The Valmiki Ramayana

by Amish Tripathi

  278 Forest fare.

  279 Family name, denoting common lineage.

  280 The image of an unrealistic wish.

  281 Garuda.

  282 The diamond tears the stomach and the foul fly has to be vomited out.

  283 Kubera’s.

  284 The sense is that Ravana won’t attack him in Kailasa.

  285 There are many stories about Urvashi and Pururava, but none where Urvashi struck Pururava with her foot. This must therefore be metaphorical, in the sense of Urvashi having spurned Pururava.

  286 Addressing Ravana.

  287 Yama.

  288 That is, artha.

  289 It is believed that mountains once possessed wings.

  290 Ravana’s.

  291 Jatayu.

  292 Yoked to Ravana’s chariot.

  293 The word used is general and does not necessarily mean a fish.

  294 The right palm.

  295 The moon is the lord of the stars.

  296 Some birds that call harshly are regarded as evil portents.

  297 To inform you.

  298 She was clinging to Jatayu.

  299 Ravana, because he was going to be destroyed.

  300 The Critical Edition excises shlokas that explain what this means. The wind did not blow, the sun lost its radiance and so on.

  301 Brahma, because the task of destroying Ravana had been accomplished. This sudden shloka breaks the continuity and doesn’t seem to belong.

  302 On Sita’s hair.

  303 Heat because it was midday. A red cloud is normal in the morning or the evening. But at midday, it is a bad omen.

  304 Sita’s face is like the moon, while Ravana is like the cloud.

  305 This requires explanation. Blue sapphire shines when it is in a silver ornament, not when it is encrusted in an ornament made out of gold. The sense is that Sita and Ravana shouldn’t have been together.

  306 From her hair and from her garlands.

  307 Ravana is the elephant.

  308 A giant meteor is an evil portent, that is, for Ravana.

  309 This could be a tilaka too and is not necessarily sindoor.

  310 Jatayu.

  311 Because she trusted him, and not in a real battle.

  312 Ignoring the medication.

  313 One with ten faces, Ravana.

  314 It is believed that golden trees are seen at the time of death.

  315 Vaitarani is crossed before one reaches Yama’s abode.

  316 This is a description of hell.

  317 The silk-cotton tree. Sinners have to embrace this tree.

  318 This reference occurs again later. Maya was a demon who was skilled in the use of maya. Using this, Maya had constructed a secret place that was hidden from view.

  319 A female pishacha.

  320 The feminine gender is used because all the guards were women.

  321 Ravana had received a boon from Brahma.

  322 Wild dogs.

  323 Therefore, from Maya’s chamber, she must have been taken to Ravana’s palace.

  324 That is, thirty-two crores of rakshasas. A crore is ten million.

  325 There has been speculation about this blade of grass existing in a palace. There is also a story about a curse on Ravana. According to this curse, his head would shatter into a thousand fragments if he forced himself on to a woman, without her consent.

  326 Chandala has different nuances and a chandala is not necessarily a shudra. A chandala is also of mixed parentage, with a shudra father and a brahmana mother. More generally, chandalas are outcastes, while shudras are within the caste fold. Sita is being compared to the sacrificial altar.

  327 There is a reason for this period of twelve months. A king may defeat another king. The vanquished king may have wives who have also now been conquered by the victor. According to the prevailing norms, the vanquished was given one year to fight back. If he didn’t succeed during that period, his wives belonged to the victor. The wives were inviolate for twelve months.

  328 An inauspicious sign.

  329 The hermitage in Janasthana.

  330 Harsh because Lakshmana had left Sita alone. Sweet because it was not Lakshmana’s fault alone, he having been urged by Sita.

  331 These shlokas are not juxtaposed properly. Towards the end of the earlier chapter, they have already reached the hermitage. In the course of the conversation in this chapter, Rama and Lakshmana are still on their way towards the hermitage.

