The Ramcharitmanas 1

by Tulsidas

  Daityas: A race of demons and giants, the sons of Diti, daughter of Daksh, by the sage Kashyap. They warred against the gods, and were often victorious. They are very similar to their cousins, the Danavs.

  Daksh: ‘Competent, intelligent’; Daksh is one of the mind-born sons of Brahma, and is generally associated with male energy or creative power. Depending on the source consulted, he had twenty-four, fifty, or sixty daughters. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata agree on the larger number. According to the Mahabharata, ten of his daughters married Dharma, and thirteen married the sage Kashyap, becoming the mothers of gods and demons, men, birds, serpents and all living things. Twenty-seven married Soma, the Moon, and these became the twenty-seven Nakshatras or lunar asterisms. His daughter Sati married Shiv and killed herself because of a quarrel between her father and her husband. Daksh was also one of the Prajapatis, and is often regarded as their chief. He is also called Prajesh (lord of creatures).

  damru: A small drum shaped like an hour-glass, which is held in one hand; it is said to have been created by Shiv, and by beating it, Shiv produced the very first sounds. Shiv also performs his cosmic dance of regeneration to the beat of the damru.

  Danav; Danuj: A clan of demons, giants who warred against the gods; they are the sons of Danu, daughter of Daksh, by the sage Kashyap. They are associated with and very similar to the Daityas.

  Dandak: A vast forest between the rivers Godavari and Narmada. Some passages in Valmiki’s Ramayana describe it as beginning immediately south of the Jamuna. It is described as a wilderness, with scattered hermitages, and full of wild beasts and Rakshasas.

  Dasharath: A prince of the solar dynasty, descendant of Ishkvaku, the king of Koshal, and the father of Ram and his brothers, Bharat, Lakshman and Shatrughna. Dasharath had three wives, Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi.

  Dharma: Literally, ‘that which is to be held fast or kept’. It is a many-layered concept, and can variously mean statute, law, rule, or custom; customary observances of caste, sect, or social class; prescribed course of conduct, duty, or obligation; virtue, morality, morals; righteousness, good works; religion, piety, or religious observances.

  Dhruv: The Pole star; son of Uttanapad and his wife Suniti, he was a staunch devotee of Vishnu. According to the Vishnu Purana, King Uttanapada was one of the sons of Manu Swayambhuva. He had two wives: Suruchi, who was his favourite, and was haughty and cruel, and Suniti, the second queen, who was gentle and kind. Suruchi had a son called Uttam, and Suniti’s son was Dhruv. Suruchi demanded that her son Uttam should alone succeed to the throne. Uttanapad agreed, and Suniti and Dhruv left the palace for the forest. Dhruv, rejected by his father, declared he wanted no honours except those that he attained by his own actions. In his grief he meditated upon Vishnu, and in return for his unwavering devotion, Vishnu raised him up to the heavens as the Pole star.

  Diti: One of the daughters of Daksh, wife of Kashyap, and mother of the Daityas.

  Durvasa: ‘Ill-clothed’; a sage known for his fiery temper and irascible nature. According to some sources, he is the son of Atri and Anasuya; but some authorities say that he is a son or an emanation of Shiv. Many fell under the curse of his anger, including Indra, whom he cursed for disrespecting him, and by his curse, the gods under Indra became weak and were overpowered by the Asurs. This state of affairs ultimately led to the churning of the ocean by the gods and demons to recover amrit and other precious things.

  Dushan: A man-eating Rakshasa, the younger brother of Ravan; he was killed by Ram.

  elephants, celestial: The eight elephants who protect the earth and support it at the eight points of the compass. They are Airavat, Pundarik, Vaaman, Kumud, Anjan, Pushpadant, Sarvabhaum and Supratik. (See also guardians of the eight quarters).

  food, flavours of: There are six kinds of flavours in food. These are: sweet, sour, salt, bitter, acrid and astringent.

  food, kinds of: There are four kinds of food, classified according to the way in which they are ingested: (i) food that is chewed; (ii) food that is swallowed; (iii) food that is sucked; and (iv) food that is lapped up or drunk.

