You are here: SriPedia - SriRangaSri - Archives - Jan 2007

SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00027 Jan 2007

 
Jan 2007 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]



Srimate Srivan Satakopa Sri Vednta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

                             

A Question of Age

 

 

My neighbour was trying to persuade me to send my ten year-old son along with 
his family for a trip to Mumbai, during vacation. And I was extremely reluctant 
to send the boy along, for I felt that he was not old enough to travel without 
his parents. He could not look after his own needs adequately, I told my 
neighbour. Only my wife and I knew what an effort it took for us to get him up 
from bed in time, to have him finish his morning ablutions and Sandhyavandanams 
in time for getting ready for school. And meal times were really horrid ones, 
with his refusing to eat anything nutritious, especially abhorring wholesome, 
healthy milk, cereals, greens and fruits. With all this, how could I think of 
sending the boy with neighbours, whose concern for his welfare would no doubt 
be adequate, but could never substitute that of parents?

 

The matter was given considerable thought and ultimately it was decided that 
the Mumbai trip with neighbours should be postponed by at least a couple of 
years. Such then, was my concern in parting with my son, even for the harmless 
purpose of a pleasure trip to a metropolis.

 

Imagine, then, what would have been the concern of Dasaratha, who was called 
upon to dispatch his illustrious son to the jungle along with Visvaamitra, that 
too for the purpose of combating and destroying wicked asuras! Whither the 
battle-hardened asuras and whither the tender Rama, untutored in the ways of 
war and whose face still smelt of the milk He was consuming! The concern of 
Dasaratha was eminently justified on another count too. Rama was the Prince of 
Ayodhya, used to the comforts of the palace and the rigours of jungle life were 
yet unknown to Him (though He was to spend 14 long years in the forests before 
long). If He were to be sent with Visvaamitra, the spartan Rishi, who cared 
little for his own comforts, would hardly ensure that Rama had the creature 
comforts He was used to. All these apprehensions plagued Dasaratha and he was 
on the threshold of refusing to send Rama with the Rishi for protecting the 
latter's Yagya or for any other purpose whatsoever.

 

Dasaratha's plaintive words addressed to the Rishi bring forth in full measure 
a parent's anxiety in sending his beloved son with a practical stranger, bound 
on a dangerous mission-the son who was born as the result of long years of 
penance and the performance of the difficult Putrakaameshti:

 

"Oona shodasa varsha: asou Ramo raajeeva lochana:

Na yuddha yogyataam asya pasyaami saha raakshasai:"

 

"My Rama is a mere infant-He has not even completed sixteen. How then could He 
be equal to battling with terrible raakshasaas?" enquires the Emperor of 
Visvaamitra.

It is obvious that Dasaratha is driven solely by putra vaatsalyam, ignorant of 
the unmatched prowess of the Paramatma who is born as his son, despite being 
reminded of Rama's exalted stature by both Visvaamitra and Vasishtta. The 
father's anxiety is entirely understandable. Dasaratha, a veteran of numerous 
battles, knows well the prowess and war power of raakshasaas and is hence 
loathe to sending his son, who is just into His teens, to an encounter with the 
cruelest of raakshasas like Maareecha, Subaahu, et al. Dasaratha considers Rama 
so infantile that the latter smells yet of milk from the mother's breast-"Paal 
manam maaraada baalakan" as they say in Tamizh. Muraari Kavi in his version of 
the Ramayanam, brings this out with the beautiful words, "Ksheera kanttascha 
Raamabhadra:"

 

"Oona shodasa varshosou" says Dasaratha, complaining that Rama is not even 
sixteen-"under sixteen" to be precise in translation. What is so significant 
about sixteen years of age? According to Shastras, one who is yet to complete 
16 is yet an infant and unfit to engage in worldly activities, being considered 
immature and incapable of holding his own against the outside world. Such a 
person is therefore to be under the tutelage and supervision of an adult, 
mostly the parent. Maharshi Manu lays this down by calling an under-sixteen a 
"Baala:" (infant)-"Baala aashodasaat varshaat pougandascha iti keertyate". When 
He is yet to cross the sixteen year deadline which would promote Him to the 
stage of an adult, how can Rama be expected to battle against asuraas? This was 
Dasaratha's legitimate argument. (Even the English Mercantile law, the 
precursor of the Indian Contract Act, tells us that one who is under eighteen 
is a minor and is disqualified into entering into any binding financial 
transactions). So, by all accounts, one who is under sixteen is not expected to 
engage in any major civil transactions, leave alone go to battle against 
hardened criminals like rakshasaas.

