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Post 8
Dear srivaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

We saw in post 7 the siva's bow held as king janaka's 'kula dhanam' is broken. 
What was the reaction of king janaka on this breaking etc we have already seen 
in 'raama wins' series from this author, author of present series. How the sage 
visvaamithra enjoyed this breaking is not there available in vaalmeeki 
raaamaayaNam. When janaka said 'if you give your consent I will send my 
ambassoadors to inform king dhasaratha and bring him here to conduct the 
marriage', Sage visvaamithra said thadhaasthu - yes, that be done so.  When 
king dhasaratha et al reached mithila and date was fixed for marriage, seethaa 
was decorated nicely and brought to the hall. On seeing seetha sage 
visvaamithra thinks, hey what is this bow- just nothing, if raama has to get 
this girl seethaa. See verse of kamban -

achchu ena ninaiththa mudhal andhaNan ninainthaan
pachchaimalai oththa padivaththu adal iraaman
nachchudai vadikkaN malar nangai ivaL enRaal
ich chilai kidakka malai Ezhaiyum iRaanO?

Hey will not raamaa break all seven hills if he has to get this girl seethaa as 
the kanyaa sulkam.  
See the beauty of words here - 
pachchai malai oththa padivaththu adal iraaman - green colour hill has taken 
the shape of raaman  [adal - vaaliban - male in his prime time- paruvaththu 
aaNpiLLai]
nachchudai vadikkaN malar nangai - when poison came out - along with that and 
at the same time came this girl from flower - mahaa lakshmi born from a flower 
from milk ocean - just recall the milk ocean churning episode.
or can be interpreted as the lady who has a flower like eyes, but at the same 
time if she glances a male, then these glances enter the heart like a sharp 
shooter arrow and kills the male with love, like a poisonous arrow.

Please recall the famous slOkam of janaka "iyam seethaa mama suthaa", the 
slokam recited during the kanyaa dhaanam - giving the daughter seethaa to 
raamaa. Since the present topic is 'bow's story', we are not seeing in detail 
the marriage. 

So we now move on to the next bow in raamaayaNam the vishNu dhanu:, the second 
visvakarma creation, done at the same time as the broken siva dhanu:, which 
reached parasuraama through his ancestors.  

We saw in post 3 that parasuraama tells dhasaratha raama, there was fight 
between siva and vishNu in the presence of rishis and dhEva gaNams etc. We also 
saw the slokams wherein parasuraama informed raama, by a hoonkaaram vishNu 
broke the siva's bow and then there was an amity between siva and vishNu 
thereafter. 

Just to recall, by this slokam we understood the siva's bow was handed over to 
dhEvaraatha the ancestor of king janaka. 
dhanoo rudhra: thu sankrudhDhO vidhEhEshu mahaayasaa: || 1-75-20
dhEvaraathasya raaja rishE: dhadhou hasthE sa saayakam |
[for meaning please refer post 3]

idham cha vaishNavam raama dhanu: para puram jayam || 1-75-21
richeekE bhaargavE praadhaath vishNu: sa nyaasam uththamam |

Meaning: parasuraama says 'Oh, raama, this is that enemy-citadel conquering 
longbow of vishNu, and vishNu handed over this bow to sage richeeka, the son of 
bhrigu, as a trustworthy repository'.

richeeka: thu mahaathEjaa: puthrasya aprathikarmaNa: || 1-75-22
pithu: mama dhadhou dhivyam jamadhagnE: mahaathmana: |

Meaning: But that great-resplendent sage richeeka handed over this divine bow 
to his son with unmatchable deeds [of religious merit] who is my father sage 
Jamadhagni.

So this is the way the vishNu dhanu: reached parasuraama, now standing in front 
of raama. Since father jamadhagni was killed by kaarthaveeryaarjunan, as a 
revenge parasuraama killed him, as well as killed all the kahsthriyaas. As he 
himself claimed in slokam 25, he, then started residing in mount mahEndhra. Why 
he came now is clear from kamban. The sound of the breaking of siva dhanu was 
heard by parasuraama in mahendhra parvatham where parasuraama was doing 
penance. So he got wild, and wanted to know, hey who is that capable of doing 
this?

ulagu elaam munivaRku eenthEn uRu pagai odukkip pOnthEn
alagu il maa thavangaL seidhu oR aruvarai irunthEn aaNdai
silaiyai nee iRuththa Osai sevi uRa seeRi vandhEn
malaiguven vallai again vaangudhi dhanuvai enRaan  
- 34 parasuraamap padalam

please note the words - varai irundhEn - stayed in hill. silaiyai nee iRuththa 
Osai sevi uRa - hearing the breaking noise of that bow - I came here. 
[silai has two meaning - one is - a statue, another is - a bow].

