[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Ramayan of Valmiki and Kamban

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Thank you Sarojaji for your wonderful posting!!!sarojram18 <sarojram18 wrote: Since some of the members evinced interest in Ramayna PI have started to post on it. VALMIKI RAMAYANA By Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A.,Ph.D , siromani Balakanda 1-THE BIRTH OF THE EPIC Valmiki Ramayana, as the name indicates, was written by sage Valmiki. It is called Aadhi kavya because it was the first work in the form of Kavya. Before Valmiki's time even though sloka form existed there was no epic poem as such. In fact the lakshana, definition and

characteristics of kavya given by vyasa later, was based only on Ramayana The circumstance connected with the composing of Ramayana by Valmiki is interesting. The story goes that it was Sage Narada who told Valmiki about Rama. It was also Narada who was instrumental in the transformation of Valmiki into a sage from a hunter. . Valmiki once asked Narada, who came to see him in his asram, 'NARADHAM PARIPAPRACHCHA VALMIKIRMUNIPUNGAVAM,' that who among men possessed the best qualities and also most valiant .'KONVASMIN SAAMPRADHAAM LOKE GUNAVAAN KASCHA VIRYAVAAN?' Here the word used for asking is 'paripaprachcha' which means 'to ask' with genuine interest with full faith in the guru. In Gita Krishna tells Arjuna,

'thadvidhdhi pranipaathena pariprasnena sevaya,know the truth by repeated asking with faith and humility.' Valmiki lists the qualities of the man he is seeking as gunavan, virtuous, viryavan, powerful, dharmajna, knower of dharma, krthajna, knows how to show gratitude, satyavaakyah, truthful in word, dhrdavrathah, firm in resolve, chaarithrena yukthah, righteous, sarvabhootheshu hithah, benefactor of all beings, vidvan, learned, samarthah, skilful in applying his reasoning, aathmavan, selfcontrolled, jithkrodhah, conquered anger, dhyuthiman, lustrous, anasooyakah, one who never finds fault with others and finally who is the most formidable as a foe whom even devas will fear 'kasya bhibhyathi devascha jaathroshasya

samyuge.' Narada replied relating him the story of Rama in short. The words of Narada here is known as samkshepa Ramayana reciting which, is supposed to give the same result as in reciting the whole Ramayana Valmiki, when he was going to the Thamasa river, saw two krouncha birds happily chirping together and his heart was filled with joy on seeing them At that instant an arrow came and struck the male bird which fell down dead. This pained the sage and seeing the hunter who did this he said,Maa nishaadha prathishtaam thvam aganmah ssaasvatheessamaahyathkrounchmithunaadhekam avadheeh kaamamohithamThis means, 'Oh hunter, you will not get peace or rest forever since you have killed one of the

two krouncha birds who were in love.' The next moment his heart was filled with remorse, being saathvik by nature, and he relented thinking that he had no right to curse the hunter. But to his surprise the words of the curse formed a sloka, the metre and rhythm of which surprised him. To Valmiki in meditation later, appeared Brahma and told him that the whole thing was the leela of the Lord. From his shoka of seeing the bird killed has sprung a sloka. And he said that Valmiki should relate the story of Rama in the same metre and rhythm and gave him the vision to see the events of the life of Rama as though it was happening in front of his eyes Valmiki repeated the sloka to fix his mind on its construction and composed Ramayana. Thus came the great epic Ramayana into being. This sloka has been interpreted by the learned acharyas to be the mangalasloka of Ramayana itself. Maa nishaadha means the resort of Lakshmi, that is the Lord Vishnu. 'Maa,' the negative particle being removed and taken in the sense of Lakshmi as she is called 'maa', the words 'maa prathishtaam thvam agamah ' becomes 'prathishtaam thvam agamah, you will be established in the hearts of all for saasvatheessamaah long time to come.'Yath krouncha mithunaadhekam avadheeh kaamamohitham' the gives the meaning, "As you have killed the lustful one of the couple, Ravana and Mandodhari.' The word krouncha also means Rakshasa. Thus the curse itself being the leela of the Lord, became a benediction. Such is the richness of the sanskrit language. Valmiki composed the whole Ramayana, seeing with the divine vision given by Brahma everything that happened in the life of Rama and when he was contemplating as to whom should he teach this to spread it in the world, the boys Lava and Kusa came and prostrated before him. Valmiki considered their merirs and decided to teach them the epic. They were raajaputrou, princes, dharmajnou , knew dharma, yasasvinou, already gained reputation as well learned, bratharou, brothers and aasramavaasinou, resided there in the asrama and more than anything else svarasampannou, they possessed sweet and resonant voice. In olden days all the learning were oral only and the students committed to memory what they have learnt by reciting them every day. The chanting of the Vedas required a good voice and pronunciation as the intonation is very important in veda because the wrong accent will change the entire meaning. The mantra `indrassatruh,' pronounced by Tvashta who wanted to create a son to kill Indra by wrong accent made Indra the killer of vrthrasura instead of vice versa. Then the merit of the kavya itself is extolled as `seethaayaah charitham mahat' The word Ramayana means Rama

