"Rāmāyaṇa" The Timeless Epic Of Bharat

The meaning of the term "Itihasa".

The Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature. It consists of nearly 24,000 verses (mostly set in the Shloka/Anustubh meter), divided into seven kāṇḍas:- "

1. ‘Bala Kanda’ (Book about Youth), 

2. ‘Ayodhya Kanda’ (Book about Ayodhya), 

3. ‘Aranya Kanda’ (Book of the Forest), 

4. 'Kishkindha Kanda' (Book about Kishkindha), 

5. ‘Sundara Kanda’ (Book of Beauty), 

6. ‘Yuddha Kanda’ (Book about the War)

7. ‘Uttara Kanda’ (Book about the Sequel)

 It belongs to the genre of "Itihasa". 

The The Sanskrit term इतिहास was derived from the phrase iti ha āsa इति ह आस, which means "so indeed it was". 

There is a debate Regarding our Ancient epics since colonial period, that whether these texts contains history or Just Mythological & Fictional stories of legendary characters. Some argue these are Historical documents, Some argue mythical Whereas others prefer it contained history but expressed in a poetical and story-telling format.

I m not gonna support any of these views because it is their perspectives, so it's not important what scholars says, instead what is our traditional understanding of इतिहास is more important. 

For example:- Kautilya (Chanakya) what he says about this epics, he defines the Itihasa thus-'Itihasa means the Purana, Itivrtta (history), Akhyayika (tale), Udaharana (illustrative story), the Dharma sastra and the Arthasastra.

(Arthashastra Book 1, chap.5)

Itihas ("so indeed it was") as defined by Amarakosha (I.6.4) refers to purvavritta, i.e. events of the past. In the Vedic age, those portions of the Brahmanas which narrated events of bygone days were known as itihasa and had some ritualistic importance. The recitation of the itihasa-purana in the pariplava nights was a part of the Asvamedha ritual. Later, the connotation of the term widened to cover all such narratives which related to past events.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata these two are known as itihasas.

What is Ramayana ?

Ramayana means Rama’s progress or travel. Who is Rama? The word means someone who is lovely, charming and delightful. There are Jain and Buddhist versions (Dasharatha Jataka) of the Rama account and they differ in significant details from the Ramayana story. For instance, in Jain accounts, Ravana is killed by Lakshmana. In Dasharatha Jataka, Sita is Rama’s sister. In Ramayana and Purana accounts, Rama is Vishnu’s seventh avatara. Usually, ten avataras are named for Vishnu, though sometimes, a larger number is also given. When the figure is ten, the avataras are matsya, kurma, varaha, narasimha, vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki (Kalki is yet to come).

In the cycle of creation and destruction, yugas follow each other and one progressively goes down krita yuga (alternatively satya yuga), treta yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga, before the cycle starts again. In the list of ten avataras, matysa, kurma, varaha and narasimha are from the present krita yuga; Vamana, Parashurama and Rama are from the present treta yuga; Krishna is from dvapara yuga; and Buddha and Kalki are from kali yuga. Rama was towards the end of treta yuga. (In the ‘Uttara Kanda’, dvapara yuga has started.) Just as Krishna’s departure marked the transition from dvapara yuga to kali yuga, Rama’s departure marked the transition from treta yuga to dvapara yuga.

When did these events occur? It is impossible to answer this question satisfactorily, despite continuous efforts being made to find an answer. There is a difference between an incident happening and it being recorded. In that day and age, recording meant composition and oral transmission, with embellishments added. There was noise associated with transmission and distribution. It is impossible to unbundle the various layers in the text, composed at different points in time. Valmiki is described as Rama’s contemporary, just as Vedavyasa was a contemporary of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. But that doesn’t mean today’s Valmiki Ramayana text is exactly what Valmiki composed, or that today’s Mahabharata text is exactly what Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa composed. Therein lies the problem with several approaches to dating.

