Musings on sita's agni-pravEsam#5

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri.S.H.Krishnan and other members (who are following this thread),

 

One of the singular ironies of the Ramayana is that it is the story of how

sub-humans fought each other and even unhesitatingly laid down their lives

in thousands for a seemingly supra-human ideal.

 

If you think deeply about it you cannot help but wonder about the whys and

wherefores of how the common "vAnarA-s" of Kishkinda and the ordinary

"rAkshasA-s" of Lanka got themselves dragged into an imbroglio involving

the complex affairs and high morals of a world to which they never

belonged.... of an entirely different world ....one that really belonged to

and was peopled by superior beings like Rama and Sita.

 

It boggles one's mind, too, to think that tens of thousands of

"ulpa-jantu-s" (lesser beings) like apes, orangutans, chimpanzees, bears,

squirrels and great birds laid down their lives in the war of Lanka ....all

in the name of, and all for the sake of HUMAN honour, HUMAN sense of

right and wrong and HUMAN values and virtue.....

 

In the light of this extraordinary irony we won't therefore be very wrong

in imagining then, as we did in our last post, that in the aftermath of the

Lanka war, Sri.Rama did spend a moment or two

soliloquising in grim and pensive anguish:

 

"What has this war been really about? To redeem the honour of the IkshvAku

House? To save the name of Dasaratha? Or my own? Why, oh why then did this

war have to be fought by these poor "vAnarA" foot-soldiers? Why, why

indeed, did these apes and bears, these poor denizens of the forest, have

to be used by me as so much cannon-fodder? This was a war that ought to

have been fought between "rAkshasa" and the citizenry of AyodhyA. The ranks

in my army here

ought to have been filled with the hordes of men who followed Bharatha

across the Sarayu into Chitrakoot. Would those my kinsmen from Ayodhya have

set forth to spill blood on my behalf as readily, gladly and as

unquestioningly as these beloved "vAnarA-s" have done?"

 

"Would they?", we should indeed ask ourselves too !

 

Now if we were to skip the pages of the "yUddha-kAnda" and turn to the

morbid chapters of VAlmiki's "uttara-kAnda" we would easily find there the

answer to the agonising question.

 

The answer is, of course, a categorical "No". No, the people of great

Ayodhya, the "superior human beings" of the IkshvAku House would never

indeed have stepped forward to put their lives at stake for the sake of

what ought to have been their supreme ideal, their highest duty --- to

remain ever affirmed of the unsullied honour of their sovereign, Sri.Rama

and the pristinity of their queen, Sita.

 

And why not?

 

If Sri.Rama Himself were to ask us why we thought so poorly of and passed

such harsh and

uncharitable judgment on his subjects we would, I suppose, forthwith jog

His memory for Him and draw attention to the events in Ayodhya (in the

"uttara-kAndam") which took place not too long after "sitA's

agni-pravEsam".

 

"shr-Nu rAjan yaThA powrAhA kaTha-yanthi shuBhA-shuBham I

chatvarApaNa-ratyAsu vanE-shu-pavanEshu cha II"

(Valmiki Ramayana VII 43.13)

 

(AyodhyA's sons and daughters --- paragons of human purity indeed! -- soon

ventured to discuss amongst themselves the virtue of Sita and Rama; they

are seen to say to themselves,"What sort of happiness can he have sleeping

with that woman who has lived in Ravana's house? How can

he enjoy even a moment with her, one wonders?!")

 

"yathA hi kuruthE rAjA prajA tama-nuvartathE "II (VII 43.19)

"Evam bahuviDhA vAchO vadanti paravAsina-ha I

nagarEshu cha sarvEshu rAjanjanapadEshu cha II" (VII 43.20)

 

(In the alleys of the city and in the countryside this is the kind of talk

that the people of Ayodhya are engaged in .....")

 

"keedrsham hrdayE tasya sitAsamBOgajam sukham I

anka-mArOpya tu purA rAvaNEna balAdrthAB II " (VII 43.17)

 

(How could he not recoil with revulsion at even the touch of her.... she

who was "kept" by a mere "rAkshsasA" (a sub-human) ?!")

 

********** ************

***********

 

The great "superior" humans of Ayodhya ---- they whom Swami Desikan

undeservingly hailed in his "Raghuveera-gadyam" as "sAketha janapada jani

Dhanika jangama taditara jantu-jAta ...." i.e. the "fortunate ones who were

blessed to have lived in the shadow of Sri.Rama and walked the same

hallowed earth He did", it is doubtful indeed if they would have ever

rallied behind Sri.Rama had he given them the clarion call to arise and

help him fight the Lanka War to retrieve the name and glory of Sita.... and

that of the House of the IkshvAku-s. They would never have been able to

discern the virtue of Sita ... they'd never have recognized her for what

she truly was---- the greatest and most dazzling symbol of all that is

noble, pristine and truthful in humanity .....

 

Indeed the poet Valmiki shows us clearly in the "uttara-kAndam" how the

people of Ayodhya, behaving towards Sita in the sordid way they did,

represent the universal pathology of Man's spiritual condition.... the

crippling inability of his to reach out and perceive and touch and feel the

Beauty of Truth in the most ordinary moments and things of day-to-day

living....or, what as the English mystical poet William Blake described

well, the crippling inability of Man

 

" To see the world in a grain of sand

And heavens in a wild flower

(To) Hold infinity in the palm of (his) hand

And eternity in an hour....."

