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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00045 Nov 2006

 
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Title: maappiLLai and maamanaar 2

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

We saw in the previous post king dhasaratha had 350 [or 353 wives] and he also had a maappiLLai - son in law - in sage rishyasringa. Now let us see how rishyasringa became the son in law of king dhasaratha.

aanaaya thu maheepaala rishyasringam susathkrutham |
vibhaaNDaka sutham raajan braahmaNam vEdha paaragam |
prayachchha kanyaam shaanthaam vai vidhinaa susamaahitha:||1-9-13

meaning: Oh! King, having brought Sage Rishyasringa, the son of Sage Vibhaandaka, and honouring him well with good care, procedurally give him your daughter shaanthaa in marriage to that vEdhic Brahman. [1-9-13]

Point: the above slOkam is an advise by the ministers of the king, to the king rOmapaadha, the king of anga dhEsam, when his country was facing a severe draught due to his own bad ruling. This roma paadha king did as advised since the draught was removed once the sage rishyasringa reached the anga kingdom.

Dear readers, Perhaps you may get a doubt, that, how can such a bad king, who can bring a draught by his bad ruling, be a friend of the ‘dharmishta’ king dhasaratha father of that ‘raamO vigrahavaan dharma’ – raama the dharma personified. Vaalmeeki answers that question in the slOkam below.

thathO raajaa yathaa yOgyam poojaam chakrE visEshatha: || 1-11-16
sakhithvaath thasya vai raajna: prahrushTEna antharaathmanaa |

meaning: Then king Romapada, gladdened at heart of hearts, paid excellent respects to king Dhasaratha procedurally and in view of their friendship.[1-11-16b, 17a]

Point continued: Please note the words ‘sakhithvaath - their friendship’. This king rOma padha is a friend of king dhasaratha and this girl saanthaa is given to romapadha in adoption by dhasaratha. Dear readers, it is not my imagination that this santhaa is daughter of dhasaratha.

‘It is not clear to which wife of the 350 wives of dhasaratha [or 353] this girl saanthaa was born’ --is the note added forming part of Srimadh aaNdavan swamigaL of thiruk kudanthai in his raamaayaNa upanyasam - reproduced in sri ranganatha paadhuka of august 2006 issue. 

A note in the web site valmikiramayan.net also echoes similar viewpoint or version, which reads as follows: Comment [to slokam 1-9-19 quoted in earlier post]: Sage Rishyasringa is also a son-in-law to King Dasharatha. Princess Shanta, in a distant relationship, is a daughter to King Dasharatha, in relation and the adopted daughter of Romapaada, the King of Anga. Thus Sumantra's saying ‘son-in-law’ also means Dasharatha's ‘son-in-law’, besides Romapada's.

This sumanthra, the minister cum charioteer, is the person, who was a witness to dhasaratha’s marriage to kousalya in an isolated island – not formally done, as in a royal wedding - a side story - which does not find a place in raamaayaNam – may be available in some of the puraaNams. [I cannot quote any slokams or give authenticity but can say this as a hearsay story only].

So this minister sumanthraa knew ‘in and out’ of dhasaratha’s growth, his 60000 years of rule, and upto his death and later was minister during and upto raama’s rule of 11000 years [it is not clear to the end of raama or took off in the middle].

That side story goes like this.
n       Brahmaa fixed a time as the muhurtham for the marriage of Prince dhasaratha and kousalya, the princess of kOsala dhEsam. For brahma knew the killing of raavaNan has to take place through the son raama to be born of kousalya. Meanwhile raavaNan came to know of this muhurtham time, through naaradha and wanted to stop that marriage. For raavaNan thought if she gets married, then only she is going to have a son, and that son once grown will kill him [raavaNan]. If this marriage itself is not taking place, then how will raama be born?

n       So raavaNan kidnapped the princess from the kosala kingdom and put her in a small box and threw that box in the ocean with all his mite. Meanwhile dhasaratha and sumanthra set off themselves for a hunting in the forest. A huge bird searching for food in the forest lifted both dhasaratha and sumanthra through air and kept them off in an island so that he can comfortably eat both of them at his convenience. Somehow dhasaratha through his ‘bowing power’ got both [himself and sumanthra] freed.

