bAla kANDam, sarga 6
Individual verses with meanings
Hari: Om.
Let us begin the sixth sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
In this sarga, maharshi extols the citizens of ayOdhya, their quality of living and life and their goodness.
Emperor daSaratha who ruled ayOdhya was a scholar of the vEdas, was resourceful, visionary, splendorous, popular, a foremost warrior among the ikshvAku emperors, knower and follower of dharma, sagely, renowned all over, mighty, conqueror of enemies, blessed with friends, self-restrained and wealthy as indra and kubEra. Just like manu ruled over the entire world, so did king daSaratha rule the world from ayOdhya. He was truthful and always kept his promise and observed the three-fold virtues of dharma, artha and kAma (righteousness, accumulating means and fulfilling desires, righteous ones).
In that prime city of ayOdhya, people were happy, virtuous, scholarly and learned, truthful, content with their wealth and not greedy.
[Having described what ayOdhya possessed in good detail, maharshi now uses the negation to say what people there didn’t possess to further bolster his description of the quality of life of the citizens of ayOdhya. Obviously, the quality of life of citizens is a key indicator of good (smart?!) cities and good governance.]
There existed no householder in that city who was not learned, who was not an observer of virtues and rituals, who didn’t possess cattle, horses, wealth and food grains. It was impossible to find in that city a man (or woman) who was lustful, miserly, cruel, unscholarly or an atheist. All the men and women there had good character, conducted themselves virtuously, were self-controlled, well behaved and were pure like the sages. There really was no one who was not anointed with fragrant substances, who was unkempt, who didn’t wear a crown and garland and was not decked with ornaments. A person who didn’t eat to his heart’s content, who was not charitable, who didn’t wear ornaments on his hands and neck and who was not self-restrained was not to be seen. There was no one who didn’t light the sacrificial fire, no one who was narrow-minded or a thief and no one descended from a mixed caste. brAhmins complied with prescribed sacrificial rituals, were self-controlled in receiving charity, were busy in study of scriptures and maintained appropriate marital relations. During daSaratha’s rule of ayOdhya there was hardly any atheist, liar, incompetent, jealous, illiterate or unscholarly person. There did not exist a person not well versed with six vEdAngas (viz. Siksha, vyAkaraNa, chhandas, niRktam, jyOtisha and kalpa), who didn’t donate in thousands, who didn’t perform religious vows, who was sad, agitated, distracted or depressed. Further, one could not find a man or woman in that ayOdhya who didn’t look good, who was not endowed with wealth and had no devotion in the king.
[Till here maharshi employs beautifully the negation based description of ayOdhya’s citizens and their life]
The brAhmins in that city were grateful, worshipped their guests and gods, generous, valorous, heroic, righteous, truthful and lived long together with their families and grandchildren. The kshatriyas followed the brAhmins; vaiSyas were obedient to brAhmins and kshatriyas and Sudras followed and assisted the other three varNas and each of the four varNas of people lived happily busy in their own work. By virtue of this peaceful existence of people, the ikshvAku scion daSaratha ruled that kingdom ably just as manu, the foremost and intelligent among men ruled the earth earlier.
ayOdhya was abound with flaming warriors accomplished in the science of arms just like a cave full of lions. It was home to the best breeds of horses born in the regions of kAmbhOja, bAhlika, vanAyu and sindhu. Mountainous and mighty intoxicated elephants born in the vindhya and himAlaya mountains, and in the anjana and vAmana regions belonging to the healthy breed of airAvata and mahapadma moved about in ayOdhya. Further these elephants belonged to the breeds by name bhadra, mandra and mriga and interbreeds of these three.
The city ayOdhya which translates as “invincible” spread across two yOjanas was true to its name. Emperor daSaratha reigned over this great and fortified city populous with learned men, lined with great edifices, just like the moon lords over the stars.
Here we conclude the sixth 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 