UTTHARA RAMAYANA -PART 2
By V. Krishnan
So, the major hurdle having been removed, everything started working smoothly for the conduct of the Yaga. Janaki's father King Janaka also arrived. King Janaka though was aware of Sita's exile, he never made any enquiry on that issue with anybody. He had inside knowledge about the Avatharhood of Rama (and also did he not find Sita as an orphaned child from the Earth?) and did not want to probe any further on that issue. He knew Rama would do no wrong.
The day for the Aswamedha Yaga came. A special white Horse was procured, specially bathed and nicely dressed up with all decorations. A gold plate was tied around its neck, inscribed with a message that advised one and all to submit to Rama as the Emperor and leave the horse to roam around the world without the least hindrance or face the wrath of the warriors of Rama who accompanied the horse. The message also included a warning that anyone who dared to hold the horse in captivity would be severely dealt with. In the olden days only when a king was sure of vanquishing any one, did he dare to perform such an Aswamedha Yaga. And all the people of Rama Rajya had no doubt that in the entire world there was none to challenge the supremacy of Rama and that was why all thought that the global trotting of the Yaga horse along with the warriors would be just a formality. And all awaited the quick return of the horse and all arrangements had been made and people were ready for the conduct of the yaga.
Before sending out the Yaga Horse on its sojourn, many sages including Bhargava came to Rama and sought his help in getting rid of Lavana, the demon who was perpetrating lots of atrocities on the sages and rishis. This demon Lavana was the son of Kumbhinasa, the step-sister of Vibeeshana and wife of another small time Demon king Madhu. He underwent severe asceticism and penance and recited "Om Namasivaya" for a billion times. Lord Siva, pleased with him appeared before him and asked what he wanted. Lavana said he wanted the trident from Lord Siva. Siva created a trident and gave it to Lavana, detailing its enormous power , " Lavana! Whoever wields this trident, shall remain undefeated in a battle with any one.". And so started as usual, the misuse of a boon and a divine weapon and the torture of all rishis, demigods, devas and all. good people.
It had become the duty of Rama then to protect the sages and rishis and others who took asylum with him. He called Satrughna who was to lead the Yaga horse on its world- trotting, handed over to him a Divine quiver that held a variety of extraordinarily divine and powerful Asthras (arrows) and said "Use these Asthras reciting the appropriate manthras, vanquish the enemy and return with glory and success." He then transfused His Divinity with Sathrughna to make him impenetrable, blessed and sent him on the mission of destroying Lavana.
So with all his four columns, he marched to the kingdom of Lavana. Hearing their war cries Lavana came out roaring like a lion, with his sons and over sixty thousand warriors. Like many demons he played all sorts of tricks against all of them. But what can a demon do before Divinity of Rama personified through Sathrughna. All the soldiers of Lavana perished before Sathrughna and his warriors numbering just a mere three thousand. The sons of Lavana were killed by Subahu, the son of Sathrughna and lastly Sathrughna sent an arrow invoking the name of Rama and that arrow killed Lavana. The gods, rishis, sages and all who witnessed the battle rejoiced at the outcome and thus ended another chapter of evil. This also forebode well, all thought , prior to the start of the tour of the world with the Yaga horse.
And so the horse and the accompanying warriors, with Sathrughna at the helm, moved forward to complete the arduous journey around the world. Wherever the horse went, there was no resistance and small or big kings openly submitted to the supremacy of Rama and the warriors who accompanied the horse had no problem at all. Excepting once when, the warriors who accompanied the horse were challenged by a small time king named Veeramani, who was a very brave man and never bowed down to anyone. He was a devout Siva bhkata and Lord Easwara had given him darshan many times. He had to face the wrath of the warriors of Rama. In a battle that raged, he defeated Satruguna and other warriors. However when the turn of Hanuman came, he was defeated by Hanuman easily. He ran to Lord Parameswara and pleaded before him to fight Hanuman on his behalf and Sankara agreed!