  Galav: A pupil of Rishi Vishvamitra. At the end of his studies, he asked Vishvamitra what fee he should give him. Vishvamitra refused to ask for anything, but when Galav insisted, he grew annoyed, and to get rid of him, asked him to bring him a thousand white horses with one black ear. After a long search, Galav found three kings who each had two hundred of the kind of horses he wanted. The kings, all of whom were childless, agreed to let him have the horses if he could somehow ensure they had a son. Galav appealed to Garud for help, who took him to see King Yayati. The king gave him his daughter, Madhavi, who, by a special boon, was able to bear sons and still remain a virgin. Galav gave her in marriage one after another to the three childless kings, Haryashwa, king of Ayodhya, Divodas, king of Kashi, and Ushinar, king of Bhoj; to each of the kings, Madhavi bore a son, and in return, Galav received 200 of the horses he wanted. Galav then presented Madhavi and the 600 horses to Vishvamitra. The sage accepted them and had a son by Madhavi, who was named Ashtaka. When Vishvamitra retired to the forest, he gave his hermitage and the horses to Ashtaka. And Galav, having taken Madhavi back to her father, also retired to the forest, like his guru.

  Gandharva: The Gandharvas are heavenly beings, who have their home in the sky or atmosphere; many of them live in Indra’s heaven. They are entrusted with the task of preparing soma for the gods, are skilled in medicine, and are singers and musicians.

  Ganesh: Lord of the ganas, the troops of lesser deities attendant upon Shiv; the son of Shiv and Parvati. As the god of wisdom and the remover of obstacles, he is propitiated at the beginning of any endeavour. He is represented as a short man, with a yellow body, four hands, and the head of an elephant, with one tusk. He has a pot belly, signifying his love of food. In one hand he holds a shell, in another a discus, in the third a club, and in the fourth a lotus. His steed is a rat. He is also called Ganpati, ‘chief of the ganas’; Ganraja, ‘king of the ganas’, Gajanan, ‘elephant-faced’; Vinayak, ‘leader of the Shiv’s retinue’ or ‘remover of obstacles’.

  Ganga: The sacred river Ganges. According to the Puranas, the river flows from the toe of Vishnu, and was brought down to earth by the actions of Bhagirath, to purify the ashes of the sixty-thousand sons of King Sagar, who were burnt by the angry glance of the sage Kapil. Thus the river is also called Bhaagirathi. To save the earth from the shock of her fall, Shiv caught the river upon his head and checked the force of her waters with his matted hair. (See also Bhagirath.) Personified as a goddess, she is the daughter of Himvat and Maina, and her sister is Uma, the goddess Parvati.

  Garud: King of the birds and the steed of Vishnu. He is represented with the head, wings, talons and beaks of an eagle, and the body and limbs of a man. His face is white, his wings red and his body golden. When he was born, he was so bright that people mistook him for Agni. He is the son of the rishi Kashyap and Vinata, one of the daughters of Daksh. From his mother he is called Vainateya, ‘Vinata’s son’; as Vishnu’s mount he is called ‘Hariyan’; as the enemy and devourer of snakes he is called Urugari, Uragari, Pannagari, Uragad; and as king of the birds he is Khagesh, Khagapati.

  Godavari: Revered by Hindus, this is India’s second-longest river after the Ganga; it rises in Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra and flows east for 1465 kilometres to empty into the Bay of Bengal.

  Gomati: River in northern India; it is a tributary of the Sarju. It is also called the Dhenumati.

  gorochan: A bright yellow pigment, found as a bezoar in cattle; this is considered very rare and holy and has various ritual uses in Hindu practice, and is specially used for marking the foreheads of Hindus with the tilak. It is also supposed to have medicinal properties, including as a sedative and an antidote to poisons.

  guardians of the eight quarters: The eight points of the compass (the four cardinal and four intermediate points) are guarded and presided over by eight guardian deities. They are: (i) Indra, king of the gods, guards
the east; (ii) Agni, or Fire, the south-east; (iii) Yama, god of death, the south; (iv) Surya, the Sun, the south-west; (v) Varun, the Sky, the west; (vi) Vayu, the Wind, the north-west; (vii) Kuber, god of wealth, the north; (viii) Soma, the Moon, the north-east. Some substitute Shiv in his form as Ishan, for Soma. Each of these guardian deities has an elephant who helps to defend and protect the quarter; together these eight celestial elephants support the earth upon their backs. Indra’s elephant at the east is Airavat; Agni’s elephant at the south-east is Pundarik; Yama’s at the south is Vaaman; Surya’s at the south-west is Kumud; Varun’s at the west is Anjan; Vayu’s at the north-west is Pushpadant; Kuber’s at the north is Sarvabhaum; and Soma’s elephant at the north-east is Supratik.

