Ramayana of Valmiki and Kamban- sundarakanda

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Valmiki Ramayana-

Sundarakanda

 

 

1. About Sundarakanda

 

 

 

Sundarakanda

is important for many reasons. The whole Sundarakanda extols the greatness of Hanuman.

The word Sundara actually means Hanuman. The story goes that Valmiki wanted to name the kanda after

Hanuman but Hanuman objected and the

sage said that he would name it as Sundara kanda to which Hanuman agreed and Valmiki asked him to see

his mother before going away and when he did so, his mother called him by the

name Sundara. Then only Hanuman knew that the sage has tricked him and had

named the kanda after him.

 

The

role of Hanuman in uniting Seetha with Rama was that of an acharya uniting the

jiva who is led astray by the senses and imprisoned in Lanka, denoting the

sarira , with the Lord from whom the jiva was separated. This is the inner meaning

of the golden deer episode.

 

This

kanda also extols the chastity of Seetha justifying the Ramayan being termed by

Valmiki himself as seethaayaaH charitham

mahath.

 

The

reading of Sundarakanda is supposed to be equivalent to that of whole Ramayana

and sundarkandaparayana during Navarathri is very auspicious. It is effective in causing

marriage for the unmarried and reading the whole sundarakanda in one sitting will

bring what is lost, whether it is a

thing or a person.

 

The

whole gist of Sundarakanda is brought out by Kamban in just one verse so

beautiful in meaning and which serves as

a prayer to Anjaneya.

 

anjilE

onRu pettRaan anjilE onraitthaavi

 

anjilE

onRu aaRaaga aariyarkkaaga Egi

 

anjilE

onRu pettRa anangaikkandu ayalaarooril

 

anjilE

onrai vaitthaan avan nammai aLitthukkaappaan

 

anjilE

onRu pettRaan- Hanuman who was the son of Vayu, one of the five

elements , anjilE onRu.

 

anjilE onRaitthaavi- leaped over the ocean, which is one of the five

elements.

 

anjilE onRu aaRaaga- through

the sky, which is one of the five

 

aariyarkkaaga Egi- going on the mission of the noble Rama

 

anjilE onRu peettra aNangaikkandu- seeing the Seetha the daughter of the earth, one

of the five elements ( as Seetha came from the earth)

 

anjilE onRai vaaitthaan- set fire, one of the five elements in ayalaarooril in the land of the enemy.

 

Now Hanuman decdes to

cross the ocean and was standing on the shore and grew up in stature.

 

Thatho raavaNa neethaayaaH seethaayaah

SathrukarsanaH

 

iyesha padham anveshtum chaaraNaacharithe paThi

 

 

Then

the destroyer of foes , Hanuman, desired to go on the path traveled by the

celestials in order to search for the place of Seetha who was carried away by

Ravana.

 

dhushkaram nishprathidhvandhvam

chikeershan karma vaanaraH

 

samudhagraSirogreevaH gavaam pathih

ivaabahou

 

The vanara, Hanuman,

wishing to do the impossible without obstacles, shone like a bull with raised

head and neck.

 

 

Another

reason that Sundarakanda is extolled as the most important part of Ramayana is

that the first two slokas show the anubanDha chathushtayam of the whole kanda

and so can be considered as a complete

work by itself. Any work granTha should have a reference to four aspects either

at the outset or at the end. In Gita we have the anubanDShachathushtayam

denoted at the end. The four requisites of a granTha are,

 

1.

The indication of the granTha itself

2.

The adhikari or one who is qualified

to read it

3.

vishaya the subject matter

4.

prayojana- the fruit of learning the

grantha.

 

The

granTha the work is indicated by SathrukarshaNaH , that is Hanuman as

the work is about his exploits in overcoming the inimical forces.

 

The

adhikari is the one who wants to

tread the path of celestials , chaaranaacharithe

paThi padham iyesha as reading the sundarakanda is auspicious.

 

The

Vishaya or subject matter is raavaNa neethaayaah seethayaaH anveshtum, the

search of Seetha who was carried away by Ravana and also the word seethaayaaH denotes the greatness of

Seetha which is also the subject matter.

 

Prayojana , the fruit of the work is indicated in the second

sloka, namely, dushakaram

nishprathidhvandhvam chikeershan karma, denoting that all obstacles in any

desired task however difficult will

vanish.