;
ithi = thus;
mama = my
prathignaa + sathyaa = commitment came true;
praaNai:+ bahumathaa = with [my] lives, equally agreeable [congenial];
mE + suthaa + seethaa = my daughter seetha;
dhEyaa + raamaaya = presentable for raama.
Meaning: Oh, Kousika, my commitment that she is the bounty of bravery has thus
come true, and my daughter Seetha, who is congenial with my lives, is
presentable to raama.
So the girl "seethaa" was simply won as raamaa's veerya sulkam - a prize for
raamaa's bravery or courage - veeram. Not only that, he immediately shows to
king janaka how obedient he is to his father king dhasaratha, and brought up in
such an orderly and righteous manner. For king janaka is informed by raamaa,
"unless my father vets this act of winning this girl and accepts her, I will
not take this girl".
Dear bhakthaas, that is why in the next 3 slOkams of sargam 67 you will find
king janaka sends the ministers to ayOdhyaa with the permission of sage
visvaamithra. You may ask where is the evidence for that if not said
immediately by raamaa to janaka.
This act of raamaa not accepting her "immediately" after the breaking of bow,
is described by seethaa herself. That is stated in ayOdhyaa kaaNdam sargam 118
of srimadh raamaayaNam, where seethaa describes the swayamvaram of herself -
the winning ways of raama - in mithila.
Seethaa describes to anasooya dhEvi when seethaa was asked by anasooya to
describe her swayamvaram to raamaa --
"ayOnijaam hi maam gnaathvaa naaDhyagachchath sa chinthayan | 2-118-37"
meaning: the king thinks me of unborn in a womb, and as unable to select a
suitable groom for me.
"mahaayagnaa thadhaa thasya varuNena mahaathmanaa |
dhaththan dhanur varam preethyaa thooNee chaakshayya saayakau || 2- 118- 39
meaning: in that great fire sacrifice, varuNan gave that divine bow [siva
dhanu:] to my father along with two quivers with unending stock of bows.
nimisha anthara maathrENa thadh aanamya sa veeryavaan |
jyaan samaarOpya jhatithi poorayaamaasa veeryavaan || 2-118- 46
thEna poorayathaa vEgaan madhyE bhagnan dhvidhaa dhanu: |
thasya sabdhO abhavadh bheema: pathithasya asanEr iva || 2-118- 47
thathO ahan thathra raamaaya pithraa sathya abhisandhinaa |
udhyathaa dhaathum udhyamya jala bhaajanam uththamam || 2-118- 48
dheeyamaanaam na thu thadhaa prathijagraaha raaghava: |
avignaaya pithu: chhandham ayOdhyaa adhipathE: prabhO: || 2-118- 49
thatha: svasuram aamanthrya vrudhDham dhasaratham nrupam |
mama pithraa aham dhaththaa raamaaya vidhithaatmanE || 2-118-50
Evam dhaththaasmi raamaaya thadhaa thasmin svayamvarE |
anurakthaa cha dharmeNa pathim veeryavathaam varam || 2-118-52
These slOkams describe the marriage to raamaa, by seetha herself. The important
point is in slOkam 49, and hence that slOkam alone is taken up for giving
meaning here.
dheeyamaanaam na thu thadhaa prathijagraaha raaghava: |
avignaaya pithuschandham ayOdhyaa adhipathE: prabhO: || 2-118- 49
thadhaa = during that time
dheeyamaanaam thu = [the girl] being offered
raaghava: = the legatee of raghu race
ayOdhyaa adhipathE: prabhO: = the lord and king of ayOdhyaa
pithuschandham = the mind of father
avignaaya = not knowing
na prathijagraaha = did not accept
meaning: then raaghava, did not accept me straightaway without knowing the mind
of his father and the king of ayOdhyaa.
See how, in such steps, raama wins the hearts of all by his addiction to rules
and procedures.
We send our children to some third party's house under the care of somebody [as
guardian]. When the child does break something in that house, how we will
react. "Oh what a bad way we have brought up the child for he has gone to a new
place and created a scene there". Then we will rush there, ask pardon first,
then try to compensate them by money, by replacement etc, and finally ask
pardon again for the behaviour of the child.
Unless the parents visit that place and pacify the host, it is not proper for
the guardian as well the child to leave the place. The guardian would also be
in embarrassment for having brought such a naughty boy.