n       This box thrown by raavaNan also sailed by wind force, having come up to the surface from deep ocean, to the very same island, and was opened by these two [dhasaratha and sumanthra]. Inside the box they found a beautiful princess in kousalya [she did not die in the meanwhile inside the box]. The saaraNaas et al traveling in sky or an ‘asareeree’ said ‘this is the time dhasaratha should get married to princess kousalya’ and these three heard that. Since sumanthra, who was near by dhasaratha, knew that the lady is kousalya, he conducted their marriage in that island. Later they returned safely to ayOdhyaa.

n       Again naaradha informed raavaNan that the marriage took place as per brahmaa’s time fixed early in spite of his kidnapping actions. And raavaNan got wild. Naaradha also informed raavaNan that nobody in this world can change time calculations set by brahma. In spite of all his anger raavaNa could not do any thing against brahma at that stage.

Dear readers perhaps you may get a doubt. How can the box sail to the same place, how these two were taken to that place, whether raavaNa was living such a long time etc. When thing have to happen in the way fixed, it will happen. One thing I can say is raavaNa lived such long time – I remember somebody in an upanyaasam telling raavaNa had a life of 3,50,00,000 years.

That is why king dhasaratha takes sumanthraa’s advises fully. Sumanthra only suggested doing the puthra kaama ishti – and that too with rishyasringa as the chief rithvik. For authenticity of that suggestion, sumanthra told king dhasaratha that he heard himself an old conversation, told by sage sanathkumara to other sages, that, supreme lord Vishnu will be born as sons to dhasaratha, as a result of this yagnam, which will be conducted by rishyasringa, son of sage vibhandaka or grandson of kaasyabha. [these slokams are available as given by vaalmeeki in sargam 9] So when sumanthra advised king dhasaratha, he did things accordingly without any more questioning.

Coing back to ‘saanthaa’ story, further when the sage rishyasringa is received at ayodhyaa by dhasaratha see how the ladies of dhasaratha’s antha:puram – inner courtyard - reacted.

antha:puraaNi sarvaaNi saanthaam dhrushTvaa thathaa aagathaam |
saha bharthraa visaalaaksheem preethyaa aanandham upaagaman || 1-11-30

meaning: On seeing her, the broad-eyed saanthaa, who came there along with her husband all the ladies of palace derived happiness for the homecoming of their own daughter, as it were. [1-11-29]

Point: The specific reason or point for happiness, here, is that these ladies know that once the sage rishyasringa came to ayOdhya, the yagnam will be done and as a result the son will be born to king dhasaratha. Once king is happy the ladies are also happy. See here about king’s happiness - that is expressed here in slOkam

antha:puram pravEshya Enam poojaam kruthvaa cha saasthratha: |
kruthakruthyam thadhaa aathmaanam mEnE thasya upavaahanaath || 1-11-29

meaning: Dhasaratha entered along with the sage into the palace chambers and worshipped him there, as ordained in the scriptures, and in bringing the Sage here into his country, king Dasharatha believed that his desired is fulfilled. [1-11-28]

Another point for for the happiness is that saanthaa, the daughter of one of them, is received after a long time at ayOdhyaa and that too along wither husband. ‘PoNNu pirantha aaththukku vandhaa entha ammaakkum santhOsham thaanE’. Further the king also admired her a lot, for he has a wish to be fulfilled through the husband of hers.

poojyamaanaa thu thaabhi: saa raajnaa cha Eva visEshatha: |
uvaasa thathra sukhithaa kanchith kaalam saha dhvijaa || 1-11-31

meaning: Saanthaa thus being admired by all of them, and in an ‘exceptional manner’ by Dhasharatha, comfortably resided there along with her husband, the Vedic scholar Rishyasringa. [1-11-30]

Point: after this portion, there is no more reference about this ‘saanthaa’ in the raamaayaNam. Then, you all know the remaining portion of the story that this sage conducted the puthra kaama ishti and raama was born, about seethaa, killing of raavaNa etc., etc,.

Thathaasthu. MangaLaani bhavanthu

Dasan

Vasudevan m.g.

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