గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః
గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః
శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం
ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే
శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం
నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం
ఓం నమః శివాయ
Sri Raamayanam is a great kaavyam by Vaalmeeki maharshi and different authors have written Raamayanam after that. Over the years, different versions (at various junctures of the epic) have been created, which in fact are not part of the original Vaalmiki written Raamayana. Let us look at few of those.
1. Muhurtham by Vasishtha Maharshi
Some
people question the greatness of Vasishta (Family guru of Raghu Vamsam – Sri
Raama’s clan). When he set the Muhoortham (auspicious time) for the coronation
of Sri Raama, how could it fail? How come Sri Raama had to leave for forests
without becoming the king despite the Muhoortham set by the great brahmarshi
Vasishta?
First
of all, Vasishta Maharshi never fixed the Muhoortham for the coronation
ceremony of Sri Raama. King Dasaradha (father of Sri Raama) decides that Sri
Raama should be made the king. Prior to that he consults with his ministers,
people, representatives and various others and then reaches the conclusion. But
he acts in haste on deciding the time as he somehow feels that the ceremony
should be completed before Bharatha returns from his uncle’s kingdom. So
instead of asking the family guru on the time, he just informs them that he is
conducting the ceremony the following morning and asks everyone to do the
needful.
Importantly,
a Muhoortham for an event doesn’t assure the occurrence of the event. If an
event occurs at the time of the good Muhoortham, then the purpose of the event
would be successful.
2. Laskhmana Rekha
When
Sri Raama goes after Maareecha (in form of Golden deer), Mareecha lets out a
cry in the voice of Sri Raama. Sita asks Lakshmana to help his brother.
Lakshmana before leaving the parnasaala (hut) draws a line and asks Sita not to cross that
line, popularly known as Lakshmana Rekha.
In
Vaalmeeki Raamayana there is no such line that Lakshmana draws. Lakshmana
leaves the parnasaala in anger and frustration because of the allegations made
by Sita on him. He tries his level best to convince Sita that nobody in the
entire world can cause any harm to his brother and the voice that was let out
is a trick by some raakshasa. Inspite of all his efforts Sita starts casting
aspersions on him because of which he forces himself out and as they say the
rest is history.
3. Raavana abducting sita with the
earth
When Raavana came in the form
of a sanyaasi to abduct Sita, he lifted Sita along with a mound of earth by
which a crate got created. In some places the guides show a crate mentioning
that Sita got abducted from that place.
When Raavana discloses his real
identity to Sita and terrifies her, he shows no decency or care in abducting
her. He grabs her by her hair and pulls her along. He lifts her completely and
places her on his chariot forcibly. Sita tries a lot to wriggle herself out of
his hold, and during the process has her flowers strewn around, hair disturbed
etc.
Recently I was watching one
debate on a TV channel, where there were two participants – Theist and Atheist.
“If Sita were such a great
pativrata then Raavana should have turned into ashes as soon as he touched Sita
at the time of abduction.”
The Response, “Raavana knows
that very well. That’s why he did not touch Sita directly and instead lifted
the mound of earth on which Sita lay unconscious.”
"I do not know." - Most toughest statement to make probably :)
Few
more in the next post…
సర్వే
జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు
PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and
english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.
