Raghuvamsa-1 (E)
Raghuvamsam-I
(Written by:Santhipriya)
Introduction
Several centuries have passed, yet
some of the epics in Sanskrit and Tamil are deeply
etched in the mind and memories of people, cherished even today
and sails through generations after
generations either by word of mouth stories or in print form. They include famous five epics in Tamil,
known as Panchakavyas (meaning five
epics) like ‘Silapathigaram’, ‘Manimegalai’, ‘Kundalakesi’ ‘Valayapathi’ and
‘Seevaga Chinthamani’, and Maha Kavyas
(meaning Great epic) like Kalidasa’s
‘Kumara Sambava’ and ‘Raguvamsa’ in
Sanskrit, ’Keerarjuneeya’ by Bharavi, ‘Sisupalavatham’ by Magar and ‘Naishatha
charithra’ by Sri Harsha, all composed either
in Devanagari or in Sanskrit languages.
Raghuvamsa basically traces the roots of the great lineage of
Lord Rama commencing
with his earliest antecedents and his descendants and
encapsulates the principal events in the
life of each one of the main players of
the dynasty. Thus Raghuvamsa
unfolds the dynasty to which Rama belonged and whose lineage
originally emerged
from the Solar Dynasty in which Ikshavaku
was first born on earth to establish Ikshavaku
lineage, which later earned the name Raghu Vamsam (lineage) i.e generations of Raghu. It was from the period of Raghu, one of the
key Kings in Ikshavaku lineage, that the Ikshavaku dynasty came to be called
Raghu Dynasty or Raghu’s lineage. It
becomes clear from Raghuvamsa, that the saintly Sages like Vashishta and
Kaushika lived even before Rama was born on earth.
The greatest poet and dramatist of any epoch, Kalidasa’s life and history is mired in mystery and is sketchy. Historians speculate that Kalidasa may have flourished
in the sixth century B.C. Legent has it,
Kalidasa, grown up without even formal
education is said to have received sudden and extraordinary gift of wit
mastery in Sanskrit with the grace of Goddess Kali of Ujjain. Numerous works have been attributed to his
authorship, works excelling the works of other masters in the field of literature done in Sanskrit
language. Every one of his compilations were masters of their own. More than this nothing is known with certainty
about the life of Kalidasa. It is intriguing that even
scholars have no answers to what prompted Kalidasa to
compose Raghuvamsa and the period when it was composed.
It is widely believed that the
epic in original as composed by Kalidasa, period of compilation believed to be tenth century, consisted of 25 Cantos out of
which only lesser than 19 Cantos are available and the rest reportedly unfound
till date. Also the compilation ends
abruptly at one point, without stretching to the successors who ruled in the
said lineage. Therefore details on the antecedents or decedents as contained in the missing six
Cantos still remain mystery. It is
very interesting to note that prior to the
compilation of Raghuvamsam, no other work
in any languages mentioned the life and history of Rama’s clan. It therefore
raised an interesting and unanswered
question as to how in such a situation Kalidasa was able to compile Raghu’s
lineage in such detail?
Another important aspect that adds credit to Raghuvamsa has been
that the epic as composed by Kalidasa in the 10th century has been
translated into Tamil language for the first time in the 15th or 16th
century, that too by a Lankan Tamil King named Arasakesi, in holy alliance with Singai
Pararasasegaram, the then Emperor of Jaffna in Lanka, who ably supported Arasakesi in all aspects of translation. Also it is stated that the said work of Arasakesi
in Tamil was first released in the Courtyard of Raghunatha Nayak, Emperor of
the then state of Tanjore in Tamilnadu. This
therefore strengthens the belief that both India and Lanka may have thrived
together at one point of time in history. Also the very fact that more compilations in the
language of Tamil has been found in several parts of Lanka suggests that both
Tamilnadu and the southern parts in Lanka may have been ruled together by several
Kings belonging to Tamil race and therefore the first translation of Kalidasa’s
Raghuvamsam in Tamil by a King in Lanka has not surprised the scholars.
The unspelt and hidden moral message of Raghuvamsa has been
that when the Universe was created by
the Supreme Brahman, it was doomed that Maha Vishnu, one of the Trinities shall
incarnate in ten forms on earth to destroy the evil forces at different periods
of time. Out of the ten forms, Vishnu
shall incarnate as Parasurama, Brahmin by birth in his 6th form to destroy the
Kshatriyas in
revenge,
in seventh, he shall incarnate as Rama to destroy Ravan, a Brahmin by birth,
and later to incarnate as Gautama Buddha to uplift the downtrodden to crush the
domination of higher castes on them. Though Brahman initially created four
varnas (division) in the name of caste namely Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra,
in order to establish that none of the divisions are either inferior or
superior compared to others and all are equal before Brahman or Supreme, the
drama with ten incarnations have been staged with Vishnu incarnating in
different divisions of the society in which each ones’ supremacy in different
periods of time has been projected. Kalidasa’s work mentions in brief Vishnu,
Rama and Parasurama revealing this aspect.
