The Ramayana – a different perspective – Part I

  As kids we have heard tales about Ramayana and Mahabharata.  We have heard about the gory deeds of the demons and how they, in the end, are overpowered by God. Usually these Gods descend on earth to nullify the evil power possessed by these demons and to give them Moksha.
 

Very rarely are the good deeds of these demons talked about. May be we have relegated them to a mere saying “Give the demon his due”. In action, we never give the demons their due!

Let me give the devil his due, by introducing Ravana as a great Shiva Bhakta. He was an able administrator and a man of high values and integrity. Under his leadership Lanka came to be known as the land of Gold. Lanka was a very prosperous kingdom. We know this for a fact from the dialogue between Vibhishanan and Kumbakarnan. Kumbakarnan tells Vibhishanan that he will not fight the battle on Rama’s side for the sake of the becoming the king of the Golden city, Lanka. Ravana had courageous soldiers and loyal ministers. Though Rama had a bigger army, the Ravana sena or the army of Ravana, fought bravely for their king till their very end, which goes on to prove that barring the abduction of Sita, they were happy with their king in very many respects. 

Lanka was filled with learned men like Vibhishana, pious men like Ravana himself and brave and loyal men like Kumbakarna. The women were chaste like Mandodari, Ravana’s wife. What then could have triggered a man as righteous as Ravana to abduct Sita?

Lust, it is said was the reason behind this act of his. But if that was true, then Sita was all alone when Ravana abducted her. Logically there was no need for him to abduct her and taking her to Lanka in the most honourable and dignified manner. Ravana does not even touch Sita ,even while kidnapping her. The land mass around them breaks and they get airlifted. So lust clearly is not the motive behind the kidnapping. If revenge was the reason, then what act of Rama’s camp did he avenge? It is believed that when Lakshmana chopped off Surpanaka’s nose, she went to her brother with a bleeding face. This prompted Ravana to kidnap Sita. 

Then is it not right to say that Ramayana, the epic war was sparked off due to Lakshmana’s anger? As much as it was the duty of Rama to save his wife’s honour, it was the duty of Ravana to save his sister’s honour. 

But at this point I am going to place an argument which is debatable. “Nothing succeeds like success”, they say. But behind Rama’s success there was a sense of justice. While Ravana also fought for his sister’s honour, which was a noble cause, he should have fought the man who dishonoured his sister, rather than abducting an innocent lady, thereby putting her to shame. Rama, on the other hand, fought directly with the man who had brought dishonour to his wife. Had Ravana fought Lakshmana directly, he probably would have been the hero of Ramayana.

With this perspective to the Ramayana, there are quite a number of lessons to be learnt. Firstly, Lakshmana’s anger turned into rage when he cut off the nose of Surpanaka. 

A gruesome act under whatever provocation will only lead to grave consequences. The first lesson that we have to learn is to channelize our anger.

In the saga as described above, Lakshmana acted in anger and haste. This anger made Ravana counter-act in the same haste and anger. The one man who was angered, but did not act in haste, was Rama. He channelized his anger in finding a solution. He sent Hanuman as a messenger of peace. If at this stage, Ravana had let go of his ego, maybe, he could have made Rama understand Lakshmana’s folly. Having failed in bringing peace, his next step was to ensure Sita was safe. This too he did with Hanuman’s help. 

And in end, to save his wife, Rama waged war against Ravana, as he should have done. Anger, haste and ego can bring great losses, while patience and kindness towards others make us a hero.

A new twist to an old tale

 

 Change is the only constant thing in the world. The world is moving towards the four R’s which are re-cycle, reuse, refuse and reduce.We may add the fifth R to this by including re-tell.

Here is the story of the four men who travelled by a boat, retold.

Once upon a time, four men, a Brahmin, a farmer, a carpenter and a labourer travelled by a boat from one shore of a river to another. On the way, the Brahmin started conversing with his other boat mates. 

Slowly he realised that the other three did not know as much as he knew and he was more knowledgeable than the others. His ego ballooned and he started asking questions form the Vedas and the Puranas. He recited flawlessly from the Upanishads and the Gita. The other three men were left speechless. They felt belittled by the Brahmin who was at the brim of bloated ego.

 While they were traveling thus by the boat, suddenly the river started to swell and the boat was struggling to keep afloat. The hitherto confident Brahmin started trembling and his knee went liquid. He turned towards his co-passengers and asked them if they knew how to escape the rough weather. The three of them mocked him in unison and said that the knowledge that he possessed was of no use, if he did not know how to swim. Saying thus, they jumped into the river and swam to safety. The Brahmin meanwhile closed his eyes and uttered all the prayers he had learnt and jumped into the river. When he opened his eyes, he found himself being washed ashore. He wondered how he had made it to safety, when the other three joined him. They helped him to his feet and told him that he had managed to grasp a log that was floating past him. It was the log that helped him reach the shore safely. The Brahmin somehow felt that it was divine intervention that saved him.

He then thanked the three men who had opened his eyes to his folly. From the next day the Brahmin was seen at the river banks taking swimming lessons from his three friends!