 

However, we shall leave aside the main issue of whether or not Rama was fit to 
be sent on a mission of battle with raakshasaas. We shall consider only a 
portion of the aforesaid slokam, that relating to Rama's age at the time of 
Dasaratha's dilemma.

 

How old was Rama when we went with Visvaamitra for Yagya rakshanam? This is the 
real question we would like to deal with here. Why should the question at all 
crop up? Is it not clear from Dasaratha's statement that Rama was nearing 
sixteen ("Oona" refers to something just falling short of the target-thus, 
"Oona shodasa varsha:" would refer to someone about to complete sixteen, but 
still short of it somewhat). What then is the need to go into the matter at all?

 

Had Dasaratha's been the only statement on Rama's age at the relevant period, 
there would be no problem. However, we find Sri Mythily telling Ravana, when he 
comes in the garb of a sanyaasi, that Her husband was 25 ("Bhartaa mama mahaa 
tejaa vayasaa pancha vimsaka:") when He was banished to the forests, while She 
Herself was 18 ("Ashtaadasa hi varshaani mama janmani ganyate"). While giving a 
brief introduction of Herself and Her family, Sita Piraatti tells the Raavana 
sanyaasi that She had spent twelve blissful years at Ayodhya after marriage 
("Samaa dvaadasa tatraaham Raaghavasya nivesane"), before being banished to the 
forest by Kaikeyi. If Dasaratha's words were correct and Rama was indeed 
slightly less than 16 when He went with Visvaamitra first for protecting the 
yagyam and thereafter to Mithila for wedding Piraatti, and the Princess of 
Mithila had spent 12 years at Ayodhya after marriage before leaving for the 
jungle, it would make Rama (16+12) 28 years of age when they left for 
vanavaasam and not 25 as Sita says.

 

If this sounds like a Chinese puzzle, let me put it more clearly:

 

1. According to Dasaratha, Rama is slightly less than 16 at the time of 
accompanying Visvaamitra. Since Rama's marriage takes place almost immediately 
after Yaaga samrakshanam, Rama could not have been much older and must have 
been either less than sixteen or just sixteen.

 

2. If Sita married Rama when the latter was 16 and spent 12 years at Ayodhya 
before leaving for the forests at the instance of Kaikeyi, then Rama must have 
been 28 when He left Ayodhya for vanavaasam.

 

3. This conflicts with Sita's statement that Rama was 25 and She Herself 18 at 
the time. (An interesting inference from Her statement is that Sita married 
Raghava when she was 6 and that the difference in their ages was 7)

 

4. To add to the confusion, there is one more version, this too from a reliable 
source, that Rama was 17 when He left for the forests due to Kaikeyi's 
machinations. Sri Kousalya tells Rama, when He goes to take leave of her, that 
she had been waiting all these seventeen years since His birth, looking forward 
to an end to her misery-

 

"Dasa sapta cha varshaani tava jaatasya putraka!

Aasitaani prakaankshantyaa mayaa du:kha parikshyam". 

 

According to this account, Rama could not have been more than 5 when He 
married, for He leaves for the forests only after residing 12 years at Ayodhya 
after the wedding with Sita.

 

5. One more voice which adds to the puzzle regarding Rama's age is that of 
Maareecha. While advising Ravana not to entangle with Rama, Maareecha recounts 
the episode of his having been thrashed soundly by Rama when the raakshasa 
tried to disrupt Visvaamitra's yaagam. Mareecha tells Ravana, quoting 
Dasaratha, that Rama was just twelve when He went with Visvaamitra for Yaaga 
samrakshanam-

 

"Baala: dvaadasa varshoyam akrita astrascha Raaghava:".

 

We thus have four persons, all of them very much credible (perhaps with the 
exception of Maareecha), all with different versions of how old Sri Rama was 
when He left Ayodhya for vanavaasam. Since none of them could be wrong, nor 
could all of them be correct, how do we reconcile the discrepancies and arrive 
at the correct age of Raghunandana? Given that Sri Valmiki was an honest and 
accurate chronicler, we do not expect such inconsistencies in his account. 
Therefore, all these statements must be true and it is only a matter of 
reconciling them.

