Hari Om.
Let us begin the eleventh sarga of the araNya kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
As they took farewell from sage sutIkshNa to widely tour the range of hermitages spread in the danDaka forest, an apprehension arose in the mind of sItA about the appropriateness of one in ascetic life (during exile) wielding weapons and what downfall from the virtue that can bring about. She gently and accurately articulates her view point by exemplifying how an ascetic in the yore had a huge downfall from the virtuous to violent ways just by keeping a sword as a trust and always dwelling on whether the sword entrusted to him was secure. She is respectfully heard by rAma. He appreciates her apprehension very much and the concern that she has. He gently reminds her about the highest ideal of a kshatriya which is to ensure that those around him, particularly people engaged in penance and welfare of the world were free from distress. He says that is something he should do even without asking and it was his bounden duty, then the question of not doing it when they sought protection from him doesn’t arise! The last two sargas underscore the wonderful and honest relationship between sItA and rAma and respectfully articulating their view points. Bound by the duty of protection of the good and the promise he had given to them for their protection, the trio move on into the danDaka forests. Onwards…
The trio moved ahead led by rAma, followed the beautiful sItA and bow wielding lakshmaNa behind them. As they moved on they beheld the bewitching beauty of the forest, long ranges of mountains, ravishing rivers and lovely lakes filled with lotuses and with geese and swans swimming merrily, birds chirping and flying all around the ware bodies. They beheld herds of deer, buffaloes, wild boars, elephants and a variety of wild animals in the forest. By the time the shadows lengthened, they had covered quite a distance and reached a beautiful lake blessed with flora and fauna around it and met sage dharmabhRta there. Soothing music of musical instruments emanated from the lake while there were no performers of the same to be seen around. rAma turned to the sage dharmabhRta and prayed – “O sage we are quite curious about where this music is coming from. If you feel there is no secret around it and it can be shared with us, kindly do let us know of the source of the music and the legend behind it”.
इदमत्यद्भुतं श्रुत्वा सर्वेषां नो महामुने।
कौतूहलं महज्जातं किमिदं साधु कथ्यताम्।।3.11.9।।
वक्तव्यं यदि चेदविप्र नातिगुह्यमपि प्रभो।
Asked thus by rAma, the sage dharmabhRta began the narration of the origin of the lake and said –
“O rAma, this lake is known by the name panchApsara (five apsaras). Once upon a time a sage by name mAnDakarNi was engaged in intense penance for a period of ten thousand years standing in waters and subsisting just on air. His penance shook the pantheon of gods. They convened a meeting and were agitated that the sage by virtue of his penance could usurp one of their places! Thus, to safeguard their interests they summoned five most bewitching apsaras and commissioned them to disturb the penance of the sage. Sent to protect the interest of the gods, the five apsaras enticed the sage and succeeded. Deeply infatuated by them, the sage accorded them the status of his wives. He built a secret abode for them to dwell inside the lake. The five apsaras sing and dance and play the musical instruments there. That was the music that is heard here”.
rAma exclaimed wow at this strange happening and they moved further. As they moved listening to this story from the sage, they beheld in front of them a wonderful hermitage with all the auspicious insignia strewn around proclaiming the brAhmic grace abundant there. The trio entered the hermitage and were bestowed the best of hospitality by the scores of sages who lived there. The wielder of best weapons, the great descendant of the kakustha race – rAma along with sItA and lakshmaNa happily lived there. They visited the hermitages of the various sages in that region in turns and enjoyed their stay there.
तदा तस्मिन्सकाकुत्थ्सः श्रीमत्याश्रममण्डले।।3.11.23।।
उषित्वा तु सुखं तत्र पूज्यमानो महर्षिभिः।
जगाम चाश्रमांस्तेषां पर्यायेण तपस्विनाम्।।3.11.24।।
येषामुषितवान् पूर्वं सकाशे स महास्त्रवित्।
In one hermitage they stayed for ten months and for an entire year elsewhere. At places they stayed for four months while five or six months elsewhere. In some other hermitages they stayed for three months or eight months or slightly longer elsewhere happily.
क्वचित्परिदशान्मासानेकं संवत्सरं क्वचित्।।3.11.25।।
क्वचिच्छ चतुरो मासान् पञ्च षट्चापरान्क्वचित्।
अपरत्राधिकं मासादप्यर्धमधिकं क्वचित्।।3.11.26।।
त्रीन्मासानष्टमासांश्च राघवो न्यवसत्सुखम्।
Thus dwelling in the hermitages of the sages favorably a decade lapsed.
तथा संवसतस्तस्य मुनीनामाश्रमेषु वै।।3.11.27।।
रमतश्चानुकूल्येन ययुस्संवत्सरा दश।
Having toured extensively the hermitages of danDaka forest, the righteous rAma accompanied by sItA and lakshmaNa returned to the hermitage of sage sutIkshNa. They were welcomed warmly and offered great hospitality in that hermitage. The trio stayed in that hermitage for sometime. Then one day, while sitting by the sage sutIkshNa, rAma addressed him and enquired-
“O great sage, I have been hearing many tales that the great sage agastya dwells in this forest. Since the forest is so vast and spread, I do not know where exactly is his hermitage. If you could kindly guide us to the exalted hermitage of sage agastya it would fulfil a long standing desire in the hearts of ours to serve him personally and pay our respects”.
