Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the thirty second sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
In this sarga, sage viSwAmitra narrates to rAma and lakshmaNa the legend of the clan of kuSika to which he belongs.
A great ascetic by name kuSa was born of lord brahma. kuSa was a stickler to dhArmic vows and valued good people immensely. He was wedded to the highly suitable princess of high descent from the province of vidarbha. They had four sons, viz. kuSAmba, kuSanAbha, adhUrtarajas and vasu.
kuSa summoned his four sons always spoke the truth, were bright, keen and interested in upholding the dharma of the kshariya race (administration) and said: “Go and govern the world well so that you acquire merit”. The four sons went out and constructed four cities in which they dwelt. kuSAmba constructed the city of kauSambi while kuSanabha built the city of mahOdaya. adhUrtarajas and vasu built the great cities of dharmAraNya and girivraja respectively.
O Rama, “this city where we are currently is vasumati and was built by the great king vasu. This city is surrounded by five majestic and shining peaks of mountains. The river sumAgadhi that flows in magadha flows through the five mountains and appears delightful like a nice garland. This lovely river flowing from the east also belongs to the great vasu and is studded by fertile crop fields on the banks full of produce.
kuSanabha was a saintly ruler (rAjarshi – a king who is also a Rshi) and married ghrtAchi. They were blessed with a hundred beautiful daughters. The hundred delightful and youthful damsels, fully bedecked with jewels came to the gardens appearing veritably like lightning and started dancing, frolicking and singing to the tune of nice instruments. Those damsels with unparalleled beauty thus gracefully enjoyed in the gardens and appeared like twinkling stars in the middle of clouds.
Smitten by the virtue, beauty and grace of those maidens, vAyu, the wind God requested them to marry him and be blessed with a long life leaving behind the mortal human life. He further lured them reminding them of the fleeting nature of youth in human life and become un-ageing goddesses by marrying him! The daughters of kuSanAbha laughed away at the proposal but politely rebutted. They said “O vAyu, you are all pervasive and freely move in the bodies of all beings, we feel your presence in us and yet why do you insult us with such a proposal?
We are the daughters of the great ascetic king kuSanAbha and are capable of pulling you down from your high pedestal by our penance. But we are protecting our merit acquired of penance (curses reduce the merit). Do not indulge in the foolish pursuit of marrying us, you may incur the wrath of the truth-speaking kuSanAbha who is our lord. He will choose appropriate grooms righteously for us to marry”.
Having heard the audacious words of the maidens, the powerful wind god was furious and he entered into the limbs of the damsels and disfigured them with hunchbacks. The girls were devastated and entered the palace stricken with shame and fear and fell down on the ground. kuSanAbha was shattered and agitated to so find his beautiful and beloved daughters and asked in utter bewilderment – “O girls, who has outraged your modesty, who has disfigured you thus, what happened”. He heaved a sigh and entered into the state of samAdhi.
Here we conclude the thirty second 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 