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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Knowledge must be shared with others

 

CHENNAI, JULY 8. Among the gifts that one can give others the

best according to the scriptures are giving food to the deserving

and imparting knowledge of the scriptures and the arts one is

well-versed in. Teaching benefits both the teacher and the

student as it is only by sharing one's knowledge with others that

traditions are nurtured. The Ramayana conveys this truth right at

the outset.

 

The epic was written by Valmiki by the grace of the creator,

Brahma, who visited him while he sat pondering over the events

that had happened after the celestial sage, Narada, visited him.

He narrated the events in the life of Rama in answer to the

question he had raised to the sage as to who among those living

then was the most virtuous one and possessed of prowess. On the

way to the Tamasa river to perform his ablutions, Valmiki

happened to witness the male of a pair of cranes being shot down

by a hunter and the bereaved female shrieking in agony.

 

Moved by its plight the sage cursed the hunter but soon became

uneasy that he had done so impulsively, but he was struck with

the cadence of his utterance. He implored his disciple Bharadwaja

that the verse, which could be interpreted differently to suggest

the theme of the Ramayana, be taken as such and he committed it

to memory.

 

This was to form the opening verse of the epic and the pathos of

that incident runs through the events in Rama's life also. Brahma

appeared before Valmiki and bade him to compose the Ramayana and

blessed him that he would be able to intuit all that happened in

Rama's life and also that, ``the Ramayana will be popular in all

the worlds so long as mountains and rivers remain on the surface

of the Earth.''

 

In his discourse on the Ramayana, Sengalipuram Sri B.Damodara

Dikshitar said that the Ramayana was the actual depiction of

Rama's life and there was not even an iota of untruth or

exaggeration in it. After Valmiki composed the epic in 24,000

verses he desired to teach it to a worthy pupil and it so

happened that Lava and Kusa, the sons of Rama who were under his

care with Sita who was in exile, prostrated at his feet in

obeisance when this desire arose in his mind.

 

The boys had mastered the Vedas and were exceptionally talented

in all the arts and had all the auspicious marks of the royal

lineage they hailed from. As though Providence had decreed as in

the case of its composition, they were the first to learn the

Ramayana directly from Valmiki and sing it in sweet strains. The

epic was staged in the assembly of Ayodhya before Rama Himself

who listened to it with tears of joy.

 

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Moved by its plight the sage cursed the hunter but soon became

uneasy that he had done so impulsively, but he was struck with

the cadence of his utterance. He implored his disciple Bharadwaja

that the verse, which could be interpreted differently to suggest

the theme of the Ramayana, be taken as such and he committed it

to memory.

 

This was to form the opening verse of the epic and the pathos of

that incident runs through the events in Rama's life also. Brahma

appeared before Valmiki and bade him to compose the Ramayana and

 

[Madhava Replies:]

 

Giving below is the sloka uttered by Valmiki. This is said to be the first

verse in Known history.

 

mAnishAda pratiSTAMtvam agamaH SASvateessamAH

yatkrounca midhunAdEkaM avadheeH kAmamOhitaM ||

 

Oh hunter, you have condemned yourself to the eternal hell by killing one of

those birds, which are in immense love ..

 

Actually, Valmiki has witnessed the cruelty of the Hunter who killed one of

the birds. Then the theme follows, he witnessed the story of Rama and Sita,

who are lovers, and who got separated by the evil of Ravana...

 

Yours,

Madhava