Forwarding this mail to the group. By mistake it went to Shri Vasudevan. My
apologies.
anbudan,
Hari Krishnan
----- Original Message -----
From: Hari Krishnan
To: vasudevan m.g.
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 9:08 AM
Subject: Re: [SriRangaSri] bow's story - post 12
Quite a wonderful effort indeed! May I add my two cents? The question of the
bow has always hovered about in my mind for a long time and I have gone through
considerable portions of Tamil literature. I had written on this question in
some Tamil e-groups about two years back. Let me just give the gist of what I
had written in various fora earlier.
- The name Kothanda is not used by Kamban, or any of the Azwars for that
matter. (See 'mANikkak kiNkiNi' - verse No.7 of Periyazhwar Thirumozhi.
'paranthittu nindra padu kadal thannai.' He speaks of Rama Avatar. And says,
'sArnga vir kaiyanE sappANi.' If Kothanda was the name of Rama's bow, he
should have - logically speaking used the name Kothanda, instead of Sarnga.
- The name does not - to the best of my knowledge - occur in Valmiki Ramayana
either.
- The bow given by Sage Agasthya was not used by Rama. This was used by
Lakshmana, in the killing of Indrajit. This is mentioned by Kamban. And here
are the Romanised version of the verses.
enpana muthal upAyam yAvaiyum iyampi, ERRa
munpanai n-Okki, 'aiya! mUvakai ulakum thAn Ay,
than perun- thanmai thAnum aRikilA oruvan thAngkum
van perunj silai Ithu Akum; vAngkuthi; valamum koLvAy!
'is silai iyaRkai mEln-AL, **thamiz muni** iyampiRRu ellAm
assenak kEddAy anRE? Ayiram mauli aNNal
meys silai; virinjsan mUddum vELviyin vEddup peRRa
kais silai kOdi' enRu koduththanan, kavasaththOdum.
ANi, iv ulakukku, Ana AziyAn puRaththin Arththa
thUNiyum koduththu, maRRum uRuthikaL palavum solli,
thANuvin thORRaththAnaith thazuvinan; thazuvalOdum,
sEN uyar visumpil thEvar, 'thIrn-thathu em siRumai' enRAr.
Rama hands over this bow to Lakshmana when he starts for the destruction of
Nikumbila. The second verse very clearly mentions that the bow was given by
Sage Agastya. Rama started using the bow given by Parasurama during the battle
with Kara (Kara-Dhooshana). The bow that he was using until then breaks during
the battle, Varuna appears and hands over the bow given by Parasurama. This is
mentioned in Kamban.
- The word 'kOthandam' is another name for bow. The Madras University Tamil
Lexicon, while citing examples of usage of the word, has quoted from
'Thiruporur Sannadhi Murai' - a work on Lord Muruga - obviously because no
examples of usage could be found from Kamban or Azwars. (However, this is not
to deny that the Lexicon has included the definition 'Rama's bow' too.)
- I would be much obliged if anybody can cite examples from Azwars on the usage
of the word kothandam. I can say with certainty that it is NOT mentioned
anywhere by Kamban. And I have not come across this usage in Valmiki either.
- Another question - may be a shock - to the group. Can anyone please cite the
sloka from Valmiki or verse in Kamban or any of the Azwars, which contains the
name. 'Ramachandra'? I am unable to find this name either anywhere! From
whence Rama came to be known as Ramachandra may be another point for a good
debate!
Anbudan,
Hari Krishnan
----- Original Message -----
From: vasudevan m.g.
To: SriRangaSri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2004 9:49 AM
Subject: [SriRangaSri] bow's story - post 12
Post 12
Now the question of which is `kOthandam' ? which vishNu dhanu:? Is a
big point for debate. For sage vaalmeeki is not mentioning this name
whenever raama is using his bow. He merely says dhanu:. So what is
kOthandam and where from this name came is a point. I invite learned
in the group to offer points on this.
Dhaasan
Vasudevan m.g.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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