 

In this, Sri Periavaacchaan Pillai shows us the way in his Tanisloki 
vyaakhyaanam.

 

Could it be that Rama was older when He left Ayodhya for vanavaasam, but Sri 
Sita tells Ravana He was 25, out of either not knowing Her husband's correct 
age or because Rama looked just 25 though He was actually older? This cannot 
be, for if anyone knows her husband's age correctly, it is the wife. And Sri 
Mythily is no ordinary wife, but an extremely well-informed and intelligent 
one, not given to understatements or exaggerations. Further, She is talking to 
an ascetic (which form Ravana had assumed) and would not be casual in Her 
statements to him. Hence we can very well assume that Sri Rama was indeed 25, 
when He began His jungle sojourn.

 

This would also dovetail with Mareecha's assertion that Rama was 12 when He 
undertook Visvaamitra Yaaga Rakshanam and married Sita shortly thereafter. If 
Rama was 12 at the time of marriage and spent 12 more years at Ayodhya before 
leaving for the jungle, He must have been 24+ when He left Ayodhya. Giving due 
allowance for a few months, Sri Sita's statement that He was 25 at that time, 
appears correct.

 

We have an apparently irreconcilable assertion from Kousalya Devi that Her 
beloved son was 17 when He left for vanavaasam. Here too, a careful perusal of 
her actual words provides us a way out. "Dasa sapta cha varshaani tava jaatasya 
Putraka!" says Kousalya, which could be broken up into

1. Dasa-10

2. Sapta--  7

3. Cha----  7

Thus the interpretation of the word "cha" (meaning 'and') to mean another seven 
years, would put Rama's age at 10+7+7=24, at the relevant time. Hence Sri Rama 
must have completed 24 and must have been running 25, when He began His jungle 
sojourn.

 

What we have left is Dasaratha's statement to Visvaamitra that Rama was less 
than 16 and should hence not be deputed for battle with raakshasaas. If indeed 
He was 16 and later spent 12 years after marriage at Ayodhya, this would put 
Him at 28 when He fell victim to Kaikeyi's intrigue.  Here again, a careful 
scrutiny of Dasaratha's words would reveal that the Chakravartthi merely says 
that Rama is under sixteen--"Oona shodasa varshosou"-he doesn't specify the 
actual age of Rama. And 12 is definitely below 16.

This is also borne out by Maareecha's averment that Dasaratha told Visvaamitra 
that Sri Rama was only 12 and as yet untutored in the ways of war. This would 
put Rama comfortably in the region of 24 or 25, when He chose to leave Ayodhya 
as a model and obedient son adhering to the letter and spirit of His parents' 
words. 

 

We thus find that though the versions of different persons on the issue appear 
different, they are actually in unanimity. 

 

An interesting sidelight, though not strictly relevant to the subject on hand, 
is the wealth of astronomical information provided in Srimad Ramayanam. The 
Epic is a veritable astronomer's (astrologer's?) delight, with Sri Valmiki 
furnishing the planetary positions obtaining at the time of the major events in 
the Rama Katha. For instance, when Sri Rama was born, we are told that five 
planets were on the ascendancy- Sun in Mesha, Mars in Capricorn, Jupiter in 
Cancer, Venus in Pisces and Saturn in Libra

 

"Nakshatre Aditi daivatye svoccha samsttheshu panchasu

Graheshu Karkate lagne Vakpaatou Indunaa saha"

 

. When Rama leaves for vanavaasam, another configuration of planets, portending 
disaster and distress, was seen in the sky, says Valmiki, with Trishanku, 
(Crux), Mars, Brihaspati and Budha in unfavourable positions, making Chandra 
and other planets too similarly disposed-

 

"Trishanku: Lohitaangascha Brihaspati Budhou api

daarunaa: Somam abhyetya grahaa: sarve vyavastthitaa:"

 

Signifying Dasaratha's impending end, the Visaakhaa nakshatram, which was the 
presiding asterism of the Ikshvaaku dynasty, had lost all its lustre and merely 
winked weakly from the skies above-

 

"Nakshatraani gataarchishi grahaascha gata tejasa:

Visaakhaascha sa dhoomaascha nabhasi prachakaasire"

 

When Sri Rama left for the jungles, the whole universe was in tears. None of 
the usually lustrous planets or stars was even visible in the overcast sky, 
says Valmiki-

 

"Na graham: naapi nakshatram prachakaase na kinchana"

 

>From the planetary positions, astronomers surmise that Dasaratha's star must 
>have been Krittika. The Chakravartthi says, while arguing with Kaikeyi against 
>banishing Rama to the jungles, that Rahu, Mars and Sun were disturbing his 
>nakshatram.