But vaalmeekee's version can be interpreted differently also as can be seen 
here- sruthvaa on hearing means through somebody also - whereas kamban is more 
straight - I heard it, so I came. 

sruthvaa thu dhanushO bhEdham thathO aham dhrutham aagatha: || 1-75-26
thath Evam vaishNavam raama pithru paithaamaham mahath |
kshathra dharmam puras kruthya gruhNeeshva dhanur uththamam || 1-75-27

meaning: But on hearing the breakage of siva's long bow, then I promptly came 
here. Thereby, oh, raama, wield this supernatural and superlative long bow of 
vishNu, which is passed on to me from my forefathers and my father. Let your 
kshatkriya-hood be given an exhibition by wielding this bow likewise [if you 
can]. 

yOjayasva dhanu: srEshtE saram para puramjayam |
yadhi saktha: asi kaakuthstha dhvandhvam dhaasyaami thE thatha: || 1-75-28

meaning: Take an aim with this supramundane longbow with an arrow that conquers 
enemy's citadels, and should you be capable of it, thereafter I will give you a 
duel. Oh, kaakuthstha!

raama was thus challenged by parasuraama. raama did really string the bow with 
same ease with which he broke the siva's bow. So raama addressed sir, the bow 
is ready, there should be an aim to shoot the arrow, where is the target. 
parasuraama offered all his thapas be burnt which raama did. Again see kamban 

enRanan enna ninRa iraamanum muRuval eidhi
nanRu oLirmugaththan aagi naaraNan valiyin aaNda 
venRivil tharuga enna koduththanan veeran koNdu ath
thunRu irunchagdaiyOn anja thOL uRa vaangi sollum  - 35 parasuraamap padalam 

kamban just puts three words - thOL uRa vaangi - to complete the action of all 
that bending stringing etc of the huge vishNu bow. 

another interesting 'side story' is also added at this stage. It is usual for 
saarngam to enter into any bow vishNu holds in all avathaarams. Here also it 
entered secretly into the raama's bow when parasuraama wanted it in his bow. 
See -  

"So then Parashurama came to him and said, "Who is this Rama?" Ramachandra 
said, "It is you. You are the only Rama. You are Parashurama. Who else is 
Rama?" Parashurama said, "Some young child from Iksvaku's dynasty, how dare he 
break Lord Siva's bow? I have controlled the kshathriyas so much. I have 
finished them all. And now someone else is coming. He must know that I am still 
here." Ramachandra said, "No, no, what's the problem? I didn't break it, but 
the bow was so weak that I just lifted it and it broke into two pieces." 

Parashurama said, "You mean to say that You are so strong and Lord Siva's bow 
is so weak? So the kshathriyas are becoming strong again, and I am not going to 
leave it like that. If you think that you are so powerful, then why did you 
insult Lord Siva? You don't think that you have done aparaadha? He's the great 
Mahesa and you broke his bow! And how does this Janaka make a svayamvara like 
this, that someone should string Siva's bow? So he is also an impostor. Now 
again I will start, and I will finish all of you. Finish Dasharatha, finish 
Janaka, finish everyone." So then Ramachandra said, "Yes, many people are 
supposed to be finished, but it is supposed to be done by me." Parasurama said, 
"Now you are competing with me?" He took his axe and said, "You look at this." 
Rama and Lakshmana paid obeisances. "Why are you paying namaskara to my axe?" 
Parasurama asked. 

They replied, "Because it killed all the bad ksatriyas. It is a famous weapon. 
It is a weapon of VishNu, and we are in the Surya dynasty so we must pay our 
obeisances." So Parasurama was perplexed. At one point they are instructing, 
and then they are paying obeisances. "There is something here that I am not 
able to figure out," Parasurama said. "So I will have to give them a test." 
Then he addressed them. "If you are so courageous and so strong, I will give 
you the bow of VishNu. Let us see if you can string it." Ramachandra said, 
"Anything you give, I will take, and anything you say I will do by your 
blessing." 

So then Parasurama closed his eyes and lifted his hands. He was invoking 
Sarnga-dhanu, the original bow of VishNu. He was calling and calling, but it 
was not coming. And then he opened his eyes, and he saw that Rama was already 
holding it, and it was already strung. Then he said, "You are the source of all 
strength. Now I understand that it is you and not me. You are the Rama, I am 
not the Rama. So I have no worries, and now I will only do meditation. That was 
what I was doing, but Narada came to me and said, `What are you doing, 
Parasurama? The kshatriyas are becoming powerful again.' And he told me that 
some king, he didn't tell me who, he just told me that some king has a son, and 
this son has broken Lord Siva's bow. He never told me it was You." 

In this side story, see the blame of informing parasuraama is placed on 
naaradha. But since we have the word as 'sruthvaa' from vaalmeeki, this has 
some credence. As we have seen, in kamban, it is straight. Anyhow parasuraama 
is thus subdued and vishNu's bow has successfully reached vishNu - raama - 
successfully. 

With that we also end the bow's story successfully. 

Once again a big thanks to Sri V.Anjaneyalu who gave me the tips on 'seetha 
pushing the bow cart' story, which info was completely new to me, thus leading 
us to enjoy the raamaayaNam a lot more.

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g



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