  332 There is a pun. Shoka means sorrow and a-shoka means without sorrow.

  333 There is another pun. Molten gold is jambunada.

  334 That is, trunk.

  335 Lakshmana’s.

  336 The text actually says lives, in the plural.

  337 The Godavari river.

  338 In this context, Mandakinee means Godavari.

  339 In her hair.

  340 The sense seems to be the following. Rama, being gentle, should not kill the rakshasas unnecessarily. But that has become a fault.

  341 Rama.

  342 Yayati’s story is given in the Mahabharata. He went to the world of the gods and became Indra. However, because of various transgressions, he was dislodged from heaven.

  343 Vishvamitra killed them.

  344 The earth.

  345 Gods change from one manvantara (era) to another.

  346 Some of the shlokas in this chapter bear a striking resemblance to the Bhagavadgita.

  347 Because they may occur later, perhaps in the next life.

  348 Jatayu.

  349 The word used is tata.

  350 The word used is tata.

  351 A portent signifying death.

  352 A muhurta is a period of forty-eight minutes and in a twenty-four-hour period, there are thirty muhurtas. Some are regarded as good or auspicious muhurtas, others as bad and inauspicious. In a standard list of muhurta names used today, Vinda does not figure. Vinda used to be the name of the eleventh muhurta, regarded as bad. These days, it will often be referred to as Vijaya.

  353 If an act is undertaken at that time.

  354 Kubera.

  355 Are not born again.

  356 Maharohi.

  357 Rama.

  358 One krosha is two miles. However, the definition of krosha was not standardized.

  359 Kind of bird.

  360 Kabandha means a headless torso.

  361 After entering the Krouncha forest.

  362 One in each hand.

  363 The text actually says, the burden isn’t great. Since this can’t be right, we have corrected the typo and followed non-Critical versions, which say that the burden is great.

  364 Rama.

  365 He spoke to Rama.

  366 In the singular.

  367 He could assume any form at will.

  368 Brahma.

  369 If you tell us about Ravana, we will cremate you.

  370 The knowledge will return in his own form.

  371 A reference to Sugriva, who has still not been named.

  372 These are six kinds of policy (really foreign policy) recommended for a king in different situations, enumerated extensively in Kautilya’s Arthashastra. They are alliances, hostility, waging war, waiting it out, creating divisions in the enemy and seeking shelter with an equal.

  373 We have translated vanara as ape, for want of a better word. This is not a happy translation, since vanara means a special kind of nara (man).

  374 Vali and Sugriva’s father was Riksharaja. But it was customary to have kshetraja sons, born through the father’s field (the mother), but through a different biological father. Riksharaja was temporarily transformed into a woman. In that feminine form, Vali was born through Indra and Sugriva through Surya.

  375 Other than the obvious meaning of taking the weapons, the language is such that other meanings are also possible—in addition to the fire, swear on your weapons; since this is an act of friendship, cast aside your weapons.

  376 The rakshasas.

  377 The word used for ape
is plavanga, meaning one who moves by jumping.

  378 Mango.

  379 Red fish, the carp Rohu.

  380 With a curved snout, dolphins.

  381 Kind of fish.

  382 From lotus flowers.

  383 The Indian beech tree.

  384 They first headed west and then turned towards the east.

  385 This implies that Shabaree belonged to a class that did not usually have access to knowledge.

  386 Kabandha.

  387 The hermitage.

  388 Because they were old.

  389 To go and bathe in the ocean. The seven seas came to the Pampa.

  390 This is not the Pampa. This is a different lake, named after Matanga.

  391 Tree with fragrant flowers.

  392 The Assyrian plum.

  393 Oleander.

  394 Jasmine.

  395 Another variety of jasmine.

  396 The amaranth or flea tree.

  397 The rattan plant.

  398 The Indian devil tree (Alstonia scholaris).

  399 The harimantha tree.

  400 The lake.

  401 Rama.

  1 Pampa has been identified as the area around Hampi (in Karnataka). This is at the confluence of the rivers Tunga and Bhadra (combining to form Tungabhadra) and there is also a lake there. Hence, Pampa is sometimes described as a lake and sometimes as a river.

