18 Rahasyas of Ramayana

 

Ramayana, the greatest of Indian epics is well known to all of us.  Can there be 18 unknown secrets (Rahasyas) in this great epic, not known to most of us?  The answer is surprisingly 'yes!' Let us examine a few.

Did Rama have a sister?

The instant answer is 'no.' But Rama had an elder sister by name 'Shantha.'  Shantha was the daughter of King Dasharatha and Kausalya. But Dasharatha had given his daughter to King Romapada and his wife Varshini, who was the sister of Kausalya.  Later on Shantha was married to Sage Rishyashrunga, who was the chief of mentor for Dasharatha's Putrakamesti Yaga.

Did Rama award death-punishment to Laxman?

The answer is 'yes.' Once during the rule of Lord Rama, Yamadharma had come to his palace for a secret discussion.  Laxman was asked to be guarding the door, preventing any one who tries to enter.  Rama had strictly told Laxman that the punishment for any one who enters his chamber was 'death-punishment.'  When Laxman was guarding the doors, ferocious sage Durvasa came and wanted to meet Rama.  When Laxman denied him entry, Durvasa became furious and told he will curse the entire Kingdom of Ayodhya.  Worried Laxman who wanted welfare of Ayodhya first, decided to take the blame on himself.  He entered Rama's chamber and told him about Durvasa's arrival. Left with no option, Rama was duty bound to punish Laxman with death.  Reluctant Rama consulted his guru Vasist, who advised that giving up relationship is as good as death punishment.  But Laxman was not prepared to live without having relationship with Ram and therefore chose death as his punishment.  He left this world by walking deep inside the river Sarayu.

About 1000 different authors all over the world have written Ramayan and therefore there are 1000 versions of Ramayan.  In one version written by Kannada poet Kuvempu, Manthara was very fond of child Rama.  One day, when Ram started crying relentlessly, demanding moon, mother Kausalya and the entire staff of Palace were clueless, how to pacify child Ram.  At this stage it was Manthara, who pacified child Ram by showing moon's reflection in a bowel of water!  When she wanted to embrace child Ram, it was Kausalya who pushed her aside as she didn't want ugly and deformed Manthara to touch her child. Manthara felt insulted and waited for her turn to punish Ram and Kausalya. 

In another version of Ramayana written by a 'sulagitti (midwife),' the midwife who had performed duty while Kausalya delivered Ram, had demanded a 'golden sickle' for herself, for cutting the umbilical cord (navel string)!

Two days ago, it was the young religious scholar Sri Dushyant Sridhar who delivered a 'pravachana' on 18 Rahasyas of Ramayan at the 84th Ramanavami festival, Chamarajpet, Bengaluru.  But his set of 18 rahasyas were quite different.  Being a scholar he explained that all 'Vidyas,' like Vedas, Vyakarana, Ayurveda, Jyothisya, Shakuna are contained in Ramayan.  As per him, in Valmiki Ramayana even Buddhism is referred accommodating those who defied 'Sanatana Dharma!'  The young scholar who is just 36, knows almost all 24000 shlokas of Valmiki Ramyana by heart and can quote them at will.  A linguist who has command over English, Kannada and Tamil is an ardent advocate of 'sanatana dharma' and our epics. Being a chemical engineering graduate from BITS, Pilani, he is versatile and can correlate Ramayan with modern life and management.  

Little earlier, at the same venue, we heard the young 'harikatha exponent' Smt. Vishaka Hari who delivered a Harikastha on Ramayana.  Born in a family of musicians, she is an expert singer of Carnatic music and could have made a place for herself in singing alone. Moreover she is a qualified Chartered Accountant with a first rank.  But she has chosen the Harikatha route to enthrall the audience with her oratory and musical skills.  Supported by a full fledged team of accompaniments, she was once more a delight to watch. Her forte is melodious singing of Tyagaraja's pancharatna kritis and her ability to give pauses to explain the essence of the phrases. She can quote from Dixitar and Shyama Sastri at will, besides singing poems from Tulsidas. On that day she narrated the entire Ramayan and its relevance to frailties of human character with sumptuous quotes from Pancharatna Kritis. No wonder, she is rated above other religious speakers, because of her excellent singing, oratory and appropriate body language (she is trained dancer too).

As a concluding remark on this month long Ramanavami music festival which was celebrated throughout our Country, we can only pray Lord Rama to bless us with more and more musicians and orators who can convey the message of Rama to different corners of the world.

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