It is Vishwamitra’s arrival that marks the end of Ram’s childhood and the beginning of his journey as a man.
Vishwamitra was born Kaushik, a prince, just like Ram. He once tried to forcibly lay hands on Vasishtha’s magical cow, Nandini, which could fulfil any wish. This cow was a gift from the gods and Vasishtha protected the cow using his siddhi. Kaushik’s weapons and army were no match for Vasishtha’s spiritual powers. Humbled by the confrontation, Kaushik decided to become a Rishi himself by performing tapasya. Renouncing wife and children and kingdom, he went to the forest. Fearing that Kaushik would misuse the tapa that he would gather, Indra, king of the Devas, sent the nymph Menaka to seduce him. She succeeded but Kaushik refused to give up. Resuming his austerities, he once again controlled his senses and was able to discipline his mind, overpowering all temptations. Thus did he become a Rishi. It was then that he took the name of Vishwamitra meaning ‘friend of the world’.
Indra, though the king of the Devas and god of the sky, is constantly shown as being very insecure. His abode, Swarg, the Hindu paradise, has the tree called Kalpataru, the cow called Kamadhenu and the gem called Chintamani. This tree, cow and gem fulfil all desires and manifest every dream. So in Indra’s paradise there is no hunger, no lack of anything. Indra even has amrit, the nectar of immortality. He thus suffers no disease and does not have to fear death. And yet, Indra is eternally anxious, terrified of losing all that he has. Thus the Ramayana concludes that material fulfilment does not grant contentment. That is why Vasishtha refuses to give his holy cow to Kaushik; he would rather share his wisdom that will help man outgrow the desire to possess any wish-fulfilling cow.
But Kaushik does not believe this. He values material things. His transformation into Vishwamitra is based on his firm belief that siddhis attained through tapa can and should be used to help humanity cope with material discontentment, and this difference in approach is clear in the way he instructs Ram.
As Dashratha’s guru, it is Vasishtha’s duty to educate Ram. The education is completed with a dialogue that is today considered the most sophisticated document on yoga known as Yoga Vasishtha. In it, Vasishtha introduces Ram to the nature of the world and advises him on what his relationship should be with the world. The dialogue reveals how to engage with the world without being attached to it.
Yoga Vasishtha
After completing his education under Vasishtha, Ram and his brothers went on a long pilgrimage. On their return, Dashratha noticed that Ram had lost all interest in things worldly. Since nothing is permanent, Ram wondered what was the purpose of life. When Dashratha informed Vasishtha of this, the guru said, ‘Now he is ready to receive the instruction on yoga.’ Vasishtha then taught Ram the doctrine of the soul and the body. Ram learnt how the body encloses the mind that senses the world and responds to it. He learnt how the immortal soul witnesses the sensations and responses of the mortal flesh. He was able to appreciate the purpose of an ever-changing world as a medium to realize the never-changing soul.
Ram’s education under Vasishtha is barely complete when Vishwamitra storms into Dashratha’s court and demands Ram’s services. It seems as if Vishwamitra feels Ram’s education under Vasishtha is too theoretical and quite incomplete. Ram needs to see the world and gain practical experience. Ram must know the trials and tribulations of the material world that he has been sheltered from in his father’s palace and his guru’s hermitage. In other words, Vishwamitra comes to Dashratha’s palace determined to initiate Ram into adulthood.
Vishwamitra’s yagna
Vishwamitra said he was planning to perform a yagna in the forest and he needed the young prince Ram to protect the sacrificial precinct from attacks by Rakshasas. At first, Dashratha hesitated; he was willing to send his entire army to the forest to guard the yagna, but not Ram. ‘He is too young to fight the demons on his own,’ said the king. Vishwamitra was adamant and refused to settle for anyone but Ram. At this point, Vasishtha intervened. He advised the king to let Ram go with Vishwamitra for it was Ram’s duty as prince to serve and protect sages. Besides Vishwamitra would ensure Ram came to no harm. If pleased, the great Vishwamitra would even share with Ram the secret knowledge of celestial weapons. Finally, rather reluctantly, Dashratha let Ram go. Lakshman, as usual, followed Ram.
