365bet娱乐

The Rishis, though supposed to be recluses living away from inhabited areas, practising austerities and following a life-style entirely different from that of town-dwellers did have in ancient times a lot of interaction with the ruling monarchs of the time. They, at least the more prominent of them, acted as their priests. They would also help them with their mature advice in times of need, thus also acting their counsellors and advisers. With some of them the monarchs had close relationship, as close as between two intimate friends. The monarchs repaired to their Asramas to consult them on problems appearing too intractable to them and their aides or they themselves would come to the monarchs when they felt that they needed their advice and help. They acted thus as the custodians of the welfare and the well-being of the king and their subjects. They would sometimes come to the monarchs to solicit their help in controlling the evil-doers coming in the way of their smooth practice of austerities. As repositories of supernatural power acquired through practice of penance for long they commanded high respect of the ruling elite of their time who were afraid to offend them and court their displeaure. Though unwilling in their heart of hearts sometimes to meet their demands they, dared not come out openly against them for fear of their setting some visitation against them. Thus a curious mix of relationship of reverence and awe existed between these holy people and the rulers in times of yore. Since these holy people, the Rsis, acted very often as priests, advisers and counsellors of kings, as said above, they did play

The Role of Rsis in the Ramayana 41 an important part in affairs of State, particularly in emergencies and situations abnormal. As the Rama story is a story of a ruling dynasty, it is natural that as advisers and priests, the rsis, should play a part in it which not unoften was crucial. As a matter of fact, the Ramayana starts with a conversation between the two rsis Valmiki and Narada, the former enquiring of the latter about some one who was endowed with all sorts of qualities and the latter telling of Rama who answered in full the description of the qualities listed by the former. Next time a Rishi plays a part in the Ramayana, is when Rsyasrnga is brought from the kingdom of Anga to Ayodhya by King Dasaratha to help perform the Asvamedha sacrifice for which he had already obtained the concurrence of the rsis like Suyajna, Vamadeva, Jabali and Vasistha. With a desire to fulfilling his wish of begetting a son, Rsyasrnga helped him perform the son-begetting sacrifice, the Putresti yajna which resulted in the birth of sons to him (Dasaratha). Rsyasrnga has thus with his implied expertise in the above sacrifice a special role to play in the perpetuation of the Iksvaku race. The next important role of a rsi in the Ramayana is that of Visvamitra who makes a sudden appearance before Dasaratha and asks for his son Rama to accompany him to destroy the welltrained powerful demons Marica and Subahu who disrupt his sacrifice as soon as it is about to end successfully. He assures Dasaratha that well-guarded by his divine energy he is quite capable of destroying the demons. Dasaratha who had offered to do the bidding of the seer while receiving him with effusive welcome at his sudden appearance does not relish the idea thinking his son to be too young-less than even sixteen-and inexperienced for the crafty demons. He offers to accompany him instead along with his army, a position from which too, he backs out on hearing that the demons are instigated in their evil activity by Ravana whom he considers too mighty for him to face. Visvamitra feeling incensed at the backtracking, Vasistha advises him (Dasaratha) to agree to part with his son. He explains to him that it is to help him that he is asking for his son. Visvamitra has

an access to divine weapons of Jaya and Suprabha, the daughters of Daksa and is capable of creating many more himself. Dasaratha agreeing to Rama leaving with Visvamitra in the company of Laksmana, the three depart from Ayodhya. A short distance from the city the seer teaches Rama the two Vidyas, Bala and Atibala which would render him free from hunger and thirst, fatigue and fever and the assault of the demons even when he is asleep or inactive. At the instance of Visvamitra Rama kills the lady Yaksa Tadaka. After that the sage introduces him to a number of divine missiles, astras, which render him invincible. He tells the astras which appear before him to be available when needed. It is through the use of one of these that he could destroy the mightiest of the warriors of his time Ravana who had overawed the whole world. On arrival at Visvamitra's Asrama Rama hits Marica with the Manavastra which short of killing him does everything to humble him. With the Agneyastra he fells Subahu. Their companions he just finishes off. After this feat Rama together with Laksmana leaves for Mithila to attend a sacrifice organized by Janaka at the bidding of the sages led by Visvamitra, who tells the young ones of the opportunity, it may provide them to see for themselves a wonderful bow which none has been able to string so far. On the way to Mithila Visvamitra shows them many places, recounting to them their history and telling them all sorts of stories which make them infinitely wiser, much wiser than their years. He also tells them of his own life, how he got the position of Brahmarsi though born in a Ksatriya family. On arrival at Mithila Visvamitra asks King Janaka to show the bow which according to the latter is the test of prowess of the suiters for the hand of his daughter Sita whom he had discovered while ploughing a field. Nobody has been able to string it, not only not string it, not even could lift it, so far. At Visvamitra's instance the bow is brought to his presence and that of the boys. At Visvamitra's command Rama easily lifts the bow and while he is going to string it, it breaks in the middle. As per Janaka's vow Sita is married to Rama. With the consent of Visvamitra messengers are sent to Ayodhya to bring in Dasaratha who comes along to Mithila post CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New

