sarga 20, bAla kAnDam
Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the twentieth sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
In this sarga, a stunned daSaratha pleads with sage viSwAmitra about the inability to send rAma along with him to safeguard the yajna. Into the sarga:
The mighty king daSaratha, upon hearing viSwAmitra’s request, for once lost his senses! Then gradually regaining his consciousness, he slowly started pleading his case thus – My rAma is less than sixteen years old and I do not see in him yet the ability to fight the demons. Instead, here is an entire akshauhiNi of army of which I’m the chief. I shall be there at your service with my entire army and fight the nocturnal demons. These warriors are loyal, experts in the use of weapons and are fit to fight the demons and hence please don’t insist on taking rAma with you. I shall myself wield the bow and lead the onslaught on the demons myself and sustain it till such time my life breath lasts. I’ll come and the sacred vow of yours will be protected without any obstacles and hence please don’t insist on taking rAma with you.
He is a child, not yet learned in the science and art of war. He may not be able to estimate the might of the opponents, nor does he have a repertoire of weapons, nor is he an expert in warfare. He is certainly not qualified to fight the demons in deceitful battle. O great sage, I don’t enjoy living even for a moment without rAma and hence please do not insist on taking rAma. O great sage of vows, if you must take rAma with you, please take me as well along with my army. Having been born sixty thousand years ago, I have been blessed with rAma after undergoing a lot of difficulty and hence I plead, please do not insist on taking rAma along with you. Among my four sons, I have the greatest affection for rAma, on top of that, he is the eldest and important for my dharma and hence please do not insist on taking him along with you.
O great sage, how valorous and mighty are those demons, what are their antecedents, how huge are they and whose protection do they enjoy? They must be fighting in treacherous and deceitful ways and so how will even rAma or me or my army retaliate those demons? How do we stay the course of the battle with these wicked and powerful demons?
Hearing these questions, viSwAmitra spoke thus: Born in the illustrious clan of pulastya, there exists a powerful demon by name rAvaNa who has been conferred boons by the lord brahma. Surrounded by several demons he is tormenting the three worlds. I heard, this chief of demons, rAvaNa of mighty prowess is the son of the ascetic viSravaNa and is the brother of kubEra. While and when he doesn’t cause obstacles for the yajna himself, two demons by name mArica and subAhu are prompted by him and enjoy his protection and desecrate the yajnas.
Hearing these words spoken by the sage, the king daSaratha said, I am not capable of fighting these evil demons in the battle. Therefore O godly sage, my spiritual preceptor, knower of righteousness, kindly extend your benevolent favour to me who is of little fortune and my son (and pardon our inability to help you in this matter). Neither gods nor demons nor demigods nor mighty beasts, birds and serpents have been able to withstand rAvaNa on the battlefield, then what to say of hapless men then! That mighty demon rAvaNa nullifies the prowess of the enemy on the battle field and hence O great sage, I am not competent to face him either alone or along with sons and forces. O brahman, although my sons look verily like the gods, they are inexperienced on the battle field and hence there is no way I can spare them for this cause. The demons causing obstacles to your yajna are the sons of sunda and upasunda and they are verily like death. And hence there is no way I can spare my son for your cause. Both those demons mArica and subAhu are not only mighty and valorous, they are also well trained in warfare. Even with best of the support I can combat with only one of them.
Listening to these words of the king daSaratha, viswAmitra, the son of kuSika and greatest among brAhmins, flew into a rage like a blazing fire does when offered with clarified butter (or ghee).
[Several verses in this sarga end with the refrain न रामं नेतुमर्हसि (na rAmam nEtumarhasi – it is not appropriate that you take rAma, as a pleading daSaratha advances incoherent arguments. The refrain gives the rendering a musical effect].
Here we conclude the twentieth sarga of the bAlakAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 