Ram is wrenched out of his zone of comfort when he sets out with Vishwamitra. The cutting of the umbilical cord begins with the horrific act of killing a woman.
Tadaka
The forest where Vishwamitra wanted to perform his yagna was the lair of a Rakshasa woman called Tadaka. Tadaka was once a Yaksha woman, daughter of Suketu, wife of Sunda. She attacked Rishi Agastya when the latter killed her husband following a confrontation in the forest. Seeing her rush towards him like a monster, Agastya cursed her to become a Rakshasa. Since then, Tadaka had terrorized all the Rishis in the forest. She was determined to stop Vishwamitra’s yagna. When she appeared before Ram, Vishwamitra ordered Ram to kill her. Ram hesitated; Tadaka was a woman after all. Vishwamitra argued that man or woman, a creature that harms the innocent must be killed for the larger good. Accordingly, Ram raised his bow and shot the Rakshasa woman dead.
This story introduces us to two classes of beings: Yakshas and Rakshasas. These, along with another class of beings known as Gandharvas, repeatedly find mention in the epic. Typically, Rishis encounter them as they wander through the forest in their spiritual quest. The interaction is sometimes friendly with the Rishi either being accepted as guru or as a son-in-law. But often it is violent resulting in curses being hurled and pitched battles being fought. It seems most likely that these ‘magical creatures’ of the forest were those who did not follow the Vedic way of life based on the code of dharma. The relatively friendly tribes were called Yakshas or Gandharvas while the hostile ones were deemed Rakshasas, a term which eventually became synonymous with demons.
Being a Rakshasa is reason enough for Tadaka to be killed by Ram. But Tadaka is a woman, hence Ram, a student of Vasishtha, hesitates. Women create life within their bodies. To kill a woman is to kill life. It is the worst crime in the Vedic world. Vishwamitra disagrees: gender does not matter, behaviour does. Tadaka must be killed because she is violently hostile to the way of dharma, an act that cannot be excused on account of her womanhood. And so Ram raises his bow and strikes her dead. For this, Ram is rewarded with mantras that can transform his arrows into deadly missiles.
Magical weapons of Vishwamitra
Pleased with Ram’s obedience, Vishwamitra gave Ram many shastras and astras, weapons and missiles. He taught Ram potent chants by which he could imbue the tips of his arrows with the power of fire and rain and wind. These were magical weapons with which he could fight alongside the gods and defeat any demon.
Vishwamitra has clearly mastered the occult powers he once watched Vasishtha use against his army. And he shares this with a prince so that the prince can use it to make the world a happier and safer place.
Maricha and Subahu
As Vishwamitra’s yagna progressed, many Rakshasas attacked the sacrificial precinct hurling rocks and bones to stop the ritual. But they were all driven back or killed by Ram and Lakshman who kept a constant vigil around the site for six days and six nights. On the last day, the Rakshasa hordes, led by Maricha and Subahu, tried to pour blood in the fire altar. Ram released two arrows. With one, he pushed Maricha far away in the southern direction. With the other, he killed Subahu. Then both brothers dispatched the remaining demons with a rain of missiles. Thus under the protection of Ram and Lakshman, Vishwamitra was able to complete his yagna.
In the Ramayana, Rakshasas represent a way of life where all behaviour is instinctual and self-indulgent, governed by fear and insecurity. Rishis represent the opposite way of life, where all instincts, be they sexual or violent, are regulated for the benefit of the world. Ram’s conquest of the Rakshasas is thus the symbolic subjugation of man’s primal instincts by more evolved values based on sharing and caring.
Vishwamitra make
s Ram the defender of dharma, the way of life championed by Rishis—a way of life based on rules not impulse, where sex is allowed only for self-propagation, that is, within marriage for children and where violence is allowed only for self-preservation, for food and in defence.
In the world defined by Rishis, husbands and wives are expected to be absolutely faithful to each other. But sometimes, desire overpowers the mind and rules are forgotten. Lines are transgressed. This happens to Ahalya who is horribly punished for it by her husband.
Ahalya
Gautam, a Rishi, once returned home to find his wife, Ahalya, in the arms of Indra, king of the Devas. Furious, he castrated Indra and cursed his wife to turn into stone. On Vishwamitra’s instruction, Ram placed his foot on the stone that was Ahalya. Instantly, Ahalya was cleansed of her misdeed and resumed her human form.
