Secondary Tales of the Two Great Epics

Author(s): Rajendra I Nanavati
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 50

The Tales in Rāmāyana
further justification, as sought by Tilaka, is necessary. On the contrary, if we accept Tilaka's explanation, some further contradictions creep in.
(1) In the critical text, the hunted young sage remains anonymous in the sense that his name is not mentioned anywhere in the episode itself. How Tilaka must have got his name is a mystery.33
(2) Again, when the young sage himself says to the king Dasaratha that the king should not fear of having killed a brāhmin since he is a vaiśya's son born of a śūdrā,34 Tilaka's enthusiasm to compare it with Brāhmicide is unwarranted, and is very probably guided by Govindaraja's general remarks regarding the efficacy of the Aśvamedha Sacrifice even to expiate the great sin of brāhmicide referred to above,35
(3) Further, as the narration goes, when he hunted the sage, Dasaratha was only a young prince and had not even married Kausalyā.36 Now, if he was cursed to die in separation of his children, he must at least have the children to be separated from (if at all the curse was to come true); in that case, the curse will be a boon in disguise serving as a sure antidote against the childlessness of Dasaratha who then should not have any necessity of resorting either to Aśvamedha or to Putresti for having sons.
(4) Aesthetically also, Tilaka's attempt to explain away the duplication of sacrifices in this way anticipates the so-called Srāvaņa-episode long before it actually occours in the course of the epic. The episode, thus, loses its charm arising out of its surprise occurance combined with the poetic effect of its flashback technique. But the author of the original RM knew the value of the element of surprise which is also evidenced in his introducing the episode of the crow as a sure indication of Sita's identity. The episode, though reminiscent in character, occurs for the first time in the SK, when Hanūmān wants some unmistakable token of her identity.37 The charm of the incident lies in no small degree in its surprise appearence. Can we not expect a similar artistic insight in the introduction of the so-called Śrāvana-episode also ? Aesthetically, therefore, the Srāvaņa-episode is well-placed in the structure of the plot, and its anticipation in any way would detract from its artistic effect. From this point of view, the inevitability of even the Advamedha seems uncertain.
(5) Finally, it is better to take Daśaratha's obtainment of the four sons as the result of Aśvamedha rather than of Putrești, since all the three queens who are said 33 Of course, Brahma-purānam (Adhyāya 123) mentions his name as Sravanakumāra, but that is
just one of the many names given to him in various works. See Rāma-Katha, Bulcke, P, 314, 34 vide AyK: 57. 37.
pa dvijātir aham răjan mā'bhut te manaso vyatha |
sudrāyām asmi vaišyena jāto janapadādhipa // 35 See above footnote 30 36 AyK. 57. 10 :
devy'anūdhā tvam abhayo yuvarājo bhavāmy'aham 37 SK. 36. 12-32.