Secondary Tales of the Two Great Epics

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

Page 84

The Tales in Rāmāyuņa
becoming the greatest 'bow-wielder), 181 and Paraśurāma retiring thereafter to the Mahendra mountains for performing penances, symbolic of one form of eternal force-one incarnation of Vişņu retiring from activity and another coming into active forcethese are the elements and overtones of the Paraśurāma episode which seem to have engendered and fostered the idea of Paraśurāma also to be an incarnation of the Al-puwerful Visņu, in spite of the fact that Vişnu is nowhere in the epics presented as being born as Parasurama. The Amśāvatāra tales of any epic would naturally credit the hero only as the incarnation,
Well, if Paraśurāma is defeated in this episode, he is benefitted also.
B. UTTARA-KĀŅDA
There is only one major group of tales - those of Rāvana - in the UK. All the other tales form themselves into small groups with some insignificant purposes. We shall, therefore, divide the tales of UK in two major divisions, one of RāvaņaKathā-cakra and the other of the remaining tales. That the entire UK is a later addition and is secondary in that sense is well-known. Th: portion of Rāma's performing Ašvamedha is already referred to in the first section of BK-tales; the cpisode of Sambuka, we shall transpose to the next chapter.
(1) The Ravana-katha cakra
As we saw above, the BK professes to narrate a group of incidents from the hero's earlier life, i. e, incidents prior to those narrated in the epic-nucleus; in the UK of RM, on the other hand, there is a whole group of episodes, almost a kathā-cakra, narrating episodes of Rāvaņa's earlier life. It occupies almost one-third of the UK extending from Sargas 1 to 34, and narrates a number of episodes which seek to provide motivations for the incidents of the principal tale. Sarga 10 shows Rāvana observing austere penance for thousands(!) of years and obtaining froin Brahmā the boon that, except human beings about whom he does not care, he may be killed by no one. (Similarly Vibhisana gets the boon of religiosity and Kumbhakarņa, on whose tongue Sarasvatī sat for a moment in compliance with the gods' request and made it falter, says, he wishes to sleep for a number of years.) This is supposed to provide motivation for the wondersome fact that the demon Rāvaņa who could bring even gods under his sway should lose battle against Rāma, a mere human being. The motif of making exception for human beings is introduced to make adjustment for the incarnationstory narrated in BK where Lord Vişnu is shown to be born as Rāma. Sargal7 oʻrrates the episode wherein Rāvana saw a beautiful hermit-girl Vedavati performing penance in order to obtain Vışņu as her husband according to the deisre of her father Kusadhvaja.
181 How else can we justify Paraśurāma, the wielder of an axe, to possess a bow?