CULTURAL LEADERS OF INDIA VALMIKI AND VYASA Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Public.Resource.org https://archive.org/details/valmikivyasaOOratn Cultural Leaders of India VALMIKI AND VYASA Kamala Ratnam R. Rangachari PUBLICATIONS DIVISION MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 1st Edition : May 1980 (Jayaistha 1903) Reprints : 1992,2006 (Saka 1927) 2012 (Saka 1933) ISBN : 978-81-230-1739-6 CLI-ENG-REP-030-2011-12 © Publications Division Price : ^ 60.00 Published by the Director General, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, Soochna Bhawan, C.GO. Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110 003 Website : www.publicationsdivision.nic.in Editing : R. 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Ltd., Okhla Ph-I, New Delhi-110020 ABOUT THE SERIES The object of the series is to offer the general reader authentic accounts of the life and work of the great figures since the earliest times, who have contributed in large measures to the culture and thought of India and influenced the mind and life of its people. The series includes books on seers and philosophers, poets and dramatists, mystics and religious leaders, writers on science, aestheticians and composers. The books are intended for the average reader who is keen to learn more about the past but who has no knowledge of details and is not interested in finer academic issues. .< . •. t ' •4 •« ’ Vt . ( ^ ■ 'H^ r 'r'io:{ •\ TiT|r»'rJ I" M'X ;:)U’w ,M.' to v]/ ^■' •I,"':?: :•! Vs»iJ f .• ■ ' *1, ' - • :i - ‘ y "jo’ I . • ;> iiif ._* • • ■ u - t- <' i * f. .\ ' ■)' * ♦■ii -ia* .'Tj ■ h;l5: .ituttinqn i.’l; n . - ' y*: ♦ 'S !m'I L.''Si>J.' FSkpOfl-'i.. ’l, .M{r7 il '-‘J, jiti 1 < ■ ■ » .• if, 9 ^ j f»t trj,] y.HiKi •Jt .1 ^|■>k^, 'li t ’i »*■ v.;-'/ . <; '* '^*1 ' i 4 1 • :■ ■ ' rvi* .i-> • I • r.i-^ ,4.,» CONTENTS VALMIKI Kamala Ratnam 1 VEDA VYASA R. Rangachari 33 } i /xOO . he./.r~: -V, . / ft VALMIKI - Kamala Ratnam Valmiki is remembered as the author of the Ramayana, a book which has influenced a great number of people over a very long period of time. Translating a popular Sanskrit verse in praise of Valmiki, T.H. Griffith wrote, Praise to Valmiki, bird of charming song. Who mounts on Poetry’s sublimest spray, and sweetly sings with accents clear and strong Rama aye Rama, in his deathless lay.* > Centuries after it was written, the Ramayana is still the most popular and largest selling book in India, including its various versions in all the modem India languages. Yet very little is known about sage Valmiki himself. Ancient sources reveal three persons named Valmiki. According to the Taittiriya Pratisakhya there was a grammarian Vlmiki whose aphorism (sutras) are quoted by Hemachandra of the eleventh century A.D. The Mahabharata mentions a Suparna Valmiki in the Udyoga Parvan. He is said , to be a descendant of Gamda and a devotee of Vishnu. None of these two is the poet Valmiki who wrote the great epic. The author of the Ramayana was a devotee of Siva. The Drona Parvan of the Mahabharata mentions a Bhargava Valmiki. This third Valmiki was a Brahmana bom in the Bhargava gotra or family and he, in all probability, could be identified with our poet Valmiki. The opening verse of the Ramayana mentions Valmiki by name, without telling us anything more about him. However in the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana, Valmiki gives some more information 1 STTW ^l^dlJfll^r ^ «Ue41R><*>ll^dH I I 2 Valmiki and V^asa about himself. “I am the tenth son of Prachetas,” he says addressing Rama, “You are afraid of people’s calunmy. Sita has come here with me along with her two sons, and I am going to give you proof of her innocence.” Now Prachetas is another name for Varuna. According to Satapatha Brahmana Varuna married Charashni-Hila, who bore him two sons Bhrigu and Valmiki. This is confirmed by the Vishnu, Matsya and Bhagavata puranas. The name Valmiki signifies an anthill. Chyavana, a descendant of Bhrigu is also associated with this name. It is said that once his Tapas was so prolonged that his whole body was covered with white-ants. They had built their nest all around his body. Only his two eyes shone out of the mud-heaps. It is possible that this story of the anthill, later in course of time became associated with Valmiki as well and the name stuck to him. A much later Bengali version of the Ramayana written by Krittivasa claims Valmiki to be the son of Chyavana. The Ramayana mentions Bhargava Chyavana by name twice, without in any way relating him to Valmiki. Very much later in the beginning of the Christian era, Asvaghosha the author of Buddhacharitam, declared that ‘a man so humble as to be bom out of an anthill was able to compose the Ramayana, when earlier sages like Chyavana had failed in the attempt.’