Hari Aum.
Having introduced the Ramayana and Bala kanda in recent posts, let me now delve further into the Bala kanda. Let us look at the description of the circumstances that led to Narayana taking a human avatar in the form of Sri Rama.
[By the way, I have purchased a copy of the Ramayana from the well-known Gorakhpur press in India (as I found the online translation confusing) and am reading this currently. This contains the entire original writings in Sanskrit with English translation. My writings on the Ramayana are based mainly upon their translation (and upon my own very basic knowledge of Sanskrit).
This is the first time that I have purchased a scripture published by them and I must say that I am very satisfied (there are two volumes which are beautifully printed and illustrated). I would recommend them to anyone else who may be interested (I bought them on Amazon and was happy that they arrived within a couple of days).]
The Bala kanda: King Dasharatha's worship
Ayodhya
Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom known as Kosala. This was a fertile and beautiful land filled with great wealth and prosperity. Its capital was a city called Ayodhya. And what a city it was. It was a marvel in many ways-- filled with riches, with grand buildings made of various precious materials, and with great natural beauty. The splendour of the city of Ayodhya is described as rivalling that of Amaravati, the capital of the demi-gods of the celestial realm, Svarga.
In the wonderful city of Ayodhya, in a magnificent palace, lived the ruler of the land of Kosala. His name was King Dasharatha. He belonged to an illustrious family of kings descended from Surya deva, the demi-god of the Sun. And, even as Surya lit up the sky every day with his brilliance, his descendants shone like many jewels upon the Earth.
Great indeed was Ayodhya, and equally great was its king, the mighty Dasharatha. The king tended lovingly to his people even as a father would care for his own children. Their every need was his concern and he worked tirelessly to ensure their welfare. The people, in turn, loved and adored their ruler and regarded him as their very own, as one of their own family. They were skilled in many arts and sciences, both material and spiritual. They were protected by a large and powerful army. Thus, it appeared that the kingdom of Kosala was greatly blessed by the Divine and had everything that could be desired.
However, despite all this good fortune, there was one source of sorrow for the king-- he had no heir. He yearned to have a noble and valiant son, one who would make a fitting heir to the throne of Ayodhya. One who would care for the people even as he had done during his lifetime.
King Dasharatha had three wives, namely, Queen Kaushalya (the senior most), Queen Sumitra, and the youngest and most alluring, Queen Kaikeyi. The three queens too mourned their lack of children. Like the king, they too yearned to hear the pitter patter of tiny feet in the palace.
(Note: Just to clarify, a king in those days was permitted to have more than one wife as marital alliances were often symbols of political alliances/connections between kingdoms. Everybody else in the kingdom was permitted to have one spouse only!)
The prophecy
One day, the king, feeling heavy at heart, discussed this painful matter of childlessness with his closest council of eight wise ministers. One of them, his chief minister, was the excellent and highly intelligent Sumantara. The chief minister later sought to speak with the king in private. He told King Dasharatha that he was aware of a wondrous prophecy that had been made in ancient times by the great sage Sanatkumara.
The sage had predicted not only the birth of King Dasharatha in the solar dynasty, but had also said that he would obtain children after performing a special worship of the Supreme Being for this purpose.
King Dasharatha was filled with joy and wonder upon hearing of this prophecy that he was destined to have children through a special worship. He asked Sumantara for further details and his minister explained that the sage Rishayashringa was the one who was destined to help the king with this.
(Note: In the Ramayana, Sumantara refers to the sage Rishayashringa as the 'son-in-law' of King Dasharatha. How can a childless king have a son-in-law one might ask! The answer is revealed in a different scripture known as the Bhagavatam.
In the Bhagavatam, it is mentioned that King Dasharatha and Queen Kaushalya had had a child, a beautiful baby girl whom they named Shanta (she was born many years before Rama). However, by a strange twist of fate, they were compelled to give up their daughter to a childless royal couple to raise as their own. That royal couple were King Romapada and Queen Varshini who lived in the neighbouring kingdom known as Anga (Varshini was the older sister of Kaushalya).
In time, Shanta had grown up into a beautiful young lady and had married the sage Rishayashringa. She lived with the sage in the palace of her adopted parents).
King Dasharatha was beside himself with excitement at the prospect of finally having a child after so many long years of waiting!
He quickly went to meet the royal Guru, the great sage Vasishtha and shared the news with him. He requested his Guru to help him perform the elaborate rituals of worship required to obtain a child and Vasishta gladly agreed.