  2 The gallinule.

  3 Shrike or thrush.

  4 Sita.

  5 March–April.

  6 The text uses the word shyama. The natural meaning of this is dark. However, shyama also means a woman who hasn’t been married (or is a virgin).

  7 When she was with me.

  8 Signifying her return.

  9 Jatayu.

  10 Malati is jasmine, mallika is another variety of jasmine, shanda is a group of plants and karavira is the oleander.

  11 Ketaki is the fragrant crew pine, sindhuvara is the five-leaved chaste tree.

  12 Madhavi is a spring flower, kunda is a kind of jasmine.

  13 Chiribilva is a bilva sapling, madhuka is the honey tree, vanjula is a tree that is similar to the ashoka, bakula is a tree with fragrant flowers, champaka is a tree with yellow and fragrant flowers, tilaka is a tree with beautiful flowers and nagavriksha is a flowering tree.

  14 Nipa is another name for the kadamba tree, varana is the garlic pear tree, kharjura is date, ankola cannot be identified, kuranta is the yellow amaranth, churnaka should probably be purnaka (a kind of tree) and paribhadraka is the flame tree.

  15 Chuta is mango, patala is the Bignonia suaveolens and kovidara is a kind of orchid.

  16 Muchukunda is the cork-leaved bayur tree and arjuna is a tall tree.

  17 Ketaka is a flowering plant (but this may be kaitaka, the fragrant crew pine), uddalaka is probably any tree from which honey is gathered, shirisha is a variety of acacia or mimosa, shimshapa is a tree usually associated with cremation grounds, dhava is axle-wood, shalmali is the silk-cotton tree, kimshuka is a tree with red blossoms, rakta is either the Indian globe thistle or the Indian madder, kurubaka is a kind of amaranth tree, tinisha is the Indian rosewood, naktamala or (naktamalaka) is a tree that flowers in the night, chandana is sandalwood and syandana is the sandana tree (chariots were made from this).

  18 Chakravaka is the ruddy goose or Brahmany duck and karandava is a type of duck.

  19 Plava is a diving aquatic bird, krouncha is a curlew.

  20 Shyama.

  21 Sugriva.

  22 Meaning Vali.

  23 So that they do not recognize Hanumat.

  24 So that Sugriva can find out what is going on, from Hanumat’s facial signs, despite Hanumat being a fair distance away.

  25 Hanumat. Hanumat was the son of Marut (the wind god).

  26 Sugriva.

  27 Generally, kings did not speak to ambassadors directly.

  28 These are Hanumat’s thoughts. There is a break in continuity. Lakshmana was supposed to speak to Hanumat. Those sections exist in non-Critical versions, but have been excised in the Critical Edition.

  29 Lakshmana.

  30 This means Kabandha. Kabandha was Diti’s son, Danu and Diti being sisters. Both Danu and Diti were married to the sage Kashyapa. Diti’s offspring were daityas and Danu’s offspring were danavas. The interchange between Danu and Diti is understandable. But Kabandha/Danu cannot be Shri’s son. Shri also means prosperity. What may originally have been meant is that Kabandha was cursed, thereby being deprived of prosperity.

  31 Rama.

  32 The Critical Edition has excised a shloka where Hanumat abandoned the form of a mendicant, assumed the form of an ape and placed Rama and Lakshmana on his back.

  33 Clearly, Rishyamuka and Malaya were two adjacent mountains. Hanumat seems to have left Rama and Lakshmana on Rishyamuka and gone to Malaya, where Sugriva was. In that event, Hanumat must have returned to Rishyamuka and taken Rama and Lakshmana to Malaya.