Having heard rAma’s enquiry the sage sutIkshNa exclaimed and said – “rAma, the same thought has been crossing my mind now that you should go and behold the great sage agastya along with sItA and lakshmaNa and before I could tell you, luckily the same has been raised by you. Certainly my dear, I will surely tell you how to get there. From here, in the southern direction if you travel for four yOjanas, you will see a plain terrain with a forest of fig trees. There are beautiful water bodies around there with swans and chakrAvAka birds making merry and you will hear the chirps of a variety of birds there. The region is blessed with abundance of flowers and fruits. You will find the hermitage of the brother of agastya in those sylvan surroundings. Stay there for a night. And then the next morning, travel by the forest in the southern direction and you will find the hermitage of sage agastya in the middle of lovely grove with plenty of trees. That indeed is a lovely place in the woods and sItA will indeed be delighted to be there. If you have made up your mind to visit the great sage agastya, it is better to start today itself”.
यदि बुद्धिः कृता द्रष्टुमगस्त्यं तं महामुनिम्।।3.11.44।।
अद्यैव गमने बुद्धिं रोचयस्व महायशः।
Having heard the directions from the sage sutIkshNa, the trio paid their obeisance to the sage and set off to visit sage agastya along with sItA and lakshmaNa. They setoff in the southern direction exactly as directed by the sage sutIkshNa and on the way beheld many a forest, mountain ranges, lakes and rivers. rAma was delighted to remember the clear directions given by sage sutIkshNa and said to lakshmaNa –
“O brother, it appears we have almost reached the hermitage of the brother of sage agastya as directed by sage sutIkshNa. The trees here are in full bloom and have drooped down in the burden of fruits they are bearing. The breeze from the forest is carrying the smell of ripe figs. We see heaps of wood lying here and there. The blades of the darbha grass are shining like gems. And right in the middle of the forest, smoke arising out of the sacrificial pit appears like a dark mountain. We do see the brAhmins having taken their bath and coming out with flowers in their hand to offer in worship. O lakshmaNa, I believe we are in the proximity of the hermitage of the brother of the great sage agastya who has conquered death by virtue of his peerless penance. This sage on account of his immense penance and to confer welfare on the whole world has rendered this southern direction holy.
Once upon a time, it is here that there lived two deadly ogres by name vAtApi and ilvala. In the guise of a brAhmin the demon ilvala spoke samskRta. His brother vAtApi was in the guise of a goat. In the pretext of conducting SrAdhha ceremony for the departed the demon ilvala used to invite brAhmins and cooked the goat in which guise his brother was and served them the meat. Once the brAhmins partook the food thinking it was part of a SrAdhha ceremony, ilvala instructed his brother to come out. Hearing the instruction the brother vAtApi who had been consumed in the form of a goat meat pierced through the bodies of the brAhmins and came out. Then the two demons feasted on the dead brAhmins. This way they have cheated a killed thousands of brAhmins being desirous of eating their meat. This alarmed the gods and once they approached sage agastya and sought his help against the two demons. So one day, it was sage agastya who visited ilvala and was fed the meat of vAtApi in the form of a goat. After the sage had partaken the food, ilvala called out his brother. The sage agastya laughed out loud and asked – where from will he emerge, I have digested him and packed him off to the abode of the god of death! Outraged at this turn of events the demon ilvala tried to attack the sage agastya to avenge his brother’s death. Repository of outstanding penance, sage agastya turned the demon ilvala to ashes by just by virtue of his fierce looks!
O lakshmaNa, here we come to the hermitage of the brother of that great sage who performed this very difficult deed out of his compassion for brAhmins”.
As they conversed thus, the sun was setting and it was time to perform the evening ablutions. They performed it and then entered the hermitage of the sage and paid their respects to him. The sage received them with due honor and hospitality and offered them fruits and roots. they partook those and stayed there for the night. Rising up the next morning along with the Sun, the trio took leave of the sage to visit his elder brother. The sage permitted them to leave and they set off in the southern direction for the hermitage of sage agastya.
As they proceeded they beheld fields that grew rice of wild variety, trees including that of jackfruits, palm, sAl, aSOka, dhava, mahova, bilva and ebony tree. Several of the trees were very old. Several of the trees were in full bloom and there were hordes of monkeys all around. There were signs of trees that were felled by the elephants. Flocks of birds chirped around lustily. Beholding all these, the handsome rAma said to the gracious lakshmaNa who was following –
“O lakshmaNa, looking at the kind of peace that is prevailing here among the animals, birds and the trees, I believe we are not too far from the self realized sage agastya’s hermitage. We can sight the billowing of smoke from the sacrificial pits. The bark clothes donned by the sages are also to be found all around. The sage is famous in the world with that name by virtue of his deeds dedicated to the welfare of the world. Once upon a time, the mountain vindhya was growing incessantly even blocking the path of the Sun! By the command of the sage for the welfare of the world, the mountain stopped growing further. (aga means mountain. He who froze its growth is agastya, hence the name). The demons used to have a free run in the forest in the south. But since the time the sage agastya came here, they are a terrified lot and don’t even dare to cast their eyes on the sages there. Their cruel tendencies have also been subdued since the advent of the sage here. The sage is ever engaged in the welfare of the world. Meeting with him will certainly be good for us. O handsome one, we shall stay around here in the service of sage agastya for the rest of our exile period.
Right here, serving the great sage agastya with great discipline live gods, demigods, sidhhas and great sages. The power of the sage is such that one who is a liar or cruel or cheat or sinful or violent cannot live here. Many a great sage and realized ones have left their bodies here and ascended to the heavens in subtle and new bodies. Here the gods receive the sincere worship of the beings and confer immortality or divinity or wealth on them. We have reached the hermitage, O saumitri, please go and submit the news of my arrival here along with sItA to the great sage.
Here we conclude the the eleventh sarga of the araNya kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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