the bow's story - post 10

[Guest guest]

Post 10

Dear srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

 

In the bow's story, in srimadh vaalmeeki ramayaNam, in the seethaa kalyaaNam

portions, [what we are discussing] there is no mention or place for raavaNan

entering the scene. Also his trying to lift the bow, could not succeed and

returned as a failure, etc are not featuring. Srimadh poundareekapuram swamy in

his book raamapiraanaik kaRpOm -vol 1 - quotes 'aanandha raamaayaNam' giving

this portion of ravaNan handling siva dhanus story. [i am just giving only the

substance. For errors please pardon me].

 

Like other princes / kings, who wanted to take part in the swayamvara of

seethaa, by having a go at the siva's bow, raavaNan also came. He could open the

box, lift the bow and he wanted to go for stringing. But by the time he tried to

put the bow vertically for stringing [naaN ERRa], the bow leaned on him. By the

sheer weight of bow, raavanan got underneath the bow and shouted / cried for

help. Then king janakan with an army of people helped raavana out of the bow. As

such raavaNan could not succeed at the bow, thereby missed to win seethaa. Then

after some time raamaa came. -- [Rest we have seen already with vaalmeeki and

kamban's raamaayaNam].

 

Also in www.indiadivine.org website sri swami atmatattvadas in his RamayaNa

lectures [based on valmeeki and many other puranams as stated in the first page

itself] gives the following, where raavaNa enters the scene with a big bang and

then returns with disgrace.

 

Quote -- So one or two very puffed-up kshatriya kings came. The first one could

not lift it, and another got his hand stuck between the floor and the bow, and

he had to be pulled out. Just then the whole assembly became dark and the earth

was shaking. They heard someone laughing loudly. So then Janaka caught hold of

Vishvamitra's hand and said, "Tell me what is now happening." Vishvamitra said,

"This must be a demon. Very soon he will enter." In another three minutes there

was a flash of light, and between the light came Trilokeshvara, Ravana. He had

arranged that before he came, two other demons would precede him and announce,

"Trilokeshvara Ravana is coming." Everyone was scared, "What is this demon doing

in our assembly?" So then Ravana appeared. "What is this svayamvara? You are all

spineless people. You can't even lift this bow! You must know who I am. I am

Ravana, and I have lifted Kailash with Lord Shiva on it. This is only his bow.

This is the bow of Lord Shiva, and Lord Shiva, his whole family, his entire

troop of ghosts and goblins and the whole Kailash mountain was lifted by me, and

I flew to Lanka. That is my strength." So then everybody thought, "He can easily

lift this bow."

 

So Ravana came, and he put his hands on each side, and he lifted the bow.

Everyone was amazed. "Ah! He has lifted the bow!" Then Lord Shiva in Kailash was

thinking, "What's going on? I didn't leave it for him. I left it for Lord Rama."

So then Shiva went inside the bow and pressed down. Ravana got stuck. That also

happened when he lifted Kailash mountain, when he put it down he got stuck. Now

he was also stuck. He was crying and pleading, and finally Lord Shiva let go,

and he got his hand out. And then Rama came, but he didn't use two hands, only

one. He put his foot on the other end of the bow and he took the string. As he

pulled it, the bow broke into two pieces. Everyone clapped their hands, and

flowers fell from heaven. -- Unquote.

 

One thing very curious in the above para is visvaamithraa's presence in the hall

during raavana trying a hand at the bow. [Anyhow that is not the point for us.]

So from these two references, it appears raavaNa also attempted at the bow, and

returned empty handed.

 

In vaalmeeki raamayaNam, when raavaNa meets seetha in the sanyaasi garb, and

starts describing her, there is no trace that he has seen her earlier during the

swayamvaram. See slOkam -

na Evam roopaa mayaa naaree dhrushta poorvaa mahee thalE | 3-46-23

meaning: I have not seen such a lady in this world earlier.

 

Nor seeethaa indicates a trace of information that she has seen or heard about

raavaNan who attempted to marry her in swayamvaram. See slokam

 

braahmaNa: cha athithi: cha Esha anukthO hi sapEtha maam |

ithi dhyaathvaa muhoortham thu seethaa vachanam abraveeth || 3-47-2

 

meaning: But thinking briefly thus, 'he is a Brahman and an untimely guest. If I

do not speak with him, he may curse me' and hence spoke this sentence.

 

This comment is available in valmikiramayan.net under this slokam: 'A lie cannot

be uttered to a sanyaasi, much less to a Brahman. But this friar appears as

someone who is attired as a sanyaasi to fill his stomach. But he is BraahmaNa,

because he came booming vedic hymns, which no other lesser BraahmaNa can do.

Thus, he is someone with a perfect Vedic background, and according to the saying

sanyaseenaam poojanam kaaryam striyaa vaa puruSena... ' an ascetic is to be

revered either by a lady or a gentleman' and thus he cannot be turned out saying

'my husband is not at home' and if he is neglected he may curse'. These are the

thoughts criss-crossing Seetha at that moment.

 

The following important point is from MGV: If that is so, now a doubt arises in

me.

If raavaNan could not lift the bow and nor handle the bow, which seethaa just

pushed aside [then as a six year old], that too, with her left hand so casually,

how come raavaNan could lift that very same seetha so easily. What happened to

all her powers, if she had some extraordinary powers to push that heavy siva's

bow as a child?

 

Since it is connected with the bow and powerful seethaa as a child and now a

powerless seethaa, I am presenting this question - that too as a grown up when

raavaNan wanted to abduct her, what made her so weak in front of raavaNan, that

he could easily lift her? [Already we have seen, seethaa saying to raamaa, even

indhran cannot do any harm to me by his physical might, but now she is in such a

weak position in front of raavaNan].

 

Considering the time and physical power aspects, she was a six year old then,

and could push the siva's bow so easily where raavaNan has failed. Now, when she

is standing in front of raavaNan, she is a fully grown lady, married to raama,

having lived with raama for 12 years in ayodhyaa, and another 12 or 13 years in

the forest - so now must have better powers, that too after her association with

raama - for this abduction by raavaNan incidence takes place only towards the

end of the vanavaasam period of 14 years.

 

[why this further 12 or 13 years of vanavaasam 14 years - Actually 10 months she

remained in isolation in ashoka vaatikaa. When hanumaan meets seethaa, she says

within two months if raama does not turn up I will die etc. For raavanan gives

12 months time for her to change her mind and become his wife, when he ordered

the servants to keep her in ashoka vaatika immediately after he abducted her.

Further within that 2 months raama came, rescued seetha and returned to ayOdhya,

before the end of 14th year and just in time to save bharathan from going to

sacrifice himself in fire at the end of 14th year - one day or so remaining in

14 years]

 

That is the question posed now? Clarifications / Comments / Points / from

bhaagavthaas are welcome.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.