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Tuesday, August 09, 2011

meeting of the two titans

meeting of the two titans


न विरोधो बलवता क्षमो रावण तेन ते। अनादृत्य तु तद्वाक्यं रावणः कालचोदितः॥५१
जगाम सहमारीचस्तस्याश्रमपदं तदा। तेन मायाविना दूरवपवाह्य नृपात्मजौ॥५२॥
जहार भार्यां रामस्य गृध्रं हत्वा जटायुषं। गृध्रं च निहतं दृष्ट्वा हृताम् श्रुत्वा च मैथिलीं॥५३
राघवः शोकसंतप्तो विललापाकुलेन्द्रियः।  ततस्तेनैव शोकेन गृध्रं दग्ध्वा जटायुषं॥५४॥
मार्गमाणो वने सीतां राक्षसं संददर्श ह। कबन्धं नाम रूपेण विकृतं घोरदर्शनं॥५५॥
तं निहत्यमहाबाहुर्ददाह स्वर्गतश्च सः। स चास्य कथयामास शबरीं धर्मचारिणीम्॥५६॥
श्रमणां धर्मनिपुणामभिगच्छेति  राघवः। सोऽभ्यगच्छन्महातेजाः शबरीं शत्रुसूदनः॥५७
शबर्या पूजितः सम्यग् रामो दशरथात्मजः।  पम्पातीरे हनूमता सङ्गतो वानरेण ह॥५८॥
हनूमद्वचनाच्चैव सुग्रीवेण समागतः। सुग्रीवाय च तत्सर्वम् शंशद्रामो महाबलः॥५९॥
आदितश्च यदा वृत्तं सीतायाश्च विशेषतः।  सुग्रीवश्चापि तत्सर्वं श्रुत्वा रामस्य वानरः॥६०॥
चकार सख्यं रामेण प्रीतश्चैवाग्निसाक्षिकं। ततो वानरराजेन वैरानुकथनं प्रति॥६१॥
रामायावेदितं सर्वं प्रणयात् दुःखितेन च। प्रतिज्ञातम् च रामेण तदा बालिवधं प्रति॥६२॥
बालिनश्च बलं तत्र कथयामास वानरः।  सुग्रीवः शङ्गितश्चासीन्नित्यं वीर्येण राघवे॥६३॥
राघवप्रत्ययार्थं तु दुन्दुभेः कायमुत्तमं।  दर्शयामास सुग्रीवो महापर्वतसंनिभं॥६४॥
उत्स्मयित्वा महाबाहुः प्रेक्ष्य चस्थि महाबलः। पादाङ्गुष्ठेन चिक्षेप संपूर्णं दशयोजनं॥६५॥
बिभेद च पुन्स्तालान् सप्तैकेन महेषुणा। गिरिं रसातलम् चैव जनयन् प्रत्ययं तदा॥६६॥
॥श्रीमद्वाल्मीकीये रामायणे बालकाण्डे अध्यायः -१-॥
ततः स प्रयतो वृद्धो वसिष्ठो ब्राह्मणैः सह I  रामं रत्नमये पीठे ससीतं संन्यवेशयत्॥
वसिस्ठो वामदेवश्च जाबालिरथ काश्यपः। कात्यायनः सुयज्ञश्च गौतमो विजयस्तथा।
अब्यषिञ्जन्नरव्याघ्रं प्रसन्नेन सुगन्धिना।  सलिलेन सहस्राक्षं वसवो वासवं यथI॥
 na virodho balavataa kSamo raavaNa tena te. anaadR^itya tu tadvaakyaM raavaNaH kaalachoditaH..51
jagaama sahamaariichastasyaashramapadaM tadaa. tena maayaavinaa duuravapavaahya nR^ipaatmajau..52..
jahaara bhaaryaaM raamasya gR^idhraM hatwaa jaTaayuSaM. gR^idhraM cha nihataM dR^iSTwaa hR^itaam shrutwaa cha maithiliiM..53
raaghavaH shokasaMtapto vilalaapaakulendriyaH.  tatastenaiva shokena gR^idhraM dagdhwaa jaTaayuSaM..54..
maargamaaNo vane siitaaM raakSasaM saMdadarsha ha. kabandhaM naama ruupeNa vikR^itaM ghoradarshanaM..55..
taM nihatyamahaabaahurdadaaha swargatashcha saH. sa chaasya kathayaamaasa shabariiM dharmachaariNiim..56..
shramaNaaM dharmanipuNaamabhigachchheti  raaghavaH. so.abhyagachchhanmahaatejaaH shabariiM shatrusuudanaH..57
shabaryaa puujitaH samyag raamo dasharathaatmajaH.  pampaatiire hanuumataa sa~Ngato vaanareNa ha..58..
hanuumadvachanaachchaiva sugriiveNa samaagataH. sugriivaaya cha tatsarvam shaMshadraamo mahaabalaH..59..
aaditashcha yadaa vR^ittaM siitaayaashcha visheSataH.  sugriivashchaapi tatsarvaM shrutwaa raamasya vaanaraH..60..
chakaara sakhyaM raameNa priitashchaivaagnisaakSikaM. tato vaanararaajena vairaanukathanaM prati..61..
raamaayaaveditaM sarvaM praNayaat duHkhitena cha. pratij~naatam cha raameNa tadaa baalivadhaM prati..62..
baalinashcha balaM tatra kathayaamaasa vaanaraH.  sugriivaH sha~NgitashchaasiinnityaM viiryeNa raaghave..63..
raaghavapratyayaarthaM tu dundubheH kaayamuttamaM.  darshayaamaasa sugriivo mahaaparvatasaMnibhaM..64..
utsmayitwaa mahaabaahuH prekSya chasthi mahaabalaH. paadaa~NguSThena chikSepa saMpuurNaM dashayojanaM..65..
bibheda cha punstaalaan saptaikena maheSuNaa. giriM rasaatalam chaiva janayan pratyayaM tadaa..66..
..shriimadvaalmiikiiye raamaayaNe baalakaaNDe adhyaayaH -1-..