However the aspects besides, Raghuvamsa reveals how Vishnu had to sail
through several interwoven sequences of events before incarnating as Rama and what
length of period he had to travel on earth sailing along with each of the events. This thus further reveal another
important aspect involved, that what Kalidasa produced was not just a simple
document, but much remains beyond. One has
to accept that Kalidasa must have been divine blessed and thus was able to absorb
the life story of lord Rama, lest the divine aspects of Rama would have
remained unknown to the society.
Though Raghuvamsa bares the lineage of Rama, unless one deeply
read the web of sequences that include the origin of his race, how his race
initially known as Ikshavaku dynasty later came to be known as Raghuvamsa, series of events occurred before the Supreme incarnated in a
particular form for fulfillment of a particular task doomed etc, the epic cannot be fully cherished.
As per the mythological story in Vishnu Purana, Lord Brahma first created King Daksha out of
his thumb. Sun God was son of Daksha and
Aditi Daksha’s wife and mother of Sun God. From Sun was born King Manu to establish Sun
Dynasty or Suryavamsa (or Solar Dynasty) initially. Bhageerath who brought Ganges to earth,
Saintly sage Vashishta, King Harichandra who always held promise to be
sacrosanct, Emperor Sibi in an act of compassion even to plants,
placed his chariot by the side of
plant Jasmine to enable her creep on it, and great King Sagara were some of the important personalities belonging
to Suryavamsa
In Thretha Yuga, Ikshavaku,
grandson of Sun God was enthroned as Emperor of Ayodhya on earth which lay on the banks of river Sarayu with Koshala
as the capital city, and the successive Kings who sat on the throne in his
Kingdom were came to be called
Ikshavaku dynasty. Though the Ikshavaku dynasty originated from the Solar race, since Ikshavaku was sent to earth to rule, his lineage
was called Ikshavaku Dynasty instead of Solar Dynasty.
Scholars opine that prior to Rama, in all 118 Kings ruled the
Kingdom under Ikshavaku Dynasty , Rama being the 58th amongst them. It was after the reigning of a key King namely
Raghu, great grandson of King Dilipa who occupied the first throne in the
Ikshavaku race, that the title Ikshavaku Dynasty disappeared and came to be
called as Raghuvamsa (Raghu’s race).
Birth of Raghuvamsam-
King Dilipa: First in line
Vaivachutha was son of Adithya, who descended from the first
King of solar dynasty Manu, son of Sun God and their lineage was originally
called Ikshavaku Dynasty. Many Kings
ascended and descended in Ikshavaku lineage, the one most important King amongst
them King Dilipa who sprang like Nectar in the Milk Ocean. Dilipa was highly pious and benevolent, fathomless
in mind and manners, patient and
generous, loved and honored by his folks and whose glory other kings despaired
to reach. Though in throne he surpassed the fame of those kings
existed around, but unfortunately Dilipa
was unblessed to have a son to succeed him. The Royal King’s wife was Sudakshina
and the greatest among the sage of Sages, Vashishta, their chief preceptor (Kula Guru or chief priest as they
say).
Worried, they were unblessed in the issue of a heir to
succeed in the lineage of Ikshavaku,
they went to their Raja guru Vashishta to seek his counsel on this vexed issue.
Dilipa and Sudakshina bowed
before the saint and clasped his feet in reverence after which Dilipa spoke ‘Great
saint, our mentor, you have been like a beacon to us and guide us whenever and
wherever needed. Your blessings are the strength of our prosperity and sans of
your blessings, we would have been mere dust.
We receive sufficient and timely rainfall to
cheer the drought consumed crops. My subjects have neither
fear nor pain from evils. Holy sage, we owe all these credits to your
patronage and your continued guidance keeps us rule the state free of suffering.
Yet holy protector, like agony in ecstasy, in the midst of air of
prosperity, childless state of ours torment us forbidding offer
of even ‘Pinda dhaan’ (Sacrificial food offering) to our ancestors for we are
childless. Denial of Pinda Dhaan shall attract their curse and impede our path
to Heaven. Oh, master, needless to
proclaim our generosity to our subjects granting all they need and lend our
helping hands in their helplessness. What harm have we done for our childless state distressing our heart? Help us
our protector, be compassionate and bless
us rid off this distress state, no
matter how we shall pay for this debt’.
Sage Vashishta said ‘Dilipa, the cause of your pain is your
own, unwittingly committed a sin in the past for which you earned the curse
from Divine Cow Kamadenu. Once in the
past, while returning from Heaven, impressive of a pleasing offspring from your
queen, you failed to pay obedience to the Divine Cow Kamadenu and hurriedly
passed by her side neglecting her. Enraged
by your act of indifference, Divine Cow
released a curse in agony that for the unbearable insult heaped on her,
you shall remain childless till you purge your sin by paying due reverence to her
posterity’. Her curse is the cause of your present state and the womb
in your spouse remains dry till now’ thus concluded the sage.
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