bow's story - post 9

[Guest guest]

Bow's story - Post 9

Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

First of all, I offer my apologies to you all, since I missed a

commitment, which I made in post 1. The commitment reads "In this and

next few posts, we will see how this bow brought a special name to

raama, given by none else than that `girl' seethaa, who was won

through that act of bravery with the bow". Without giving you what is

this special name given by seethaa to raamaa, and some points on that

special name, I concluded the series erroneously. So I offer my

apologies.

 

A. Now here is the special title or name to raama. It is "sthriyam

purusha vigraham" – hey raamaa you are "a women in a man's garb". The

slOkam for reference is -

 

kim thvaa amanyatha vaidhEha: pithaa mE mithilaa adhipa: |

raama jaamaatharam praapya sthriyam purusha vigraham || 2-30-3

 

Meaning: What my father, the king of mithila, belonging to the

country of vidhEha, think of himself having got you, as son-in-law, a

woman having the form of a man?"

 

Why such a `beautiful title' seetha confers on raama? She has seen

his bravery in breaking the bow – that bow which even the mighty

raavaNa failed to even lift vertically up and string it. [why raavaNa

is brought in here? See point C below]. That too, when seethaa's

father vaidhEha himself exclaimed as – [to visvaamithra]

 

bhagavan, dhrishta veeryO mE raamO dhasaratha aathmaja: |

athi adhbhutham achinthyam cha atharkitham idham mayaa || 1-67-21

 

meaning: janaka to visvaamithra - Oh, god, I have evidently seen the

gallantry of raama, the son of dhasaratha and [the whys of this boy

and wherefores of his stringing that massive bow] are unimaginable

[to me, more so, humans lifting it, how so?] An unhoped [act by me,

besides, breaking it!] A highly wondrous [experience is this for me].

 

For, raama refused now to take seethaa to the forest along with him.

Father dhasaratha of raama had given the vow, to mother kaikeyi. And

she ordered raama to leave for the forest for 14 years. But, when

seethaa wanted to accompany raama, the husband of hers, he refused to

take her along with him. In that anger on refusal, and in the

anxiety, she gave him such a nice title. Just then, she addressed

him `veera' – hey brave one, [but suddenly position changed to confer

that title]. See

 

eershyaa rOshou bahishkruthya bhuktha sEsham iva udhakam |

naya maam veera visrabdha: paapam mayi na vidhyathE || 2-27-7

 

Meaning: seethaa to raamaa "Oh, brave man! By abandoning, as water

left over after drinking, the impatience and anger and having faith,

take me. There is no sin in me".

 

She thought she even convinced raama so that he will say yes, for she

said -

 

na cha maam thvath sameepastham api saknOthi raaghava |

suraaNaam eeshvara: sacra: pradharsayithum Ojasaa || 2-29-6

 

Meaning: Oh raama! Even dhEvendhra, the lord of celestials, by his

strength, cannot over power me, when I am in your vicinity.

 

To such a brave raama, on whose side dhEvEndhran also becomes

incapable, to such a highly powerful raama, suddenly she changed her

mind and gave a title as above. Since raama continued refusing to

take her along, in spite of such convincing words, she, with a bit of

anger or sarcasm gave raama that title. On this `sthriyam purusha

vigraham' title, lot of important points are offered by sri

poundareekapuram andavan swamy. That perhaps we will see in next post.

 

B. I missed in presenting another point also on this siva's bow.

Since that point is also an important one on the bow's story title,

and worth noting, I give it here.

See here, seetha claims, when she was talking to anasooya, the wife

of sage athri in the forest, that, the bow was given to her father,

by varuNan, the god of water, [athidhEvathaa for water and ocean]

[ayOdhyaa kaaNdam 118th sargam]

 

"mahaayagnaa thadhaa thasya varuNena mahaathmanaa |

dhaththan dhanur varam preethyaa thooNee chaakshayya saayakou || 2-

118- 39

 

meaning: in that great fire sacrifice, varuNan gave that divine bow

[siva dhanu:] to my father along with two quivers with unending stock

of bows.

[in the next few slokams she goes on how raama broke the bow and

marriage took place. Bhakthaas may recall that raamaa said `let my

father come and say yes, then only I will accept this offer of

kanya'. That description of such an incident is described by seethaa

in this meeting of anasooya – sargam 118 of ayOdhyaa kaaNdam - which

we saw in "raamaa wins" series of posts by MGV]

 

The point here: king janaka claimed to sage visvaamithra the siva

dhanu was given by siva himself after the war with vishNu to his

ancestor dhEvaraatha [as we saw in post 1 – 1-66-8 and 12 and

parasuraama also said that to raama – see 1-75-20]

 

dhEvaraatha ithi khyaathO nimE: jyEshtO mahee pathi: |

nyaasO ayam thasya bhagavan hasthE dhaththO mahaathmanaa || 1-66-8

 

preethi yuktha: thu sarvEshaam dhadhou thEshaam mahaathmanaam |

thath Ethath dhEvadhEvasya dhanoo rathnam mahaathmana: || 1-66-12

nyaasabhootham thadhaa nyastham asmaakam poorvajE vibhO |

 

dhanoo rudhra: thu sankrudhDhO vidhEhEshu mahaayasaa: || 1-75-20

dhEvaraathasya raaja rishE: dhadhou hasthE sa saayakam |

 

[since meaning is already given in post 1, and 3, I am not repeating]

 

Is it not contradictory? Daughter vetoes what father said? I would

like learned bhaagavathaas to comment on these two slokams - baala

and ayOdhyaa kaaNda slokams. [i am not able to see some comments in

other places given in the posts earlier. I am afraid Kamban is not

giving this incidence of seetha describing her marriage to

anasooya].

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.