is described by this work, Raamah ashayathe anena, but it is the great story of Seetha. Ramayana is called `sharanaagathi shaastra' by Vaishnava Acharyas because it tells about the efficacy of surrendering to the Lord. Raama specifies in yudhdhakaanda that it is his vow to give surrender to anyone who takes refuge in him even once but he protected only those who surrendered like Kakasura and Vibheeshana. .But Seetha went one step ahead of him because she gave refuge even to those who oppressed her like the rakshasis in Ashokavana when Hanuman wanted to kill them after the war, saying the famous and oft quoted words, `na kaschit naaparaadhyathi,' "is there anyone who is faultless?" That is why the epic is called

Seethaayaah charitham mahat Kusa and Lava sang the epic in the presence of the sages and went on singing in all places and reached Ayodhya. All who heard it were very much impressed not only with the richness of the kavya but also about the skill of the singers. The slokas of Ramayana are sweet sounding and render themselves beautifully to music. The kavya is rich in sentiments, the navarasa. The singers were proficient in music as well as in expression, bhava. Besides they were handsome with their resemblance to their

father Srirama. When they sang in front of Rama he praised them and took them to his yagasala and asked everybody to hear them. Then starts the Ramayana as sung by Kusa and Lava

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Thank you. It is my pleasure.rs n <omyoor wrote: Thank you Sarojaji for your wonderful posting!!!sarojram18 <sarojram18 > wrote: Since some of the members evinced interest in Ramayna PI have started to post on it. VALMIKI RAMAYANA By Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A.,Ph.D , siromani Balakanda 1-THE BIRTH OF THE EPIC Valmiki Ramayana, as the name indicates, was written by sage Valmiki. It is called Aadhi kavya because it was the first work in the form of Kavya. Before Valmiki's time even though sloka form existed there was no epic poem as such. In fact the lakshana, definition and

characteristics of kavya given by vyasa later, was based only on Ramayana The circumstance connected with the composing of Ramayana by Valmiki is interesting. The story goes that it was Sage Narada who told Valmiki about Rama. It was also Narada who was instrumental in the transformation of Valmiki into a sage from a hunter. . Valmiki once asked Narada, who came to see him in his asram, 'NARADHAM PARIPAPRACHCHA VALMIKIRMUNIPUNGAVAM,' that who among men possessed the best qualities and also most valiant .'KONVASMIN SAAMPRADHAAM LOKE GUNAVAAN KASCHA VIRYAVAAN?' Here the word used for asking is 'paripaprachcha' which means 'to ask' with genuine interest with full faith in the guru. In Gita Krishna tells Arjuna,

'thadvidhdhi pranipaathena pariprasnena sevaya,know the truth by repeated asking with faith and humility.' Valmiki lists the qualities of the man he is seeking as gunavan, virtuous, viryavan, powerful, dharmajna, knower of dharma, krthajna, knows how to show gratitude, satyavaakyah, truthful in word, dhrdavrathah, firm in resolve, chaarithrena yukthah, righteous, sarvabhootheshu hithah, benefactor of all beings, vidvan, learned, samarthah, skilful in applying his reasoning, aathmavan, selfcontrolled, jithkrodhah, conquered anger, dhyuthiman, lustrous, anasooyakah, one who never finds fault with others and finally who is the most formidable as a foe whom even devas will fear 'kasya bhibhyathi devascha jaathroshasya