  Guha: Chief of the Nishads, and a devotee and friend of Ram.

  guna: A quality, or an ingredient or constituent of nature, of which there are three in particular, viz., Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, or ‘goodness, passion, and darkness’, or ‘virtue, foulness, and ignorance’.

  gunj seeds: The tiny, bright red and black seeds of the shrub known as the jequirity bean or the rosary pea; they form the smallest of a jeweller’s weights.

  Hanuman; Hanumant; Hanumat: Literally, ‘he who has large jaws’; the monkey chief who helped Ram in his search for Sita and fought with him in his war against Ravan. The son of Pavan, the Wind, he was of divine origin and endowed with magical powers. His mother was Anjana, the wife of a monkey called Kesari. He was enormously strong, he could also fly and change his size at will. In his true form he is as vast as a mountain and tall as a tower. His body is yellow and glows like molten gold. His face is as red as a ruby and his tail is so long that no one can measure its length. At the end of the war with Ravan, he went back with Ram to Ayodhya; there, Ram gave him the reward of perpetual life and youth. He epitomizes devotion to Ram. He is known by many names. For setting Lanka on fire, he is called Lankadahi; as the son of the wind he has the patronymics Pavanputra, Anili and Maruti; from his mother he is called Anjaneya; for his magic powers and knowledge of the healing arts, he is called Yogachara and Rajat-dyuti, ‘the brilliant’. He is also a grammarian, and rivals Brihaspati, the guru of the gods, in his knowledge of all the sciences.

  Harishchandra: Son of Trishanku and king of Ayodhya, the twenty-eighth in descent from Ishkvaku, founder of the solar dynasty. He was a just and virtuous king, and famed for his generosity. There are several legends about him. The Mahabharata says that he was raised to Indra’s heaven for his performance of the Rajasuya sacrifice (a fire-sacrifice that may be performed only by the greatest of kings) and his immense generosity. The Markandeya Purana gives a fuller version of the story: One day, while Harishchandra was out hunting, he heard the cries of several women in distress. The king rushed to help, but the cries were an illusion created by Vighnaraj, the god of obstacles. At that time, the sage Vishvamitra was observing strict penance in the forest. Vighnaraj, to test Harishchandra’s goodness, entered his body, and the moment he did so, the king lost his temper and began to loudly curse and hurl abuse at Vishvamitra. This angered the sage, who, because of his anger lost all the power he had acquired through years of penance. Vishvamitra was now furious with Harishchandra, and the king, seeing his wrath, begged for forgiveness. In return, the sage demanded the sacrificial gift that would be due to him as a Brahman for the performance of a Rajasuya sacrifice. The king agreed, and promised to give him whatever he would choose to ask. Vishvamitra demanded that the king give him everything he possessed. The king agreed and handed over all his material possessions to the sage, including his kingdom and the clothes he wore, so that he had remaining only his own body, a garment of bark, his wife, Shaivya, and his son, Rohit. The king, now destitute, left for the city of Banaras. But the sage was waiting for him there, and demanded that the gift be completed. In despair, Harishchandra sold his wife and his son, and handed over the proceeds to Vishvamitra. Now there remained only himself. Just then, Dharma, the god of justice, appeared in the form of a low-caste Chandal, and offered to buy him. When Vishvamitra still insisted upon the completion of his gift, the king sold himself to the Chandal and gave the money to the sage. His new master put Harishchandra in charge of a cremation ground, with strict instructions to be always present there and to allow cremation only after the payment of a toll. The honest king did exactly as his master commanded. As the months passed, his appearance grew dishevelled, and he lost all hope of ever seeing his wife and son again. One day, Rohit was bitten by a snake and died. His grieving mother carried his body to the cremation ground. The king and the queen recognized each other, and exchanging stories, were overcome with grief. They decided to immolate themselves upon the funeral pyre of their son. Harishchandra made ready a great pyre upon which he placed Rohit’s body, and once all was done, he lost himself in contemplation of Vishnu. At this, the gods all appeared and asked him to stop, and bringing Rohit back to life, told him that he, his wife and his son had all won a place in heaven because of his steadfastness in fulfilling his promise to Vishvamitra. But Harishchandra was hesitant. He could not go to heaven without his master, the Chandal’s permission. At this, the Chandal appeared and revealed himself to be Dharma. Harishchandra still refused, saying he could not leave behind his faithful subjects, in turmoil without a king. So Indra, Dharma and Vishvamitra took the king, his wife and his son to Ayodhya. There, Vishvamitra crowned Rohit king of Koshal, after which Harishchandra and his wife Shaivya were taken to heaven.