By his action, the Brahmin finally practiced ‘Amaanitvam’or renunciation of vidya garvam, kula garvam, dhana garvam, etc. which took him closer to divinity!   

Paari- the great giver

        One of the seven great ‘givers’ of the Sangam Era, was King Paari. I am tempted to narrate this story at a time when every school going kid is talking of ecology and how to save it.

      There cannot be a more apt example than this story of King Paari to emphasise the need to give more to nature than take as we have taken a lot in the past, giving very little.

       King Paari was believed to have reached Tamil Nadu as a refugee from Dwaraka. After the Dwaraka deluge, a group of refugees were believed to have reached Kashmir, while the other group set southwards. King Paari was believed to have followed the great sage Agasthya from Dwaraka. He was said to have ruled the Parambu Nadu.

         Paari belonged to the Velir clan and he had a heart of gold. He could not see anyone suffering and did what he could within his might to help them. One day Paari was going around the hill in his chariot. Suddenly a strong wind blew and a lone Jasmine creeper which was violently tossed in the wind caught the eye of the generous King.

         The creeper had no support and would not have withstood the strong wind which is usually a feature of the hills. It did not take the King long to decide what needed to be done. He asked his charioteer to move the chariot close to the creeper. He gently bent down and took the creeper wrapping it carefully around the chariot that gave him the status and honour that every King rightfully deserves.

         He set his horses to roam freely and walked to his palace along with his charioteer. This simple act of Paari, without any expectations or reward for his kindness, earned him a respectful place in history.

       Though it is an oft heard simple tale of chivalry, there are quite a few lessons for us to learn from it. Of course the lessons that a simple story carries are also simple. But most of the times simple lesson are difficult to practice.

     The act of saving a creeper and setting his horses free were simple eco-friendly theory put to practice. Being a refugee himself Paari was always kind towards every life form around. Only when we experience pain are we able to appreciate the pain and suffering of others. The words of Dr. Christiaan Barnard’s father, as quoted by him in “In celebration of being alive”go thus:

         “Suffering ennobles you- makes you a better person.”

        Definitely, the hardships that King Paari went through had made him a better human being!

 

Child is the father of man

 

 In the kingdom of Pallava, there lived a king by the name Adiveera Pallava. True to his name he was a valiant and courageous King. But what made him stand apart was his extreme loyalty to his queen. Queen Ezhinayaki was not only beautiful, but she was wise and patient. They had a daughter by the name Yazhini. 

Yazhini was both wise like her mother and brave like her father. The entire kingdom dotted on their little princess. It was rumoured that she will become the future queen of the Pallava kingdom.

One day the kingdom came under attack from the neighbouring kingdom and despite the valour shown by King Adiveera, they lost the battle and hence the Kingdom to the neighbouring King Arumuga Pandiya. Arumuga Pandiya was a cunning and greedy King. He was not satisfied with capturing the kingdom; he also wanted to marry the Queen. Knowing that the King was loyal to his wife he decided to play a trick on King Adiveera. It so happened that the best of King Arumuga Pandiya was killed in the battle by King Adiveera. Citing this as an excuse, King Arumuga told that it was the Dharma of the Raja to avenge his friend’s loss. 

He made the entire Kingdom believe in that if he did not avenge his best friend’s death, he would not be able to face him in his next birth.  So saying, he climbed down from his throne and walked to where Adiveera was standing as a prisoner. “But”, he continued, “Since you have been a very brave king, I would like to give you one last chance. You can take back your kingdom and perform the duty of a King by saving your subjects or surrender your kingdom and take back your queen, fulfilling the duty of a good husband. The choice is yours”, concluded the malicious Arumuga Pandiya.

King Adiveera was flabbergasted. He did not know what choice to make. He could not make either of the choices as both his subject and his queen were dear to him. He tried arguing with Arumuga Pandiya. He told his ruthless counterpart to take away his life and spare his subjects and the queen. But the stubborn King would not budge an inch from his position. He wanted to consult his ministers which request was immediately put down. Even his Queen was imprisoned and prisoners were not allowed to speak in the court. As the argument in the court continued, the little princess Yazhini walked into the courtroom accompanied by an enemy soldier. She had been demanding to meet her parents. On seeing her father chained the little girl started questioning King Arumuga Pandiya. 

Arumuga Pandiya initially dismissed her questions. But as the little girl bravely continued questioning him, he began answering her queries.  “What crime did my father commit”, the princess wanted to know.  Arumuga Pandiya’s answers only opened the doors to another question from the girl. 

After understanding the situation, the little girl, with all her charm told the enemy King that he should free her father unconditionally, if he failed to answer her next question. The King, by now filled with extreme pride and ego, agreed. 

The princess told Arumuga that in his previous birth, King Adiveera had been his best friend. The friend whom her father killed in the battle was the man who had killed Arumuga Pandava in his previous birth. Since her father could not avenge his best friend’s death in the previous birth, did so in this birth. 

She stood upright and looked directly into Arumuga Pandiya’s eyes and asked him, “Are you going to punish the man who avenged your death in the previous birth or are you going to acknowledge his valour and continue the friendship from your previous birth?”

Not only was King Adiveera unconditionally set free, he also earned an undying friendship of his neighbour.