When Indra touches Ahalya, she is polluted, when Gautam touches her, she is punished, but when Ram touches Ahalya, she is liberated. Ram does not desire Ahalya like Indra. Ram does not berate Ahalya like Gautam. Guided by Vishwamitra, he forgives her lapse for he recognizes and makes room for human frailty, something that Vasishtha perhaps would not allow.
Vishwamitra believes that Ram’s experience with Tadaka and Ahalya has initiated him into adulthood, made him see the contextual nature of things. While one woman deserved death in one set of circumstances, another deserved compassion in another set of circumstances. With this understanding of the relative nature of things, Vishwamitra believes, Ram is ready to become a householder. He takes the prince to Mithila, capital of Videha.
Breaking the bow
Janaka, king of Mithila, invited Ram to string the mighty bow of Shiva that was in his custody. If he succeeded, he could marry his daughter, Sita. Ram learnt that many had tried before and failed. The bow was so heavy that many gods and demons had been unable even to lift it, let alone string it. Ram decided to try his luck. To everyone’s surprise, the young Ram was not only able to raise the bow, he was even able to bend it. He bent it so hard that the shaft of the bow broke. Impressed by the boy’s strength, Janaka gave Sita’s hand in marriage to Ram. Sita’s younger sister, Urmila, and her cousins, Mandavi and Shutakirti, daughters of Janaka’s younger brother, Kushadhvaja, were given as wives to Ram’s younger brothers, Lakshman, Bharata and Shatrughna.
The marriage of Ram to Sita marks the end of Ram’s education under Vishwamitra. The prince who left Ayodhya a boy returns as a man.
Vasishtha’s Ram was a wise sage, well versed in the scriptures and in knowledge of the spirit. But Vishwamitra’s Ram has experienced the world. He knows that in the real world, people, in fear and out of desire, will hurt and betray each other. A king has to resolve such situations, not with highhandedness, but with empathy and compassion.
But the Ram who returns to Ayodhya is also the one who broke Shiva’s bow when he was asked to string it by Janaka. While everyone cheers this achievement, the significance of this detail is often overlooked.
If the bow is a symbol of poise and balance, by breaking it, did not Ram display a moment of excessiveness? The bow belongs to Shiva, the supreme ascetic, the embodiment of detachment. By breaking it, has Ram displayed, under Vishwamitra’s influence perhaps, an excess of passion? Perhaps that is why Ram is not yet ready to be king. Perhaps that is why, even though Dashratha is eager to pass on the crown, it is necessary for Ram to evolve further. That is why, perhaps, Vasishtha does not intervene when the eldest son of Dashratha is forced to live in the forest as a hermit for fourteen years. That is where Ram shall tame his excessive passions, learn the limitations of all things material, observe the folly of desire and return ready to be a great king.
4
Sita’s Husband
I salute that divinity called Ram
Who lightened the load of the earth
Who lead his people to satisfaction
Who is the sun who puts an end to darkness
—From Raghotham Ashtakam that praises Ram, scion of the Raghu clan, in eight Sanskrit verses
Value of chastity
Sita is a special child. She has no father or mother. She is ayonija, one who is not conceived in a womb. She was named Sita because she was found in a furrow at the end of a plough.
Birth of Sita
As part of a farming festival, Janaka, king of Videha, was ploughing a field using a hoe of gold. To his astonishment, he ploughed a girl child out of the earth. This was the gift of the earth goddess to the childless Janaka. Janaka named her Sita and adopted her as his daughter. She therefore became renowned as Maithili, princess of Mithila, as Vaidehi, princess of Videha, and as Janaki, daughter of Janaka.
Ram comes seeking Sita’s hand in marriage after killing a woman called Tadaka and rescuing another woman called Ahalya. Tadaka is a wild and violent Rakshasa woman, Ahalya is an unfaithful wife. Sita by contrast is domestic and chaste. Thus, the three women represent three aspects of womanhood. Tadaka subscribes to no rules, Ahalya breaks a rule while Sita follows all rules.
