lakshmana 4

[Guest guest]

Post 4

 

Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

 

 

In the previous three posts we saw on lakshmana donning four roles, being

 

- the baalya sakhaa, the friend in young or childhood days of raama,

- the vazhith thuNaivan – companion for raama in the 'long trekking'

from mithila to sidhDhaasrama and from there to mithila, along with sage

visvaamithra,

- the husband of oormiLa – his beloved wife

- the assistant administrator of ayOdhyaa.

 

 

 

In this the 'husband' role of lakshmaNa, the role was taken up by him with

the consent of the 'father and king' dhasaratha – for – we have already seen

that raama did not agree to the marriage, once the siva dhanus was broken by

him – message was sent to king dhasaratha and after he came to mithila and

gave his consent to the proposal of marriage of raama and seethaa, then only

the marriage took place. This is as said by seethaa to sage athri's wife

anasooya, in the forest, when she described her marriage events. [Re MGV's

article earlier]

 

 

 

The 'administrator' role of lakshmaNa, - this role was simply offered by

raama, without lakshmaNa asking for it. Perhaps you may have noticed the

words stated by vaalmeeki – just to repeat it again -

 

 

 

gathE cha bharathE raamO *lakshmaNa: cha* mahaabala: || 1-77-20

pitharam dhEva sankaa*s*am poojayaamaasathu: thadhaa |

 

 

 

Point: please note here raama did the administration for welfare of people

"with lakshmaNa". So whatever raama did for people, it is 'along with

lakshmaNa'. So that 'assistant administrator' role is a natural flow of

authority from raama. But whatever raama did, was with the consent of father

and king dhasaratha.

 

 

 

Now let us take up the next role – the angry younger brother of raama -

ready even to fight against the revered father just in front of his admired

elder brother raama. This role is a 'self assigned one' for lakshmaNa, for

raama did not offer, or for that matter nobody else. That role lakshmaNa

played, is out of sheer love for raama and his welfare.

 

 

 

Let us go into the details. Perhaps we have to go a bit lengthy [may be one

or more posts] to understand that role and its full magnitude.

 

 

 

The proposal of coronation was made in the durbar of king dhasaratha.

Arrangements were being made in all places. Meanwhile king went to meet his

3rd wife kaikEyee, and after a long chain of happenings, raama was called to

the palace of kaikEyee. On being informed by sumanthra, the minister, that

father dhasaratha is calling from the palace of kaikEyee, *when raama went

there he did not go alone* [or to that palace or room where kaikEyee and

dhasaratha were there]. *He went with lakshmaNa. *

 

 

 

See slOkams – why all these preludes - is to prove that from the time raama

was being informed about his vana vaasam, it was not a surprise to

lakshmaNa, and thus he did not become angry suddenly.

 

 

 

parvathaath iva nishkramya simhO giri guhaa*s*aya: |

 

lakshmaNam dhvaari sO~apasyath praanjaliputam sthhitham | | 2-16-26

 

 

 

meaning: That Raama who came out [out of his room in raamaa's palace], like

a lion residing in a mountain cave from out of the mountain, saw Lakshmana

standing at the door, bowing with palms of the hand joined and put to the

forehead as a mark of respect.

 

 

 

chhathra chaamara paaNi: thu lakshmaNa: raaghava anuja: | 2-16-32

 

jugOpa bhraatharam bhraathaa rathham aasthaaya prushTatha: | |

 

 

 

meaning: Lakshmana, Raama's younger brother mounted the chariot in the

back-side and protected Raama with umbrella and chaamara fan.

 

 

 

*Points:* There, in the palace, when mother kaikEyee informed raama [along

with lakshmaNa] about this '14 years of forest living' raama did not show

any reaction. But when both raama and lakshmaNa came out lakshmaNa's face

was drawn down with sorrow, and that itself sent signals across to all, that

things are not in right direction for the coronation.

 

 

 

In many a upanyaasams, when the speakers describe these incidents, they just

trot out, as though raama was alone, and later when lakshmaNa came to know

about this 'forest going affair' of his elder, LakshmaNa became angry. But

vaalmeeki shows us, all along lakshmaNa was there with raama. [Of course the

speakers intentions are to cover the course of the main story, and as such

may skip this point]. But for us while studying in detail about lakshmaNa,

this is a big and important point.

