Guest guest Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer, We saw in post 18 to 20, how manthara's kaamam and kaikEyee's kaamam has jointly changed the course of raamaayaNam. Before we jump on to dhasaratha's kaamam here is a short version of kaikEyee's character as projected by vaalmeeki in two different occasions - Occasion 1. Raama asks kaikEyee as follows, when he came to kaikeyee's palace to meet father dhasaratha [as per dharmarajan's orders, and that is dhasaratha's real name - sumanthra brought raama to kaikEyee's there]. On arrival of raama, dhasaratha said 'raama' and could not speak further. So raama asks kaikEyee -- kachchhith thE parusham kimchith abhimaanaath pithaa mama | ukthah bhavathyaa kOpEna yathra asya lulitham manah || 2-18-17 meaning: raama to kaikEyee " I hope you have not spoken anything which hurt my father's conscience with your pride and anger. " Point: 1. So this shows kaikeyee as a person 'proud and angry'. And, of all, raama expresses that on kaikEyee. 2. Why 'of all raama' is – he is so being described as below in first sargam of ayOdhyaa kaaNdam, as sa cha nithyam prasaantha aathmaa mrudhu poorvE cha BhaashathE | uchyamaanO~pi parusham na uththaram prathipadhyathE || 2-1-10 Meaning: That Raama was forever peaceful in mind and spoke softly. He did not react to the hard words spoken by others. budhDhimaan maDhuraaBhaashee poorva Bhaashee priyam vadha: | veeryavaan na cha veeryENa mahathaa svEna vismitha: || 2-1-13 Meaning: Raama was a wise man. He used to speak sweetly. He was the first man to initiate a talk. His speech was compassionate. He was valorous. But he was not arrogant of his mighty valour. Point 2 continuation -- and such a raama who always sweet and who initiates talks first reacts with a hope -- § on hearing only that call of 'raama' from father § then seeing father could not speak further -- means – he understood something is wrong with kaikEyee and that is why father is unable to talk to him and so reacts to kaiKeyee as stated. See how vaalmeeki describes her reply – Evam ukthaa thu kaikEyee raaghavENa mahaathmanaa | uvaacha idham sunirlajjaa dhrishTam aathma hitham vachah || 2-18-19 meaning: Thus questioned by the great souled Raama, KaikEyee fearlessly spoke these words for her own benefit, without any shame on her part. [ of her asking 2 boons etc] Occasion 2. When bharatha meets the messengers, who went to fetch bharatha back to ayOdhyaa from kEkaya raajyam [after passing away of dhasaratha,] he asks the messengers about welfare of father, raama and lakshmaNa, kousalya sumithra and then kaikEyee in that order. While asking see what he asks – as per vaalmeeki slokam aathma kaamaa sadhaa chaNDee krodhanaa praajna maaninee | arOgaa cha api kaikEyee maathaa mE kim uvaacha ha || 2-70-10 meaning: KaikEyee, who loves herself, forever a fiery lady, of wrathful nature, who prides herself to be highly intelligent, and, my mother, is also well? What did she say?" [Thanks to sriman M.Krishnaswamy who provided this reference on kaikEyee] Perhaps this is the first place wherein bharatha talks – in all other places prior to this – his conversation is not recorded. Only mention about bharatha is made by vaalmeeki. [any corrections to this statement is welcome] Now we move on to dhasaratha's kaamam – as per earlier classification in post 3 – dhasaratha's kaamam is type C – 'sex' and 'politics or other' combined. See the 'bombshell' which vaalmeeki puts - sa kaama bala samyukthO rathyartham manujaadhipah || 2-10-17 apasyan dhayithaam bhaaryaam paprachchha vishasaadha cha | meaning: Being possessed of power of lust, that king, who came with object of sexual pleasure, was distressed in not finding his beloved wife and enquired the people there. Point: king dhasaratha wanted to inform kaikEyee first and after making all arrangements he came straight to kaikEyee. Since she has already taken her position on the floor in the 'kOpa griham' – 'anger room', king could not find her. So he enquired the people nearby – means servants nearby. Dear readers, please note what is the objective in dhasaratha reaching kaikEyee. Vaalmeeki places on record, on that fateful night after proposing coronation of raama, it is for sex that dhasaratha came there. Perhaps, if dhasaratha had not approached kaikEyee with a desire on sex, the course of raamaayaNam would have turned differently. Dhasan Vasudevan MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.