The Ramcharitmanas 3

by Tulsidas

  Bana; Banasur: A powerful Daitya, the eldest son of the Daitya king, Bali; he had a thousand arms and was a devotee of Shiv and an enemy of Vishnu. He is also called Vairochi.

  ber: The jujube tree and its fruit. This is cultivated as well as grows wild in India; every part of the tree has medicinal uses, and its small and somewhat acid fruit is very popular and is eaten pickled, cooked or raw. ‘Holding a ber in the palm of your hand’ signifies understanding something clearly and from every angle, just as the small and round ber fruit can be seen when held upon one’s palm.

  Bhadon: The sixth month of the Hindu calendar, equivalent to August–September.

  Bhagirath: A king of the Ikshvaku dynasty, and a descendent of Sagar; he brought the sacred River Ganga to earth from heaven. King Sagar of Avadh married two women, the princess Keshini, and Sumati, the daughter of the sage Kashyap. With Keshini, he had one son, Asamanjas; through him the royal line was continued. With Sumati he had sixty-thousand sons. Now Asamanjas grew up into such a wild and immoral man that Sagar abandoned him. Unfortunately, the sixty-thousand also followed in their brother’s footsteps, and became so known for their impiety that the gods complained about them to Vishnu and to the sage Kapil. Once, Sagar decided to hold the Ashvamedha or horse-sacrifice. Though the horse was guarded by his sixty-thousand sons, it was carried off to Patal, the underworld. They dug their way to the underworld, where they saw the sage Kapil seated in meditation, and the horse grazing close by. Thinking that he was the thief, they threatened him with their weapons. This disturbed the sage in his meditation, and so enraged him that a single glance from him reduced them to ashes. Their remains were found by Anshumat, the son of Asamanjas, who begged Kapil that his uncles be raised to heaven through his favour. Kapil promised Anshumat’s grandson would be the means of accomplishing this by bringing down Ganga, the river of heaven. Anshumat returned to Sagar, who then completed the sacrifice. The deep chasm that his sons had dug became the ocean, which is called ‘saagar’ after his sons. The son of Anshumat was Dilip, and his son was Bhagirath. Determined to free the souls of his ancestors, Bhagirath left his kingdom in the care of his ministers and retreated to the Himalayas, where he practised severe austerities in order to please Brahma. After a thousand years of prayer and penance, Brahma appeared before him. When Bhagirath told him that he wanted to bring down the divine river, Ganga, so that he may perform the appropriate rites for his ancestors, Brahma told him to pray to Shiv, for only he could withstand the force of the river’s descent. So Bhagirath prayed to Shiv. The compassionate god was quickly pleased, and agreed to help him, promising to hold the Ganga in his matted locks and so reducing the force of her descent. Ganga agreed to come to earth, and as she fell, Shiv stood beneath her cascading waters and caught them in his hair, letting only a trickle escape. This trickle was as much as the earth could bear, and this became the mighty River Ganga upon earth. She followed Bhagirath, and he guided the river from the Himalayas, across the plains of northern India, into the sea, and from there to Patal, where the ashes of Sagar’s sixty-thousand sons were washed with her waters and purified.

  bhakti: A many-nuanced idea meaning at one time all or any one of the following: faith, belief; devotion, adoration, worship; attachment, devotedness, service. In the Hindu context, it means devotion to and love for a personal god. There are nine forms of bhakti, which are explained by Ram to Sabari in the Aranyakand (35-36).

  Bharadvaj: An eminent rishi to whom are attributed many hymns from the Vedas.

  Bharat: ‘He who supports, bears, or carries’; son of Dasharath and Kaikeyi, younger brother to Ram.

  Bhogavati: The magnificent, subterranean capital city of the Nagas in Patal.

  Bhrigu: A Vedic sage. He is one of the Prajapatis and the great Rishis, and regarded as the founder of the race of Bhrigus or Bhargavas, in which were born Jamadagni and his son, Parashuram. He officiated at Daksh’s sacrifice.

