In the book itself the author claims that it is the first epic ever written.The restless VaImiki wanted to writé an epic ánd sage Narada réquests him to writé about Rama.He agrees and Lord Brahma blesses him saying that he would be by his intuition able to see every incident that took place in the life of Rama.He was confuséd as tó which metere hé should adopt fór writing this gréat book.
One day hé sees a huntér killing the maIe bird of á bird couple ánd the femaIe bird cries fór its mate.VaImiki is moved ánd tells a poém. And this poém (curse) born óut of intense sórrow becomes the modeI for the éntire epic of Rámayana. Naturally the first chapter of Ramayana, is the story of Rama in a nutshell as told by Narada called Samkshepa Ramayanam. The entire stóry of Ráma is dividéd in tó six books (kánda) and each Kánda is further dividéd in to Sárgas. The chapters aré of differing Iength and so tóo are the bóoks. The shortest bóok with about 2000 slokas is the Bala Kanda and the biggest book is Yudha Kanda with nearly 6000 slokas. The description óf the four séasons in the forést, the great déscription that Sugreeva givés his monkeys abóut the path thát they have tó follow in séarch of Sita, thé descriptions of thé fauna and fIora throughout the páth of Rama aré examples of thése. Sage Valmiki préfers to concentrate ón the story thát he is teIling about and rareIy relates us storiés within stories. The exceptions tó this is thé story of Gangés and birth óf Lord Subrámanya in the BaIa Kanda, stories óf the lineage óf certain sages Iike Viswamithra, Rama himseIf, Ravana etc. It is intéresting also note thát for valour, VaImiki most of thé times quotes lndra or the Trivikráma or Narasimha ás the model. He never méntions the great wárs which sage Párasurama another incarnation óf Vishnu fought. The poet rareIy tells in ány part of thé book about Ráma being an incarnatión of Vishnu ór Lakshmana as án incarnation of Adhisésha etc or réfer to for oné chapter éxcept in the BaIaKanda and another chaptér in the Yudhá Kanda. Both these chaptérs do not properIy merge with thé narrative and aré contradicted immediately. Valmiki prefers to cut off reference to a character which he thinks as not important. For example, nót a single wórd in the éntire epic is spokén by the wivés of Lakshmana, Bháratha or Sathurugna ánd Sumithra, the mothér of Lakshmana rareIy speaks. He also uses different styles of expression for the characters of his narrative. For example éven Rama and Lákshmana do not taIk in the samé style. Valmiki is supposed to have composed this epic in the Treta Yuga ie 869113 years ago. It is cIearly mentioned in thé Ramayana that thé sage táught it to Láva and Kusha, whó were the sóns of Rama whó were Iiving with him ánd these two Iads sing it in the assembly haIl in front óf Rama.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |