Sincere thanks to: 1. Mannargudi Sri Srinivasan Narayanan for providing the Sanskrit/Tamil texts and proof reading 2. Nedumtheru SrI Mukund Srinivasan for providing images sadagopan.org 3. Smt.Jayashree Muralidharan for eBook assembly 2 C O N T E N T S Author's special note i Introduction 1 Chapter 1 List of roles LakshmaNa played 6 Chapter 2 LakshmaNa - the baalya sakha 8 Chapter 3 LakshmaNa - the companion 15 Chapter 4 LakshmaNa – the husband of OormiLa 19 Chapter 5 LakshmaNa – the Assistant Administrator 25 Chapter 6 LakshmaNa – the angry young brother 28 sadagopan.org Chapter 7 LakshmaNa – the boat builder 59 Chapter 8 LakshmaNa – the engineer 66 Chapter 9 LakshmaNa – the chef 83 Chapter 10 LakshmaNa – the scavenger 88 Chapter 11 LakshmaNa – the ambassador or envoy or commissioner 114 de affairs Chapter 12 LakshmaNa – the Security Officer or Security guard 160 Chapter 13 LakshmaNa – the Warrior 189 Chapter 14 LakshmaNa – the Minister or counselor or advisor and 308 The Guru Chapter 15 LakshmaNa – the arduous servant 402 nigamanam 431 Appendix Complete list of Sundarasimham-Ahobilavalli eBooks 433 3 sadagopan.org SrI Raama paTTAbhishekam (Thanks:sou.R.Chitralekha) SrI RaamapaTTAbhishekam AUTHOR'S SPECIAL NOTE My respectful praNaamams to my aachaaryaas Sri Mukkur azhagiya singer and prakrutham srimadh azhagiya singer. My sincere praNaamams to my father and father in law who brought me to this level to understand and write on sreemadh raamaayaNam. My sincere thanks to Sri V.Sadagopan, the US based moderator of Oppiliappan yahoo groups and Sri Anbil Ramaswamy with whose blessings, I could do this book. My sincere thanks to Sri K.R.S.Ganesan, with whom I have discussed so much about sreemadh raamaayaNam, which helped me to a great extent. sadagopan.org My sincere thanks to the authors of website: http://www.valmikiramayan.net for I have taken the slokams and meanings to a large extent from the website, which saved the massive typing effort while writing this series and subsequent articles. In particular thanks to: Sri Desiraju Hanumanta Rao (baala, aaraNya and kishkindhaa kaandam ) and Sri K. M. K. Murthy (ayOdhyaa and yuddha kaaNdam) with contributions from Durga Naaga Devi and Vaasudeva Kishore (sundhara kaaNdam); Smt. Desiraju Kumari; Smt. K. Rajeswari the team members and others if any. The enthusiasm and devotion of these members of website is to be appreciated by all who enjoy the classical literature of India. My humble and due respect to all elders, pundits and to all those who respect Sreemadh Vaalmeeki RaamaayaNam the epic poem. i sadagopan.org Statue of Lakshman near Lakshman Jhula ii SrI: SrI rAmacandra parabrahmaNe nama: ROLES OF LAKSHMANA INTRODUCTION Dear Sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer, India has produced two great epics Sreemadh RaamaayaNam and mahaa bhaaratham, with the common main thread of 'dharma' running thru both. The heroes in both epics sadagopan.org – Raama in RaamayaNam is 'raamO vigrahavaan dharmah' – meaning 'Raama is personification of dharma' – Yudhishtira in Mahaa Bhaaratham has a name 'dharma' or called 'dharma puthra' – being the son of yama who is the administrator of dharma as deputy to supreme lord sreeman naaraayaNan. Many books and articles have come out on Raama - the main hero of RaamaayaNam. But in this book a 'sub hero' or supporting character LakshmaNa is the hero. LakshmaNa, the closest brother to Raama among the 3 brothers is the 'focal point' here. Being the first of the two sons to mother and second queen Sumithra, and father and king Dasaratha, LakshmaNa is considered an avathaaram – incarnation of 'aadhi sEshan'. Adhi sEshan is the bed of the Supreme Lord Sreeman naaraayaNan in the ksheeraabdhhi – the Milky Ocean, the abode of the Lord. Adhi sEshan serves his lord as ec[fbalf KAdyamf ;Rnftalf cigfkac[mamf 1 sadagopan.org the umbrella, seat and pAdukAs - Pullambhudangudi valvil Raman seated on seshavAhanam 2 ni[fbalf mrvFyamf nIqfkdLqf, '[fBmf p<^]yamf m]iviqkfkamf p>mfpdfdamf p<lfKmf `^]yamf, tiRmabfK `rv<. cenRaal kuDaiyaam irunnthaal singaasanamaam ninRal maravaDiyaam neeL kaDaluL, enRum puNaiyaam maNiviLakkaam poompaTTaam pulkum aNaiyaam, tirumaaRku aravu. • the umbrella, • the seat, sadagopan.org • the bed, • the sandals • the candle light, • the silk garment says the devoted bhaktha – Poigai aazhvaar, the first among the trio and first among the 12 aazhvaars numberwise. LakshmaNa and Sathrughna, the twin brothers or two sons of Sumithra were devoted to Raama and the other brother Bharatha, each one so close to the other that, when one wants to utter all 4 names together, they say Raama and LakshmaNa, Bharatha and Sathrughna in twos. Even by slip of tongue, they do not say as Raama and Bharatha, LakshmaNa and Sathrughna in twos, even though the four brothers are born in this order to king Dasaratha thru the three queens Kausalya, KaikEyee and Sumithra [again in that order]. 