Secondary Tales of the Two Great Epics

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

Page 64

The Tales in Rāmāyana
of Gangā. 105 The tale is narrated in a peculiar way. Ganga and Umā are daughters of Himavan. Umā marries Śiva, and her dalliance with Lord Siva is interrupted by Gods. Śiva's energies, dropped on Earth, become the Sveta-mountain. 106 Gangā, unable to bear the lustre of God Agni, throws the foetus out in the valley of Himavat, 107 presumably on the Sveta-mountain;108 the foetus then is nourished by Kșttikās and is called Kārttikeya.109 He is thus not the child of Siva and Umā, but of Agni and Gangā. Kșttikās do not bear him, they only nourish the foetus born prematurely. The differences in the details of the story are interesting. These tales occupy Sargas 34 to 36. Sargas 37 to 43 narrate the famous Gangāvataraṇa in usual details with a phalaśruti 111 which makes the narrative a self-complete unit.
Then the tourists cross the Gangā and the sight of the city of Viśālā 111 occasions two tales - that of the churning of ocean 112 and that of the birth of Mārutas. 113 In the fight for nector churned out from the ocean, all the sons of Diti were slain. Diti then performed penance to obtain a son who could slay Indra. Indra, in the disguise of an attendant, kept her company. Once finding an opportunity when she was unclean, Indra entered into her womb and with the words do not weep' (mā rudah, hence they are called Mārutas) cut the embryo into seven, who then became seven Lokapalas. Here also, more than anything else, it is the etymological fancy that seems to be responsible for the creation of a new myth. Viśālā is said to be the place where Diti performed the penance, Indra stayed and cut the embryo, and the Lokapālas were born. Whether the myth contains some germinal truth is very doubtful. It is more likely that the author wanted to bring in the ocean-churning story, and concocting some tale with the etymology of Mārutas, he took an opportunity to do so: Vīśāla, the founder of the city, is said to be the sons of Ikşvaku from Alambusa. 114 From Vjśāla the genealogy is given down upto the king Sumati who is ruling there at the time. 115
From Viśālā the tourists reach Mithilā on the outskirts of which the sight of the hermitage of sage Gautama creates an occasion for narrating the famous Ahalyātale. 116 Once, when sige Gautama was out, Indra, in his guise, approached his wife Ahalyā who, though recognising him to be Indra, accepted his advances out of curiosity. But, when Indra was escaping from the hermitage, he was confronted by the sage entering just at that time. The sage cursed Indra to be fruitless (as a result of which his testicles tell on the ground and had to be replaced by those of a ram117) and Ahalyā to be condemned to solitude, unseen by others, in that very hermitage till Rāma visited the place. The prevalent notion that Ahalyā was cursed to turn into 105 BK, 34.14.
112 BK, 44. 13-27. 106 BK. 35.18.
113 BK, 45-46. 107 BK. 36.17
114 BK. 46.11. 108 BK. 35.18
115 BK. 46. 12-17. 109 BK, 36, 23-25.
116 BK. 47. 14-32. 110 BK. 43.20.
117 BK. 48. 1-10. 111 BK. 44.10.