Grand arrangements were made for the performance of the worship. This included the construction of a beautiful altar and area for worship, gathering various sacred and precious materials, and getting together various priests and other assistants who were highly skilled in the performance of sacred rituals.
The arrival of Rishayashringa and Shanta
Meanwhile, King Dasharatha travelled to the neighbouring kingdom of Anga and met with his friend, King Romapada. He explained that he needed the help of sage Rishayashringa to perform the sacred ritual to have a child. King Romapada immediately agreed to do whatever he could to help.
Princess Shanta and her husband, Rishayashringa were then informed of King Dasharatha's need for their help. They too gladly agreed to provide this; the two of them and their baby then accompanied Dasharatha to Ayodhya to stay for some time with the King and his queens. The queens were delighted to see Shanta along with her husband and baby and they all spent some very happy times together.
Now that everything was in place, the worship began in right earnest. King Dasharatha and his queens, Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi, took solemn vows to conduct a series of sacred rituals and worship the Supreme Being for the sake of obtaining a worthy and noble child.
They performed these sincerely with utmost devotion under the guidance of sages Rishayashringa, Vasishtha and others. They worshipped the Supreme Being, Narayana, along with His manifestations in the form of various demi-gods, and gave great gifts in charity to many worthy recipients.
Final stages of the sacred worship
After several months of worship, came the time for the final sacred fire ritual. This was the crucial moment and the homam was to be performed by Rishayashringa himself. In the presence of King Dasharatha, the sage declared the ceremonial vow (or 'sankalpa' in Sanskrit) that he would now perform a sacred fire ceremony to pray to the Supreme Being so that the king may be granted children. He stated that the ritual was intended to grant the king four great and mighty sons to take forward his lineage.
The king was overjoyed at hearing these words from the sage and the fire ritual commenced. In accordance with the scriptures, the Supreme Being was invoked in the sacred fire. Sage Rishayashringa pronounced the various elaborate mantras perfectly as he offered clarified butter (ghee) into fire. Other priests supported him in the worship.
The plea of the demi-gods
As the worship proceeded, the various divinities who had been invoked appeared there (seemingly in invisible form). This included Brahma, the divine Creator and the demi-gods (all of whom were various manifestations of the Supreme). They had arrived to accept the offerings that were being made to them and to give blessings in return.
While assembled at the place of worship, the demi-gods sought help from Brahma for a great sorrow of their own. They told him that a demonic being known as Ravana had been tormenting them and a number of living creatures in various realms. They could not bear it anymore, they said, and needed help to get rid of him so that they could all live in peace.
In times gone by, Ravana had performed great austerities and thus managed to obtain a special boon from Brahma. According to the boon he had asked for, no demi-god, celestial being or demon would be able to kill him (and he thus became very powerful). He had regarded human beings as weak and beneath him, and had therefore not bothered to ask for any protection from them.
Hearing the plea of the demi-gods, Brahma pondered over the problem and brightened as he thought of a solution. Based upon the boon, the demon could only be killed by a human being. Thus, he told the demi-gods, Ravana could be killed but a suitable human being was required who could achieve this extraordinary task!
Narayana's pledge
At this moment, Narayana Himself appeared at the place of worship as His presence had been invoked by the sages and King Dasharatha.
Seeing Narayana, the demi-gods rushed to Him with a plea to resolve their difficulty. They told Him that Ravana had taken over their celestial realm (Svarga) and had occupied their positions. They and other living beings were suffering greatly as a result.
Ravana's pride had no limits, they declared, and he enjoyed making other creatures cry out in pain and fear. He was very cruel, a monster in every way, and could not be allowed to carry on committing atrocities upon other living beings in this manner. He simply had to be removed from Earth.
Asking Narayana to help, they therefore begged Him to take on an avatar as a human being for this purpose. "Please be born as the son of King Dasharatha who is currently conducting this ritual for a child!", they pleaded.
Hearing their prayer to be relieved of this torment, and in keeping with His ancient promise to take an avatar when needed to protect the good and destroy evil, Narayana accepted their wish and blessed them.
He replied to the demi-gods saying that He would be born as the son of Dasharatha. While living on Earth in human form, He declared that He would destroy Ravana along with numerous other demonic beings, and thus restore dharma (righteousness/goodness) and peace upon Earth.
The demi-gods greatly rejoiced upon hearing these sweet words of reassurance and extolled Narayana with hymns of praise.
Thus, the stage was set for the birth of Sri Rama! I will describe this in the next post.
Om Sri Ramaya Namah.
Om Namo Narayanaya.
Hari Aum Tat Sat.
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