Guest guest Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 ** *sub: vaalmeeki and raamayaNam* * * Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer, In the subject of "a question of age" of raama I raised a point on sage vaalmeeki whether there are two vaalmeekis or only one. The reasonings I gave - just for recollection a. We all know it is sage vaalmeeki who wrote raamaayaNam – after being taught about that by sage naaradha. Brahma also comes and blesses vaalmeeki, to have a complete flash back of things as it 'happened' without any secret even between the husband raama and wife seethaa. b. In ayodhyaa kaandam, raama meets sage vaalmeeki in his aasramam during his forest sojourn. Slokam meanings only - are quoted below. meaning: After deciding thus Seethaa, Raama and LakshmaNa all with joined palms approached the hermitage and offered salutation to the sage Vaalmeeki.. 2-56-16 meaning: The great sage Vaalmeeki, who knew what is right, full of delight, treated them with honour, offered cordial welcome and requested them to sit.. 2-56-17 c. Later same vaalmeeki gives asylum for seethaa when she is banished.. If we take that it is towards the end of 11000 years, vaalmeeki was also of same age around 11000 + years. d. Is it the same vaalmeeki, who met raama in forest that who gave asylum to seethaa and later who wrote raamaayaNam as per naaradhaa's teaching or 3 different persons or at least 2 different persons. Our respected sri sadagopan swamy of coimbatore said only one. His reply is quote - It is doubtless the same Valmiki who affords asylum to Sita and teaches the Rama Charitam to Her sons and the Maharshi is indubitably a contemporary of Rama. – unquote. Now we will see some points on the sage to establish vaalmeeki is a contemporary of raama and he wrote the raamaayaNam long time after raama's coronation – real coronation after raavaNa vadham. 1. The reply as narrated by naaradha, in the first sargam of baala kaandam to the question of vaalmeeki on that 'Evam vidham naram', the narration by sage naaradha is *in past tense* upto raama's coronation [real coronation after raavaNa vadham and not the proposal earlier which resulted in vanavaasam] and in describing how people are happy in raama raajya. na cha agnijam bhayam kinchith na apsu majjanthi janthava: | na vaathajam bhayam kincith na api jvara krutham thathaa || 1-1-92 na cha api kshuth bhayam thathra na thaskara bhayam thathaa | nagaraaNi cha raashTraaNi dhana dhaanya yuthaani cha || 1-1-93 nithyam pramudhithaa: sarvE yathaa krutha yugE thathaa | Meaning: In the kingdom of Raama there is no fear for subjects from wildfires, gale-storms or from diseases, and there is no fear from hunger or thieves, nor the cattle is drowned in floodwaters, as well. May it be a township or a remote province, it was replete with coin and grain, and as to how people lived in high gladness during the earlier Krita era, likewise people lived in Raama's period also with the same gladness. *Point:* Then on, it *changes to future tense* that raama 'will conduct aswamEdhaas', establish the 4 varNaas, etc and then go to brahma lokam. See slokams a*s*vamEdha *s*athai: ishTvaa thathaa bahu suvarNakai: || 1-1-94 gavaam kOTyayutham dhaththvaa vidhvabhyO vidhi poorvakam | asankhyEyam dhanam dhaththvaa braahmaNEbhyo mahaayashaa: || 1-1-95 raaja vam*s*aan *s*atha guNaan sthaapaishyathi raaghava: | chaathur varNyam cha lOkE asmin svE svE dharmE niyOkshyathi || 1-1-96 meaning: On performing hundreds of Horse-Rituals and rituals wherein plenty of gold will be bounteously donated, likewise on donating millions of cows and uncountable wealth to Brahmans and scholars, that highly illustrious Raama will proceed to Brahma's abode, in future. In this world Raghava will establish kingly dynasties in hundredfold and he will maintain the four-caste system positing each in his own probity, may it be caste-bound or provincial-kingdom-bound probity, in order to achieve a perfect social harmony. *Point:* please note the verbs – *sthaapaishyathi, niyOkshyathi – *in future tense – to be precise 'second future tense' as per dhaathu roopa manjari, the dealer on 'verbs' in Sanskrit. This is as said by naaradha - for up to slokam 100 of first sargam, it is naaradhaa's words and in second sargam second slokam only it is stated naaradha takes leave from vaalmeeki. See those slokams also -- naaradhasya thu thath vaakyam *s*ruthvaa vaakya vi*s*aaradha: | puujayaamaasa dharmaatmaa saha *s*ishya: mahaa muni: || 1-2-1 yathhavath poojitha: thEna dhEvarishi naaradha thathaa | apruchCha Eva abhyanujnatha: sa jagaama vihaayasam || 1-2-2 meaning: On hearing that sentence of that eminent sentence-maker Sage Narada, [that contains Ramayana in a nutshell, narrated in the previous chapter] that great sage of virtuous mind, namely Vaalmeeki, revered the Divine Sage Naaradha, along with his disciples. That divine sage Naaradha was worshipped that way by Vaalmeeki in a befitting way, and on seeking permission of Vaalmeeki to leave, and having been permitted by Vaalmeeki went away heavenward. 