Anshuman and Kapila

Some time passed, but his sons were not returning. Sagara was worried. He asked Anshusham to go look for his uncles. Anshuman was the son of Asmanjas. Hunting around Asmanjas retraced the path taken by his uncles and finally reached the place where Kapila was meditating. On the way to the nether world he saw a blue elephant who were holding the earth on its tusks. He bowed down to the elephants which should he go in search of his uncles and the horse. The elephant pointed him towards the white elephant standing there. The blue elephant also told him to be polite and speak nicely to all he met.
Anshuman bowed down to the white elephant who pointed him to where a red elephant was standing.
These three elephants together were supporting the earth. If they shook their heads, earthquakes and tremors would happen on the earth.
The Red elephant pointed him towards the ashrama of Kapila, where Anshuman saw the horse bound.
Falling prostate on the ground, Anshuman bowed down before the sage and wanted to know if he had seen the sons of Sagara.
Seeing Anshuman's devotion, Kapila was pleased. He said the princes had tried to hit him and had called him a thief. Pointing to a pile of ashes, he said they were the unfortunate sons of Sagara. He also said, if Ganga was brought there, his uncles would attain salvation.
Anshuman wanted to know from the sage who was Ganga and where he would find Ganga.

Sagara's sons burnt

One day Sagara decided to perform the Ashwamedha Yagna. He asked his sons to protect the horse of the sacrifice.  Sagara was afraid that Indra would try to steal the horse.
Sagara wanted to rule and become an emperor which is why he wanted to perform the sacrifice. Indra, in the heavens, thought Sagara wanted to take over his land too. He went to Brahma and wanted to know what to do. Brahma asked him to steal the horse. One time, in the middle of the night, when all the sons who were guarding the horse had fallen asleep, Indra stole the horse seeing this as a chance, and hid the horse in the nether world, in the ashrama of rishi Kapila.
The rishi was busy in his meditation, and never realized when Indra came and tied the horse there, and left.
When night was over, the brothers were shocked to see the horse missing. Having searched everywhere, they decided to search in the nether world. With spades, they started digging deep into the earth to go and below and explore the world there. They found the horse tied there, in the ashrama of Kapila.
Thinking Kapila had stolen the horse, they started abusing the sage, calling him a horse thief.

His meditation broken, the sage opened his eyes and saw the Sagara princes abusing him. Flames shot out of his eyes, and the sons of Sagara were instantly burnt to ashes.

Sagara and Asmanjas

Ruhidas ruled the kingdome wisely. He had a son called Sagara, who became king after him. Sagara had no children. He decided to retire into the forests and pray for a child. He prayed to Shiva who appeared before him. He asked Shiva to bless him with many sons. Shiva smiled and said you will have sixty thousand sons. The king went home happy.

The king had two wives - Sumati and Kesini. In time, both wives conceived. Kesini gave birth to beautiful son, who was called Asmanjas. Sumati gave birth to a mass of flesh. From this were born sixty thousand sons.

The king was proud of his sons and started boasting around. The gods angry cursed that the sons would meet an untimely death.

The sons began growing up. Sagara was busy with the sixty thousand sons, Asmanjas was busy with his education. Sometime he discovered that Vishnu was the ultimate truth. He wanted to leave everything but somehow being the eldest, he was not allowed to. He thought of an alternative. If he started troubling people around him, he would be sent away.

He started by pushing boys into ponds and rivers; breaking pots of women carrying water; setting fire to peoples' goods etc. People went and complained to his father. Angry, Sagara banished Asmanjas. Happily Asmanjas went away.

