FOR INSTANCE, let us consider the element of suspicion. Almost every character in the Rāmāyaṇa is battered by suspicion. Let us see a few examples.
After Rāma goes away to the forest and Bharata returns to Ayodhyā, everyone including Kausalyā, Sumitrā, Guha, Sage Bharadvāja, and Lakṣmaṇa is suspicious about Bharata’s intentions.
When Lakṣmaṇa refuses to leave Sītā alone in the hermitage even when she requests him to help Rāma who appears to be in pain, Sītā grows suspicious about Lakṣmaṇa’s intentions – she gravely admonishes him.
When Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa discover that Sītā is abducted and they find Jaṭāyu covered with blood, Rāma immediately suspects that the mighty bird had devoured his wife.
Vālī suspects Sugrīva’s intentions and banishes him from the kingdom. Sugrīva displays suspicion about Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa before he gets introduced to them; he thinks they are agents of Vālī. Aṅgada expresses his suspicion about his uncle Sugrīva’s intentions – he thinks that his uncle has an affair with his mother Tārā.
Sītā grows suspicious about Hanūmān’s intentions until he establishes his identity.
Rāvaṇa suspects Vibhīṣaṇa’s motives when the latter advises him to send Sītā back to Rāma. Sugrīva suspects the real motive of Vibhīṣaṇa, when he sees the rākṣasa and his supporters coming to Rāma’s side.
Rāvaṇa suspects his charioteer, who had brought him away safely from the battlefield when he had fainted in the chariot.
The people of Ayodhyā were never able to overcome their suspicion about Sītā’s character.
Thus, Vālmīki shows that certain basic emotions affect people belonging to all strata of society – Rāma, Sītā, Sugrīva, and the common folk when driven by intense emotions, may, for a moment, lose the sense of the world around them.
Vālmīki relies on universal human emotions and thus, the epic becomes timeless. In our own lives, we would have, at times, behaved like Rāma, at other times like Sītā, and yet other times like Sugrīva. We have shades of these characters within ourselves and such epic characters reflect an amalgamation of universal human traits.
As long as our emotions remain relevant to us, the Rāmāyaṇa and the other classics of the world will remain in currency. It is in this background that Catur-mukha-brahmā, the Creator of the world declares to Ādi-kavi Vālmīki –
yāvat sthāsyanti girayassaritaśca mahītale |
tāvad-rāmāyaṇa-kathā lokeṣu pracariṣyati || Bāla-kāṇḍa 2.35
As long as the mountains and the rivers exist on earth, so long will the Rāmāyaṇa remain in circulation.
It is interesting that the Creator declares this; he tries to suggest that as long as the Creation exists, so long will the Rāmāyaṇa, the first poetic creation exist – that is its eternal relevance!
Śrī-rāma was truly the national integrator. He belonged to the Sūrya-vaṃśa and just as the world cannot exist without the Sun, it could not be at peace without Rāma. People across the country belonging to all walks of life welcomed him with open hearts; in fact, they were craving his company. Though he was banished from his kingdom, he was welcomed by the world.
Subordinate kings of the forests like Guha, sages such as Bharadvāja, Atri, Anasūya, Agastya, Śarabhaṅga and Sutīkṣṇa, rākṣasas like Virādha and Vibhīṣaṇa, women like Ahalyā and Śabarī, vānaras such as Hanūmān and Sugrīva, mighty birds like Jaṭāyu and Sampāti, the Mount Maināka, Sāgara – the ocean, his own brothers Bharata and Śatrughna, and every citizen of Ayodhyā craved to be in the company of Rāma. He integrated the animate and the inanimate beings and was the favourite of all.
Ramate iti rāmaḥ is the etymology of the word Rāma. All beings rejoiced in Rāma’s company, who was śuddha-brahma-parātpara; he could take them towards Brahmānanda. It is in this background that it is famously said,
veda-vedye pare puṃsi jāte daśarathātmaje|
vedaḥ prācetasād-āsīt-sākṣad-rāmāyaṇātmanā||
The Sublime, Transcendental Parabrahman was born in the material world as the son of Daśaratha; Sage Prācetas (Vālmīki) created a new (fifth) Veda, Rāmāyaṇa, to speak about this Being.
In other words, it is the Nirguṇa-paramātmā which has taken the saguṇa form of Sri Rāma. Just as the Parabrahman is the substratum of the world, Rāma is the substratum of the visible world.
To be continued
Sampāti is thrilled to know that the vānaras were the supporters of Rāma. Though he had lost his wings when he tried to protect his younger brother Jaṭāyu, Sampāti promises to help Rāma with the strength of his eyes and mental acumen. He tells Hanūmān and the other vānaras that he can see Sītā in Rāvaṇa’s kingdom in the South. He steers the search for Sītā in the right direction.
Every creature wished to help Rāma and wanted to be in his company. This has perhaps resulted in a story popular in the folklore – A squirrel helps in building the bridge across the ocean. It jumps into the waters, wets its body, rolls over the sand, and writhes its body free between the stones; it adds sand as an adhesive to hold the stones together. Rāma, who is extremely pleased with its act blesses the squirrel by placing his hand on its body; and the three stripes we see on the body of the Indian squirrel are the permanent marks of Rāma’s fingers. A small deed of kindness by one being permanently leaves the mark of Divine Blessings on the entire species.
The Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata, the Nāṭya-veda, and many other treatises are accorded the status of the Pañcama-veda, i.e., the Fifth Veda. This does not mean that there exists some kind of a competition for the position between the texts. It only means that these treatises are as important as the four Vedas and reiterate their essence.
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