The Role of Rsis in the Ramayana 43 haste with the concurrence of the sages Vasistha, Vamadeva and the ministers. After he is received with due courtesies and has spent the night at Mithila, Janaka, expresses his wish to his priest Satananda to have his brother Kusadhvaja also with him on the happy occasion. With him and Dasaratha joining Janaka, Vasistha gives a description with the concurrence of Visvamitra of Dasaratha's family while Janaka gives that of his own. He pledges his daughters Sita and Urmila to Rama and Laksmana respectively. Visvamitra together with Vasistha proposes then that Bharata and Satrughna, the other two sons of Dasaratha be married to the two daughters of Janaka's brother Kusadhvaja, Mandavi and Srutakirti respectively so that the two families of those of Iksvakus and Videha could have a perfect union with each one of the young daughters of the latter being united in wedlock with each one of the young sons of the former in successive order. With the marriage solemnized, Visvamitra takes leave of the two kings Janaka and Dasaratha and proceeds to the northern mountain. Dasaratha too leaves with his sons and the daughters-in-law back for his capital. On the way he meets. Parasurama who appears to him as no less than a visitation. Parasurama on coming to know of breaking of Siva's bow by Rama, a feat indeed, asks Rama, ignoring Dasaratha's entreaties to be merciful to his young son, to string another bow, this time of Visnu with which he has come to him to test his prowess after which he would meet him in a duel. Rama takes the bow from him, strings it and puts the arrow on it with which he smites the worlds earned by him through merit while sparing his life, he being a Brahmin and out of deference for what Visvamitra had done for him. With Parasurama humbled, Dasaratha enters the capital with his entourage, happy and relieved. Soon after he decides to anoint Rama as Heir Apparent after obtaining the concurrence of the assembly. The coronation is fixed for the very following day. Vasistha at Dasaratha's request arranges for the ceremonial fast by Rama and his consort. In the meantime Kaikeyi at the instigation of her maid Manthara asks Dasaratha to give the kingdom to Bharata and to send Rama into exile for

fourteen years, these being her two desires the fulfilment of which he had promised as a consequence of her having saved his life in the battle with the demons. Overcome with age and unable to bear the shock of separation from his most beloved son, Dasaratha breathes his last. With Rama and Laksmana having left for the forest, and Bharata along with Satrughna being in his maternal uncle's home, there was none of the four sons of Dasaratha present in Ayodhya to perform his obsequies. Further, the kingdom being without a king with all the lurking risks and dangers as spelt out by seers like Markandeya, Maudgalya, Vamadeva, Kasyapa, Katyayana and Jabali, Vasistha has the messengers sent to Kekaya to bring back Bharata post haste without giving him even the slightest hint as to what had transpired in Ayodhya in his absence. With the return of Bharata what happens is a familiar story. The next time a Rishi plays a crucial part in the Ramayana is when Rama and Ravana are engaged in a fierce encounter. Rama shoots his myriad arrows with miraculous powers at his powerful adversary which chop off his heads one by one but surprisingly as a head is severed, it just gets united. With the end of Ravana nowhere in sight and Rama feeling exasperated, Agastya appears before him and advises him to shoot the Brahmastra. With Rama doing as asked, Ravana falls dead. Had Agastya not come forward with his timely advice, the outcome of the battle would have been unpredictable. The Rsis, as we have seen from the above, play a very decisive and crucial role in the Rama story. They train the hero, educate him and advise him in critical situations. They also help in situations of crisis like the one developed after Dasaratha's demise. As the repositories of spiritual power, they were the main source of strength to the ruling circles of the time who treated them with utmost reverence. Without them the Rama story would not have been what it is today