The first and favoured method of dating is undoubtedly the astronomical one, based on positions of nakshatras and grahas, or using information about events like eclipses. However, because layers of the text were composed at different points in time, compounded by precession of the equinoxes, this leads to widely divergent dates for an event like Rama’s birth, ranging from 7323 BCE to 1331 BCE. Second, one can work with genealogies, notwithstanding problems of inconsistencies across them. One will then obtain a range of something like 2350 BCE to 1500 BCE. Third, one can work with linguistics and the evolution of language, comparing that of the Ramayana to other texts. Fourth, one can work with the archaeological evidence, such as the pottery discovered in sites known to be associated with the Ramayana. Even then, there will be a wide range of dates, from something like 2600 BCE to 1100 BCE. Fifth, one can consider geography, geology, changes in the course of rivers. Finally, there are traditional views about the length of a manvantara or yuga. Given the present state of knowledge, it is impossible to impart precision to any dating of the incidents in the Ramayana. Scholars have grappled with the problem in the past and will continue to do so in the future. We will look on this issues some other day.

Difference between Valmiki Ramayana & Other Ramayanas

There are versions of the Ramayana story in East Asia (China, Japan), South-East Asia (many countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia), South Asia (Nepal, Sri Lanka) and West Asia (Iran). As mentioned earlier, there are Buddhist and Jain versions. Every state and every language in India seems to have some version of the Rama story.

Our impressions about the Rama story are often based on such regional versions, such as, the sixteenth-century Ramcharitmanas by Goswami Tulsidas. (Many of these were written between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries CE.)

Valmiki Ramayana is clearly the oldest among these. There are differences between depictions in the Valmiki Ramayana and other Sanskrit renderings of the Rama story.

If one cannot date the incidents of the Ramayana, can one at least conclusively date when the Valmiki Ramayana was written? Because of the many layers and subsequent interpolations, there is no satisfactory resolution to this problem either. The Valmiki Ramayana has around 24,000 shlokas, a shloka being a verse. The Mahabharata is believed to have 100,000 shlokas, so the Valmiki Ramayana is about one-fourth the size of the Mahabharata. These 24,000 shlokas are distributed across seven kandas—‘Bala Kanda’ (Book about Youth), ‘Ayodhya Kanda’ (Book about Ayodhya), ‘Aranya Kanda’ (Book of the Forest), Kishkindha Kanda (Book about Kishkindha), ‘Sundara Kanda’ (Book of Beauty), ‘Yuddha Kanda’ (Book about the War) and ‘Uttara Kanda’ (Book about the Sequel). Kanda refers to a major section or segment and is sometimes translated into English as Canto. ‘Canto’ sounds archaic, ‘Book’ is so much better. This does not mean the kanda-wise classification always existed. For all one knows, initially, there were simply chapters. In this text itself, there is a reference to the Valmiki Ramayana possessing 500 sargas. The word sarga also means Book, but given the number 500, is more like a chapter. (For the record, the text has more than 600 chapters.) Most scholars agree ‘Uttara Kanda’ was written much later. If one reads the ‘Uttara Kanda’, that belief is instantly endorsed. The ‘Uttara Kanda’ doesn’t belong. This isn’t only because of the content, which is invariably mentioned. It is also because of the texture of the text, the quality of the poetry. It is vastly inferior. To a lesser extent, one can also advance similar arguments for the ‘Bala Kanda’. Therefore, the earlier portions were probably composed around (assumed ~500-1000 BCE.) The later sections, like the ‘Uttara Kanda’, and parts of the ‘Bala Kanda’, were probably composed around 500 CE.

