Naumi tithi madhu mas punita/Sukal pacchh Abhijit Hariprita//
Madhyadivas ati seet na ghama/Paavan kaal lok bishraama//
… … …
Sur smooh binti kari pahunche nij nij dhaam/
Jagnivas Prabhu pragte akhil lok bishraam//
It was the sacred month of Chaitra (corresponding to March-April) and the date was the ninth of that month – the light half of the lunar month under the God-beloved nakshatra of ‘Abhijit’. The time was midday, neither too cold, nor sultry. That holy hour provided rest to the people.
Having offered their prayers, the multitude of gods went back to their respective abodes. God, the Shelter of the World, had appeared to give respite to all the people.
– Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, 190(i) and 191 (doha)
(According to Maharishi Balmiki, Ram was born under the ‘Kark’ lagna – Balmiki Ramayan, Balkand, Canto 18(ix).
The births and naming
Indeed, if Lord Vishnu decided to be born of a human mother, He chose the prefect hour for His appearance in the mortal world. Mother Kaushalya was beyond her senses on seeing Lord Vishnu in His original form. Joining both her hands she said that when the sacred Vedas and Puranas described Him as devoid of any measure, beyond art, wisdom, attributes and knowledge, how could she find words to sing praises to Him. Discerning people, she said, would laugh at her if they heard that the One whose every pore is filled with hordes of universes had come to live in her womb! The one cogent request she could make to the Deity was that He should take the form of a human baby. And the Lord instantly transformed Himself to a crying newborn – “suni vachan sujana rodan thana hoi balak surbhoopa” – on hearing His mother’s words, the Supreme Being took the form of a baby and began to cry (ibid, 111(iv)).
After Ram’s birth, Kaikeyi delivered a baby boy. Then Sumitra also gave birth to twin-sons.
To father Dashrath, the Vishnu-incarnate Ram brought another kind of joy. In his ecstasy, he found himself incapable for a few moments to get off his seat. Then he sent for the Raj Purohit, Muni Vashisht, and accompanied by him and other Brahmins, proceeded to see his exquisitely beautiful infant son.
Raja Dashrath had been blessed with four sons at a very old age, and at that too, with the intervention of the deities whom he had to appease with a magnificent yagya. The throne of Ayodhya would not go empty when he joined the ancestors, he was sure of that now. It is hardly surprising then that no money or effort were spared to celebrate the occasion. The raja made huge donations to Brahmins. He was also lavish in rewarding his bards, minstrels and panegyrists. The entire city of Ayodhya was decorated as never before with buntings, flags and ornamental arches. Flowers were showered from the sky, filling the air with their redolence. Sweet smelling saffron, musk and powdered sandalwood scented each and every lane of the capital. Women, little caring for their looks, flocked to the portals of the royal palace with golden pitchers and ornate platters full of auspicious substances to greet the newborns. The Gandharvas and Apsaras – heavenly minstrels and dancers – sang and danced with gay abandon. Numerous acrobats and artistes entertained the crowds that thronged the thoroughfares. Sant Tulsidas says, in a poetic hyperbole, that the Sun forgot to set and there was no night over Ayodhya for a whole month without anybody noticing the oddity (ibid, doha 195).
Amid such gaiety, Raja Dashrath performed the naming ceremony of the infants on the eleventh day of their birth:
Jo anand sindhu sukhsrasi/seeker ten trailok supasi/
So sukhdham Ram as nama/Akhil lok dayak bishrama//
Biswa bharan poshan kar joi/Taakar naam Bharat as hoi//
Jaake sumiran ten ripu nasa/Naam Satruhan bed prakaasa//
Lacchhan dham Ram Priya sakal jagat adhaar/
Guru Basisht tehi Rakha/Lachhiman naam udaar//
He that is the Ocean of Joy and the treasure of comfort; the Ocean of Benevolence, even a drop of which brings comfort to the three worlds, His name is ‘Ram’. He is the one who is the abode of prosperity and bestower of calm to all the worlds.
The one who nourishes and maintains the world, his name shall be ‘Bharat’. The one whose very remembrance frightens the foes, his name is the Veda-acclaimed ‘Shatrughan’.
The one who is abode of auspicious characteristics, the one dearest to Ram and the support of the world, Guru Vashish has named him ‘Lakshman’.
– Ibid, 196(iii-iv) and 197 (doha)
Tender years
Sant Tulsidas has, as it were, given us a preview of the four siblings. Ram was the ideal elder brother, even though there was closer bonding between Ram and Lakshman on the one side and Bharat and Shatrughan on the other. The pairings went down to their looks and dispositions as well. Ram was rather dark and a person of gravitas, Lakshman was fair of complexion and short tempered. Likewise, Bharat resembled Ram albeit to a lesser degree, and Shatrughan was similar to his twin-brother Lakshman in ways more than one. Going by Sant Tulsidas, there was something more to such bonding which may not perhaps be to the liking of the younger generation of today. The poet says (see, Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, 197(iii)) that the relationship between the elder brothers (Ram and Bharat) with the younger ones (Lakshman and Shatrughan) was that of a master and servant. But then, we should not forget that Goswami Tulsidas ji is talking of the constraints of royalty which demanded strict adherence to the precedence of seniority.
Maharishi Balmiki, too dwells up on the Ram-Lakshman bonding. He tells us that Raja Dashrath was mighty pleased with all the four sons of his. The princes grew to be wise and abundantly endowed with good qualities. They all were modest, celebrated, all-knowing and far-seeing. Their days were spent in learning the Vedas, attending to their father and – the most important of all – practising archery (see Balmiki Ramayan, Balkand, Canto 18(xxxiii-xxxvii).
But Raja Dashrath’s days of the sunny company of his sons would be coming to an end too soon.
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