VALMIKI RAMAYANA :YET ANOTHER PORTRAYAL OF DIVINE FANTASIES AND IDIOSYNCRASIES !
Besides many classical versions of mythological epic poem Ramayana,there are at least three hundred versions of much talked about scripture, though oldest version is generally recognized to be the Sanskrit version Valmiki Ramayana which dates back approximately to 5th to 4th century BCE.Valmiki Ramayana consists of nearly 24,000 verses,compiled in 7 books [Kanda's] with 500 cantos [Sargas]. By virtue of being author of epic Ramayana,Valmiki has got the distinction of being harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature.
Though scripture itself is classical example of divine fantasies and idiosyncrasies and apparently the imagination of author seems to have crossed all limits of logic and reason,it will be very pertinent here to provide exposition of some well known and popular divine caprice.
# King Dasaratha performed 'putrakameshti' yajna under the divine expertise of sage Shringya and as the conclusion of the yajna drew nearer,divine person sprang out from the yajna fire with a pot of kheer [divine desert]. King was accordingly advised to distribute it to queens,which was consumed by queens in an disproportionate manner.Consequent upon,instant impregnation Kausalya gave birth to Rama,Sumitra gave birth to Lakshman and Shatrughan and Kaikye gave birth to Bharata.
[Valmiki Ramayana;Bala Kanda, Sarg 16,shalok 23-31,page 66].
# King Sagar had two queens -Keshani and Sumati.While Keshani gave birth to only one son,Sumati gave birth to 60,000 sons.[Ibid,Bala Kanda,Sarg 38,Shalok 8,page 107].
# Ahalya, wife of sage Gautama,seduced [raped] by Indra ,was cursed by her husband for her supposed infidelity. Accordingly Ahalya remained invisible and sustained for thousands of years just on air. [Ibid,Bala Kanda,Sarg 48, Shalok 29,page 126].
# Shabala cow-when asked to 'create a power that can over power the power of opponent' created Pahlava kings,which sprang forth from her mooing 'hums' and hundreds of them annihilated the powerful army of Vishvamitra. [Ibid,Bala Kanda,Sarg 54, Shalok 17-18,page 136].
# During much publicized Ramarajya,average age of children was 5,000 years.
[Ibid,Uttara Kanda,Sarg 73,Shalok 5,page 771].
# One vulture Jatayu confronts Ravana on hearing the wailing of Sita.He being wise,intelligent and well versed in Sanskrit,tells Ravana about the view point of righteousness befitting to kings.
[Ibid,Aranya Kand,Sarg 50,Shalok 3,page 579].
# Dauntless Hanuman crossing and flying with the help of one single jump ,covering the distance of 100 Yojnas [800 Miles]. [Ibid,Sunder Kand,Sarg 1,Shalok 1-140,page 1-10].
# "Let all those monkey's and bears ,who have been killed in the battle by the demons and whose arms and heads have been severed ,be alive and active again"and miracle happens.
[Ibid,Yudh Kanda,Sarg 120, Shalok 13-14,page 568].
# "Soon after his birth the great demon Kumbhakarna,afflicted as he was by hunger,ate thousands of living creatures." [Ibid,Yudh Kanda, Sarg 61,Shalok 13,page 372].
# "Complying with sage Agastya's directive,mountain Vindhyachal ceased to heighten in order to establish comfortable path for the convenience of sage Agastya ".[Ibid, Aranya Kanda,Sarg 11,Shalok 85,page 497].
# "And those gods and other celestials in their amazement said among themselves that in just one and half moharat [approximately 72 minutes] , Rama with sharp arrows ,killed 14000 demons including their chieftains Khara and Dushana.[Ibid,Aranya Kanda,Sarg 30,Shalok 31,page 536].
# A kite is supposed to snatch a fragment of Kheer [divine desert-which was used by king Dasaratha for impregnation of his queens] and dropped it while flying over the forest where Anjana was engaged in worship. Vayu deity of the world,delivered the falling pudding to the out stretched hands of Anjana,who consumed it,became pregnant and gave birth to Haumana [thus nomenclature Pavan Putar Hanuman] .[Ibid,Uttar Kanda, Sarg 35, Shalok 20, page 697].
# As a child, Hauman believing the Sun to be ripe Mango,he pursued it in order to eat it. Rahu ,a Vedic planet corresponding to an eclipse was at that time seeking out the Sun as well and he clashed with Hanuman,who thrashed Rahu and went to engulf Sun in his mouth.[Ibid,Uttar Kanda,Sarg 35,Shalok 29,page 698].
# King Yayati requested all his five sons one by one to exchange their respective youth with his old age ,in order to enjoy worldly happiness.All his sons except Puru rejected his idea. Accordingly Puru exchanged his youthfulness with old age of his father who in turn enjoyed sensual pleasures for one thousand years.Later King Yayati ,exchanged his youthfulness with his son Puru ,receiving his old age in return.[Ibid,Uttar Kanda,Sarg 59, Shalok 6-7,page 741-42].
# Immediately after poor shudra Shambuka is tortured to death by Rama himself for the "crime" of performing penance along with study of scriptures [which was forbidden for Shudras under much publicized social justice under Rama rajya] ,dead Brahman boy regains life again.[Ibid, Uttar Kanda,Sarg 76, Shalok 15,page 776].