^ There is a popular legend connected with Valmiki, prevalent almost everywhere in India. This legend identifies Valmiki with a certain robber, who is able to get rid of his sins and achieve distinction later on as a poet. The earlierst reference to Valmiki as a robber is found in the Skanda Parana, which being comparatively modem (800 A.D.), according to many scholars, is not a very reliable source of information about our poet. There are at least four versions of the robber-story. It appears that the author of the Adhyatma Ramayana (Circa 1400 A.D.) was acquainted with all of them. The following summary is based on the Adhyatma Ramayana. In the course of a conversion with Rama, Sita and Lakshmana, Valmiki himself explains to them the significance of repeating Rama’s name (Ramanama). T am 2 iRTSf iRPt dinner - The Buddhacharita-l-48 Valmiki 3 bom of Brahmana parents’, he says, ‘having been brought up by Kirata foster-parents, I was led into behaving like a Sudra. I took a Sudra woman to be my wife and many children were bom to me by her. In those days I used to roam in the forest, armed with my bow and arrow in search of game. One day I met the seven sages (Saptarshi) in the forest. I wanted to rob them of their belongings, and I caught hold of them. The sages then asked me, ‘Young man! are your wife and children partners with you in this crime ?’ I said, ‘I did not know.’ The sages then told me to go back home and put this question to my family-members. When I reached home, I first asked my wife would she share part of the consequences of my crime? She said, ‘No, you are solely responsible for your actions!’ Then I put the same question to my children and they gave the same reply. No one was prepared to share my guilt, though all enjoyed the fruits thereof! This opened my eyes and I was filled with remorse. I went back to the Saptarshis and told them what my children and my wife had said. The Saptarshis then took me in their refuge. They gave me the reverse syllables of the name RAMA to repeat endlessly. I went on repeating ‘MARA— MARA—MARA’, until I lost all consciousness. The words had turned out to be ‘RAMA—RAMA—^RAMA’ and my body had become an antheap! Ages passed before the seven sages came that way again. They dug me out of the antheap, saying, ‘you have come out of the antheap (VALMIKA), hence you are bom again as VALMIKI. Go now, and do good to the world. Go and write the RamayanaV Popular tradition, including Tulasidasa, the author of the Ramacharitamanasa, associates Valmiki with a certain Svapacha, a man of very low caste. He was able to achieve higher status on account of his devotion to Siva. In the Mahabharata it is said that once during a conversation Valmiki told Yudhishthira, ‘I was called a Brahamana-killer (Brahamaghna) by some hot-tempered sages during a discussion. That sin clung to me and I sought the protection of the all powerful Siva, in order to get rid of it.^ The Harijans of north India claim descent from Valmiki on the basis of this tradition. As in other ^ ’RTPrf^ii v5<rcl '*TRtr I - Mahabharata XIII-18, 8, 9, 10 4 Valmiki and Vyasa cases, this story about Valmiki also seems to be an invention. Such fanciful material is usually appended to the personalities of great writers and poets in order to introduce an element of wonder in their achievements. A similar tradition says that Kalidasa was a blockhead who was cutting the same branch of the tree on which he sat. After marriage when his wife rebuked him, he left home in search of knowledge and became the great poet that he was.