It isn’t the case that all later sections are in ‘Uttara Kanda’. There is a mix of earlier and later sections across all kandas.This controversy regarding the Uttarakanda, whether it was a later interpolation or a genuine work of Valmiki lies in mist. Scholars have different opinions. The word kanda also means trunk or branch of a tree.

the Valmiki Ramayana, with its kanda-kind of classification, the evolution seems to have been different. If someone was unhappy with what Valmiki had depicted, he simply composed another Ramayana. In Sanskrit, there were Yoga Vasishtha Ramayana, Ananda Ramayana and Adbhuta Ramayana. This continued to happen with vernacular versions. It is necessary to stress this point. Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are so popular that one is familiar with people, stories and incidents. That doesn’t necessarily mean those people, stories and incidents occur in the Valmiki Ramayana in the way we are familiar with them. Just as the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute produced a Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, between 1951 and 1975, the Oriental Institute, Baroda, produced a Critical Edition of the Valmiki Ramayana.

Description of Valmiki Ramayana

Valmiki is the first poet, adi kavi. By the time of classical Sanskrit literature, some prerequisites were defined for a work to attain the status of mahakavya.

Kalidasa, Bharavi, Magha, Shri Harsha and Bhatti composed such works.

Though these notions and definitions came later, the Valmiki Ramayana displays every characteristic of a mahakavya and is longer than any of these subsequent works. The story of how it came about is known to most people who are familiar with the Ramayana. The sage Valmiki had gone, with his disciple Bharadvaja, to bathe in the waters of the River Tamasa. There was a couple of krouncha birds there, in the act of making love. Along came a hunter and killed the male bird.

As the female bird grieved, Valmiki was driven by compassion and the first shloka emerged from his lips. Since it was composed in an act of sorrow—shoka —this kind of composition came to be known as shloka. So the Ramayana tells us. Incidentally, this first shloka doesn’t occur in the first chapter. It isn’t the first shloka of the Valmiki Ramayana. The incident and the shloka occur in the second chapter. More specifically, it is the fourteenth shloka in the second chapter and is as follows:-

मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीः 

समाः।

यत्क्रौञ्चमिथुनादेकमवधीः काममोहितम्॥'- मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीः समाः।

यत्क्रौञ्चमिथुनादेकमवधीः काममोहितम्॥'  

  "O nishada! This couple of curlews was in the throes of passion and you killed one of them. Therefore, you will possess ill repute for an eternal number of years."

Comment:- This is a celebrated stanza of Sanskrit literature, and controversial too, in deciphering its meaning. The separation of compound  tvamagama =  tu, ama, gamaH. We are told that this is the first verse of human origin with metrical rules and grammar. Earlier to this, only Vedic stanzas were available with their complicated compositional rules. This is the verse where this epic, Ramayana is said to have triggered off. The above given meaning is just a dictionary meaning. This verse has many comports of which a few are given hereunder

1] This verse is taken as maðgal˜caraõa to Ramayana, for any epic has to have maðgala ˜dŸni maðgala madhy˜ni maðgala ant˜ni [A good pious beginning, pious middle and pious ending.] Thus this verse has the letter maa at its start and maa is lakÿmŸ v˜caka in Sanskrit. It is ˜di varõa× The first letter - loka m˜t˜ m˜ ram˜ maðgala devat˜ thus amara kosha says for Goddess Lakshmi.

"Goddess Lakshmi's abode... Oh! Vishnu, by which act of your killing one male demon named Ravana, who in his passion abducted Seetha, and thus you eradicated the vice from the earth, for that you get an everlasting divine sanctity, as Rama, for ages to come."

2] There is another declination attributing this to Ravana. Ravana is the one who tortures others for his benefit. itaraam saadayati piiDayati iti niSaada - thus: Oh! Ravana; krounch+ midhunaat= from the couple of Rama and Seetha, who are flying from forest to forest like nest-less birds; ekam= one is, Seetha is; avadhii =as good as killing [her with your torture of abducting; pratiSTaam= your glory in Lanka, at its zenith, as per the kindness of Brahma; ma+agama= never get, hereafter. But this declination is not held right, for it is like a curse, shaapa, and no epic shall start with a bad omen.