The previous section saw Rama conquering fourteen thousand warriors with Khara, Dooshana and Trishiras in the vanguard.  
The leader of the rakshasaas and the monarch of Lanka, Ravana, hearing about the disaster to his kin, decided to wreak venegeance on Rama  and sought the help of his maternal uncle 
Mareecha who was a master at deception. 
 Maariicha knew about the valour of Rama and cautioned Ravana against attracting Rama's wrath. 
Ravana ignored Maariicha's advice and forcibly took him for company and went near the hut of Rama. 
Maaricha was forcibly employed to take the guise of a golden antelope and go near the abode of Rama, and Seetha, on seeing the antelope got attracted to it and requested Rama to capture the animal for her. 
 Rama went in pursuit of the deer and was led to far off distances by the wily Maaricha. 
Finally the demon was felled by Rama's arrow but at the time of death he cried out  , "Lakshmana, Seetha, I am in danger"  mimicking the voice of Rama.  
Seetha believed that Rama was in real danger and forced Lakshmana to run for the rescue of his elder brother.  
When Seetha was alone,  Ravana disguised himself as a mendicant sage and when Seetha went near him to receive him believing that he was a hermit, captured Seetha and tried to fly away to Lanka in his Pushpaka Vimaanam.  
The elderly falcon, Jataayu, an old friend of Dasaratha, attacked Ravana in the air, but was cut down and injured mortally by the sword of Ravana.. 
Rama  came back to the hut and saw the falcon on the throes of death and found Seetha missing. 
 Jatayu was alive just to inform about the abduction of Seetha by Ravana.  
Rama performed the last rites of the falcon and utterly desolate, wandered round the forest in search of Sita. 
 Deep in the forest he saw an ogre which had only torso, named Kabandha, and slayed him. 
The Kabandha was a celestial being and got its deliverance from a curse on being killed  and burned by Rama.  
While returning to heaven, Kabandha requested Rama to visit a pious hermitess name Sabari..  Taking the advice of Kabhanda, Rama visited Sabari, living in the Ashram of sage Matanga, near the Rishyamooka hills.  

While proceeding further after being offered devoted worship by the blemishless Sabari, Rama  happened to see a monkey named Hanuman..

(Maybe this is one of the greatest encounters between two godheads that could ever have happened).  

Hanuman led Rama (and Lakhmana) to Sugriva, the exiled brother of the king of monkeys, Vaali.  
Rama narrated to Sugriva all that  had happened culminating in the abduction of Seetha.  Sugriva was prepared to help Rama and the two cemented their friendship in the presence of fire as witness.  
Sugriva then narrated his own  tale of misery.. 
He was exiled by his elder brother Vaali from Kishkinda, the kingdom of monkeys. 
Vaali had also forcibly taken Sugriva's wife Ruma.  
The enmity between the brothers arose like this.  
Vaali was once having a very long duel with the mighty demon Dundhubhi.  During the fight the two had entered a cave and Vaali had instructed Sugriva to close the entrance of the cave and wait for his return.  
Sugriva waited for months but there was nothing to be heard of Vaali. Once he saw blood oozing out of the closed cave and believed that Vaali had died.  
So Sugriva went back to Kishkinda and made himself the King. 
 After very long fight with Dundhubi, Vaali emerged victorious in the end and throwing out the caracass of Dundubhi, came back to Kishkinda in triumph.  
When he found that Sugriva had occupied his throne, he became enraged and the powerful elder brother chased out Sugriva in a bid to finish him off.  
Sugriva knew that Vaali was prohibited by a curse from climbing the Rishyamooka hills and hence retreated to these hills along with some of his most faithful ministers like Hanuman and Jambavaan.  
Sugriva extracted the promise from Rama that he would kill Vaali and restore Kishkinda to Sugriva in return to  his help to gain back the abducted Seetha.  
However Sugreeva was skeptical about the prowess of Rama to vanquish Vaali, and as if to test him, showed him the huge skeleton of the demon Dundubhi.  
Rama smiled slightly and just nudged the huge skeleton with his big toe and the skeleton flew away a full ten yojanaas (yojana is the indian measure of distance...the distance that could be covered by a bullock cart in a day's time..and there are different views placing one yojana at five to eight kilometers). 
 In addition  Rama also razed to earth seven huge palmyrah trees with one arrow and the impact was so huge that the hillocks nearby as well as the nether worlds upto Rasaathala trembled in unison.
  Some of the incidents narrated above are not covered by the slokas above but are availble in detail in other parts of Ramayanam. 
These have been referred to briefly only to give continuity to the narrative.   
The most significant incident in this part of the story is the meeting of the two titans  Rama and Hanuman.

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