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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00110 Jul 2003

 
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Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

We, Indians, many a times hear the proclamation by present day politicians that 
they are going to re-invigorate 'kamaraj rule', 'nehru rule' etc. If that is 
election time you hear such proclamations from almost all and sundryday in and 
day out.

At times, we also hear tall claims of bringing back "raama raajyam"- perhaps 
the person who claims so not really knowing what it is. 

The father of the nation, Mahathma gandhi, also dreamt of giving "raama 
raajyam" to India, once she is free from the tyranny of British rule. Whether 
it is fulfilled or not, is NOT the subject for discussion now.

Then what exactly is the definition of "raama raajyam"? Or how did raama 
administer his raajyam - the kingdom, is the topic for discussion and the 
objective of this write up. Perhaps due to length restriction on posts in the 
ists, and to keep the reader's interest alive, this topic has to be dealt in 
installments.
 
Before we really go into raama raajyam, let us see the meaning of the word 
'raaja' from the lexicon

raaja (noun) - a king, a sovereign, chief or the best of its kind, a prince.

raajan (noun in locative case) - government, guidance.

raaraajathi or raraajathi (verb) [from which the word raaja - noun has come] - 
means - 
to reign, be the king or chief, rule over, direct, govern, be illustrious, 
resplendent, shine, glitter, illuminate, radiant etc.

This word 'govern' in english is a bit 'high sounding' and just on the faceof 
it, it is not lending a helping hand to come to grips in understanding it 
directly. 

As such when we look into the dictionary again, it says 
"govern" - rule wih authority, conduct the policy either despotically or 
constitutionally, sway, rule, influence, regulate, determine etc.

So a king or raajaa has to reign, be able to sway his people or subjects, rule 
them, and influence them through his authority or by the constitution of his 
land.

As the modern day management experts say - raajaa is a person, who 'leads by 
example' and 'leads from the front'.

By going through the raamaayaNam, we find mention of 'raama saasanam' in two 
places-
uththara kaaNdam - sargam 99 - slokam 11 to 14 [4slokams]
yudhDha kaaNdam - sargam 128 - slokams 96 to 106 [11 slokams].

If we read these 15 slOkams we are in for a surprise, 
for - they do not describe 
*       how raamaa conducted his administration, 
*       detail his organisation structure, 
*       roles of each person, 
*       authority weilded by each etc 
but they furnish the result of raamaa's governance like
*       the subjects were very happy
*       rains were timely, 
*       every body did their duty as per their right [kula dharmam or varNa 
aasrama dharmam]

These 15 slokams also state raamaa ruled for 11000 years [dhasa varsha 
sahasraaNi dhasa varsha sathaani]

The uththara kaaNdam slOkams are -
Evam sa kaala: sumahaan raajyasthhasya mahaathmana: |
DharmE prayathamaanasya vyatheeyaadh raaghavasya cha ||
Sreemadh vaalmeeki raamaayaNam uththara kaaNdam sargam 99 slOkam 11

rrkshavaanara rakshaamsi sthhithaa raamasya saasanE |
anuranjanthi raajaanO hi ahani ahani raaghavam ||
Sreemadh vaalmeeki raamaayaNam uththara kaaNdam sargam 99 slOkam 12

kaalE varshathi parjanya: suBhiksham vimalaa dhisa: |
hrushta pushta janaakeerNam puram jana padhaasthathhaa ||
Sreemadh vaalmeeki raamaayaNam uththara kaaNdam sargam 99 slOkam 13

na akaalE mriyathE kaschin na vyaaDhi: praaNinaam thathhaa |
na anarthhO vidhyathE kaschidh raama raajyam prasaasathi ||
Sreemadh vaalmeeki raamaayaNam uththara kaaNdam sargam 99 slOkam 14

Then what exactly is raama raajyam and where to get details of his style 
ofadministration.

For this perhaps we may not be able to get a direct answer, but in the 
following 5 places.
1.      The description of his father's kingdom, -dhasarathhaa's - contains the 
organisation structure etc. [baala kaaNdam sargam 7]. 

2.      A brief advice given to raama by father dhasaratha, just when raamaa is 
about to be coronated also gives the insight of the nuances of dhasarathaa's 
style of administration. [Ayodhyaa kaaNdam sargam 3]. 

3.      A large share of the raama raajyam style of administration can be had 
inthe 'kaschith sargam' [ayOdhya kaaNdam 100th sargam] where raamaa asks 
hisjunior bharatha, 'are you doing this, are you doing this'. These 
questionsindicate how a kingdom is to be administered.

4.      Surprisingly soorpanaka the demoness who got her nose and ears chopped 
by lakshmaNa also asks/ advises her brother raavaNa, "hey, what a king you are, 
if you do not do these, these are not adopted by you etc". Those slokaas also 
give an insight into the style of administration prevalent then. [aaraNya 
kaaNdam 33 sargam]. 

5.      LakshmaNa, when he rushes to sugreeva in anger, about the latter's lax 
attitude in starting the search for his brother's wife, sees sugreeva, then the 
discussion taking place there between lakshmana, hanumaan, and thaara, also 
throws some light how a king should not behave [kishkindha kaaNdam 33rd sargam] 
. 

All these 5 places provide details of good governance. That also throws up how 
sound management priciples are available in srimadh raamaayaNam if we look 
into. These are most apt and readily adoptable by us even today after lapse of 
so many years. So we need not ape west for "modern management doctrines" and 
practice them with lot of difficulty for we are of a different cultural breed.
Let us continue in next post to see some of these details.
Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.





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