(In the previous narration, only the meaning of the first stanza of this outstanding work of Sri Raghavendraru had been given. There are quite a few special expressions in the stanza and exploration of the same is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of this glorious poetic sojourn. Please read, comment and share. SDN)
SreemAn pUrvam prajAtO DasharaThanrupatE
RAmanAmA(a)Tha neetO|
VishwAmitrENa mantrAhrudanujasahitastATakAm GhAtakO(a)stram||
BrahmAdyam prApya hatwA nishicharanikaram
yajnapAlO vimOchyAhalyAshApam cha BhangtwA
ShivaDhanurupayan JAnakeem naha praseedEt||1||
In another version of the same work, the first two words of this stanza have also been mentioned as “SreemAn ViShNuhu”, which has no bearing on the overall meaning of the stanza. However, a few scholars are of the opinion that since Sri Raghavendraru has mentioned in his “KrishnachAritryamanjari” as “ViShnurbrahmAdidEvaihi”, the original text of this first stanza in Sri RamachArtryamanjari might have been “SreemAn VishNuhu”.
The reason for Sriramavatara:
SreemAn ViShNuhu prAjAtaha — pUrvam kSheerAbDhishAyee NArAyaNaha RAvaNAdirAkShasapeeDita BrahmAdidEvaihi BhUBhAraharaNArTham prArThitaha tAn shAKhAmrugAdiBhAvEna utpadyDhwam ityanujnApya putrArThinA DasharaThEna iShTaha tadBhAryAyAm KausalyAyAm prAdurBhUtaha SumitrAyAm LakShmaNashatruGhnau jAtau, KaikEyyAm BharatO jAtaha||
ಶ್ರೀಮಾನ್ ವಿಷ್ಣುಃ ಪ್ರಜಾತಃ — ಪೂರ್ವಂ ಕ್ಷೀರಾಬ್ಢಿಶಾಯಿಃ ನಾರಾಯಣಃ ರಾವಣಾದಿರಾಕ್ಷಸಪೀಡಿತ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಾದಿದೇವೈಃ ಭೂಭಾರಹರಣಾರ್ಥಂ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥಿತಃ ತಾನ್ ಶಾಖಾಮೃಗಾದಿಭಾವೇನ ಉತ್ಸದ್ಯಧ್ವಂ ಇತ್ಯನುಜ್ಞಾಒತ ಪುತ್ರಾರ್ಥಿನಾ ದಶರಥೇನ ಇಷ್ಟಃ ತದ್ಭಾರ್ಯಾಯಾಂ ಕೌಸಲ್ಯಾಯಾಂ ಪ್ರಾದುರ್ಭೂತಃ ಸುಮಿತ್ರಾಯಾಮ್ ಲಕ್ಷಣಶತ್ರುಘ್ನೌ ಜಾತೌ ಕೈಕೇಯ್ಯಾಮ್ ಭರತೋ ಜಾತಃ|
Earlier, Lord Brahma and other deities, who were being tormented by Ravana, approached Sri Narayana, who was resting on AdishEsha in the Milky Ocean, and requested him to reduce the heavy burden on the Earth. He ordered all the deities to take birth on Earth as monkey and other animals. Impressed by the performance of two sacrifices (Ashwamedha and PutrakAmEShTi) by King Dasharatha, He (Lord Narayana) descended on Earth as the son of Dasharatha’s wife Kausalyadevi and came to be called as Rama. Lakshmana and Shatrughna were born from Sumitra Devi and Bharata from Kaikeyi.
Backdrop
Sometime ago, Pulastya, one of the sons of Lord Brahma, was doing penance near Mount Meru. A few young girls used to frequent that place and were trying to induce and woo the sage. Although Pulastya had overpowered anger in the worldly sense of the term, he was slightly enraged by the adolescent activities of the girls and cursed them as “whoever sees me will become pregnant”. As a result, those young girls abstained from visiting that place. However, unaware of the curse, daughter of King Trunabindu looked at sage Pulastya and immediately became pregnant. She had no deceitful intentions. She came to know about the curse and therefore appealed to the sage, convinced him and got married to him. She begot a son called Vishrava.
Later, sage Vishrava married Sugati, a daughter of Bharadwaja Rishi. The couple got a son called Kubera, who got blessed by Lord Brahma to be the Guardian or custodian of the North. Kubera also secured Pushpaka, the celestial airplane.
Lord Brahma had another son called Heti, who was a demon. Heti begot a son called Vidyutkesha, who begot three sons called Malyavan, Sumali and Mali. All these three sons impressed Lord Brahma and secured a boon that they “could not be killed by anybody”. Empowered by that boon, the trio settled down in Lankapuri and began torturing Brahmins and deities. All the victims joined together and surrendered to Lord Rudra for recluse and relief. However, Lord Rudra expressed his inability to either control or kill the trio. He, along with other deities, went to Lord Narayana and sought his intervention in the matter. Lord Vishnu instantly killed Mali and a huge army of ruthless demons. Sumali and Malyavan fled from the battlefield, along with their armed forces. Sumali sought a grandson from his daughter Kaikasi, who could kill all the deities. He got her married to Sage Vishrava. Kaikasi and Vishrava couple begot four children named as Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibheeshana and Shurpanakha.
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