All three women also symbolize three forms of the earth. That Sita represents farmed land is made quite explicit through the tale of her birth where she emerges as the earth is being ploughed. Ahalya’s association with the earth is more subtle. Hala means plough. Ahalya therefore means land that is unfit to be ploughed. If Sita, the domestic wife represents farming land then Ahalya, the unfaithful wife, can be understood as a representation of land not fit for ploughing and the wild Tadaka symbolizes wild land which has not been domesticated. Through these implicit associations of women with the various forms of earth (cultivated, fallow and wild), the Ramayana reveals its subliminal messages.
Sita is domestic and chaste because Ram pays her attention. Ahalya is unfaithful because Gautam neglects her. Tadaka is wild because her husband is dead and she is attached to no single man. Thus the onus of maintaining a field falls squarely on a farmer. In his absence, anarchy reigns: the field becomes fallow, and then a forest. Civilization is best represented by a fertile, domesticated and fenced field. Man, the farmer, can create or destroy civilization by his attention or neglect.
At a symbolic level, the forest and field are metaphors for the mind. The forest is the untamed mind. The field is the domesticated mind. The consciousness is the farmer. If one is conscious like Ram, faithful and attentive, the mind will be like Sita. When one is conscious like Gautam, ignoring the mind, the mind will be seduced by temptation. In the absence of awareness, the mind will be wild with no direction.
Shiva’s bow
Janaka, king of Videha, was the custodian of a bow that belonged to Shiva. It was a heavy bow. At least a dozen servants were required to pick it up and clean it. Sita, however, was able to pick it up with ease and play with it as if it were a toy. She would pretend it was a horse and ride it. When a sage called Parashuram noticed this, he realized Sita was no ordinary girl. He advised Janaka to give Sita’s hand in marriage only to a man who was worthy of her, one who had the power to at least string the mighty bow that she used for play.
Sita’s power that is evident in this story needs to be contained and directed towards home building and child rearing. At birth, it is implied, all women are forests, raw and untamed, belonging to no one in particular. It is the responsibility of fathers, brothers, husbands and sons to transform women into fields—fencing them, controlling their fertility, deciding which seed should germinate in their soil.
The idea that Vedic India saw women only as daughters, sisters, wives and mothers reeks of patriarchy. Patriarchy, however, assumes the curtailment of a woman’s freedom, not a man’s. But in Vedic India, everyone’s freedom was curtailed. Duty formed the cornerstone of Vedic civilization. All duties were determined at the moment of birth. Just as a woman’s fate was fettered to her womanhood, a man’s fate was fettered to his manhood. A male child was expected to follow his father’s vocation whether he liked it or not. This was varna-dharma. Ram had no choice but to be a warrior like his father. Even if he wished it, he would no
t have been allowed to be a musician or a trader. The only other option available to him was to renounce society altogether and be a hermit. Society even decided at what age a man should marry and at what age he should retire. This was ashrama-dharma.
Varna-ashrama-dharma established by Manu, the first king of mankind, curtailed choices and restrained freedom, because desire was seen as the primary threat to order. In this system, everyone had duties but no one had any rights. Rights were seen as self-indulgent. As a member of society, men and women were supposed to live for others.
Sita follows Ram
When news reached Sita that Ram had been asked by his father to live in the forest for fourteen years, she decides to follow him. ‘But life there will be terrible,’ said Ram, determined to dissuade her. ‘Wild animals, hostile tribes, demons, whimsical weather, no place to stay, no guarantee of food. No, stay back in the palace. Take care of my old parents.’ To this Sita replied, ‘Ever since I was a child, oracles have predicted that I will spend much of my life in the forest. I have been looking forward to going to the forest. It has never terrified me. I shall withstand the weather and the hunger. I shall face the wild animals and the hostile tribes. I shall follow you quietly. You will not find me a burden. Quietly I shall endure the treacherous wilderness and give you not a moment to complain.’ Ram, however, insisted that Sita stay back. ‘What are you afraid of? I cannot believe that my father gave me such a weak man as a husband, ‘ she berated him. ‘Can’t you see: with you by my side, the most terrifying of forests shall be better than the most comfortable of palaces? Without you, I would rather die,’ saying this, Sita wept. Ram finally agreed to let Sita accompany him.