A battle Divine ensued between Sarweswara and Anjaneya. Ultimately Easwara realised that he could not defeat Hanuman as he was all the time reciting Rama Nama. He pacified Veeramani and made him understand the significance and glory of Rama Avathar . Later He asked Hanuman what he wanted. Hanuman asked Siva to look after the bodies of the wounded and dead lying on the ground as a consequence of the battle and that he (Hanuman) would go and bring Sanjeevi. Easwara smiled at Hanuman and said
"With the help of Rama Nama you were able to defeat me and you want Sanjeevi to awaken these people! Can't you do that with the help of the same Rama Nama".
Hanuman felt ashamed of his being ignorant of this simple fact and later by uttering the name of Rama awakened all the dead and wounded and brought them back to their original condition. (Let us all recite the name of Sai Ram and get rid of all ills and evils mentally as well as bodily.)
At last they came to the area where Valmiki's hermitage was located and they happened to pass by where Lava and Kusa were playing. The horse was always going ahead and the warriors were following it at a distance. When Lava and Kusa saw a beautifully decorated horse out of nowhere, their curiosity was aroused. They went near the horse and read what was inscribed on the golden plate tied around its neck. What was written there was sufficient to provoke them as they were young boys taught to fear nothing and submit to none. So they captured the horse and tied it around a tree nearby and continued with their play. After some time the warriors came to where Lava and Kusa were playing and saw the horse tied around a tree near them. They asked the boys to tell who had tied the horse. The boys said they had done it.
The warriors thought that the boys must have done it playfully and so spoke very softly to the tender looking boys: "Oh young children! Please release the horse so that we can go ahead with our journey". The boys said they would not release the horse, upon which the warriors told them sternly that they had no time to joke and play with the boys and that the boys must release the horse. The boys then laughed and told them that if they wanted to take the horse they could fight the boys and take the horse, because the boys had accepted the challenge posed in the inscription on the golden plate tied around the neck of the horse.
The warriors still could not believe the boys were speaking seriously. Therefore they again persuaded the boys to release the horse lest face the consequences. And the boys still persisted on fighting. The warriors got angry and started to fight the boys. However in a trice the boys disarmed all of them and made them fall down on the ground. A few of the warriors escaped fromthere and ran to the spot where Sathrughna was camping with his aides. They told Sathrughna how two young boys apparently the sons of some rishi, had captured the Yaga horse and in a fight that followed, how the boys destroyed all the soldiers but a few.
Sathrughna was enraged as well as equally amazed and immediately took charge of his remaining columns and marched to where Lava and Kusa were standing. Seeing such tender and young boys , he could not believe that they could indeed fight. But the sight of thousands of soldiers lying wounded and dead on the ground spoke volumes of their prowess. In spite of that, his conscience did not allow him to fight with this young boys whose very sight made him immensely happy despite whatever they had done.
He spoke to them:
"Oh my dear children! Please why don't you release the horse. You appear to be children of some rishis. It is not right for me to fight with your kind."
The boys however were not to be cowed down or cajoled. They said they had captured the horse and let Sathrughna redeem it if he and his army had the guts. This really enraged Sathrughna and a severe fight ensued in which all the remaining soldiers were killed , the chariot of Sathrughna was destroyed and Sathrughna himself was seriously wounded and made to fall on the ground unconscious. Some soldiers who were hurt but were in a position to move took to their heels and ran to the palace and reported everything to Rama and Lakhsmana who were with their courtiers and rishis.
The news of the defeat and fall of Sathrugna and the other warriors who accompanied the Yaga horse reached the ears of Rama and Lakhmana as detailed already. Though shocked and bewildered they could not give up having gone so far. An emergency meeting was held and the seriousness of the situation was discussed. It was decided that Lakhsmana would then take the war-reigns.
Under orders from Rama, Lakhsmana immediately took charge of the war-affairs and proceeded with fresh columns to fight Lava and Kusa. He saw at the battlefield, all their soldiers and Sathrughna lying on the ground and was aghast. He however like Sathrugna, tried first to persuade the boys into surrendering as he did not want to harm them since they were tender and sweet looking besides being the children of some rishis. However much he tried to "reason out" with them to stop fighting and surrender the Yaga horse, they never paid any heed to his words. They also infuriated him by showing the fallen soldiers and telling that similar fate awaited him also. Lakshmana, compared to his other brothers was quite "short tempered" and being just and loyal to Rama, was always easily provoked against any one, who showed slightest signs of rebellion against Rama.
