Reflections On VÄlmÄ«ki RÄmÄyaá¹‡a â€“ XVI: Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya

Reflections On VÄlmÄ«ki RÄmÄyaá¹‡a â€“ XVI: Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya

Bijoy Misra
07/06/2017

Reflections on VÄlmÄ«ki RÄmÄyaá¹‡a â€“ XVI: Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya

The story of RÄmÄyaá¹‡a is woven through three geographic areas: the first is AyodhyÄ and its surroundings, the second is the large expanse of south India called Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya, and the third is the island of Laá¹…kÄ in the sea. Other contiguous areas like Kaikeya and MithilÄ are brought to the story to create nuptial relationship. AyodhyÄ city was the capital of the Iká¹£vÄku clan inherited by the King DaÅ›aratha but the overall area of KoÅ›ala spread through much of northern India. Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya, which was the area to the south of the Vindhya mountain range, was in principle under rule of the Iká¹£vÄku but was undeveloped. Its northern fringes were popular with monks and holy people who liked seclusion in order to have an environment of solitude necessary for contemplation.

Littered with hills, rivers and ponds and populated with lush tropical forests, Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya was the home of plentiful food and free movement. Animals of all kinds including varieties of deer, bears, snakes, tigers and lions roamed the forests. Primitive people of wild demeanor lived among the animals. There were all kinds of birds and water species. Amidst these, there would be mythical areas which appeared as heavenly abodes. The mystic men took residence in these areas in order to experiment on the fortitude of life. They possibly expanded their intuition through harmonious coexistence. The science of forest living and the benefits accrued to the mind and the body are yet to be researched from the civilization point of view.

Then there were breeds of ferocious human like creatures from clan called rÄká¹£asa. From the evolution stand point, they were violence-prone and eccentric in their approach to life. In many ways, one considered them to be a part of human society, but they were utterly egoistic and irrational. They had their own kings, army and empire. As VÄlmÄ«ki describes, they loved to slit human beings and drink their blood. Drinking animal blood is not unpopular in some cultures, but killing humans for protein is a different taste. Extreme characters of this latter kind were cannibals who consumed human flesh. Cannibal as an anthropologic object is also not unscientific.

As the story goes, the rÄká¹£asa clan made their habitat in the equatorial area. Through the practice of penance and difficult exercises, some of them attained various skills connected to physical stamina and intellectual prowess. VÄlmÄ«ki creates a character called RÄvaá¹‡a, who apparently could operate with ten heads. Through battles and manipulations, he had acquired most of the worldâ€™s riches. With his expansive ambition, he also wanted to win over the human beings. VÄlmÄ«ki paints him as a lecherous individual, who could get infatuated with any woman he might see. In VÄlmÄ«kiâ€™s hands, the character comes out as an evil and vicious being who is too obsessed with his own ego and vanity. The RÄmÄyaá¹‡a story is created to champion the cause of RÄmaâ€™s virtue against the crooked exploits of RÄvaá¹‡a.

Being a land of wilderness and forests, Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya was used as a stepping stone by RÄvaá¹‡a for an assault on the habitat further north. RÄvaá¹‡aâ€™s generals and warriors populated pockets of Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya and engaged in causing disturbance to the hermitages of the monks and the sages. The hermits were not skilled in military tactics and they would evacuate their cottages in fear of being devoured by the rÄká¹£asa. Finally, a skilled military tactician named Agastya invented ways to tackle the maneuvers of the rÄká¹£asa and created some areas safe for the sages. RÄma had heard of the Sage Agastya and made efforts to meet the Sage during his journey through Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya. Weapons given by the Sage become the tools of victory of RÄma against RÄvaá¹‡a and his Army.

