rama's date - rejoinder

[Guest guest]

Dear SrivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

In continuation of my earlier [yesterday's] post on raama's date, I wish to add

the following slokams as available in sundhara kaaNdam reinforcing my contention

that raama was 25 and not 17 at the time of his exile.

 

Here in sundhara kaaNdam seethaa talks to hanumaan and while introducing herself

she says -

I am king dhasarathaa's daughter in law - snushaa dhasarathasya aham,

I am king jankaa's daughter - dhuhithaa janakasya aham,

I am seethaa named - seethaa ithi naamnaa,

I am raamaa's wife - bhaaryaa raamasya etc.

 

One important point incidentally is to be highlighted here. That is - when a

kula sthree - a 'well brought up' family lady - introduces herself - she has to

do so by saying first about the elders in the 'in laws' family, and then only

about their own family. So the pugundha veettu gouravam - in law's house's

honour, respect and pride etc, are the first thing to be mentioned first and

then only about their own family. See such finer aspects. They are the things

to be learnt while reading the raamaayaNam, bhaaratham, etc, more than the story

portion.

 

The next two slOkams are the most relevant ones to us -

 

samaa dhvaadhasa thathra aham raaghavasya nivEsanE |

bhunjnanaa maanushaan bhOgaan sarva kaama samrudhDhinee || 5 - 33-17

 

raaghavasya nivEsanE - in the house of raaghavan viz. raamaa

sama dhvaadhasa - for 12 full [years is understood from next slOkam]

aham - I

maanushaan bhOgaan - all humanly enjoyments

sarva kaama samrudhDhinee - to the full and desired extent

thathra bhunjaanaa - there enjoyed

thatha: thrayOdhasE varshE raajyE cha ikshvaaku nandhanam |

abhishEchayaithum raajaa sa upaaDhyaaya: prachakramE || 5-33-18

thatha: - then

thrayOdhasE varshE - in the thirteenth year

raajaa ikshvaaku nandhanam - the chief of ikshvaaku clan - viz. king dhasaratha

upaaDhyaaya: - the gurus

raajyE cha - with the people of the country

sa - he [that raamaa] as prince or king

abhishEchayaithum - to be crowned

prachakramE - proposed.

The rest of the points are all well known and hence not dealt with.

May be in the first instance seethaa was under pressure in front of raavaNan.

[again as I already said, she talks to raavaNan in very clear terms and not

under pressure, but can be considered as such to the next following one].

Compared to that situation, here in front of hanumaan, seethaa is not under

similar pressure.

For she already had felt subha sakhunams - auspicious forecasts of times,

also hanumaan gave the small pep up by way of raama's welfare story,

and how he is suffering the separation of seethaa etc,

which in reality lifted her spirits up and

then only seethaa gives this introduction about herself.

So no doubts can be ascribed to the figures what she spells out like that of

kousalyaa - for kousalyaa has to be consoled later by sumithraa - her husband's

'sapathnee' - as raamaa is 'sooryasya soorya' - meaning sun's sun- light giver

to sun himself - after raamaa has really left for forests. [an exclusive article

on those words of sumithra by MGV earlier in the list]

So, that version of raama exile at 17 years of age has to be reconsidered again

with fresh evidence to be given by experts.

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.

PS: perhaps these are the slokams, which Smt.Jayasree mentioned as - quote -

"Regarding the years that Sita mentions in Sundhara khandam, I somehow

picturised as though she was 18 and Raama was 25 at the time of exile. I am

unable to bring back to memory how I arrived at this. But I have read somewhere

or calculated on the basis of some inputs. I hope to get them soon and share

with others" unquote