  Hataklochan: ‘The golden-eyed’, a powerful Daitya chief, son of Diti by the sage Kashyap, and twin brother of Kanakakasipu; he was killed by Vishnu in his third, Boar, incarnation. Hataklochan had dragged the earth to the bottom of the sea. In order to recover the earth, Vishnu took the form of a boar, and after a battle that lasted a thousand years, he killed Hataklochan and carried the earth back to the surface on his tusks. He is also known as Hiranyaksh and Kanakalochan.

  Himvat; Himvant; ‘Snow-clad’; the personification of the Himalaya

  Himalaya: mountains, husband of Maina, and father of Ganga and Uma (Parvati). He is also called Himachal, Himbhudar, Himgiri, Tuhinachal, Tuhingiri, ‘snowy mountain’; Girish, ‘mountain king’ or ‘king of the mountain’, a title he sometimes shares with Shiv.

  humours of the body: In the Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine, the body is regarded as having three humours (or bodily fluids) in addition to blood. The three humours are vat or (wind), pitt (bile) and kaph (phlegm). All organic disorders of the body arise from an imbalance in these humours.

  Ikshvaku: Founder of the solar dynasty, and king of Ayodhya at the beginning of the Tretayug or second age of the world. He had a hundred sons, of whom one was Nimi, who founded the Mithila dynasty.

  Indra: God of the firmament, personification of the atmosphere; king of the gods. His consort is Indrani (also known as Shachi); he has a son by her, called Jayant. His heaven is Swarga; his capital is Amaravati; his elephant is Airavat; and his horse is Uchchaihsravas. His charioteer is Matali. In the Vedas, he is one of the most important of the gods, though he is not unbegotten/uncreated but has a father and a mother. He is described in the Vedas as a being of golden colour, with arms of enormous length. His forms are infinite and he can take any shape at will. He rides in a golden chariot drawn by two ruddy horses with flowing tails and manes. His weapon is the thunderbolt, which he carries in his right hand; he also uses arrows, a hook and a net in which he entangles his enemies. His chief delight is soma ras, the extremely potent juice of the soma plant, which he drinks in enormous quantities. He controls the weather, dispenses rain, and sends down lightning and thunder. He is constantly at war with Vritra, the demon of drought and bad weather, whom he ultimately overcomes with his thunderbolts. In the later centuries, Indra’s importance decreased. He became less than the triad of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv, but remained chief of all the other gods. According to the Mahabharata, he is the son of Aditi by Kashyap, and the foremost of the Adityas. He is the regent of the atmosphere and the guardian
of the east quarter of the compass. He sends the lightning and hurls the thunderbolt, and the rainbow is his bow. He is represented as a fair-skinned man, riding a white horse or an elephant, and holding the thunderbolt in his hand. He is constantly at war with the Asurs, and is often defeated by them. He killed Vritra, but because Vritra was a Brahman, Indra had to go into hiding and perform penance till his guilt was purged away. There are many stories of his lack of self-restraint. He became infatuated with Ahalya, the beautiful and virtuous wife of the sage Gautam, and in his arrogance, decided to seduce her. He tricked the sage to leave the hermitage, and then taking on his form, seduced the unsuspecting Ahalya. The sage returned to see him leaving his house, and in fury cursed him so that he would be covered with the marks of a thousand yonis (the female organs of reproduction). Thus he was called Sa-yoni. But these marks were later changed to eyes, because of which he is also called Netra-yoni or Sahasraksha ‘the thousand-eyed’. He was defeated and carried off to Lanka by Ravan’s son, Meghnad (who thus received the title of Indrajit, ‘vanquisher of Indra’). Brahma and the other gods had to beg Meghnad to release him, which Meghnad did, in return for the boon of immortality. Brahma then tells Indra that his defeat was his punishment for seducing Ahalya. He is also known as Sakr, ‘the powerful’; Purandar, ‘destroyer of cities’; Pakripu, ‘destroyer of the demon Pak’; Maghva or Maghvan, ‘endowed with riches, wealthy’; Basav or Vasava, ‘lord of the Vasus’.

  Jabali: A Brahman, and a priest of King Dasharath. He is also called Javall.

  Jadu: One of the sons of King Yayati, from his wife Devyani. Jadu (or Yadu) refused to relieve his father of the curse of old age passed on to him by the Rishi Sukra, and was therefore cursed in turn by Yayati that his children will not have a kingdom to rule. He was the founder of the line of Jadavas (or Yadavas), in which Krishna was born. He did ultimately receive the southern part of his father’s kingdom, which the Jadavas went on to successfully rule.