3 The closeness of LakshmaNa to Raama is so pronounced that when sage Visvaamithra asked Raama to be sent along with him, king Dasaratha sent LakshmaNa with Raama, being unasked or unsought for. In the childhood Raama will not eat food or sleep separately without LakshmaNa being by his side. During marriage even though only Raama did break the bow to win hand of Seethaa, first the two Raama and LakshmaNa were proposed for Seethaa and oormiLa, and later all 4 brothers got their wives. That again shows the unity among the 4 brothers. When married, LakshmaNa left his young wife oormiLaa in the custody of mother Sumithra and accompanied Raama to the forest for 14 years duration, even when he was advised not to come to forest initially. Such is his serving attitude to his lord and elder brother Raama. From childhood LakshmaNa's character is delineated by sage Vaalmeeki, the author of RaamaayaNam, as 'lakshmaNO lakshmee sampanna', being a close associate, a friend in need, a servant to do multi functions, an advisor, a great warrior displaying enormous warring skills etc. sadagopan.org That is the main theme in this book delineated with many quotes from sage Vaalmeeki. LakshmaNa, who is thus depicted as a hero in his own right, is worshipped in few temples as the main deity by the people of India, the great Bhaarath. In Kerala, there are 4 individual temples for all the four brothers, called as "4 ambalam", near the famous Guruvaayoor – Sree Raama temple in Thiruprayar Sree Bharatha temple in Koodal Maanickyam Sree LakshmaNa temple in Thiru MoozhikkuLam Sree Sathrughna temple in Paayambal. 4 (In each temple the main deity is one of the 4 brothers as listed above). Similarly there is a separate temple for LakshmaNa in the caves of KajurahO in Madhya pradhEsh, India. So People of India always regard heroes with due cognizance. Now we will study about this great 'LakshmaNa' the younger brother of Raama in detail. sadagopan.org 5 CHAPTER 1. THE LIST OF ROLES LAKSHMANA PLAYED Point: LakshmaNa the younger brother of Raama has played different roles in Sreemadh RaamaayaNam. The aadhi kavi sree Vaalmeeki, of course, does portray LakshmaNa in great way at different places describing him with many adjectives. Distinctively Vaalmeeki does not spell out LakshmaNa’s different roles but builds the story sufficiently to identify and pick up that way. So here is an attempt to first list out and then elaborate the roles. 1. Lakshmana - the 'baalya khEla sakhaa' – ‘playmate to Raama’, in Raama's childhood and young days. 2. LakshmaNa – the ‘vazith thuNaivan’ - the ‘companion’ to Raama - in the long trekking when he went with sage Visvaamithra. 3. LakshmaNa - the husband of OormiLa. 4. LakshmaNa – the Assistant Administrator in kOsala dhEsam and its capital sadagopan.org AyOdhyaa – assistant to the uncrowned prince Raama. 5. LakshmaNa – the angry younger brother – suggesting or counseling his elder to fight for the 'right to the throne' and says 'on your behalf I am ready to fight, even with our father, if required’. 6. LakshmaNa - the boat or raft or barge builder and / or the oars man – helped to cross the river yamunaa 7. Lakshmana – the Engineer – to build the house, in the forest. 8. LakshmaNa – the good non vegetarian chef to prepare ‘deer meat’ for yagjna 9. LakshmaNa - the scavenger – to dig pits and bury / burn the bodies of viraadhan and kabhandhan 6 10. LakshmaNa – the envoy or assistant to carry out ‘protocols’ – while meeting sage agasthya and later in meeting Hanumaan, paving way for Sugreeva sakhyam 11. LakshmaNa – the ambassador – to go to Sugreeva and remind him on the mission 'search Seethaa'. 12. LakshmaNa - the bodyguard to Raama and to ‘ Seethaa manni’ – elder brother's wife, 13. LakshmaNa – the sleepless [?] watchman and security guard for 14 long years – even at the cost of separation from beloved wife. (Note by Sri MGVasudevan: Why a question mark in that phrase ‘sleepless watchman’ is – in AyOdhyaa kaaNdam sargam 56 slokams 1 and 2, raama wakes up sadagopan.org lakshmaNa, who is sleeping. On this the ‘raamaayaNa thilaka’ commentator has added, ‘lakshmaNa has not slept for 14 years is a myth and a wrong projection’. But it is true that he was a very sincere watchman and security guard as we will see or read in relevant chapter.) 14. LakshmaNa – the brave warrior and deputy leader of the army 15. LakshmaNa – the minister - to pour out suggestions and advices to his elder brother on occasions [this is apart from that angry young brother] 16. Lakshmana - the arduous servant – to arrange donations and bring armoury etc even before the start to forest and later to do many things ordered on to him. 17. LakshmaNa - the guru or teacher or ‘guide and philosopher’ to talk or lecture on ‘dharmam’ 7 CHAPTER 2 LAKSHMANA – THE BAALYA KHELA SAKHAA – PLAYMATE DURING YOUNGER DAYS Assignment of role: This ‘baalya khEla sakhaa’ role on LakshmaNa is not assigned by Raama on him, but LakshmaNa took it on his own.