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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00167 Nov 2004

 
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Post 10
Dear srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

In the bow's story, in srimadh vaalmeeki ramayaNam, in the seethaa kalyaaNam 
portions, [what we are discussing] there is no mention or place for raavaNan 
entering the scene. Also his trying to lift the bow, could not succeed and 
returned as a failure, etc are not featuring. Srimadh poundareekapuram swamy in 
his book raamapiraanaik kaRpOm -vol 1 - quotes 'aanandha raamaayaNam' giving 
this portion of ravaNan handling siva dhanus story. [I am just giving only the 
substance. For errors please pardon me]. 

Like other princes / kings, who wanted to take part in the swayamvara of 
seethaa, by having a go at the siva's bow, raavaNan also came. He could open 
the box, lift the bow and he wanted to go for stringing. But by the time he 
tried to put the bow vertically for stringing [naaN ERRa], the bow leaned on 
him. By the sheer weight of bow, raavanan got underneath the bow and shouted / 
cried for help. Then king janakan with an army of people helped raavana out of 
the bow. As such raavaNan could not succeed at the bow, thereby missed to win 
seethaa. Then after some time raamaa came. -- [Rest we have seen already with 
vaalmeeki and kamban's raamaayaNam]. 

Also in www.indiadivine.org website sri swami atmatattvadas in his RamayaNa 
lectures [based on valmeeki and many other puranams as stated in the first page 
itself] gives the following, where raavaNa enters the scene with a big bang and 
then returns with disgrace. 

Quote -- So one or two very puffed-up kshatriya kings came. The first one could 
not lift it, and another got his hand stuck between the floor and the bow, and 
he had to be pulled out. Just then the whole assembly became dark and the earth 
was shaking. They heard someone laughing loudly. So then Janaka caught hold of 
Vishvamitra's hand and said, "Tell me what is now happening." Vishvamitra said, 
"This must be a demon. Very soon he will enter." In another three minutes there 
was a flash of light, and between the light came Trilokeshvara, Ravana. He had 
arranged that before he came, two other demons would precede him and announce, 
"Trilokeshvara Ravana is coming." Everyone was scared, "What is this demon 
doing in our assembly?" So then Ravana appeared. "What is this svayamvara? You 
are all spineless people. You can't even lift this bow! You must know who I am. 
I am Ravana, and I have lifted Kailash with Lord Shiva on it. This is only his 
bow. This is the bow of Lord Shiva, and Lord Shiva, his whole family, his 
entire troop of ghosts and goblins and the whole Kailash mountain was lifted by 
me, and I flew to Lanka. That is my strength." So then everybody thought, "He 
can easily lift this bow." 

So Ravana came, and he put his hands on each side, and he lifted the bow. 
Everyone was amazed. "Ah! He has lifted the bow!" Then Lord Shiva in Kailash 
was thinking, "What's going on? I didn't leave it for him. I left it for Lord 
Rama." So then Shiva went inside the bow and pressed down. Ravana got stuck. 
That also happened when he lifted Kailash mountain, when he put it down he got 
stuck. Now he was also stuck. He was crying and pleading, and finally Lord 
Shiva let go, and he got his hand out. And then Rama came, but he didn't use 
two hands, only one. He put his foot on the other end of the bow and he took 
the string. As he pulled it, the bow broke into two pieces. Everyone clapped 
their hands, and flowers fell from heaven.  -- Unquote. 

One thing very curious in the above para is visvaamithraa's presence in the 
hall during raavana trying a hand at the bow. [Anyhow that is not the point for 
us.] So from these two references, it appears raavaNa also attempted at the 
bow, and returned empty handed. 

In vaalmeeki raamayaNam, when raavaNa meets seetha in the sanyaasi garb, and 
starts describing her, there is no trace that he has seen her earlier during 
the swayamvaram. See slOkam -    
na Evam roopaa mayaa naaree dhrushta poorvaa mahee thalE | 3-46-23
meaning: I have not seen such a lady in this world earlier.

Nor seeethaa indicates a trace of information that she has seen or heard about 
raavaNan who attempted to marry her in swayamvaram. See slokam 

braahmaNa: cha athithi: cha Esha anukthO hi sapEtha maam |
ithi dhyaathvaa muhoortham thu seethaa vachanam abraveeth || 3-47-2

meaning: But thinking briefly thus, 'he is a Brahman and an untimely guest. If 
I do not speak with him, he may curse me' and hence spoke this sentence. 

This comment is available in valmikiramayan.net under this slokam: 'A lie 
cannot be uttered to a sanyaasi, much less to a Brahman. But this friar appears 
as someone who is attired as a sanyaasi to fill his stomach. But he is 
BraahmaNa, because he came booming vedic hymns, which no other lesser BraahmaNa 
can do. Thus, he is someone with a perfect Vedic background, and according to 
the saying sanyaseenaam poojanam kaaryam striyaa vaa puruSena... ' an ascetic 
is to be revered either by a lady or a gentleman' and thus he cannot be turned 
out saying 'my husband is not at home' and if he is neglected he may curse'. 
These are the thoughts criss-crossing Seetha at that moment. 

The following important point is from MGV: If that is so, now a doubt arises in 
me. 
If raavaNan could not lift the bow and nor handle the bow, which seethaa just 
pushed aside [then as a six year old], that too, with her left hand so 
casually, how come raavaNan could lift that very same seetha so easily. What 
happened to all her powers, if she had some extraordinary powers to push that 
heavy siva's bow as a child? 

Since it is connected with the bow and powerful seethaa as a child and now a 
powerless seethaa, I am presenting this question - that too as a grown up when 
raavaNan wanted to abduct her, what made her so weak in front of raavaNan, that 
he could easily lift her? [Already we have seen, seethaa saying to raamaa, even 
indhran cannot do any harm to me by his physical might, but now she is in such 
a weak position in front of raavaNan]. 

Considering the time and physical power aspects, she was a six year old then, 
and could push the siva's bow so easily where raavaNan has failed. Now, when 
she is standing in front of raavaNan, she is a fully grown lady, married to 
raama, having lived with raama for 12 years in ayodhyaa, and another 12 or 13 
years in the forest - so now must have better powers, that too after her 
association with raama - for this abduction by raavaNan incidence takes place 
only towards the end of the vanavaasam period of 14 years. 

[why this further 12 or 13 years of vanavaasam 14 years - Actually 10 months 
she remained in isolation in ashoka vaatikaa. When hanumaan meets seethaa, she 
says within two months if raama does not turn up I will die etc. For raavanan 
gives 12 months time for her to change her mind and become his wife, when he 
ordered the servants to keep her in ashoka vaatika immediately after he 
abducted her. Further within that 2 months raama came, rescued seetha and 
returned to ayOdhya, before the end of 14th year and just in time to save 
bharathan from going to sacrifice himself in fire at the end of 14th year - one 
day or so remaining in 14 years] 

That is the question posed now? Clarifications / Comments / Points / from 
bhaagavthaas are welcome. 

Dhasan
Vasudevan m.g.



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