the bow's story - post 8 (conclusion)

[Guest guest]

Post 8

Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

We saw in post 7 the siva's bow held as king janaka's 'kula dhanam' is broken.

What was the reaction of king janaka on this breaking etc we have already seen

in 'raama wins' series from this author, author of present series. How the sage

visvaamithra enjoyed this breaking is not there available in vaalmeeki

raaamaayaNam. When janaka said 'if you give your consent I will send my

ambassoadors to inform king dhasaratha and bring him here to conduct the

marriage', Sage visvaamithra said thadhaasthu - yes, that be done so. When king

dhasaratha et al reached mithila and date was fixed for marriage, seethaa was

decorated nicely and brought to the hall. On seeing seetha sage visvaamithra

thinks, hey what is this bow- just nothing, if raama has to get this girl

seethaa. See verse of kamban -

 

achchu ena ninaiththa mudhal andhaNan ninainthaan

pachchaimalai oththa padivaththu adal iraaman

nachchudai vadikkaN malar nangai ivaL enRaal

ich chilai kidakka malai Ezhaiyum iRaanO?

 

Hey will not raamaa break all seven hills if he has to get this girl seethaa as

the kanyaa sulkam.

See the beauty of words here -

pachchai malai oththa padivaththu adal iraaman - green colour hill has taken the

shape of raaman [adal - vaaliban - male in his prime time- paruvaththu

aaNpiLLai]

nachchudai vadikkaN malar nangai - when poison came out - along with that and at

the same time came this girl from flower - mahaa lakshmi born from a flower from

milk ocean - just recall the milk ocean churning episode.

or can be interpreted as the lady who has a flower like eyes, but at the same

time if she glances a male, then these glances enter the heart like a sharp

shooter arrow and kills the male with love, like a poisonous arrow.

 

Please recall the famous slOkam of janaka "iyam seethaa mama suthaa", the slokam

recited during the kanyaa dhaanam - giving the daughter seethaa to raamaa. Since

the present topic is 'bow's story', we are not seeing in detail the marriage.

 

So we now move on to the next bow in raamaayaNam the vishNu dhanu:, the second

visvakarma creation, done at the same time as the broken siva dhanu:, which

reached parasuraama through his ancestors.

 

We saw in post 3 that parasuraama tells dhasaratha raama, there was fight

between siva and vishNu in the presence of rishis and dhEva gaNams etc. We also

saw the slokams wherein parasuraama informed raama, by a hoonkaaram vishNu broke

the siva's bow and then there was an amity between siva and vishNu thereafter.

 

Just to recall, by this slokam we understood the siva's bow was handed over to

dhEvaraatha the ancestor of king janaka.

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

dhEvaraathasya raaja rishE: dhadhou hasthE sa saayakam |

[for meaning please refer post 3]

 

idham cha vaishNavam raama dhanu: para puram jayam || 1-75-21

richeekE bhaargavE praadhaath vishNu: sa nyaasam uththamam |

 

Meaning: parasuraama says 'Oh, raama, this is that enemy-citadel conquering

longbow of vishNu, and vishNu handed over this bow to sage richeeka, the son of

bhrigu, as a trustworthy repository'.

 

richeeka: thu mahaathEjaa: puthrasya aprathikarmaNa: || 1-75-22

pithu: mama dhadhou dhivyam jamadhagnE: mahaathmana: |

 

Meaning: But that great-resplendent sage richeeka handed over this divine bow to

his son with unmatchable deeds [of religious merit] who is my father sage

Jamadhagni.

 

So this is the way the vishNu dhanu: reached parasuraama, now standing in front

of raama. Since father jamadhagni was killed by kaarthaveeryaarjunan, as a

revenge parasuraama killed him, as well as killed all the kahsthriyaas. As he

himself claimed in slokam 25, he, then started residing in mount mahEndhra. Why

he came now is clear from kamban. The sound of the breaking of siva dhanu was

heard by parasuraama in mahendhra parvatham where parasuraama was doing penance.

So he got wild, and wanted to know, hey who is that capable of doing this?

 

ulagu elaam munivaRku eenthEn uRu pagai odukkip pOnthEn

alagu il maa thavangaL seidhu oR aruvarai irunthEn aaNdai

silaiyai nee iRuththa Osai sevi uRa seeRi vandhEn

malaiguven vallai again vaangudhi dhanuvai enRaan

- 34 parasuraamap padalam

 

please note the words - varai irundhEn - stayed in hill. silaiyai nee iRuththa

Osai sevi uRa - hearing the breaking noise of that bow - I came here.

[silai has two meaning - one is - a statue, another is - a bow].

 

But vaalmeekee's version can be interpreted differently also as can be seen

here- sruthvaa on hearing means through somebody also - whereas kamban is more

straight - I heard it, so I came.

