Ananda RAmAyaNam - VIII

[Guest guest]

Sri RAmajayam

 

Stories from ANANDA RAMAYANAM - Continued

 

This is the eighth posting in Ananda RAmAyaNam series:

 

 

Excerpts from YAtrA kANdam:

 

[YAtrA kANdam is written in the form of a conversation between Lord Siva

and PArvati. He explains how the original satakoti RAmAyanam was written and

how in the future, many more RAmAyanams will come into existence and how they

will all be called works of VAlmIki. He then proceeds to narrate the

conversation between two bhaktas, RAmdAsa and VishNudAsa. This part covers

the details about the yAtra undertaken by SrI RAma.]

 

Lord Siva tells PArvati:

 

" VAlmIki originally created the satakoti RAmAyanam and the name and fame

spread to all the worlds; The devas, yakshas, gandharvas, nAgas, sages and

others vied to keep the RAmAyanam for their own use. This resulted in total

chaos and fight between them. Lord Vishnu intervened and divided the

satakoti RAmAyanam into 3 parts of 33,33,33,333 granthams each (100

crore divided by 3). He took the remaining one mantra (32 aksharas with 4

quarters each with 8 aksharas - anushtup candas) and divided it into 3 parts

with 10 aksharas per part. Two letters (rA and ma) were left out of the work

after this; I received these 2 letters and I say them into the ears of those

who die in KAsi (Benares). He gave 1 part of the satakoti RAmAyanam

to the devas, 1 part to the sages of the earth and 1 part to the nagas

of pAtAlalokam."

 

"In order to spread the bhUloka part of the RAmAyanam in the 7 dvIpams, VishNu

divided it into 7 parts with 4,76,19,047 granthams each. 4 slokams

(posted in the bhakti list under posting 7) were left over - Lord Brahma

learned them from VishNu; He then taught them to Sage Narada who taught them

to Sage VyAsar. Out of the 7 divided parts, since Jambu DvIpam was is 9

divisions - each division got 52,91005 granthams. Finally, the letter SrI

was left over - VishNu mixed the letter in all the 9 parts."

 

"The RAmAyaNa stories will be forgotten over a period of time - Sage VyAsa

will collect the remaining stories and form 24,000 slokams under 7 kandams

and add mangala slokams in the beginning and end. Sage Agastya and other rishis

will make different RAmAyaNams out of this collection and make them famous

in bHarata kaNdam. Learned men will consider all these to be as made by

Sage VAlmIki himself. The SAra kANdam related by me to you is the sAram

(or juice) of VAlmIki's RAmAyanam."

 

"RAmAyaNAnyanekAni prthagAgre munIsvarAh

BhAghAdbhAratakhaNdAntargatAt kumbhodhdhavAdayah

 

Karishyamtyatra satasastAni sarvANi PArvati

VAlmIkIyAdvinA devi na jneyAni manIshibhih

 

SArakANdam purA devi yaduktam ca mayA tava

VAlmIkIyAchcha tachchApi sAramudrtya vai mayA"

 

[ The total number of slokams including BAlakANdam, AyodhyAkANdam,

AraNyakANdam, KishkindAkANdam, SundarakANdam and YuddhakANdam comes to

20,728. I am assuming the 7th kANdam - UttarakANdam has the rest,

bringing the total to 24,000.]

 

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Excerpts from YAga kANdam:

 

 

YAga kANdam relates how Lord RAma did the Asvameda yAgham. Detailed reports

are given about how the yAga horse is decorated and sent for BhU pradakshinam;

when the horse comes back victoriously (with no one to challenge), RAma

gets ready to do the Asvameda yAgham. Sage Kumbodhara pays a visit to RAma

and offers his prayer in the form of RAma Ashtottaram (will be given in

the next posting). All the kings who have come to witness the asvameda yAgam

perform dwajArobhaNam ( worshiping of the dwaja or flag pole and

installing it in VishNu temple); an excellent slokam in praise of VishNu is

given in this context (will be posted subsequently); RAma proceeds to Sarayu

river to do "avabhrta snAnam" (a snAnam done at the completion of a yAga or

sacrifice) and completes the asvameda yAgam with pUrNAhuti. In the end, RAma

tells LakshmaNa to take all the sages to the treasury place and asks him to

order all the guards to leave the place, so the sages can take whatever

pleases them. He also presents a lot of gifts to all the guests. He

himself receives a golden throne from Kubera, a cool umbrella from

VaruNa, a wonderful crown from Indira, a garland from Saraswati, bright

swords from Siva and PArvati, horses from Candran (Moon), sandals from

SUryadeva and a lot of blessings from the sags. Lord Siva pays another

visit and offers a prayer in honor of RAma (will also be posted subsequently).

 

 

More to come,

 

Kalyani Krishnamachari