Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
In this world, we have come across many types of `requests' from many
sources and varieties of `help seekers'. These may include people
seeking monetary help, seeking recommendation letters etc. Similarly
even while praying to the supreme lord sriman naaraayaNan, varieties
are available ? prayer for health, for money, for success in
examinations, and for success in love as per modern practice etc.
Many a prayers may be for one's own purpose most often, or for the
sake of others sometimes.
In those days, similar prayers and seeking helps were done in the
form of `yagnaas' ? offering many a material in fire, so that the
desired `fruit' ? `yagna phala' is achieved. Since these yagnaas are
to be done with strict procedural formalities as stated in the
vEdhaas, and with proper manthraas, the braahmaNaas [or the rithviks
as they are called], who were the qualified ones to do these yagnaas,
were regarded highly and also paid highly and handsome. Kings, to get
a success in war, to get rain in their country etc, conducted these
yagnaas at high costs. The aswamEdha is one such yagna, for instance,
is carried out by kings like dhasaratha as per srimadh raamaayaNam,
yudhishtira as per maha bhaaratham.
But have you heard a `son in law' performing a `yagna' for getting
a `son' as the yagna phala for the sake of his `father in law'?
? viz. his father in law, since not having a child [other than
the daughter to whom this son in law was married to], wants the son
in law to perform a yagna, on behalf of father in law, so that he
will get a child - [is it a bit confusing?]
? or this son in law brahmaNa doing a yagna for getting
a `brother in law' - a `machinan' ? as asked by the father in law who
is the king, a kshathriya
? to put that in tamil ? raajaa aana maamanaarkku aaN
kuzhandhai illai, adhukkaaga braahmaNa maappiLLai oru yagnam paNNina
kadhai kEttu irukkireergaLaa?
May be this question leads to a `high suspense'? No, sirs and madams,
it is all simple. The story is all about our pet and beloved `raama' ?
yes ? it is all about our pet "mother seethaa's beloved husband
raama", the `dhaasarathee' only.
`Hey, what happened to MGV, he is trying to twist the well known
raamaayaNam' ? you may think. Perhaps many may say when did
dhasaratha get a daughter? Is there any evidence in raamaayaNam? Let
us travel slowly to unravel these kind of twists.
King dhasaratha of ayOdhyaa had 350 wives. On this figure of 350, you
may raise a question ? hey we have heard dhasaratha had 60000 wives
and you have drastically reduced the number.
To deal that 60000 part of story ? Parasuraama who vowed to kill all
kshathriyaas, in particular, the kings, also gave a concession that
when he travels across lands and approaches to kill some king, he
finds that king is a freshly married one, then, raama will not kill
that king. Dhasaratha ruled ayodhyaa for 60000 years for which
adequate references are available from vaalmeeki. So, dhasaratha
married one wife in each year, so that whenever parasuraama comes to
kill him, he appeared as a newly married man to parasuraama and thus
escaped being killed by raama. Vaalmeeki does not cover any such
portion of story in his kaavyam ? raamaayaNam ? may be some traces
elsewhere. That is that 60000 nos story.
We have a slokam in ayodhyaa kaaNdam on this 350 but not on 60000.
Whether this 350 includes the three patta mahishis ? queens -
kousalyaa, sumithraa, and kaikEyee or they form additional three is a
point of debate. Raama is set to leave for forest ? king dhasaratha
wants all his wives to assemble in the palace from which raama is set
to take off. Sumanthra the minister fetches all of them to one palace.
sumanthra aanaya mE dhaaraan yE kEchith iha maamakaa: |
dhaarai: parivrutha: sarvai: dhrashtum ichchhaami raaghavam || 2-34-10
meaning: Oh, Sumanthra! Call [or bring] all my wives, who are here.
Surrounded by all of them, I want to see the virtuous Raama.
Evam ukthaa: sthriyaa: sarvaa: sumanthrENa nrupa aaj~nayaa |
Prachakramu: thath bhavanam bharthu: aaj~naaya saasanam || 2-34-12
meaning: All those women, asked thus by Sumanthra as per the king's
orders, went to his palace, after knowing the instructions of their
husband.
ardha saptha sathaa: thaa: thu pramadhaa: thaamra lOchanaa: |
kousalyaam parivaarya atha sanai: jagmur dhruda vrathaa: || 2-34-13
meaning: Encircling Kousalya, three hundred fifty women, steadfast in
their vow (of devotion to their husband), with their eyes reddened,
went there slowly.
Point: So now it is evidently confirmed that dhasaratha had 353 or
350 wives. From the slokam above we can even take that 350 is
exclusive of the three, since it is stated here 350 encircled
kousalya ? so naturally kousalya is excluded, so also the other two
queens. Or we can also take it that since it is poetry, the figure of
350 need not be so literally taken [or cannot be interpreted that
way]. Dear readers, is it clear now?
Now let us move on to see about dhasarathaa's daughter ? the same
sumanthra, the minister, informs king dhasaratha when the king wants
to beget a son,
rishyasringa: thu jaamaathaa puthraan thava vidhaasyathi |
sanathkumaara kathitham Ethaavath vyaahrutham mayaa || 1-9-19
meaning: Sage Risyasringa, son-in-law of Romapaadha, King of Anga,
and as well as to you, if invited to our kingdom, he will bless you
to beget sons, oh! King... so said Sage Sanathkumaara to other sages
and all this is retold by me." [Thus the charioteer and the Minister
Sumantra completed his narration in confidence to King Dhasaratha.]
[1-9-19]
Point: from this it is clear that dhasaratha should have had a
daughter and he did not, really and factually, have a son only. So
the maappillai rishyasringa: did the `puthra kaama ishti' ? the yagna
yielding or resulting in a son ? on behalf of his maamanaar and thus
got 4 machinans in the form of raama, lakshmaNa, bharatha and
chathrughna.
Morein next post.
Dhasan
Vasudevan m.g.
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/
|
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |