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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