[Advaita-l] Pancha Kanya Questions

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Dear friends, 


According to another version the great Panchakanyas are as follows:

1)
Ahlya, who was duped and ravished by Indra, 

2)
Kunti, who innocently bore Karna from Surya and  then bore Yudhisthira from Dharma (or Dharma-avatara Vidura), Bhima from Vayu and Arjuna from Indra. She bore the last three children at the behest of her husband Pandu. 
3)
Tara, the wife of Brihaspati, who was taken away by Chandra and as a result Budha was born. Later on Tara was returned to Brihaspati.

4)
Draupadi, who had to marry the five Pandavas as according to Dharmashastra the younger brother cannot marry before the elder brother married. There is of course another story that Kunti had given the Pandavas a standing instruction to share their earnings together, and
5)
Mandodari had to marry Bibhishana after the death of Ravana and this was in keeping with the prevailing custorm in Lanka. Earlier as a faithful wife she tried to persuade Ravana to return Sita to Lord Ram but Ravana turned that down. Later on (as we learn from Hanuman's version of the Ramayana), towards the end of the war Mandodari tried to persuade Ravana to allow her to fight the war herself (as she was a kshatriya woman). Who knows! the war could have ended very differently had Mandodari fought the war herself.

Regards,
Sunil KB


________________________________
 From: sriram <srirudra at vsnl.com>
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2012 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Pancha Kanya Questions
 
Dear
I have heard it -as recited by my father as -Ahalya,Dhraupathim,Seetha , Tara Madhodharim thatha.Pancha Mathru smaren nithyam maha pathaka nasanam.They are revered mothers as per this version.About your queries as to  why only these five  are quoted and that too there are some  observed deviations from the bench mark of an ideal womanhood in these divine characters I have no answer.Perhaps if the authorship of this sloka is known we may get the correct perspective.That will be purely academic and may not help you spiritually.
R.Krishnamoorthy.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Venkatesh Murthy" <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 8:02 AM
Subject: [Advaita-l] Pancha Kanya Questions


Namaste

Ahalya Tara Mandodari Draupadi Seeta Tatha
Panchakanyaha Smaran Nityam Mahapataka Nashanam

The five famous Pativratas are Ahalya, Tara, Mandodari, Draupadi and
Seeta. Remembering them great sins will get wiped out.

But there are questions.

1 Why are these five Kanyas? Are they Virgins?

2 Except Mandodari the four had contact with Para Purusha man other
than husband. But still they are great? Why?

Ahalya was Gautama Rishi's wife. Indra came in Gautama's disguise to
enjoy her. She knew it was Indra not Gautama but still she enjoyed
with Indra. How can she become  a great Pativrata?

Tara was Vali's wife but she lived with Sugreeva after Vali was killed by Rama.

Draupadi was physically handled by Dushasana.

I heard Mandodari married Vibhishana after Ravana's death. Is it
correct? I heard she said to Ravana once-  'I wish Rama was my
husband'.  Is this correct?

Seeta was kidnapped by Ravana.

On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 9:03 PM, Rajaram Venkataramani
<rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 3:59 PM, Srikanta Narayanaswami <
> srikanta.narayanaswami at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> .I didnot say that there was Sringara rasa between Ravana and sita.Santam
>> papam.I regard Sita as the divine mother and any such entertainment is a
>> sacrilege.I too belong to Srram,s group.What I said was any interpretation
>> untoardly beyongd what Valmiki wrote in the kidnapping episode is a mere
>> extrapolation,and we cannot attribute any thing based on subjective
>> analysis.We have to take what Valniki has written at its facevalue.
>> N.Srikanta.
>> 
> I misread your statements based on a recent conversation I had on this
> topic, where a similar accusation was made that I had to defend. I stand
> corrected and glad to note the high degree of reverence to the divine
> couple.

-- Regards

-Venkatesh
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