 

In describing Sri Mythily's plight at the Asoka vanam, surrounded and 
constantly threatened by raakshasis, Valmiki likens Her to the star Rohini 
imprisoned or eclipsed by planet Mars. Several slokas of the Sundara Kandam 
contain such similes.

 

The day fixed by Vasishtta for Sri Rama's coronation was a Thursday, with 
Pushya nakshatram-"Adya Baarhaspata: sreemaan ukta: Pushya: nu Raghava!"

While describing Hanuman's return from Lanka with the good news of having 
discovered Sita's whereabouts, Valmiki paints a broad canvass of the planetary 
position in the skies above-- the Moon was like a beautiful lotus, the Sun 
resembled a golden crane and a span from Pushya to Shravana was seen. Punarvasu 
appeared like a big fish, Mars like a crocodile, Airavata like an island and 
Swati like a swan, says Valmiki. 

The campaign against Lanka was commenced by Sri Rama on Hasta Nakshatram-

"Uttaraa Phalgunee hydya shvastu Hastena yokshyate

Abhiprayaama Sugreeva! Sarva aneeka samaavritaa:"

Sri Raghava declares, "Today is Uttara Phalguni. Tomorrow, when the moon dawns 
on Hastam, we will proceed to Lanka" 

 

These are just samples of planetary and asteristic positions portrayed by 
Valmiki at the time of key events of Ramayana. The Maharshi, among his other 
accomplishments, appears to have been an eminent astronomer/astrologer too, 
recording with precision and drawing tenable conclusions from the movements of 
stars. It is these precise statements of planetary positions that enable 
historians to fix, to the best of their abilities, the various probable dates 
of events in Ramayana. No two historians, like no two experts in any field, 
agree on substantive issues. Similarly, in dating the Ramayana too, 
non-traditional accounts ascribe wide-ranging dates to the events of the 
historical Epic. (One account even puts the Ramayana later than the 
Mahabharata, which is indeed ridiculous, due to the numerous references in the 
latter to the former).  One such version, by Prof. B.P. Vartak (author of 
Vaastav Ramayan in Marathi) and based solely on astronomical data available in 
the Epic, assigns the following dates to the key events of Ramayana:

 

Sri Rama's Birth 5th Dec 7323 B.C. 
Wedding of Sri Rama with Sri Janaki 7th April 7307 B.C. 
Rama's exile 29th Nov 7306 B.C. 
Hanuman's entry into Lanka 1st Sep 7292 B.C. 
Hanuman's meeting with Sri Mythily 2nd Sept 7292 B.C. 
Building of Sethu across the ocean 26th to 30th Oct 7292 B.C. 
Commencement of War 3rd Nov 7292 B.C. 
Slaying of Kumbhakarna 7th Nov 7292B.C. 
Ravana vadham 15th Nov 7292 B.C. 
Rama's triumphant return to Ayodhya 6th Dec 7272 B.C. 

            Readers would observe that the third item in the table does not 
tally with Sri Sita's statement that She spent twelve blissful years at Ayodhya 
after marriage, before accompanying Rama for vanavaasam.  However, the 
aforesaid dates are reproduced only for giving readers an idea of probable 
periods of occurrence and not as absolute indicators. In fact, so many dates 
and years are bandied about by historians, each with his own pet reasons, in 
fixing the period of occurrence of the Epic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valmiki's epic is indeed an unfathomable ocean ("Samudra iva ratnaadyam") and 
one can come up with the most precious of gems and pearls, each time one dives 
into it. One can easily spend a lifetime researching the Epic from various 
angles, not for unearthing dry and desultory academic data, but for enjoying 
the innumerable facets of the Lord's countless auspicious attributes that each 
exploration into Rama katha reveals. Is it any wonder then that the legend of 
Rama is the most frequently told and retold among tales of the human race for 
all time, passing on from generation to generation like a heirloom and 
inspiring countless millions over the ages?

 

 "Karpaar Iraama Piraanai allaal mattrum karpparo!"

 

Srimate Sri LakshmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana 
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:SriRangaSri-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    mailto:SriRangaSri-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    SriRangaSri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 


[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list