  Bhringi: A sage, especially devoted to Shiv. It is said that Bhringi was so deeply devoted to Shiv that he even refused to honour Parvati, maintaining that he would worship Shiv and Shiv alone. He attempted to circle Shiv in homage, leaving out Parvati, so Shiv took Parvati upon his lap; Bhringi then turned himself into a snake and tried to slither between the two. At that, Shiv made Parvati a part of himself, taking on the form of Ardhanarishvar. Bhringi then turned himself into a bee and tried to separate the two. At this Parvati was so angry that she cursed him, so that he lost all flesh and blood and, turning into a bag of bones, collapsed upon the ground. Bhringi then realized that he could not separate Shiv from Parvati, for they were not separate, but together made up the whole. Bhringi was forgiven, and given a third leg by which to support himself.

  Bhushundi; Kak Bhushundi: The crow, Bhushundi. He is a sage in a crow’s body, and a great devotee of Ram. He is also one of the four narrators of the Ramcharitmanas, and relates the story of Ram to Garud.

  birth, modes of: According to Hindu tradition, there are four modes of birth: (i) born from the womb (such as man and other mammals); (ii) born of an egg (such as birds, fish and so on); (iii) engendered by heat and moisture (such worms, insects, lice, etc.); and (iv) born by sprouting or germinating (trees, plants, vegetables, etc.). From these four modes of birth are generated eighty-four lakh (1 lakh = 100,000) forms of life.

  blue-throat: The Indian roller. This bird has a blue crown and blue wings and tail, and a pale-brown breast. Though it does not have a blue throat, it is called nil-kanth (literally ‘blue-throat’ in Hindi), which is also a name for Shiv. It can be easily seen in India, and is believed by many to be sacred to Vishnu.

  brahm: The Absolute, the Eternal, the Self-existent, the divine essence and source of all being from which all created things emanate and to which they all return (not to be confused with Brahma who is the Supreme Spirit personified as the Creator).

  Brahma: The Supreme Spirit manifested as the Creator of the universe. He is the first god of the Hindu triad of the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer. He is represented as red in colour, with four heads. He wears a pointed beard, usually white in colour. He has four arms, in which he variously holds his sceptre, a spoon, a rosary of beads, a waterpot, a lotus, his bow Parivita and the Vedas. His consort is the goddess Sarasvati. His vehicle is the hansa, or swan. Brahma is also called ‘Aj’, the unborn; Chaturanan or Chaturmukh, ‘having four faces’; Sanat, ‘the ancient’; Vidhi, as providence, or the one who ordains what will be; Vidhatra or Vidhata ‘disposer’ or ‘arranger’; Viranchi, the Creator.

  Brahman: The first of the four castes of Hinduism. It is the priestly caste, though its members may not necessarily be priests. In Hindu belief, a Brahman is the chief of all created beings. His person is inviolate, he is entitled to every honour and causing harm to a Brahman results in the severest consequences, in this life and the next. The chief duty of a Brahman is the study and teaching of the Vedas, and the performance of fire-sacrifices and other ceremonies. Hindus believe that there are two kinds of gods: the gods themselves, and then the Brahmans who have learnt the Vedas—they are gods upon earth.

  chakor; chakori (f.): A mythical bird, which is believed to subsist only upon moonbeams and to eat fire at the full moon.

  chatak; chataki (f.): A mythical bird that subsists only on raindrops that fall in autumn, when the sun is at the same longitude as the star Svati.

  Chintamani: The ‘wish-jewel’. It has the power of granting all desires. It belongs to Brahma, who is himself sometimes called by this name.

  Chitrakut: ‘Bright peak’; one of the peaks of the Vindhya range, and the first dwelling-place of Ram and Sita during their exile.

  Dadhichi: A Vedic rishi. Once, Indra had been driven out of his kingdom by the Asur, Vritra, who was invulnerable to any known weapon. Vritra also stole all the water in the world for his own use and that of his army. Indra turned to Vishnu for help, who revealed that Vritra could be defeated only by a weapon made from the bones of the sage Dadhichi, who was practising penance in
the Naimisha forest. Indra and the other gods went to Dadhichi and appealed to him for help. The sage agreed, and gave up his life immediately. From his bones, Vishvakarma, the smith of the gods, fashioned the thunderbolt and other weapons, with which Indra and the gods defeated Vritra and his army.

  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 medicina
l 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.