bow's tory - post 12

[Guest guest]

Post 12

 

Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

In the comments and elaborations given by smt. Jayasree saranathan

she raised a question "What are these bows called? Which then is

Kothandam, which we usually associate with Rama?". I earlier

replied "this a difficult question to answer". But it appears, the

question has become more difficult to answer for -- read below.

 

In aaraNya kaaNdam we see the following.

Raamaa with lakshmaNa and seethaa visits sage agasthyaa's aasramam.

He was received by the sage's sishyaas, and then sage comes and meets

raamaa. [earlier portion of sage agasthya receiving raama lakshmaNa

and seethaa is not taken up here for the sake of space].

 

Evam ukthvaa phalai: moolai: pushpai: cha anyai: cha raaghavam |

poojayithvaa yathaa kaamam thathO agasthya: tham abraveeth || 3-12-31

 

meaning: Saying thus, agasthya adored raaghavan well with fruits,

tubers, flowers and others according to his ardency, and then, he

said this to raamaa.

 

idham dhivyam mahath chaapam hEma vajra vibhooshitham |

vaishNavam purushavyaaghra nirmitham visvakarmaNaa || 3-12-32

amOgha: soorya samkaasO brahmadhaththa: sara uththama: |

 

meaning: This sacred bow that is decorated with gold and diamonds is

crafted by the divine architect visvakarmaa, pertains to VishNu, and

these unwasteful arrows equalling sun in their blaze are the gift of

Brahma.

 

[we have already seen parasuraama saying "hey raamaa, I heard the

noise of your breaking the siva dhanu which is already broken. You

please note this is a vaishNava dhanu: and string this". That is also

created by visvakarma, the divine architect. Here one more vaishNava

dhanu: is presented to raama by sage agasthyar. Means visvakarma has

created more than one vishNu dhanu: and perhaps only one siva dhanu:]

 

dhaththo mama mahEndhrENa thooNee cha akshaya saayakou || 3-12-33

sampoorNou nishithai: baaNai: jvaladhbhi: iva paavakai: |

mahaa rajatha kosO: ayam asi: hEmavibhooshitha: || 3-12-34

 

meaning: Also these two inexhaustible quivers packed with arrows that

have the blaze of ritual fire, and this sword decorated in gold

together with its sheath made up of excellent golden are once given

to me by Indhran.

 

[again another two quivers with inexhaustible stock of arrows.

Already janaka gave two while giving seethaa, which we saw earlier.

When raamaa asks lakshmaNa to go to sage vasishtaa's aasramam and

bring the 2 bows and quivers]

 

anEna dhanushaa raama hathvaa sankhyE mahaasuraan |

aajahaara sriyam dheeipthaam puraa vishNur dhivoukasaam || 3-12-35

 

meaning: By this bow, oh, raama, once VishNu eliminated horrible

demons in war and brought back radiant prosperity to the celestials.

 

thath dhanu: thou cha thooNi cha saram khaDgam cha maanadha |

jayaaya prathigruhNeeshva vajram vajradharO yathaa || 3-12-36

 

meaning: The bow, these two quivers, arrows, and the sword, oh,

raama, the endower of grace, receive and wield them to triumph over

the demons as Indhran would wield the thunderbolt.

 

Evam ukthvaa mahaa thEjaa: samastham thath vara aayudham |

dhaththvaa raamaaya bhagavaan agasthya: punar abraveeth || 3-12-37

 

Meaning: On saying thus that great resplendent and godly sage

agasthya, gave all of those best weapons to raama, and again spoke to

raama.

 

Now the question of which is `kOthandam' – which vishNu dhanu:? Is a

big point for debate. For sage vaalmeeki is not mentioning this name

whenever raama is using his bow. He merely says dhanu:. So what is

kOthandam and where from this name came is a point. I invite learned

in the group to offer points on this.

 

Dhaasan

 

Vasudevan m.g.