[Advaita-l] Ramopakhyana of Mahabharata vs. the Uttara Kanda of Ramayana

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

--------------------------------------------


Dear friends,

It is indeed mentioned in the end of the 74th chapter of the Uttara kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana  that the boy would come back to life, wnen Lord Ram would take the right action. Lord Ram called a meeting of Vashishtha and others to discuss the issue and  he asked the boy's body to be kept in a boat of oil. Obviously Ramayana means that the boy could be revived after Lord Ram took the appropriate action. 

The shudra's prime duty in that age was "paricharya" (i.e., attending to and nursing) and it could be that the physician, who treated the boy, could have given the job of looking after the patient to the shudra man but the latter neglected his duty and tried to do Tapa instead and as a result the boy went into coma. Lord Ram acted as per the decision taken in that meeting and the boy was also treated and saved. 

Regards,
Sunil Bhattacharjya

 Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Ramopakhyana of Mahabharata vs. the Uttara Kanda of	Ramayana
 To: "S Jayanarayanan" <sjayana at yahoo.com>, "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
 Date: Friday, June 10, 2016, 2:33 AM
 
 Namaste
 
 Sorry to "resurrect"
 an old discussion...
 Last night, while
 reading Mahabharata, I came across an episode in Shanti
 Parva:
 It is in section 153
 where Yudhishthira asks Bhishma if he has ever heard
 of a mortal being restored to life after having
 succumbed to death.
 In the Answer, there is
 a reference to Sri Rama and the Sudra Samvuka.
 A child had died before the father, and the
 father petitioned Sri Rama's
 help since
 this had not occurred in the kingdom during His reign.
 The reason was that Samvuka was engaged in
 ascetic penances and so Sri Rama
 cut off his
 head and the child was restored to life.
 
 This story is from the Uttara Kanda.
 I am not really in a position to answer the
 initial question about whether
 it was part
 of the original Ramayana of Valmiki.
 Bhishma
 may have received the story from another source.
 The point is that at the time of the
 composition of Mahabharata, this story
 was
 known...even though not mentioned in the
 "Ramopakhanya" portion.
 
 Yours in Truth
 Ryan
 
 On 3 May 2016 at 02:03, S Jayanarayanan via
 Advaita-l <
 advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
 wrote:
 
 >  It has
 debated whether or not the Uttara Kanda constitutes a part
 of the
 > original Valmiki Ramayana, or is
 a later addition to the text.
 >
 > Here is the reason why I believe the
 Uttara Kanda may not have been a part
 >
 of the original Valmiki Ramayana:
 > The
 Mahabharata actually contains the "Story of Rama, the
 Son of
 > Dasaratha", known as
 "Ramopakhyana". After talking about Rama and
 Lakshmana
 > going to the forest,
 Sita's captivity, Hanuman setting fire to Lanka, war
 > with Kumbhakarna, death of Ravana, freeing
 Sita etc., it ends with:
 > "And then
 assisted by the celestial Rishi (Vasishtha), Rama performed
 on
 > the banks of the Gomati ten horse
 sacrifices without obstruction of any
 >
 kind and with treble presents unto Brahmanas."
 >
 > Surprising that the
 "Ramopakhyana" as narrated in the Mahabharata
 ends
 > exactly at the same place as the
 Yuddha Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana (i.e.
 > the beginning of Rama Rajyam), with no
 mention of the later events of the
 >
 Uttara Kanda!
 >
 >
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 -- 
 Regards
 
 Ryan Armstrong
 +27 82 852 7787
 ryanarm at gmail.com
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