2.. Now my question is "why naaradha should suddenly change from past tense to future tense?" My 'guess' as the probable answer -- on which I invite comments from the learned scholars of the elite groups: Perhaps the answer lies in that dhasa varsha sahasraani and dhasa sathaani cha - viz – when naaradhaa answers vaalmeeki's questions of 'Evam vidham naram' and continues up to 93 slokams of 1st sargam – it is well over 10900 years of raama rajya elapsed after raamaa's crowning. May be the figure can be trimmed to 10800 or 900 or 950 also but definitely more than 10000. Why this 10900 or above 10000 years – see below. Though vaalmeeki is a contemporary of raama and lived in the nearby forest, since the time of raama taking off from this world is nearing, he got that instinct, as well naaradha. So naaradhaa came, brahma came, brahma tells {or orders [?]} vaalmeeki to tell raamaa's story - 'kathaya' says brahma. vruththam kathaya dheerasya yathhaa naaradhaath srutham | rahasyam cha prakaasam cha yadh vruththam thasya dheematha: | [1-2-32b-33a] Meaning: You shall narrate the legend of Raama, the virtuous, intellectual and an intrepid one, and a godlike person in this world as well, as you have heard it from sage Naaradha. Also the word vruththam – one among the many meanings is 'something happened earlier' or legend. * * 3. So as per that order of brahma, vaalmeeki sang based on inputs from naaradha and as per vision granted by brahma, and completed the work. Then, he was thinking on, "hey I have finished telling or composing the poem, who will render this to all so that they can enjoy?" At that time lava and kusa touched his feet and then he thought 'let these two do that' and so taught them. They started singing in assemblies of scholars, sages, eminent persons etc. The listeners appreciated the story, the way of singing, the style of the composition etc. *Meaning:* of slokams 1-4–16 and 1-4-17: On hearing that, the eyes of all the sages were overspread with tears of happiness, and they appreciated saying, 'splendid, splendid is this.' All those saints being the saint-patrons of virtue are pleased at heart, and praised the praiseworthy Kusa and Lava, while they are singing. *Important point:* If these comments are just left at that, perhaps, I would not have got that doubt that the singing is after 10000 or above years after raama's coronation. See slokam - On listening some of the rishis say "though this happened *long ago*, it appears as though this is happening presently" – when they heard lava and kusa sing that 'raamaayaNam'. Now slokam 18 ahO geethasya maadhuryam slOkaanam cha vi*s*eshatha: | *chira nirvruththam api* Ethath prathyaksham iva dhar*s*itham || 1-4-18 meaning: The melody of the ballad, especially the meaning of verses, aha! Superb, though this has happened long ago, it is shown like the one happening presently. *Point:* Of course some of you may argue the young boys are now only singing, having learnt them recently, but vaalmeeki might have composed the raamaayaNam very early. But it is stated in 4th sargam vaalmeeki after composing was worried, who will do this presentation of his work and soon he found a reply, when lava and kusa touched his feet. So that worry should be of recent one and not very old. Also that future tense usage of naaradhar about aswamedham and 4 varnams etc, stand in the way of above argument. You have to consider the establishment of raama raajyam and people were happy are all in past tense. *Note:* Actually vaalmeeki describes one aswamEdham. May be in uththra kaaNdam somewhere inside he says many such yagnaas are repeated after that eventful first one. For naaradha has said raama will do lot of aswa mEdhams and that cannot go wrong. 4. Further, daily we recite this slokam before concluding 'raamaayanam session' of that day - which also reinforces the above conclusion that it is 'old story' – chira nirvruththam as in 1-4-18 quoted - the portion up to coronation [real one] and establishment of raama raajya - that slokam is "Evam Ethath puraa vruththam aakhyaanam" - bhadhram asthu va: | pravyaaharatha visrabdham balam vishNO: pravardhathaam || 6-128 – 121 So upto this, it is a 'puraa' – old, vruththam – legend. Aakhyaanam – done, written. Balance portion of slokam is phalasruthi portion. Just for reference that last chapter in uthara kaandam first slokam says Ethaavath Ethadh aakhyaanam sa uththaram brahma poojitham | raamaayaNam ithi khyaatham mukhyam vaalmeekina krutham || 7- 111- 1 [again here it is stated written by vaalmeeki, and no points as old or new but is blessed by brahma] *point:* this also perhaps answers when lava and kusa were born to the couple raama and seethaa – just after coronation or towards the end of that 11000 years period. We can for definite conclude towards end of this 11000 years period. For when they sang in front of raama, they were young and sang for 32 days in the 'aswamEdha yaaga saalaa'. I would also like to have some references on research papers, if any, on this 'time aspect' [apart from Prof. Vartak the contents of which we have already seen]. Recently smt. Krishnapriya sent a paper on thyaagaraja, which shows how people from west are interested in thyaagaraaja and our music. Similar to that is what I seek. As I already said it is not to raise any controversies but to delve deep into raamaayanam and enjoy it thoroughly. Dhasan Vasudevan. PS: on this 'cha' in that 11000 years I will add a separate note. -- Vasudevan MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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