Canto II – Dharma Trimphs
Lakshman returned sorrowfully back to Ayodhya, his mind filled with pictures of Sita. Where was she now? Had she gone to Valmiki’s ashram? He did not know and was tortured by doubts. When he entered his brother’s chamber, he found Ram sitting bereft, with his head in his hands.
Lakshman bowed low before him and said, “0 king! I have carried out your orders and left your faultless wife on the other side of the Ganga. I hope you are satisfied. Why do you look so unhappy? Having made your decision, you should be happy that it has been successfully accomplished. You know full well that no relationship is permanent. What grows has to decay, what flowers has to fade and what rises, fall? Meeting and parting are both part of the game of life. We are born, only to die. So why grieve”? Still Ram said not a word. The country rejoiced that the blot on the fair name of its ruler had been removed, but for Ram there was no joy in life any more. Both he and Sita suffered the agonising pangs of separation to the end of their lives, but the country flourished and the rule of Ram, Ramrajya, is remembered to this day as being exemplary, in which, the very laws of nature bowed to the will of this saintly man who was prepared to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of dharma. So the land prospered, the rains fell on time and the earth yielded in plenty and the gods rejoiced. Contrary to the custom of the age, Ram never married again, though the pressure on him to do so was great. He led his lonely ascetic’s life and never looked at another woman again.
Every day, Ram would sit in his council hall and ask Lakshman to go outside the gates and see if there was anyone with a grievance. If there was, the person would be brought inside and his wrongs redressed.
One day, a dog was waiting outside. Ram called him in and asked him what he wanted. The dog replied that he had been hit on the head by a Brahmin. Ram asked the council to decide some punishment but the court said that a Brahmin could never be punished so Ram asked the dog to decide on some way to redress his wrongs. The dog insisted that the Brahmin should be given an honourable position, as the spiritual head of a certain monastery.
When questioned about this strange punishment, the dog replied, “Your majesty, in my previous birth, I held that particular position and though I was honest and sincere, the post is so full of pitfalls that when I died, I was forced to take this birth, as a dog. Can you imagine the plight of that avaricious man, who has an uncontrollable temper as well” In the meantime, far away on the banks of the Tamasa where Lakshman had abandoned her, Sita sat alone and helpless, with all the little presents she had brought for the forest dwellers scattered round her. She did not know what she should do. Just then some of the young brahmacharis from Valmiki’s ashRam, saw her pitiable plight and ran to tell the sage. Remembering his talk with Narada, Valmiki was immediately able to gauge the situation. He returned with the boys and respectfully requested Sita to accompany him to his hermitage.
“Fear not! 0 noble wife of Ram! Daughter of Janaka. I know that you are absolutely pure. Come with me to my ashRam and the wives of the other ascetics will care for you in your time of labour”. Sita followed him gratefully and lived a life of great austerity and tapas till the time came for the birth of her child.
She gave birth to twins. When the news was brought to the sage; he hurried to the labour room. His heart filled with joy when he saw the radiant babies, sons of Ram, looking like twin gods. He picked a handful of kusa grass which is used in all rituals. With the tips of the grass, he stroked the first child and said, “He will be known as Kusha”. With the ends, he stroked the second baby and said, “He will be known as Lava”. He then performed all the appropriate rites connected with the birth of a baby and blessed them with all happiness and prosperity.
It was at this time that he began his immortal composition, known as the Ramyana. As soon as the children could learn to talk, he started to teach them to recite the poem. By the time they were twelve years old, he had finished the poem and they could sing it with ease to the accompaniment of the tambura and a small mridanga.
In Ayodhya, at about the time when the babies were born, an old Brahmin arrived at the palace gate carrying the corpse of his son in his arms. He was hysterical with grief and wailed, “What crime have I committed in a previous life to be deprived of my only son in my old age? If innocent children die in a country, it is the king who is guilty. 0 Ram, if you do not give my child back, my wife and I will end our lives here, in front of your gate and you will be guilty of having caused the death of Brahmins. What safety is there for children in your kingdom if they can be snatched away by death, before they attain maturity? Crimes flourish and chaos prevails when a king is negligent in his duty”.
Ram was stunned at this accusation from a new quarter. He summoned all his advisers and asked them to find out the reason for such a happening in the country. Where had he failed?
The divine sage Narada offered his advice. “Listen 0 king, to the reason for the child’s untimely death. Each age has its own laws and rules, by following which the whole land will prosper, and by failing which, the whole cosmic order will be disrupted. In the golden age of Satya Yuga) only the Brahmins were allowed to practise austerities, in the next age of Treta, the Kshatriyas were also allowed to practise tapas. It was in this age that the next two castes were created. The vaishyas practised trade and the shudras served the other three castes. In the Dwapara Yuga, adharma increased and vaishyas were also allowed to practise tapas but the shudras were still forbidden to do so. It is only in the age of Kali that shudras will be allowed to practise tapas. This is still the age of Treta and I fear that some shudra is practising tapas somewhere in your kingdom.
Unless he is stopped, calamities will continue to befall your country. It is your duty as a king to go and stop him from going against the dharma of his caste. It is only by following one’s svadharma, or the duties of one’s own caste, that one can achieve one’s own salvation. One’s own duty, though apparently inferior, is actually superior to the duty of another, however well practised. It will bring nothing but infamy to oneself and calamity to the country. There is nothing inferior or superior as far as duty is concerned.
The duty of the king and the duty of the subject are quite different but each has to follow his own svadharma and that is the law of the cosmos. That is the law of Nature, by following which a person will prosper. Tapas, in itself, is a noble thing but when a shudra practises it, in this age, it will bring only ruin on him and his country”.
Ram accepted the advice of the sage and asked the Brahmin to embalm his child till he returned. He recalled the Pushpaka chariot which he had sent back to Kailasa after his return from Lanka and toured the length and breadth of the country to discover the miscreant. At last in the southern region he saw a man hanging, head downwards from a tree, practising rigorous tapas. Ram approached and asked him who he was and what he was doing. The ascetic replied that he was a shudra, called Shambuka who was practising penance.
Without a word Ram unsheathed his sword and cut off his head. For one who had abandoned his dear wife, for the sake of his country, the killing of a shudra who had gone against the rules of his order, was nothing. Ram begged the gods to grant the life of the Brahmin’s son and by the time he returned to the capital, the boy was restored to life and the country rejoiced. To Ram, the only thing that mattered was his duty to his country and to his subjects. For the greater good, the lesser had to be sacrificed.