  34 Dasharatha.

  35 Sacrificial fee. These were donated symbolically.

  36 Kaikeyee.

  37 Rama.

  38 Rama and Sugriva, the pledge of friendship was taken with the fire as a witness.

  39 Ravana. Sugriva is saying that Hanumat has told him all this.

  40 This is a reference to the Vedas having been stolen by the demons Madhu and Kaitabha and Vishnu saving them in his fish (matsya) incarnation.

  41 More explicitly, though there were four other apes there, Sugriva is the only one Sita saw.

  42 They weren’t tears of joy.

  43 Kartikeya was born in a clump of reeds.

  44 The text has life in the plural, lives.

  45 Lives again.

  46 He couldn’t have been both, but this is what the text says. Mayavi was Maya’s son and Maya and Rambha had sons named Mayavi, Dundubhi and Mahisha. Mandodari was their sister.

  47 The reason for this enmity is not clear and is not mentioned in any other text either.

  48 Mayavi.

  49 The boulder.

  50 The reason will be told later.

  51 The average person offers oblations to the rising sun at the nearest waterbody.

  52 Like playing with a ball.

  53 Dundubhi assumed the form of a buffalo. Mahisha means buffalo. This can also be interpreted as Dundubhi having assumed the form of the demon Mahisha. But we have already explained that Mahisha and Dundubhi were brothers and therefore, distinct.

  54 Parvati was the daughter of the Himalayas.

  55 Indra killed a demon named Namuchi.

  56 There is a pun, dundubhi means war drum.

  57 Loosely, akshara is syllable and pada is sentence. He used these sparingly and therefore, spoke briefly.

  58 Vali.

  59 Tara was Vali’s wife.

  60 There are interpretations that a yojana in this context means the length of one hundred bows, that is, 600 feet.

  61 Vali.

  62 Vali.

  63 He shook the trees and rendered them leafless.

  64 With blood.

  65 Alternatively, like a sun emerging from behind clouds.

  66 The Ashvins are twins.

  67 The word used is tata.

  68 Not to be confused with Taaraa, Vali’s wife. This is Taara, one of the four apes who were with Sugriva.

  69 Solitary male tuskers.

  70 Saptajana means seven (sapta) people (jana). They are also known as punyajanas and were originally rakshasas.

  71 The three sacrificial fires are ahavaniya, garhapatya and dakshinatya (the fire that burns in a southern direction). Garhapatya is the fire that burns in households. Ahavaniya has various meanings, the simplest being the monthly sacrificial rites offered to the ancestors on the day of the new moon.

  72 The image of a creeper requires explanation. A growing creeper needs a tree for support. Sugriva is being compared to a creeper and Rama to a tree that offers support.

  73 This has been subjected to many interpretations, the obvious one being a
n evil portent for Vali. Alternatively, Sugriva is being compared to the sun. But the sun is not surrounded by nakshatras during the day. Thus, this means no more than an extraordinary combination of events.

  74 Sugriva.

  75 The word tara means star, so there is a play on words.

  76 Sugriva means someone with an excellent neck. Hinagriva means someone with an inferior neck.

  77 Pradakshina means to circumambulate clockwise, keeping what is being circumambulated to the right (dakshina). This is auspicious. An anticlockwise circumambulation is inauspicious.

  78 Vali.

  79 Sugriva. He was like a mountain, exuding minerals.

  80 Garuda.

  81 At the time of a festival dedicated to Indra, Indra’s standard is raised on a pole. However, when the festival is over, it is neglected and falls down on the ground.

  82 About right and wrong.

  83 Implying that Rama has not acted like a man.

  84 Only focusing on punishing, ignoring the others.

  85 A nastika. A nastika is not an atheist.

  86 Also a porcupine, though literally, something that pierces dogs.

  87 Yama.

  88 The white mare was stolen by the demons Madhu and Kaitabha and retrieved by Vishnu in his form of Hayagriva.