Dear SrivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
In continuation of my earlier [yesterday's] post on raama's date, I wish to add
the following slokams as available in sundhara kaaNdam reinforcing my
contention that raama was 25 and not 17 at the time of his exile.
Here in sundhara kaaNdam seethaa talks to hanumaan and while introducing
herself she says -
I am king dhasarathaa's daughter in law - snushaa dhasarathasya aham,
I am king jankaa's daughter - dhuhithaa janakasya aham,
I am seethaa named - seethaa ithi naamnaa,
I am raamaa's wife - bhaaryaa raamasya etc.
One important point incidentally is to be highlighted here. That is - when a
kula sthree - a 'well brought up' family lady - introduces herself - she has to
do so by saying first about the elders in the 'in laws' family, and then only
about their own family. So the pugundha veettu gouravam - in law's house's
honour, respect and pride etc, are the first thing to be mentioned first and
then only about their own family. See such finer aspects. They are the things
to be learnt while reading the raamaayaNam, bhaaratham, etc, more than the
story portion.
The next two slOkams are the most relevant ones to us -
samaa dhvaadhasa thathra aham raaghavasya nivEsanE |
bhunjnanaa maanushaan bhOgaan sarva kaama samrudhDhinee || 5 - 33-17
raaghavasya nivEsanE - in the house of raaghavan viz. raamaa
sama dhvaadhasa - for 12 full [years is understood from next slOkam]
aham - I
maanushaan bhOgaan - all humanly enjoyments
sarva kaama samrudhDhinee - to the full and desired extent
thathra bhunjaanaa - there [I] enjoyed
thatha: thrayOdhasE varshE raajyE cha ikshvaaku nandhanam |
abhishEchayaithum raajaa sa upaaDhyaaya: prachakramE || 5-33-18
thatha: - then
thrayOdhasE varshE - in the thirteenth year
raajaa ikshvaaku nandhanam - the chief of ikshvaaku clan - viz. king dhasaratha
upaaDhyaaya: - the gurus
raajyE cha - with the people of the country
sa - he [that raamaa] as prince or king
abhishEchayaithum - to be crowned
prachakramE - proposed.
The rest of the points are all well known and hence not dealt with.
May be in the first instance seethaa was under pressure in front of raavaNan.
[again as I already said, she talks to raavaNan in very clear terms and not
under pressure, but can be considered as such to the next following one].
Compared to that situation, here in front of hanumaan, seethaa is not under
similar pressure.
For she already had felt subha sakhunams - auspicious forecasts of times,
also hanumaan gave the small pep up by way of raama's welfare story,
and how he is suffering the separation of seethaa etc,
which in reality lifted her spirits up and
then only seethaa gives this introduction about herself.
So no doubts can be ascribed to the figures what she spells out like that of
kousalyaa - for kousalyaa has to be consoled later by sumithraa - her husband's
'sapathnee' - as raamaa is 'sooryasya soorya' - meaning sun's sun- light giver
to sun himself - after raamaa has really left for forests. [an exclusive
article on those words of sumithra by MGV earlier in the list]
So, that version of raama exile at 17 years of age has to be reconsidered again
with fresh evidence to be given by experts.
Dhasan
Vasudevan m.g.
PS: perhaps these are the slokams, which Smt.Jayasree mentioned as - quote -
"Regarding the years that Sita mentions in Sundhara khandam, I somehow
picturised as though she was 18 and Raama was 25 at the time of exile. I am
unable to bring back to memory how I arrived at this. But I have read somewhere
or calculated on the basis of some inputs. I hope to get them soon and share
with others" unquote
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