samyuge.' Narada replied relating him the story of Rama in short. The words of Narada here is known as samkshepa Ramayana reciting which, is supposed to give the same result as in reciting the whole Ramayana Valmiki, when he was going to the Thamasa river, saw two krouncha birds happily chirping together and his heart was filled with joy on seeing them At that instant an arrow came and struck the male bird which fell down dead. This pained the sage and seeing the hunter who did this he said,Maa nishaadha prathishtaam thvam aganmah ssaasvatheessamaahyathkrounchmithunaadhekam avadheeh kaamamohithamThis means, 'Oh hunter, you will not get peace or rest forever since you have killed one of the

two krouncha birds who were in love.' The next moment his heart was filled with remorse, being saathvik by nature, and he relented thinking that he had no right to curse the hunter. But to his surprise the words of the curse formed a sloka, the metre and rhythm of which surprised him. To Valmiki in meditation later, appeared Brahma and told him that the whole thing was the leela of the Lord. From his shoka of seeing the bird killed has sprung a sloka. And he said that Valmiki should relate the story of Rama in the same metre and rhythm and gave him the vision to see the events of the life of Rama as though it was happening in front of his eyes Valmiki repeated the sloka to fix his mind on its construction and composed Ramayana. Thus came the great epic Ramayana into being. This sloka has been interpreted by the learned acharyas to be the mangalasloka of Ramayana itself. Maa nishaadha means the resort of Lakshmi, that is the Lord Vishnu. 'Maa,' the negative particle being removed and taken in the sense of Lakshmi as she is called 'maa', the words 'maa prathishtaam thvam agamah ' becomes 'prathishtaam thvam agamah, you will be established in the hearts of all for saasvatheessamaah long time to come.'Yath krouncha mithunaadhekam avadheeh kaamamohitham' the gives the meaning, "As you have killed the lustful one of the couple, Ravana and Mandodhari.' The word krouncha also means Rakshasa. Thus the curse itself being the leela of the Lord, became a benediction. Such is the richness of the sanskrit language. Valmiki composed the whole Ramayana, seeing with the divine vision given by Brahma everything that happened in the life of Rama and when he was contemplating as to whom should he teach this to spread it in the world, the boys Lava and Kusa came and prostrated before him. Valmiki considered their merirs and decided to teach them the epic. They were raajaputrou, princes, dharmajnou , knew dharma, yasasvinou, already gained reputation as well learned, bratharou, brothers and aasramavaasinou, resided there in the asrama and more than anything else svarasampannou, they possessed sweet and resonant voice. In olden days all the learning were oral only and the students committed to memory what they have learnt by reciting them every day. The chanting of the Vedas required a good voice and pronunciation as the intonation is very important in veda because the wrong accent will change the entire meaning. The mantra `indrassatruh,' pronounced by Tvashta who wanted to create a son to kill Indra by wrong accent made Indra the killer of vrthrasura instead of vice versa. Then the merit of the kavya itself is extolled as `seethaayaah charitham mahat' The word Ramayana means Rama is

described by this work, Raamah ashayathe anena, but it is the great story of Seetha. Ramayana is called `sharanaagathi shaastra' by Vaishnava Acharyas because it tells about the efficacy of surrendering to the Lord. Raama specifies in yudhdhakaanda that it is his vow to give surrender to anyone who takes refuge in him even once but he protected only those who surrendered like Kakasura and Vibheeshana. .But Seetha went one step ahead of him because she gave refuge even to those who oppressed her like the rakshasis in Ashokavana when Hanuman wanted to kill them after the war, saying the famous and oft quoted words, `na kaschit naaparaadhyathi,' "is there anyone who is faultless?" That is why the epic is called

Seethaayaah charitham mahat Kusa and Lava sang the epic in the presence of the sages and went on singing in all places and reached Ayodhya. All who heard it were very much impressed not only with the richness of the kavya but also about the skill of the singers. The slokas of Ramayana are sweet sounding and render themselves beautifully to music. The kavya is rich in sentiments, the navarasa. The singers were proficient in music as well as in expression, bhava. Besides they were handsome with their resemblance to their father

Srirama. When they sang in front of Rama he praised them and took them to his yagasala and asked everybody to hear them. Then starts the Ramayana as sung by Kusa and Lava Once upon a time there was 1 GB storage in your inbox. Click here for happy ending.

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit. web address: http://www.geocities.com/sarojram18 http://freewebs.com/gitaclass

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