#156 rAma does not forget thighs and hips

Topics for discussion: Valmiki's style, Rama's love for Sita, Rama's neglect of Lakshmana

Volume 5 i.e. Book of Beauty or the SundarA kAnDA
Chapter 66 i.e. sarga 66
Verse 15 or SlOka 15
5-66-15
madhurA madhura AlApA
kim Aha mama bhAminI
mat vihInaa varArohA
hanuman kathayasva mE.

5-66-12
katham sA mama sushroNi
bhIru bhIruH satI tadA
bhaya AvahAnAm ghoraaNaam
madhyE tiShThati rakShasAm.

CONTEXT
Demon rAvaNa abducted SItA and kept her in lanka.
With the help of SugrIva (the king of forest-dwellers), rAma sent SugrIvA's minister to search for SItA.
hanumAn found her in lanka and came back with the happy news.
He presented to rAma a head jewel given by SItA, as a token of his visit.
Now, rAma was asking hanumAn what was SItA's message to him.

rAmA and vAlmiki used all the 15 verses in the chApter to describe rAmA's anxiety and eagerness.

Explanation by Ybrao a donkey
rAmA is often described by temple preachers as 'maryAda purushOttama, i.e. the best of men with the best etiquette and manners.


In the first verse quoted above, rAma was enquiring from hanumAn, how his SItA "varArOhiNI" (lady of good hips) was?

In the second verse quoted above, rAma was enquiring from hanumAn, how his shy and timid SItA "suSrONI" (lady of good limbs) was able to sit in the midst of fierce demons?

Even as a great king of ikshvAku dynasty and as incarnation of the supreme Godhead, rAmA should have had great composure, deportment, and emotional equilibrium. We expect these traits from him because he heard 40,000 verses yOga vASishTham (also called vaSishTha gIta) from ikshvAku guru vaSishTha, which is regarded as one of the greatest treatises of Hindu philosophy. Otherwise, what is the use of hearing to 40,000 verses? A sumati Satakam of 100 verses or bhartruhari subhAsita triSati of 300 verses would have been sufficient.

IN the first verse of this chapter, vAlmiki used the verb 'prarurOda' (wept). (rAma wept on seeing the jewel.).


In the second verse, you will find "shoka karshitaH , netraabhyaam ashru pUrNAbhyAm". He was grief-filled. His eyes were full of tears.


Temple preachers and swAmIjIs will say that rAmA's love for SItA was so great, that he had tears in his eyes. The same gentleman would not hesitate to ask Sita to go with SugrIva or vibhIshaNa or lakshmaNa or anybody she liked, because his aim in rescuing her from rAvaNa's captiviity was just to show that he was not timid and to prove his ability. The same gentleman asked lakshmaNa to abandon her in forest,
without even telling her that she was being abandoned.

Even while shedding tears, rAma did not forget SItA's limbs and hips.

153 Can Sonepur Odisha be Ravana's Lanka?

SONEPUR - West Orissa
Latitude: 20'-30" North. Longitude: 83'-27" East.
Also called subarNapUr.
Headquarters of the Sonepur-subarNapur District, in West Orissa.
sOne = gold. subarNa or suvarNa or svarNa or swarNa = gold. pUr = town.

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We have to guard ourselves against confusion with other sOnepur-s.

1. sOnepUr in 24 pargaNa Dt. of West Bengal.
2. sOnepur, 22 km. from pATna in SaraN District, bIhAr.

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Factors which favor sOnepur as rAmAyaNa's lanka:

1. Existence of Goddess lankESwari on an island hill in mAhAnadi river.
2. Existence of some mounds in the river, which support the possibility of remnants of an Earth fort.
3. vAlmIki rAmAyaNa described lanka as a land extremely rich in gold and gems.

Vol. 5, Chapter 2, verse 54
Book of beauty i.e. sundarakANDa, sarga 2, SlOka 54.

kAnchanAni cha chitrANi
toraNaani ca rakshasAm
lankAmuddyotayAmAsuH
sarvataH samalamkritAm.

Vol. 5, Chapter 6, verse 34
Book of beauty i.e. sundarakANDa, sarga 6, SlOka 34.
sahasram vaahinIhi tatra
jaambuunada parishkritAha
hema jAlair avicchinnAha
taruNa Aditya samnibhAha.

5-6-41.
jAmbU nadamayAni eva
SayanAni AsanAni ca
bhAjanAni ca SubhrANi
dadarsha hari yUthapaHa,

3. Sonepur, West Orissa has rich tantric and witchcraft traditions. rAvaNa and his son mEghnAth had great reputation as powerful fighters using black magic and sorcery.

4. A copper plate of 10-11th Century A.D. circa, found at Sonepur, indicated that its Price SomEswar dEVa, called himself ruler of 'paschim lanka' (western lanka).

UNFAVOURABLE FACTORS FOR SONEPUR, WEST ORISSA.
1. Too long a distance (nearly 540km.) from bhagalpur where there were the mandhara Mount and rAvaNa-worshipped baidyanAth-dhAm.

2. -do- FROM Anjana, pampa, and rishyamUka, pAlkot (birth place of hanuman, and possible locations of kishkindha).

3. -do- from Mirzapur (alia vindhyAncal) of the U.P. /bIhAr border.

4. -do- Sage sutIkshNa's hermitage near SatnA, madhya pradEsh.

The whole abduction, search for SItA, vAli-sugrIva battle, etc. have to take place between the rivers mandAkini and pampa. mandAkini river, as per the current evidence being at citrakUT on UP/MP border and pampa in gumlA Dt. of jhArkhanD. There after the battle scene has to shift to trikUT Mountains in the baidyanAth dhAm, deoghar, jhArkhand.

Hence,I am unable to accept SOnepur as the location of lanka.

.

Subject to re-edit after getting fresh evidence.

018 , SITA'S THIGH IS LIKE AN ELEPHANT'S HEAD

I am too small to praise Valmiki's greatness as a poet. And this praising work has already been done by many. But Valmiki also can sometimes describe things oddly, as such descriptions were not taboo during the ancient days, but look odd when read in 21c.

5-29-4
(Book 5: Sundara Kaand`a - Book of Beauty)
Chapter 29
Gaja indra hasta pratimaha ca piinaha
Tayooho dvayoooho samhatayooho sujaataha
PraspandamaanaH punaha uuruhu asyaa
Raamam purastaat sthitam aacacakshee.

Context: Sita was in the As`ooka Garden. Stolen by Ravana, she was under confinement. She was in a miserable condition, threatened by Ravana. At that time Hanuman appears before her and consoles her. This verse is a foreboding of good things to come. She gets good omens such as quivering of left eye and left thigh.

Meaning: Sita saw many good omens. Her left thigh started quivering (praspandamaanaha). (A belief of those days that quivering of left parts in women, brings good for them, we do not bother today). It spoke (aacacakshee) as though Rama was in front of her (purastaat sthitam). Valmiki described her thighs as strong, comparing them to the heads of princely elephants (Gajeendra hasta pratimaha ca piinaha) .

BLOGGER'S VIEW
Pl. see Review No. 28 at this blog. There you can find that Valmiki (through Rama) described Sita's thighs as resembling the trunk of a Kakubha Tree.