 

sruthvaa thu dhanushO bhEdham thathO aham dhrutham aagatha: || 1-75-26

thath Evam vaishNavam raama pithru paithaamaham mahath |

kshathra dharmam puras kruthya gruhNeeshva dhanur uththamam || 1-75-27

 

meaning: But on hearing the breakage of siva's long bow, then I promptly came

here. Thereby, oh, raama, wield this supernatural and superlative long bow of

vishNu, which is passed on to me from my forefathers and my father. Let your

kshatkriya-hood be given an exhibition by wielding this bow likewise [if you

can].

 

yOjayasva dhanu: srEshtE saram para puramjayam |

yadhi saktha: asi kaakuthstha dhvandhvam dhaasyaami thE thatha: || 1-75-28

 

meaning: Take an aim with this supramundane longbow with an arrow that conquers

enemy's citadels, and should you be capable of it, thereafter I will give you a

duel. Oh, kaakuthstha!

 

raama was thus challenged by parasuraama. raama did really string the bow with

same ease with which he broke the siva's bow. So raama addressed sir, the bow is

ready, there should be an aim to shoot the arrow, where is the target.

parasuraama offered all his thapas be burnt which raama did. Again see kamban

 

enRanan enna ninRa iraamanum muRuval eidhi

nanRu oLirmugaththan aagi naaraNan valiyin aaNda

venRivil tharuga enna koduththanan veeran koNdu ath

thunRu irunchagdaiyOn anja thOL uRa vaangi sollum - 35 parasuraamap padalam

 

kamban just puts three words - thOL uRa vaangi - to complete the action of all

that bending stringing etc of the huge vishNu bow.

 

another interesting 'side story' is also added at this stage. It is usual for

saarngam to enter into any bow vishNu holds in all avathaarams. Here also it

entered secretly into the raama's bow when parasuraama wanted it in his bow. See

-

 

"So then Parashurama came to him and said, "Who is this Rama?" Ramachandra said,

"It is you. You are the only Rama. You are Parashurama. Who else is Rama?"

Parashurama said, "Some young child from Iksvaku's dynasty, how dare he break

Lord Siva's bow? I have controlled the kshathriyas so much. I have finished them

all. And now someone else is coming. He must know that I am still here."

Ramachandra said, "No, no, what's the problem? I didn't break it, but the bow

was so weak that I just lifted it and it broke into two pieces."

 

Parashurama said, "You mean to say that You are so strong and Lord Siva's bow is

so weak? So the kshathriyas are becoming strong again, and I am not going to

leave it like that. If you think that you are so powerful, then why did you

insult Lord Siva? You don't think that you have done aparaadha? He's the great

Mahesa and you broke his bow! And how does this Janaka make a svayamvara like

this, that someone should string Siva's bow? So he is also an impostor. Now

again I will start, and I will finish all of you. Finish Dasharatha, finish

Janaka, finish everyone." So then Ramachandra said, "Yes, many people are

supposed to be finished, but it is supposed to be done by me." Parasurama said,

"Now you are competing with me?" He took his axe and said, "You look at this."

Rama and Lakshmana paid obeisances. "Why are you paying namaskara to my axe?"

Parasurama asked.

 

They replied, "Because it killed all the bad ksatriyas. It is a famous weapon.

It is a weapon of VishNu, and we are in the Surya dynasty so we must pay our

obeisances." So Parasurama was perplexed. At one point they are instructing, and

then they are paying obeisances. "There is something here that I am not able to

figure out," Parasurama said. "So I will have to give them a test." Then he

addressed them. "If you are so courageous and so strong, I will give you the bow

of VishNu. Let us see if you can string it." Ramachandra said, "Anything you

give, I will take, and anything you say I will do by your blessing."

 

So then Parasurama closed his eyes and lifted his hands. He was invoking

Sarnga-dhanu, the original bow of VishNu. He was calling and calling, but it was

not coming. And then he opened his eyes, and he saw that Rama was already

holding it, and it was already strung. Then he said, "You are the source of all

strength. Now I understand that it is you and not me. You are the Rama, I am not

the Rama. So I have no worries, and now I will only do meditation. That was what

I was doing, but Narada came to me and said, `What are you doing, Parasurama?

The kshatriyas are becoming powerful again.' And he told me that some king, he

didn't tell me who, he just told me that some king has a son, and this son has

broken Lord Siva's bow. He never told me it was You."

 

In this side story, see the blame of informing parasuraama is placed on

naaradha. But since we have the word as 'sruthvaa' from vaalmeeki, this has some

credence. As we have seen, in kamban, it is straight. Anyhow parasuraama is thus

subdued and vishNu's bow has successfully reached vishNu - raama - successfully.

 

With that we also end the bow's story successfully.

 

Once again a big thanks to Sri V.Anjaneyalu who gave me the tips on 'seetha

pushing the bow cart' story, which info was completely new to me, thus leading

us to enjoy the raamaayaNam a lot more.

 

Dhasan

 

Vasudevan m.g