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Re: Doubts reg: Vali Vadham

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Nanmaaran • March 11, 2003 


Dear Sri Harikrishnan,

I was bit busy in year end jobs and hence the delay in responding to your mail. Sorry for that. Basically iam referring to edition of Ramayanam for which details are as below.

 M.N.Ramaswami Iyer Memorial Edition By 
Late Rao Sahib P.S Krishnaswamy Iyer
        Published by 
Arsha Vidya Ashram Gurukulam
Anaikatti PO, Coimbatore

You Wrote: 

This comes as a surprise to me.  Aranya Kandam, Canto 44 has only 27 Slokas, and I presume that Verse No.29 indicated in your mail must be a typo.  The 27th Sloka is translated in the Gorakhpur edition as follows:

 Answer

I have seen differences in number of slokas and the actual content itself in some editions. One I have has this sloka reference.

 You Wrote:

nihatya pR^iSatam ca anyam maa.msam aadaaya raaghavaH |
tvaramaaNo janasthaanam sasaara abhimukhaH tadaa || 3-44-27

 Answer

This is 28th sloka in the book I have.

You Wrote:

27. nihatya+pR^iSatam+ca+anyam==== killed, dappled, deer, also, another 
one; maamsam+aadaaya+ raaghavaH==== flesh, on taking, Raghava; 
tvaramaaNaH+janasthaanam+ sasaara==== hurriedly, to Jana sthaana, drifted; 
abhimukhaH+tadaa==== towards [Janasthaana,] then.

Then Raghava killed another dappled deer and on taking its flesh, he 
drifted towards Janasthaana, hurriedly. [3-44-27] 

 I wish to draw attention the to the word 'another one'.  It was not the 
golden deer that was skinned. I hope scholars would throw light on this 
point.

 Answer

In the book which I refer, it is mentioned as below.
Prisatam ca---“thOlai mattum” (tamil) Only Skin
Anyam      ----“vEraaka” (tamil)      separated)

it means that “separated the skin from the flesh” . Author interprets “anyam” as “vERaaga” does not refer to some other deer. And there is no neccasity to take some other deer when Sita asked for this deer.

 And for these questions, 

 1) Why did Rama skin the deer?

Skinning the deer is explained only by Valmiki. For some reason Kamban omits that and says simply that Rama had returned back immediately. May be Kamban could not digest the contradiction and controversy in Valmiki's statements. The reference sloka in Valmiki is given above. 

 2) Why did Rama go after the deer?  Why could he not ask Lakshmana to go instead?

 There is a Metaphysical answer for this which I will post later.

 Regards,

Nanmaaran
 





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