Sunday, August 14, 2011

the day Hanuman cursed his own valour..

धिगस्तु मम वीर्यस्य यत् त्वं जीवसि रावण।
सकृत् तु प्रहरेदानीं दुर्बुद्धे किं विकत्थसे॥६६॥
॥श्रीमद्वाल्मीकीये रामायणे युद्धकाण्दे सर्गः-- ५९--॥
dhigastu mama vīryasya yat tvaṁ jīvasi rāvaṇa|
sakṛt tu praharedānīṁ durbuddhe kiṁ vikatthase||66||
||śrīmadvālmīkīye rāmāyaṇe yuddhakāṇde sargaḥ-- 59--||


This is an interesting sloka in Ramayanam where the great Hanuman is disappointed with his own valour or the apparent  lack of it.

The story goes like this.  \In a concerted bid to release Sita from the captivity of Ravana, Rama with his army of monkeys like Hanuman, Sugriva and Angade in the vanguard, has reached the outskirts of Lanka for a war. 
 Seeing the advancing troops of monkeys, Prahasta, the commander-in-chief of the Lankan army tried to engage  Rama and his troops in an encounter but was killed along with his army. 
 Hearing this bad news, Ravana himself came out for a battle which he was confident of winning without much resistance. 
 But Ravana's experience proved otherwise. 
 He was stiffly opposed by the valiant monkeys like Sugriva etc., and he could somehow vanquish them temporarily. 
As he moved ahead, Ravana was accosted by Hanuman.  
Hanuman challenged Ravana that He would despatch Ravana to the abode of deathgod with a single punch of his right fist. 
 Ravana ridiculed him, but Hanjumanji actually hit Ravana on his chest with his fist and the winner of the whole world that Ravana was, he fell completely unconscious for sometime. 
 Seeing this valour of Hanuman, even the celestial beings and sages praised Him.  But Ravana regained consciousness and  meekly acknowledged that Hanuman was a real match for him. 
 However,  Hanumanji was thoroughly displeased with his own performance.  He says, 
"fie on my valour, I am a useless person.. You, Ravana, you are revived and alive to acknowledge the strength of my punch.  I am cursing myself that you, the evil fellow, did not depart for the abode of Yama  even after being hit by me, but are still alive to blabber like this."

To understand why Hanuman did not kill Ravana, we have to look into the issue in greater deapth. 
 Rama's avatara dharma was to kill Ravana and it was ordained by fate, and both Rama and Hanuman were the incarntions of Vishnu and Shiva respectively and they had to abide by the law made by themselves, the supreme law-makers.  
Moreover, Ravana himself was a great devotee of Shiva, and is ranked as the second of the greatest devotees of Lord Shambhu after Baanasura.  
So Lord Shambu cannot kill him.
  The Lord left Ravana to be killed by his own misdeeds culminating in the abduction of Sita, and the chosen killer was Rama.
 We can only enjoy the sense of Humour of the poet in the epic.

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