Such a step is carefully carried out by raama, even though the host accepts it,
the breaking of the highly regarded bow as an act of bravery and the bravery
results in offer of a superlative girl as wife to him.
Also initially sage said "pasya raama" - see the bow. Then raamaa asked
permission to feel - "samprusaami" - ok - said sage as well king. But what he
did? Broken the bow. So it is not proper to break a thing like this. So
naturally parents [or at least the father of such a child who has committed
this kind of breaking other people's property], have to visit that place and
pacify the host for such an act. That is why raama did not want to accept
seethaa without a proper "authorization" from the father, to accept the girl as
a gift of his bravery.
Even in such small acts "raamaa wins" others by his deeds.
Ok. Apart from that, perhaps how raamaa won the hearts of people of mithila and
initially seethaa also before the dhanu breaking. Perhaps these are not fully
described by sage vaalmeeki.
Saint thulasidhaas describes how raama won the people of mithila easily by his
beauty. Also how seetha reacts when she sees raama before the breaking of the
bow. It is quite fascinating description of raamaa. So let us go into that
portion of baala kaaNdam in raamcharithmaanas.
Doha 241: naari bilOkahin harasi hiyan nija nija ruchi anuroopa |
janu sOhatha singaara dhari moorathi parama anoopa ||
Ch below doha 241
bidhusanha prabhu biraatamaya dheesaa bahu mukha kara paga lOchana seesaa |
janaka jaathi avalOkahin kaisain. sajana sage priya laagahin jaisen ||
sahitha bidhEha bilOkahin raanee sisu sama preethi na jaathi bakhaanee |
jOginha parama thathvamaya bhaasaa saantha suddha sama sahaja prakaasaa ||
haribhagathanha dhEkhE dhou bhraathaa ishtadhEva iva saba sukha dhaathaa |
raamahi chithava bhaayan jEhi seeyaa sO sanEhu sukhu nahin kathaneeyaa ||
ura anubhavathi na kahi saka sOoo kavana prakaara kahai kabi kOoo |
Ehi bidhi rahaa jaahi jasa bhaaoo thEhin thasa dhEkhEu kosalaraaoo ||
Meaning: with joy in their heart the women saw raamaa according to their
attitude in their mind, each had towards him as if the erotic sentiment itself
has appeared in an utterly incomparable form.
Cho: the wise saw the lord in his cosmic form, with many faces, hands, feet,
eyes, and heads. how did he appear to janka's kinsmen? Like one's own beloved
relation. The queen, no less than the king, regarded him with unspeakable love
like a dear child. To the yOgees, he has shown for them as no other than the
highest truth, placid unsullied, equipoised and resplendent, by its very
nature. The devotees of sri hari beheld the two brothers as their loved deity
the fountain of all joy. The emotion of all love and joy was ineffable, with
which seethaa gazed on sri raamaa. She felt the emotion in her breast but could
not utter it. Then how can a poet describe it? In this way everyone according
to the attitude of the mind regarded the lord of ayOdhyaa.
[For a full description please refer baalakaandam slokams 199 -264 in
particular pages 38, 39 in PDF format in www.gitapress.org
<http://www.gitapress.org> site.]
dear bhakthaas, see raamaa did just won the people of mithila simply by his
beauty. As per thulasidhaas seethaa was also won over by his beauty and she
longed to see him again and again. [again vaalmeeki is not describing these .
Poet kamban describesd this "winning of people of mithila" by ramaa with his
own "beauty" as
"thOl kaNdaar thOle kaNdaar thodhu kazhal kamalam anna
thaaL kaNdaar thaaLE kaNdaar thadakkai kaNdaarum ahdhE
vaaL koNda kaNNaar yaarE vadivinai mudiayk kaNdaar
oozh koNda samayaththu aNNaan uruvu kaNdaarai oththaar
verse 19 ulaaviyaR padalam, baala kaaNdam.
For those interested in kamban, the entire set of raamaayaNam verses [moolam -
original only] are available for viewing and enjoying in
www.chennainetwork.com/a/ebooks/ramayanam.html
<http://www.chennainetwork.com/a/ebooks/ramayanam.html>
In next post we will see how raamaa wins his own people in ayOdhyaa. Of course
for those who read my earlier write up "how could such a raama do that" most
matter will be a repeat. But enjoying raama for his good qualities is always a
treat. So let us enjoy it again.
Dhaasan
Vasudevan m.g.
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