#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.

150 Did priest sooth-sayers see Sita's breasts and thighs?

Vol. 6 , Book of War between rAma and rAvaNa, i.e. yuddha kAnDa.
Chapter 48 i.e. sarga 48.
Verses 1 to 15, i.e. SlOkAs 1 -15.

CONTEXT
rAvana abducted protagonist rAma's wife SItA.
rAma and lakshmaNa with the help of forest-dweller vAnaras trace sIta in lanka.
They reach lanka, building a bridge, and wage a war with rAvaNa.

SItA was sitting captive in the garden of 'aSOka trees' of rAvaNa.

According to initial erroneous war news, Sita heard that rAma and lakshmaNa were slain.
She started lamenting. Verses 1 to 15, chapter 48, were these.

Some priest-sooth-sayers (brahmin sooth-sayers), told Sita, when she was in ayOdhya as a princess-waiting-tobe-queen, that she had great imperial future,as she had all the physical marks required by a queen.

Now, having heard about the death of her husband and lakshmaNa, she recalled those marks on her body which made the brahmin sooth-sayers to forecast a great future for her and that everything had gone astray.

Two sample verses from the set of the verses:

6-48-10.
shankhE netrE karau pAdau
gulphAv UrU ca mE citau
anuvrittA nakhAh snigdhAha
samAsh ca angulayO mama.

6-48-11.
stanau ca aviralau piinau
mama imau magna cUcukau
magnA ca utsanginI naabhih
paarshva uraskam ca mE citam.

...
...
...
6-48-14.
adhirAjyE abhiShEko mE
braahmaNaih patinA saha
krita anta kushalair
uktam tat sarvam vitathii kritam.

GIST of the three verses
my temples, eyes, hands, feet, ankles and thighs are homogeneous and well-famed. My fingers are well-rounded. My nails shine. They have the right length.
My breasts are close to each other (stanau, aviralau) and robust (pInau). They have depressed nipples (cUcukau). My navel has a deep dent. My flanks and bosom are well-formed.
...
Why all that was told by the Brahmins, that I along with my husband, would be consecrated on the imperial throne, went bad?
...

ybrems
Why Sita was think about the imperial throne? Was Sita so too simplistic to believe the words of brahmin-sooth-sayers? How could close robust breasts with depressed nipples entitle a lady to sit on imperial throne?

She could have recalled some happy moments she spent with rAma and lakshmaNa. At least, she should have recalled the scene of rAma handing her the steaks of meat to her mouth, saying that it was succulent. Pl. see post No. 133.