Musing's on sita's agni-pravEsam#9

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Dear Sri.S.H.Krishnan & other members (like Sri.Sadagopan, Sri.Mani,

Sri.Srinivasan, Sri.Srikantha, Sri.Bharath, Smt.Radhika) who are following

this thread,

 

If you are a serious student of the Ramayana and if you happen to pause for

a moment to reflect deeply upon the experiences and impressions it produces

in your mind as you navigate along its gently narrative route, you are

almost certain to gradually begin feeling, until such feeling soon turns

into conviction, that the study of the epic in itself, is truly and

essentially, "a pilgrim's journey".

>From its point of departure in the "Bala-kAndam", as it winds its way

through the deep "aranya-s" of Dandaka, and through the verdant valleys and

gorges of "Kishkinda", and until it nears its grand terminal in the

climactic battle-fields of the "yuddha-kAndam", the reading of the Ramayana

is unmistakably one long "virtual" pilgrimage for the reader.

 

It is a pilgrimage dotted with so many shrines. The "shrines" are the

exploits and adventures of the central hero, Lord Rama... the events in His

life revealing His high moral prowess, His exploits, valour, chivalry,

charity, truthfulness, daring and utter humaneness.... each and everyone of

them, indeed, serve as so many solemn, sacred "shrines" along the way.

 

At each of these "shrines", which appear along the way at every turn of the

"itihAsic" page, we stop to pray, paying earnest homage, gazing long and

in marvel of the sheer grandeur of the "objects and places of worship"....

And when we have finished we move on then with eager expectation to the

next "shrine" in another "sarga" on the pathway across succeeding legs of

our journey!

 

At one such "shrine", for example, we stand awe-struck by the selflessness

Rama displays in the "ayodhya-kanda" when He forsakes a kingdom, without

blinking as much as an eye-lid and as if it were but trifle.... all for the

sake of a father's word!

 

At another "shrine" we are moved to near-tears by the melting emotion of

the moment when Bharatha renounces away a crown ---- again for the sake of

Rama, a brother's affection.

 

At yet another "shrine" we witness the extreme pathos of the scene where

Lord Rama, unmindful of personal pain, suffering and privation caused by

the loss of a spouse, makes it a point to perform last rites for a mere

bird... Jatayu. As good "pilgrim-readers" we witness that particular

"shrine" of a scene with especial reverence and awe .... the scene where as

He lights the funeral pyre, Rama too experiences that unbearable and

oppressive anguish felt by every son who has failed to turn up at a

father's death-bed .... or arrives, if at all, far too late to bid him

eternal adieu ......

 

As we continue to read "sarga" after "sarga" of the Ramayana, such episodic

"shrines" we "visit" in the course of our "narrative pilgrimage" slowly

begin to imprint on our minds the outlines.... at first hazy but then

increasingly sharp and soon indelibly .... the "shrines" begin to imprint

on our minds indeed the impression of Rama as a Being so vastly

extraordinary that He can no longer be regarded as mere human but more as

the veritable

"avatara" of some infinitely and mysteriously superior Entity.

 

At the end of every successive "sarga" which we conclude reading,

our faith grows firmer in Sri.Rama, in His essential goodness, His

immaculateness and in His divinity.....

 

When we reach the "shrine" of "Sita's agni-pravEsam" nothing has

really forewarned or forearmed us for the rude shock the incident

administers to us with resounding violence!

 

The narrative "pilgrimage" arranged by Valmiki for our benefit, and on

which we have until then been smoothly progressing, suddenly swerves out of

control and careens to a screeching halt ! We are jolted out of our

worshipful seats, as it were! We gasp, we are startled! And we abruptly

find ourselves teetering on the edge of what is a dark, yawning and

perilous chasm of drama appearing out of nowhere and lying right across the

middle of the narrative path of the "yuddha-kAndam"!

 

It is then we watch ourselves reacting in sheer horror, horripilation and

helplessness to the ghastly scene of Sri.Rama's repudiation of Sita!!

Listening to Him heap distressing abuse on Sita we cannot help the feeling

that the "Valmiki pilgrimage" on which we set out so eagerly has been

rudely aborted by a calamitous Act of God!

 

"Why did Lord Rama act so much out of character?", we ask ourselves.

"What drove Him to such harshness of speech? How did One so refined and

self-restrained as the Prince of Ayodhya suddenly yield to the low passions

of lesser men? How could One so compassionate and gentle in His dealings

with subjects be so coarse and unkind to His own Spouse?"!

 

The poetess extraordinaire Sri.Andal, in her "tiruppAvai", used an

exquisite expression to describe Rama as "manatukk~ini~yAn". It is

difficult to translate her Tamil term; if the English idiom, "apple of the

eye", could be said to have a variant in something like, say, "apple of the

mind", then AndAl's endearing term for Lord Rama would certainly be it.

 

Now, how could such a "manatukk~ini~yAn", the "apple of everyone's mind",

we ask ourselves, how could such a One have spoken such unspeakable things

to His beloved Sita?

 

A single encounter such as the "agni-pravEsam" deeply and disturbingly

weakens, indeed, our faith in the purpose of our "pilgrimage". Serious

doubt begins to assail us.... whether we have, after all, arrived at where

we'd hoped to end our long "journey of faith":

 

"Was the experienced knowledge and faith

Of years to be cast aside

By a morbid moment's upsurge

Of distrust and unreason ?

 

("sitAyana" of Prof.K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar)

 

 

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

 

Whatever may be our own misgivings about Rama's behaviour in the scenes

leading to "Sita's agni-pravEsam" we must bear in mind that to the poet

Valmiki himself what the Lord of Ayodhya said or did was NOT IN THE LEAST

out of character !

 

Why ?

 

The answer lies in III.10.19. It is again the key to our understanding of

the Vedic underscore of "Sita's agni-pravEsam" :

 

"apyaham jivitam jahyAm vA seethE salakshNAm I

na tu pratig~nyAm samsrutya brAhmanEBhyO vishEshata-ha II"

 

"Hear this, O Sita ! There is no sacrifice, however great or sacred, I will

not make to make good my word of honour.... especially my word given to

brahmins... there is no sacrifice too painful for me if it will help me

keep my word....To that end I will not hesitate to sacrifice Lakshmana, nor

you...nor myself even!"

 

We will continue in the next post.

 

adiyEn dAsAnu-dAsan,

sudarshan