Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the seventy first sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The wedding party led by daSaratha from ayodhya arrived as also the younger brother kuSadhwaja of king janaka from sAnKASi. The bride’s party invited the groom’s party with due honour and protocol. Both of them met at the venue. Sage vasisTha the preceptor of the ikshvAku clan then described the lineage of rAma and lakshmaNa right from lord brahma and submitted to king janaka that his two daughters may please be offered in marriage to rAma and lakshmaNa respectively. It was king janaka’s turn to extol his lineage. Onwards…
Hearing the detailed description of the ikshvAku clan from vasisTha, janaka hailed blessings and rose up to detail the glorious lineage of his race. He said – “O great sage, one should extol the antecedents of the bride while offering her in marriage, and so please listen. There existed king nimi, very righteous, famous, mighty and best of them all. mithi was born of nimi and was the one who built the city of mithila. He was the first janaka (in fact all the kings of the clan are known as janakas). udavasu was the son of mithi. He begot nandivardhana who in turn begot sukEtu.
Mighty dEvarAta was born of sukEtu and he begot bRhadratha. The heroic mahavIra was the son of bRhadratha and his off spring was the courageous sudhRti whose power was truth. Virtuous and righteous dRshTakEtu was the son sudhRti. haryaSwa was the son of dRshTakEtu and he begot maru. pratindhaka was the son of maru and kIrtiratha was the son of pratIndhaka. dEvamIDha was the son of kIrtiratha whose son was vibudha and he begot mahIdhraka. Mighty kIrtirAta was born of mahIdhraka. The sagely kIrtirAta had maharOma as his son.
The virtuous maharOma begot swarNarOma who in turn begot hraswarOma. My (janaka’s) father hraswarOma has two sons, I am the eldest and my brother the valorous kuSadhwaja is the younger one. My father crowned me as the king of mithila and leaving the younger kuSwadhwaja to my care, retired to the forest. I looked after this virtuous brother of mine very well.
In due course of time, the king of sAnKASi, sudhanva laid seige to the city of mithila and sent me the communique to surrender the bow of lord Siva and my darling daughter sIta to him. I flatly refused his wish and in a battle that ensued I vanquished sudhanva and coronated my brother kuSadhwaja in the kingdom of sAnKASi.
This is the lineage of us two brothers O brahmaRshi. As per your command, I will gladly give my daughters in marriage to the heroic sons of daSaratha. With great delight, my daughter sIta will be married to rAma as reward for his prowess and Urmila will be married to lakshmaNa, I proclaim it thrice thus leaving no doubt at all.
Kindly proceed with the preparatory rituals for the wedding such as giving cows away in charity and performing the rites for forefathers.
रामलक्ष्मणयो राजन् गोदानं कारयस्व ह।
पितृकार्यं च भद्रं ते ततो वैवाहिकं कुरु।।1.71.23।।
Today the star makha is prevailing. On the third day from today, when the star uttara phalguni reigns, let us perform the wedding. O king daSaratha, for the well being of rAma and lakshmaNa, perform charity.
Here we conclude the seventy first sarga of the bAla kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
Next: 1.72. The grand alliance of ikshvAkus and janakas
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 