Austere women in Ramayanam
The women in Valmiki’s Ramayanam play a major role in the story line and are active and participant in all walks of life. Sita, Kausalya, Anasuya, Arundhati, etc are examples wherein women equal their spouses in nobility, dignity and purity. Vedavati, Mandodari, Tara, Anjana, Sabari, Swayamprabha and Satyavati are examples of women who shone independently. There are also examples of treacherous women like Manthara, kaikeyi, Surpanakha, etc whose selfish motives caused great damage at large. From all the descriptions we may infer that women were active participants in the political, cultural, religious and social activities during the Ramayanam period.
Ramayanam also contains many episodes describing women performing vows and austerities. A few notable examples may be seen here-
Satyavathi, the sister of sage Vishvamitra, is said to have been a women of great nobility and spiritual prowess. She is addressed as suvrata, a lady of noble vows. Intending to serve humanity, she generously flowed down as river Koushiki.
The hunter-woman Shabari attained great spiritual prowess through penance. Rama himself visits her on Matangaparvata while wandering in search of Seeta. Ripe old as she were, she is described as glowing with the lustre of penance. She attained the highest spiritual ranks through her selfless penance.
Anasooya, the consort of sage Athri, was a woman of extraordinary purity and spiritual prowess. Once when there was no rain for ten years and the world was burning in the heat of famine, this great women performed terrible vows and penance and created fruits and eatables as well as invoked the waters of Mandakini. She also performed tough penance for ten thousand years to ward off all the hindrances to the austerities of sages. Anasuya also spent many nights, as if they were one night, in penance to help the gods. She is said to have completely mastered anger. She advises Seeta about the greatness of the vows of Pativratyam.
Ahalya, the wife of Sage Gautama, lived long years in solitude under pious vows. She consumed only air and observed mounavrata for years. It was an expiation she undertook in order to atone for offending her husband. Rama counselled her and reunited her with her husband.
Arundhati, the consort of Sage Vasista, is acclaimed as a lady of great wisdom and penance. There are legendary references to her as independently lead a learning centre.
Pativratyam is itself hailed as a tapasya. Tara and Mandodari, the consorts of Vali & Ravana respectively are acclaimed as great pativratas. They were noble and learned and managed dire circumstances in their lives with great dignity and forbearance.
Seeta is herself an ideal of purity and Pativratyam. While in the captivity of the cruel Ravana, she was constantly in the vows of fasting and chanting her Lord’s name. She even declines Hanuman’s offer to carry her back to Rama since it would not befit a pativrata to voluntarily accompany a parapurusha (another man). Indeed the destruction incurred by Lanka was due to the injustice meted out to this great woman.
Anjana, the mother of Hanuman, is said to have performed penance in order to obtain such a meritorious son. She was actually a nymph cursed to be born on earth. She was engrossed in penance to expiate for her sin and regain her divine status.
The monkey battalion during its frantic search for Seetha, met a women recluse named Swayamprabha. When the monkeys accidentally enter her magical grove, she gave them good hospitality. Her wondrous secret habitat and her magical powers amazed the monkeys. As per her directives, the monkeys closed their eyes and in moments they were escorted back to normal land through her occult powers! She extended help in finding Seeta.
A pious maiden called Vedavathi performed rigorous austerities intending to win the love of Lord Vishnu. She was said to be so extraordinarily austere that when Ravana made lustful advances towards her, disgusted, she burnt herself to ashes with her Yogagni (spiritiual fire)! Such was her unswerving faith.
The epic also gives a brief account of the glorious penance of Goddess Parvati to win the hand of Lord Shiva. Later both Lord Shiva and Parvathi performed great penance to obtain the invincible Kartikeya for their son.
There is another instance in which the noble daughters of Sage Kushanatha exhibit unusual virtues of forgiveness. When Vaayu, overcome with lust tried to molest them, they warned him saying that they do not wish to curse him since they did not wish to ‘waste their hard-earned merits’. This suggests that they had performed many vows. But an angry Vayu cursed them to become dwarfs. When they returned heartbroken for being cursed for no fault of theirs, their father consoled them and even praised them for their extraordinary forbearance saying that Kshama (forgiveness) is the greatest penance ever.
Kausalya is described as a pious person. She was engrossed in vows and austerities and even resided beside the sacrificial horse for three nights as a part of the ritual on the eve of the putraamesti yaga. On the eve of Rama’s proposed coronation she performed mounavrata and worship of lord Visnu in order to invoke the blessings of the lord.
From instances from the puranas, epics and other literature, we infer that women have always had a significant role in the vedic culture. Both for material or spiritual achievements women dared to undertake difficult austerities. Tapas is the royal road for any achievement. It unfolds the inner potentials of the performer and elevates him spiritually and materially. This tradition of tapasya has been the spirit of the vedic culture and needs to be protected for posterity.
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