 

 

 

raamasya thu vacha sruthvaa bhrusam dhu:kha gatha: pithaa |

 

sOkaath a*s*aknuvan bhaashpam prurOdha maahaasvanam | | 2-19- 27

 

 

 

meaning: On hearing raama, father became extremely sad and shed tears and

became unconscious.

 

 

 

tham bhaashpa paripoorNa aksha: prushTathO anujagaama ha |

 

lakshmaNa: parama krudhdha: sumithraa aanandha vardhana: || 2-19-30

 

 

 

meaning: Lakshmana, the son of Sumitra, felt very angry, with his eyes

filled with tears and accompanied behind Raama.

 

 

 

*Point:* See here – when raama left the palace of kaikEyee, lakshmaNa

accompanied raama and he did not react, but only felt angry and sad.

 

 

 

tham guNai: samathaam praapthO bhraathaa vipula vikarama: |

 

soumithri: anuvavraaja Dhaarayan dhu:kham aathmajam | | 2-19- 39

 

 

 

meaning: Lakshmana, *who got virtues equal to Raama*, *who was having great

heroic valour* and *who was the brother*, kept the grief within himself and

went along with Raama.

 

 

 

Point: See the descriptions of vaalmeeki here about lakshmaNa. LakshmaNa

kept the sorrow within for a while, when he was in kaikEyee's chamber and in

front of father. But later only he burst out.

 

 

 

Starting from kaikEyee's palace raama, with lakshmaNa, went straight to

inform mother kousalyaa. When he talked to mother, see what raama said –

 

 

 

dhEvi noonam na jaaneeshE mahath bhayam upasthhitham |

 

idham thaa cha dhu:khaaya vaidhEhyaa lakshmaNasya cha | | 2-20 – 27

 

 

 

meaning: Oh, mother! You do not know that a great dismay is approaching now..

It brings grief to you, to Seethaa and to Lakshmana.

 

 

 

Again see the point here – raama does not express any sort of discomfort or

sadness or anguish in his being ordered to go to forest – only mother,

seethaa and lakshmaNa are going to get grief and not himself. Already

lakshmaNa is experiencing that.

 

 

 

Yet another important point is here. Perhaps that is not so relevant to our

main discussion on lakshmaNa. But since that is very important and gives a

good new twist, I thought of sharing with you all [for many may have a

different version of story]. Raama says to mother kousalyaa -

 

 

 

chathurdhasa hi varshaaNi vathsyaami vijanE vanE |

 

madhu moola phalai: jeevan hithvaa munivadh aami*s*am || 2-20-29

 

* *

 

Meaning: I shall live in a solitary forest like a sage for fourteen years,

leaving off meat and living with roots, fruits and honey".

 

 

 

So it is not a surprise that when hanumaan meets seethaa in asOkha vanam and

says raama is neither eating meat, nor drinking madhu – wine etc, it is not

a surprise, which she also knows fully well. And that is as per his talk or

assurance, here, to his mother - he lives true to his word – raamO

vigrahavaan dharma: Further please do not forget that he had that two

powerful manthraas bala and athibala given by sage visvaamithra when they

set out on mission kill thaataka.

 

 

 

Here paravaak kottai srimadh aaNdavan swamy in his book 'raama piraanaik

karpOm' gives a side story to this assurance – swamy says – brahmaa gave a

boon to raavaNa as asked by him - that raavaNa cannot be killed by anybody

else, except a person, who lives like a sage in forest for 14 long years,

eating only roots, fruits, leaves. So when this boon was granted by brahma

to raavaNa, raavaNa thought he just cannot be killed by anybody, for who

will live like that in a forest, that too for 14 long years.

 

 

 

MGV adds perhaps raavaNa was thinking that if such a human – a naran – frail

human personality - could live like that, there in the forest, for such a

long time, then he will not have enough strength to fight a monster like

himself – so he was so much happy to get such a boon from brahma.

 

 

 

Now I expect some questions here from the elite readers.

 

 

 

Sinc length of the post applies brakes we will continue in next post.

 

 

 

Dhasan

 

 

 

 

--

Vasudevan MG