the bow's story -post 12

[Guest guest]

POST 11

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

In post 9 we saw the `special title' conferred on raamaa as

 

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?"

 

I mentioned srimadh poundareekapuram swamin has given many points on

this slokam. Now we will see these points.

 

1. Why seethaa offered this `title'. Since raamaa refused her in

accompanying him to the forest. So seethaa thinking "hey he is my

husband, so I can take some liberty to comment or criticize my

husband" offers this. With that `special liberty' she did it, even

though, she had high regard that raamaa is `brave'.

 

2. `vaidhEha: pithaa'- father janaka, is one who has come in the clan

of `vidhEha' – they were all very sincere in their karma anushtaanam.

Bhagavaan krishNa claims in bhagavath geethaa `karmaNai vahi

samsidhdhim aasthithaa janakaadhaya:' –such a janaka is her father.

 

For those who are sincere in karmas, they want the wives to be with

them always. No separation is allowed. So seethaa thought "father

janaka will not permit such separation of wife from husband. But here

raama says `I will go alone'. This means karma also will go.

Separation also will be effected". So a comparison with her father on

thekarma anushtaanam front results in the title that `you are a

sthree'.

 

For a woman, helping in her husband's karma is her prime duty –

her `karmaa'.

 

[the wives have to take part in the anushtaanams of husband -

example – in the agni santhaanam she has to take, divide the rice

held in hand and offer to husband, in turn, for his offer to the

agni - daily twice. If she is not there, no agni santhaanam will take

place – kindly recollect `gold seethaa idol' was kept by raama while

he did the yagnam].

 

3. `kim thvaa amanyatha vaidhEha: pithaa – what he will think `I gave

my daughter to a lady who came in man's garb, also broke the bow. I

also gave my daughter foolishly'.

 

4. Philosophically thinking - as per slOkam

sa Eva vaasudhEva: ayam saakshaath purusha uchyathE

sthree praayam Ethath sarvam jagath brahma purassaram -

sreeman naaraayanan alone is the purushan, male – all others are

females only. So my father may have considered you as the female in

the male garb and gave his daughter. So `sthriyam purusha vigraham'.

 

5. `raama ja amaathram' purusha: vigraham – if the words are split

like this – then the meaning is – hey raama ja – one who is born to

make other people in this world happy. So you made him happy by

winning me.

 

Father janaka is happy of having obtained that purusha: as his son in

law and now enjoying great happiness. If you proceed to forest

leaving me behind his happiness also will suffer a dent. So how can

you do that?

 

6. purusha: - male – vigraham means kalaham – if my dad has realized

even a bit that kaikeyee, the step mother, is likely to do this kind

of twisting etc he would not have given me in marriage to you.

 

raama purusha: vigraham - when he is forest all the rishees and

munees are going to enjoy your manly physical beauty – of that

purusha: - seethaa thinks `but here I am going to suffer in

separation of you'.

 

[this is what happened. All rishis and munees wanted to enjoy raama

by a physical union which was later materialized as krishNa and

gOpees. So a foundation laid here]

 

7. `praapya sthriyam'- this is split as `praapi asthriyam' – means

one who is not married to any other lady. Thinking that raama is

having only my daughter as his wife, janaka is happy now. As per the

adage "raajaana: bahu vallabhaa: - kings have many wives" – he has

not checked whether you have another wife in the forest. That is why

you are leaving me here to join that lady in the forest.

 

8. One who has leant asthraas is called asthree – visvaamithra is an

asthree, for he taught raamaa several asthrams after thaataka vadham.

Visvaamithra lives in forest.

One who accompanies such an `asthree' [learned person of asthrams] is

also called `asthree'. [that is a specialty of the Sanskrit

language].

Since raama accompanied visvaamithraa to mithilaa, an asthree

accompanying another asthree who likes to live in forest, now seethaa

thinks `hey raamaa you also want to go forest, that too alone. No

wonder'.

 

9. vEdham says brahmam is male as well female. Raamaa is brahmam.

Maadhavan is the `loka pithaa cha maathaa' as per sreemadh

bhaagavatham. So also raamaa the maadhava is `sthriyam purusha

vigraham'.

 

10. Seethaa thinks, "The eldest son rightfully gets the kingdom of

his father. This rule or procedure is prevalent here in kosala

kingdom also. When kaikEyee said you leave to the forest by offering

the kingdom to the young one bharatha, instead fighting for your

right like a male, you are running to the forest like a lady of less

guts. So sthriyam purusha vigraham".

 

Hope the title and the points are enjoyable. Since such a special

title of `sthriyam purusha vigraham' is a consequence or a result

of `breaking the bow' the same is included here in bow's story.

 

Dhaasan

Vasudevan m.g.