Dandaka Vanam

[Guest guest]

!! Sri Rama Jayam !!

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Lord Rama's journey to Dravidian land starts from Dandaka forest lying near to the hermitage of great Agastya muni & so a big portion of the ARANYAKANDAM displays Rama's passtimes in this forest with Sri Lakshmana swami. Sri Valmiki describes the beauty of the forest with a thousand tongue. The forest shelters millions of life species ranging from blessed sages, maha yogis, deva-yaksha-kinnara, forest dwellers, deers, vanaras, demons, boares, gigantic birds & many more. Dandaka connects the Arya land with Kishkinta, the empire of mighty Baali. The friendship treaty b/w Ravana & Baali, supports the existence of demons near to the Arya land. Otherwise, it would have been a very difficult task for Ravana to have a remote control from lanka [remember Ravana had already been defeated by Baali, Sahastrarjuna (who was then slayed by Sri Parashurama & so Ravana was freed from jail), once by king Dasharath & a no. of rulers of Ayodhya]. The presence of demons were a usual trouble for the forest dwellers & to sages in particular. But, Dandaka was not like this in its past. The story of Dandaka's misfortune goes like this.Once, there was a famine in Dandakaranya. All the trees and plants started drying up because of lack of rainfall. All the sages who were penancing in the forest went to sage Gautam for help. Sage Gautam accommodated them in his hermitage and solved their problems temporarily. They all lived peacefully. After many months, the sages expressed their desires of returning to Dandakaranya. But sage Gautam stopped them from departing. It happened many times and every time they were forbidden from departing.Now the sages worked out a plan. They created an illusionary cow and drove her into the storehouse of sage Gautam. Sage Gautam tried to scare away the cow with his hands. But as soon as he touched the cow it fell on the ground and died. Now, blaming sage Gautam for killing a cow, all the sages ran away out of the hermitage.By the power of his meditation sage Gautam came to know about the reality. He cursed the forest of Dandak to be devoid of any greenery. It was as a result of the curse that the forest dried up. But sage Gautam had also made a provision for its liberation by the touch of Rama’s feet. So for this reason Agastya had requested Sri Rama to go to Panchavati.

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Hare Krishna

Hare Rama