3] Next, this verse is said from the perspective of Rama alone. Sage Narada gave the details of the legend to Sage Valmiki and Brahma orders that the legend of Rama is to be recorded. But Ramayana is full of pathos, karuNa - shoka rasa prathaana. If it is to be penned the writer too shall have heart that can outpour that mood. So when Valmiki is at the river banks Rama, say Vishnu, came in the guise of a tribal, as with other mythological episodes like kiraataarjuniiya etc., and killed one bird. Valmiki reacted immediately and Vishnu's test is complete. But in exciting the mood of such holy sage, Rama gets a curse in this verse - maa nishaada.

nishaada= oh tribal: to Valmiki / Vishnu to mythology; for your killing one bird of the couple, to the misery of the female one; shaashvatii = as long as you live on this earth; samaaH+pratiSTaam= togetherness, with your wife; ma+agama= do not get.

Oh! Rama, as long as you are on earth, you do not get the love of being together with your wife... for you have to live with your wife departed to Lanka, come again and departed to forests.

But this is differed statement, since Vishnu do not require any personal testing of the capabilities of the writer of Ramayana. Brahma will look after such literary things.

4] The generally accepted meaning of this verse is this. Any epic's gist is to be said at the start or, at its commencement --- k˜vya artha s¨canam kascin ˜dy˜m eva nir¨pyate --- Thus the above verse included the meaning of whole of the epic, Ramayana.

(i) maa+niSaada= Goddess Lakshmi and Vishnu's marriage in their incarnations as Rama and Setha - depicts -- Bala Kanda.

(ii) pratiSTaam+tvam+agama= renown, you get - by following your father's orders you have repaired to forests, without any political upheaval, thus get an everlasting renown as an obliging son --- depicts-- Ayodhya Kanda.

(iii) shashavatii+ samaa= by dwelling in forest and eradicating demons and helping the saints and sages thus, you achieve an everlasting praise - depicts - Aranaya Kanda.

(iv) krounchayoH= from the atrocious couple; -- krunca gati kau÷ily˜ alpŸ bh˜vayo× ; the atrocious Vali, and Tara couple; ekam+kaama+mohitam = one, passion filled, i.e., Vali, avadhii= you killed Vali - depicts - Kishkindha Kanda.

(v) krouncha +mithunaat= from the couple of lovely passionate birds - here Rama and Seetha; niSaada he Ravana, kaama mohitam lustfully, ekam one i.e., Seetha; avadhii = almost killed, i.e., her residing in Lanka is as good as death; this depicts - Sundara Kanda.

(vi) krouincha+mithunaat = from the atrocious, couple - Ravana and Mandodari; ekam avadhii one - Ravana, is killed - depicts - Yuddha Kanda.

(vii) kaama+mohitam= by desire, fascinated  kama also means a longing, desire, let alone lusting; Seetha is fascinated by her desire to see sage's wives in uttara Ramayana and thus she is left in hermitage by Lakshmana. Hence vii canto uttara Ramayana is also suggested.

the Valmiki Ramayana is a text about dharma.

Dharma means several different things—the dharma of the four varnas and the four ashramas, the classes and stages of life; the governance template of raja dharma, the duty of kings; principles of good conduct, sadachara; and the pursuit of objectives of human existence, purushartha—dharma, artha and kama. As with the Mahabharata, the Valmiki Ramayana is a smriti text. It has a human origin and composer, it is not a shruti text. Smriti texts are society and context specific. We should not try to judge and evaluate individuals and actions on the basis of today’s value judgements

the notion of dharma—transcending all those collective templates of dharma—there is one that is individual in nature. Regardless of those collective templates, an individual has to decide what the right course of action is and there is no universal answer as to what is right and what is wrong. There are always contrary pulls of dharma, with two notions of dharma pulling in different directions. It is not immediately obvious which is superior. Given the trade-offs, an individual makes a choice and suffers the consequences.