VALMIKI RAMAYANA By Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A.,Ph.D , siromani

Balakanda

1-THE BIRTH OF THE EPIC

Valmiki Ramayana, as the name indicates, was written by sage Valmiki. It is called

Aadhi kavya because it was the first work in the form of Kavya. Before Valmiki's time even

though sloka form existed there was no epic poem as such. In fact the lakshana, definition

and characteristics of kavya given by vyasa later, was based only on Ramayana

The circumstance connected with the composing of Ramayana by Valmiki is

interesting. The story goes that it was Sage Narada who told

Valmiki about Rama. It was also Narada who was instrumental in

the transformation of Valmiki into a sage from a hunter. .

Valmiki once asked Narada, who came to see him in his

asram, 'NARADHAM PARIPA- PRACHCHA

VALMIKIRMUNIPUNGAVAM,' that who among men possessed

the best qualities and also most valiant .'KONVASMIN

SAAMPRADHAAM LOKE GUNA-VAAN KASCHA VIRYAVAAN?'

Here the word used for asking is 'paripaprachcha' which means 'to ask' with genuine

interest with full faith in the guru. In Gita Krishna tells Arjuna, 'thadvidhdhi pranipaathena

pariprasnena sevaya,know the truth by repeated asking with faith and humility.' Valmiki

lists the qualities of the man he is seeking as gunavan, virtuous, viryavan, powerful,

dharmajna, knower of dharma, krthajna, knows how to show gratitude, satyavaakyah,

truthful in word, dhrdavrathah, firm in resolve, chaarithrena yukthah, righteous,

sarvabhootheshu hithah, benefactor of all beings, vidvan, learned, samarthah, skilful in

applying his reasoning, aathmavan, selfcontrolled, jithkrodhah, conquered anger,

dhyuthiman, lustrous, anasooyakah, one who never finds fault with others and finally who is

the most formidable as a foe whom even devas will fear 'kasya bhibhyathi devascha

jaathroshasya samyuge.'

Narada replied relating him the story of Rama in short. The words of Narada here is

known as samkshepa Ramayana reciting which, is supposed to give the same result as in

reciting the whole Ramayana

Valmiki, when he was going to the Thamasa river, saw two krouncha birds happily

chirping together and his heart was filled with joy on seeing them At that instant an arrow

came and struck the male bird which fell down dead. This pained the sage and seeing the

hunter who did this he said,

Maa nishaadha prathishtaam thvam aganmah ssaasvatheessamaah

yathkrounchmithunaadhekam avadheeh kaamamohitham

This means, 'Oh hunter, you will not get peace or rest forever since you have killed one of the

two krouncha birds who were in love.'

The next moment his heart was filled with remorse, being saathvik by nature, and he

relented thinking that he had no right to curse the hunter. But to his surprise the words of the

curse formed a sloka, the metre and rhythm of which surprised him. To Valmiki in meditation

later, appeared Brahma and told him that the whole thing was the leela of the Lord. From his

shoka of seeing the bird killed has sprung a sloka. And he said that Valmiki should relate the

story of Rama in the same metre and rhythm and gave him the vision to see the events of the

life of Rama as though it was happening in front of his eyes Valmiki repeated the sloka to fix

his mind on its construction and composed Ramayana. Thus came the great epic Ramayana

into being.

This sloka has been interpreted by the learned acharyas to be the mangalasloka of

Ramayana itself. Maa nishaadha means the resort of Lakshmi, that is the Lord Vishnu. 'Maa,'

the negative particle being removed and taken in the sense of Lakshmi as she is called 'maa',

the words 'maa prathishtaam thvam agamah ' becomes 'prathishtaam thvam agamah, you

will be established in the hearts of all for saasvatheessamaah long time to come.'Yath

krouncha mithunaadhekam avadheeh kaamamohitham' the gives the meaning, "As you have

killed the lustful one of the couple, Ravana and Mandodhari.' The word krouncha also means

Rakshasa. Thus the curse itself being the leela of the Lord, became a benediction. Such is the

richness of the sanskrit language.

Valmiki composed the whole Ramayana, seeing with the divine vision given by

Brahma everything that happened in the life of Rama and when he was contemplating as to

whom should he teach this to spread it in the world, the boys Lava and Kusa came and

prostrated before him. Valmiki considered their merirs and decided to teach them the epic.

They were raajaputrou, princes, dharmajnou , knew dharma, yasasvinou, already gained

reputation as well learned, bratharou, brothers and aasramavaasinou, resided there in the

asrama and more than anything else svarasampannou, they possessed sweet and resonant

voice.

In olden days all the learning were oral only and the students committed to memory

what they have learnt by reciting them every day. The chanting of the Vedas required a good

voice and pronunciation as the intonation is very important in veda because the wrong accent

will change the entire meaning. The mantra „indrassatruh,‟ pronounced by Tvashta who

wanted to create a son to kill Indra by wrong accent made Indra the killer of vrthrasura

instead of vice versa.