So the inevitable battle followed between Lakhsmana and his men on the one side and the two lovely sons of Rama and Sita, the twins, Lava and Kusa on the other. It was said that the earth shook as the battle progressed and all the Devas and demi-gods watched the splendrous battle Royale fought by Lava and Kusa.
Lava and Kusa disintegrated the arrows shot by Lakshmana and his warriors . The very asthra which Lakshmana used in killing Meghanath, (son of Ravana)proved ofno avail against Kusa who destroyed it with his counter-asthra. For a moment Lakshmana even thought he was paying retribution for the exile of Sita.
Almost all the soldiers were destroyed single handedly by Lava while Kusa was fighting Lakshmana. At last Kusa sent the Brahmasthra towards Lakhsmana and Lakshmana got hit and fell unconscious. This calamitous news was immediately carried to Rama. Bharatha became repentant and told Rama :
"My Lord! It is all the aftermath of the exile of Sita. We are paying for the wrong deed done by us."
Rama told Bharatha not to talk like that , regrouped all forces, arranged for fresh columns and along with Bharatha , Hanuman and others proceeded to the battle front, where the unbeatable Lava and Kusa were waiting to continue the fight.
Rama came last in the march allowing all others to go in the front. The Monkey forces under the leadership of Hanuman uprooted big trees and used them as well as some big rocks as weapons against the boys . Lava with a single asthra which proliferated several ones, atomized the whole lot of the weapons and the boys in a brief span of time routed the entire army binding even Hanuman (who could not fight the boys because he could sense the same divinity of Rama in the boys and therefore submitted meekly to their asthra. (after all Hanuman is invincible).
Then at last the turn of Rama came and he marched closer to Lava and Kusa. He then inquired from the boys about their lineage and all related matters refusing to fight them unless and until they disclosed everything about themselves. The boys then narrated about their mother Janaki, how they had been taught everything by Valmiki etc. and before the boys could send any asthra towards Rama, Sita came rushing to the spot accompanied by Valmiki. She admonished the boys for what they had done. She told them to release Hanuman who was bound and kept captive. Then she announced publicly, invoking all the Pancha Boothas that Lava and Kusa were indeed the progenies of Rama born to her and that she had been keeping herself alive to just hand over the heirs to Rama. Rama at once threw away the bow and arrow he was holding and embraced both Lava and Kusa. Tears streamed out of the eyes of every one present around.
After this Sita did a strange thing. She went over three times around the spot where she stood, and with folded hands prayed to Goddess Earth thus: Oh Mother! Please take me into your fold. My mission is over". As soon as she uttered these words, there came a big rumbling noise, the earth quaked and the ground before Sita burst open and from the crater thus created, up came a Divine Throne occupied by Goddess Earth. She immediately took Sita with her and in a flicker they were gone into the crater. The very next instant the cavity closed and Sita was gone for ever.
In Valmiki Ramayana it is said Rama then wept like an ordinary human being. Our Swami's (own) Rama Katha says Rama was aware of everything and was just playing his part. Well everything thereafter moved very fast. Rama took the children with him to the palace with the blessings from Valmiki and in due course of time made them in charge of different regions of the Rama Rajya. It is said Rama being the Avathar of Mahavishnu who mostly abode in the sea , at the end of his mission, strode towards the Sarayu river and dissapeared . While Bharatha and Sathrughna immediately merged with Him, Lakshmana joined Him only later.
Thus ends the heart-rending Utthara Ramayana.
When Hanuman met Sita with the message of the fall of Ravana, Sita was overwhelmed . Seeing the "Raakshashis" (female demons) around her still, he wanted to destroy them and sought permission for the same from Sita. She told him not to harm them asking
" Is there anyone who has not sinned in this world"
"Na Kaschith Na Aparadhyathi"
' They have not committed any crime. They carried the orders of their King. The King is no more. Now to punish them is not proper."
Many scholars say and the sastras also endorse that the worst sinner can attain salvation by surrendering to Sita .Whenever we come across misfortunes or difficulties we should think of Sita with all piety and reverence and we will be able to overcome them. This is certain.
OM SRI SAI RAM!
Your Loving Sai servant
V. Krishnan
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