The forests of Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya were apparently used by the royals to exile people on punishment. Banishment as a punishment for non-criminal offences is an old tradition. It is not clear if KaikeyÄ« had other locations in mind to send RÄma in exile. Her thought could have been to send RÄma as far away as possible such that it would not be easy for him to wage a fight against Bharata. There was the tacit likelihood that RÄma might not survive the ordeal as had been the case with others in the past. KauÅ›alyÄ was heart-broken to hear of the exile of RÄma to Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya.

After leaving AyodhyÄ, RÄma, Laká¹£maá¹‡a and SÄ«tÄ lived several months at CitrakÅ«á¹a mountains south of the YamunÄ river west of PrayÄga. There were many hermitages in the area including one of the Sage VÄlmÄ«ki who helped to find a site for RÄma. Bharata and the family members visited RÄma in CitrakÅ«á¹a. Bharata collected RÄmaâ€™s sandals and symbolically placed them on the throne as substitute King. Sometime after Bharataâ€™s party returned away, RÄma was alerted that the hermits were leaving the area since the members of the rÄká¹£asa were encroaching. An old sage told RÄma that RÄvaá¹‡aâ€™s general Khara had been causing trouble to the hermits ever since RÄma took residence in the area. RÄma however did not seek out Khara to fight. He decided to relocate like the other ascetics did.

RÄma, Laká¹£maá¹‡a and SÄ«tÄ proceeded south east from CitrakÅ«á¹a to enter the Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya forest. After passing by Atriâ€™s hermitage, they were confronted by the cannibal VirÄdha who operated as a self-appointed guard to the hermits in the area. He warned that women were not welcome in the area since it was a place for the ascetics. The cannibal carried SÄ«tÄ on his shoulders and ran inside the forest. He was so rough and rugged in shape that the arrows from RÄma and Laká¹£maá¹‡a had no effect to his body. Eventually RÄma and Laká¹£maá¹‡a subdued him by breaking his arm. By recognizing RÄmaâ€™s internal strength, he revealed that he was a Gandharva born on earth out of a curse. He asked RÄma to bury him such that he could find liberation. Such burial could be a cultural legacy. The story of VirÄdha is fanciful but it is a sample story of Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya.

RÄmaâ€™s party passed through the hermitages of Sarabhanga and SutÄ«ká¹£á¹‡a. They entered the area of PaÃ±cÄpsarÄ lake that was known to be created by Sage MÄá¹‡á¸akará¹‡Ä«. An invisible underwater stream created a soft tilting sensation giving the impression of live music being played under water. The legend was that the heavenly nymphs were playing music in an underwater palace. Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡yaâ€™s rich natural geographical features were associated with various similar legends. RÄma, Laká¹£maá¹‡a and SÄ«tÄ enjoyed these features for ten years by hopping around various hermitages in the area. VÄlmÄ«kiâ€™s poetic instincts blossom to high tones in describing the beauty of the Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya forests.

The poet gives the story of two members of the rÄká¹£asa clan: VÄtÄpi and Ilvala who had developed skills in Sanskrit and could pretend as brÄhmaá¹‡a. VÄtÄpi would take the body of a ram and Ilvala would feed the meat to the sages by inviting them to the sâ€™rÄddha. Then vÄtÄpi would emerge out of the body of the sages tearing their stomachs in the process. Apparently this was a technique of employed in killing. The members of the rÄká¹£asa clan were apt maneuvers than direct confrontation. Sage Agastya, as we referred earlier, knew how to outsmart the rÄká¹£asa. He chewed the meat of the ram fully and completely digested it before the body could take a form again. The Sage Agastya is given the credit of learning the sciences of the oceans and mastering the special skills of capturing attributes from the natural elements using austerities and mantra.

In the modern days, Daá¹‡á¸akÄraá¹‡ya is considered to comprise of the area in the western frontiers of Odisha proceeding west to cover Chattishgarh and some beyond. It spreads from Jharkhand to the northern Telengana in the north south direction. It has flat lands, hills, rivers and waterfalls with dense deciduous forests. The entire area has not been fully explored. Many primitive tribes still operate in the area as though frozen in time.

Let Sai bless all.

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