Then the merit of the kavya itself is extolled as „seethaayaah charitham mahat’ The

word Ramayana means Rama is described by this work, Raamah ashayathe anena, but it is

the great story of Seetha. Ramayana is called „sharanaagathi shaastra’ by Vaishnava

Acharyas because it tells about the efficacy of surrendering to

the Lord. Raama specifies in yudhdhakaanda that it is his vow to

give surrender to anyone who takes refuge in him even once

but he protected only those who surrendered like Kakasura and

Vibheeshana. .But Seetha went one step ahead of him because

she gave refuge even to those who oppressed her like the rakshasis in Ashokavana when

Hanuman wanted to kill them after the war, saying the famous and oft quoted words, „na

kaschit naaparaadhyathi,‟ “is there anyone who is faultless?” That is why the epic is called

Seethaayaah charitham mahat

Kusa and Lava sang the epic in the presence of the sages and went on singing in all

places and reached Ayodhya. All who heard it were very much impressed not only with the

richness of the kavya but also about the skill of the singers.

The slokas of Ramayana are sweet sounding and render themselves beautifully to

music. The kavya is rich in sentiments, the navarasa. The singers were proficient in music as

well as in expression, bhava. Besides they were handsome with their resemblance to their

father Srirama. When they sang in front of Rama he praised them and took them to his

yagasala and asked everybody to hear them.

Then starts the Ramayana as sung by Kusa and Lava

2- DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND OF KOSALA AND AYODHYA.

Valmiki briefly mentions the greatness of .the line of Ikshvaku and says that the epic

came into being through the grace of Brahma, and he is only making it known to the world as

it contains the three purushaarthas, namely dharma, artha and kama, which subsequently

lead to the fourth, Moksha. Valmiki then entreats the listener to hear it with sradhdha, faith

and without asooya, cavil.

Every literary work must satisfy four requisites, namely, vishaya, subject matter,

adhikari , to whom it is intended, prayojana, the fruit and sambandha , relevance. Vishaya

has been indicated by „Ikshvaakoonaam idham theshaam raajnaam vamse

mahaathmmanaam mahadhuthpannamaakhyaanam ramayanamithi srutham,.’ this

Ramayana, the story of Rama , descendant of the line of Ikshvaku. Adhikariis the one with

sradhdha and without asooya, Prayojana is the four purushaarthas and the sambandha is made

specific by the above.

Then comes the description of the land of Kosala which is situated north of Ganga,

on the banks of the river Sarayu. It was prosperous and fertile the residents of which were

mudhitha. Happy and spheetha, rich. While Valmiki only hinted at the splendour of Kosala,

Kamban has gone into raptures and dedicated a whole chapter for the description of

Kosaladesa and its inhabitants. One of the most beautiful and oft quoted verse of Kamban

about Kosala is,

‟ thandalai mayilgal aada, thaamarai vilakkam thaanga,

kondalgal muzavin Enga, kuvlai kan viziththu nOkka,

thenthirai ezini kaatta, thembizi makarayaazin

vandugal inidhu paada, marudham veetrirukkum maadhaO.

’ The type of land was called Marudham, fertile agricultural region, which reigns supreme in

Kosala. With plenty of rain one can always hear the thunder of the clouds sounding like the

regal trumpet and drum, the peacocks are the court dancers, the lotuses are the carriers of

lamps, while the singers are the bees, the kuvalai flowers are the audience and the curtain for

the stage is provided by the waves of the Sarayu river. Only a vague description can be

provided as the beauty of the poetry can be understood only when it is read in the original

Tamil.

After just one sloka about Kosala Valmiki starts to describe the city of Ayodhya by

three slokas. It was constructed by Manu, the father of Ikshvaku. The city covered the area of

twelve yojanas long and three yojanas wide.( A yojana is approximately nine miles.) The

streets of Ayodhya were highways, flanked by trees, strewn with flowers and the city was

always cool with enough rains and watered otherwise. The city as described by Valmiki

proves that in ancient India .city civilization was of a high standard. The houses were inlaid

with precious stones and with barns full of food grains always filled with the sweet sound of

musical instruments.

Valmiki describes the people of Ayodhya. They were laghuhasthaah, skilled and

dexterous, vishaaradhaah, learned and strong, able to kill wild animals by arrows as well as

by hand, „hanthaarah nishithaissastraih balaath baahu balairapi.‟. But they were also noble

and desisted from hitting by mere sound na sabdhavedhyam, even though they could, perhaps

learnt their lesson by the experience of Dasaratha who killed a hermit‟s son mistaking him to

be an elephant by the sound and incurred the curse of his parents. There were no cowards, or

orphans or loners in Ayodhya..

Ayodhya means yodhdhum na shakyaa, invincible. Valmiki indicates the invincibility

of the city by saying ‘ dhurgagambheera parikhaam dhurgham anyaih dhuraasadhaam,

surrounded by moats deep and difficult to cross over and hence inaccessible to others.

The description of the prosperity of the citizens of Ayodhya by Kamban is

interesting. He says,

’kalvaar ilaamaipporul kaavalum illai; yaadhum

kolvaar ilaamaikkoduppaaargalum illai madho.

ellaarum ellaapperunchelvamum eidhalaale

illaarum illai ;udayaargalum illai maadho.

Since there were no robbers there was no police. Since there was no one to receive

there were no givers. Since all were enjoying all riches there was no one

who can be termed as poor nor as rich.

WILL CONTINUE………