Besides many classical versions of mythological epic poem Ramayana,there are at least three hundred versions of much talked about scripture, though oldest version is generally recognized to be the Sanskrit version Valmiki Ramayana which dates back approximately to 5th to 4th century BCE.Valmiki Ramayana consists of nearly 24,000 verses,compiled in 7 books [Kanda's] with 500 cantos [Sargas]. By virtue of being author of epic Ramayana,Valmiki has got the distinction of being harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature.
Though scripture itself is classical example of divine fantasies and idiosyncrasies and apparently the imagination of author seems to have crossed all limits of logic and reason,it will be very pertinent here to provide exposition of some well known and popular divine caprice.
# King Dasaratha performed 'putrakameshti' yajna under the divine expertise of sage Shringya and as the conclusion of the yajna drew nearer,divine person sprang out from the yajna fire with a pot of kheer [divine desert]. King was accordingly advised to distribute it to queens,which was consumed by queens in an disproportionate manner.Consequent upon,instant impregnation Kausalya gave birth to Rama,Sumitra gave birth to Lakshman and Shatrughan and Kaikye gave birth to Bharata.
[Valmiki Ramayana;Bala Kanda, Sarg 16,shalok 23-31,page 66].
# King Sagar had two queens -Keshani and Sumati.While Keshani gave birth to only one son,Sumati gave birth to 60,000 sons.[Ibid,Bala Kanda,Sarg 38,Shalok 8,page 107].
# Ahalya, wife of sage Gautama,seduced [raped] by Indra ,was cursed by her husband for her supposed infidelity. Accordingly Ahalya remained invisible and sustained for thousands of years just on air. [Ibid,Bala Kanda,Sarg 48, Shalok 29,page 126].
# Shabala cow-when asked to 'create a power that can over power the power of opponent' created Pahlava kings,which sprang forth from her mooing 'hums' and hundreds of them annihilated the powerful army of Vishvamitra. [Ibid,Bala Kanda,Sarg 54, Shalok 17-18,page 136].
# During much publicized Ramarajya,average age of children was 5,000 years.
[Ibid,Uttara Kanda,Sarg 73,Shalok 5,page 771].
# One vulture Jatayu confronts Ravana on hearing the wailing of Sita.He being wise,intelligent and well versed in Sanskrit,tells Ravana about the view point of righteousness befitting to kings.
[Ibid,Aranya Kand,Sarg 50,Shalok 3,page 579].
# Dauntless Hanuman crossing and flying with the help of one single jump ,covering the distance of 100 Yojnas [800 Miles]. [Ibid,Sunder Kand,Sarg 1,Shalok 1-140,page 1-10].
# "Let all those monkey's and bears ,who have been killed in the battle by the demons and whose arms and heads have been severed ,be alive and active again"and miracle happens.
[Ibid,Yudh Kanda,Sarg 120, Shalok 13-14,page 568].
# "Soon after his birth the great demon Kumbhakarna,afflicted as he was by hunger,ate thousands of living creatures." [Ibid,Yudh Kanda, Sarg 61,Shalok 13,page 372].
# "Complying with sage Agastya's directive,mountain Vindhyachal ceased to heighten in order to establish comfortable path for the convenience of sage Agastya ".[Ibid, Aranya Kanda,Sarg 11,Shalok 85,page 497].
# "And those gods and other celestials in their amazement said among themselves that in just one and half moharat [approximately 72 minutes] , Rama with sharp arrows ,killed 14000 demons including their chieftains Khara and Dushana.[Ibid,Aranya Kanda,Sarg 30,Shalok 31,page 536].
# A kite is supposed to snatch a fragment of Kheer [divine desert-which was used by king Dasaratha for impregnation of his queens] and dropped it while flying over the forest where Anjana was engaged in worship. Vayu deity of the world,delivered the falling pudding to the out stretched hands of Anjana,who consumed it,became pregnant and gave birth to Haumana [thus nomenclature Pavan Putar Hanuman] .[Ibid,Uttar Kanda, Sarg 35, Shalok 20, page 697].
# As a child, Hauman believing the Sun to be ripe Mango,he pursued it in order to eat it. Rahu ,a Vedic planet corresponding to an eclipse was at that time seeking out the Sun as well and he clashed with Hanuman,who thrashed Rahu and went to engulf Sun in his mouth.[Ibid,Uttar Kanda,Sarg 35,Shalok 29,page 698].
# King Yayati requested all his five sons one by one to exchange their respective youth with his old age ,in order to enjoy worldly happiness.All his sons except Puru rejected his idea. Accordingly Puru exchanged his youthfulness with old age of his father who in turn enjoyed sensual pleasures for one thousand years.Later King Yayati ,exchanged his youthfulness with his son Puru ,receiving his old age in return.[Ibid,Uttar Kanda,Sarg 59, Shalok 6-7,page 741-42].
# Immediately after poor shudra Shambuka is tortured to death by Rama himself for the "crime" of performing penance along with study of scriptures [which was forbidden for Shudras under much publicized social justice under Rama rajya] ,dead Brahman boy regains life again.[Ibid, Uttar Kanda,Sarg 76, Shalok 15,page 776].
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