 

Quite in sharp contrast to the "human beings" of Ayodhya, and to the

perversions of their perception and the infirmities in their minds, now

look at what mere "animals" ---- the poor monkeys of Kishkinda who laid

down lives fighting Sri.Rama's war for Him ---- look at what those

"ulpa-jantu-s" thought of Sita. Their "vAnarA" thoughts and sentiments

relating to this matter are so beautifully and touchingly expressed in the

voice of their fine leader and spokesman, Sri.HanumAn.

 

Just listen to him speak as he first sets his eyes on Sita after

discovering Her in the Ashokavanam:

 

"dushkaram krutavAn rAmO heenO yadanayA praBhuhu I

Dhaya-yath-yAtmanO dEham na shOkEnAvaseedati II (V.15.53)

 

"tulya-sheela-vayO-vrttAm tulyA-Bhijana-lakshaNAm I

rAGhavO-arhati vaidEheem tam chEyamasitEkshaNA II

 

"yadi rAmaha samUdrAntAm mEdineem parivartayEth I

asyAha krutE jagachhApi yuktamityEva may mati-hi II

 

"rAjyam vA trishu lOkEshu sitA vA janakAtmajA I

trylOkya-rAjyam sakalam sitAyA nApnuyAtkalAm II (VI 16, 5, 13-14)

 

"This Rama is a flint-hearted being indeed! He is a hard-hearted, yes! He

does a thing which other people would find impossible. Being separated from

a lady like this one, how did he manage to survive so long as he has done?

How surprising that he is not dead yet of heart-break?! Must be a hard life

his, truly!".

 

HanumAn (the quintessential "brahamachArin"!!!) continues:

 

"Rama and Sita are well-mated; they are made for each other indeed! Their

respective families from which they hail too are well matched. They deserve

each other. So having unfortunately lost this woman, this precious prize

and possession, this "gem of purest ray", if Lord Rama should go and dry up

all the ocean for her and devastate this world and the hereafter too, I

should not think he was doing anything extreme or excessive. She is such a

rarity, the breath of all that lives, the very "eternity in an hour", that

anything may be well and completely destroyed if that were to be the only

means of recovering her. Put Sita in one scale and the possession of the

three worlds in the other .... the other would never tip ... not even by a

whisper of the passing wind!"

 

Such was the spirit reverence and awe that the "vAnarA-s" --- the monkeys

of the forests, the dumb denizens of Kishkinda --- such was the spirit they

exhibited for Sita-pirAtti. What a stark contrast indeed to the black and

shameful things SitA's own people in Ayodhya had to say about her at her

back in the "uttara-kAndam" !!

 

Is it any wonder then, dear Sri.S.H.Krishnan and other dear members, I ask

you, is it any wonder then that the "ulpa-jantu-s" should have stepped

forward, more readily and more unhesitatingly than the Ayodhya-vAsi-s would

probably ever have done, to fight the great Lanka war alongside Sri.Rama?

 

Is it any wonder then too that the Lord of Ayodhya grieved so much for his

"vAnara" martyrs in the aftermath of the war?

 

********************************************

 

Having said so much we must now ask ourselves:

 

What did the "sub-humanvAnarA-s" see in the presence and spirit of Sita

which the "superior humans" of Ayodhya failed to see.... refused to see....

and in fact, on the contrary, willed themselves to see something infinitely

vulgar and self-degrading in its stead ?

 

The answer to the question will lead us further and nearer (hopefully) to

the Vedic themes we said lie hidden in the episode of Sita's

"agni-pravEsam".

 

We will continue in the next post.

 

adiyEn dAsAnu dAsan,

sudarshan

[Guest guest]

Sri Sudarshan, an aside to your interesting series on

the agni-pravESa of Sita.

 

You wrote:

> The great "superior" humans of Ayodhya ---- they whom Swami Desikan

> undeservingly hailed in his "Raghuveera-gadyam" as "sAketha janapada jani

> Dhanika jangama taditara jantu-jAta ...."

 

Do you think that Desika was really referring merely

to humans in this line? I understood Desika to be following

the Alvars in meaning that *all* entities in Saketa-nagara,

moving, unmoving, human, animal, or plant, were taken by

mere proximity to Rama to the highest of abodes. (In fact,

I think you pointed out the parallel between this line

and Nammalvar's "kaRpaar, iraamabiraanai allaal" a couple

of years ago: see

 

http://thondar.busi.utc.edu/bhakti/archives/apr97/0088.html

http://thondar.busi.utc.edu/bhakti/archives/apr97/0087.html

 

This also parallels Kulasekharan's "anRu caraacarangaLai

vaikundhaththEththi" (perumaaL thirumozhi 10.10).

 

I know this is not relevant to your discussion, but I thought

I'd bring up the question.

 

aDiyEn

tirukkacci nambigaL daasan

Mani

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri. Sudarshan,

 

As regards your exposition on sita's agni-pravEsam#5, I personally

feel Swami Desikan ( as Sri Mani indicated ) does not

specifically refer to 'only' the humans but generically 'everything'

that *lived* (*existed*) and *walked* ( *displaced, progressed, transited

.......* )

 

Your own translation .........

>>"sAketha janapada jani

Dhanika jangama taditara jantu-jAta ...." i.e. the "fortunate ones who were

blessed to have lived in the shadow of Sri.Rama and walked the same

hallowed earth He did",

>>>>

 

It is rather unfortunate to misinterpret Swami Desikan's verses

as 'undeserving' as it does include 'Everything' .

 

Regards

Sriram Ranganathan