Harishchandra

After the death of his father, Harischandra became king of Ayodhya. He got married to the princess Shavya. He had a son called Ruhidas.
Let us deviate a bit and talk off Indra. One day, Indra was enjoying the dance of five apsaras. During the course of the dance, they missed a beat. Angry Indra cursed them to trapped in the ashrama of Rishi Vishwamitra. When they wanted to know how they would be freed, they were told that once king Harischandra came there, they would be free.
The apsaras went to the ashrama of Vishwamitra. They could not get out. Vishwamitra was not there, so not knowing what to do, they starting playing with the trees in the ashrama, and in the process ended up breaking many branches.
When Vishwamitra came back, he was surprised to see this. He put a curse - who ever tried to do this, would end up getting bound by creepers in the ashrama. The apsaras got bound.
The next day, Harischandra came there. He was out hunting, and seeing the ashrama on the way, he had stopped by. The apsaras started calling out to him. Looking to see who was calling him, the king touched the creepers that bound the apsaras and they got freed.
Vishwamitra was not in his ashrama at the moment. The king went back home.
Next day when Vishwamitra was walking around his ashrama, he noticed the apsaras missing. He closed his eyes and realized it was Harischandra who had freed them. Angry he went to the king.
The king was glad and welcomed the sage with open heart.
The sage asked the king, why had he freed the apsaras that he had bound.
The king said I have not knowingly done anything wrong and I always follow the path of truth. I give away all I can to the needy and people know me as such,
The sage said if you take pride in being a provider of alms, then promise me you will give me what I ask for.
The king said he would do so, and he would not deviate from the path of truth.
The sage then said, Let all gods be witness, O king. Give me your land, your kingdom over to me.
The king agreed. He got three fists full of soil, and by giving that over the sage, he symbolically handed over his land to the sage. The sage along with the land I need wealth.
The king said he had a treasury full, and he would give from there.
The sage, having donated his kingdom away , he had no right over the treasury now.
The sage told the king to go to the land of Varanasi and stay there, along with his wife and son. There he would have to earn wealth and hand it over. The sage gave a time of seven days within which the gold would have to handed over to him.
The king did not know how to get the wealth. His queen then told him to sell her in the market and hand over to the sage whatever wealth he would get. The king went to the market.
A brahman came and bought both the queen and her son. What Harischandra could get was only a part of the the amount he needed to give the sage. The sage refused to take part of the amount and demanded the full amount.
Harishchandra went back to the market and there he put himself up for sale. A person called Kalu, who burnt corpses in the crematorium agreed to take Harishchandra as his helper. The king first took the amount and handed over what was due, to Vishwamitra and then went off with the person who had bought him.
His duty was to look after the pigs that this person had. He was also told to take money as a collection from all, who came to burn their dead in Varanasi.
In time, the king became dark from roaming around with the pigs and the smoke of the burning grounds. Anyone who knew him as the king, would not be able to recognize him.
In the brahman's house, the queen and her son served as servants. One day the brahman asked the queen to send her son to the garden and get from flowers for the worship. He was bitten there by a snake and he fell dead.
Seeing her son not returning, the queen went in search of her son and found him, lying dead in the garden.

(There is one part which I had skipped here. The queen used to be given a portion of the fodd that she would share with her son. The brahman seeing this decided to engage the son in gathering flowers for his worship. In lieu of that, he would give the son additional food, so he would not have to eat his mother's share. The garden where the prince had been was actually the garden of Visxhwanitra. He plucked flowers and came back home, When Vishwamitra realized that Harishchandra's son had plucked his flowers, he put a curse that, if came again, he would be bitten by a snake, who would strike him on his chest. The next day, when the boy came again, the snake was in the branches of the trees and the boy got bitten.)

She started lamenting. A king's daughter now a slave, and now her son also dead. She decided to end her life by entering the pyre in which she would burn her son. She went to the same place where her husband was now serving.

Harischandra saw the queen come. His senses blinded, he could not recognize his wife. He just saw a woman carrying the dead body of a child. He demanded money from her, for burning the dead. She said she had no wealth to give and the king told her to go somewhere else with the dead.

She did not know what to do. She said all she had with her was the garment that was covering her body, and she could give half of that away. She started crying out to her husband to come and help her.  The king realizing, told the lady to stop crying. I am the unfortunate king - he said.

The queen said this is my fate. I am here with a dead son and a cremation ground guard now calls himself my husband. When I was the queen of Ayodhya, people like this would not dare show their face.

The king said I know you, princess of Somdatta. You are Shavya. You married me and we had a son called Ruhidas. Vishwamitra took my kingdom away.

The queen looked at the king. The eyes looked like her husband's eyes. Both then started weeping at the death of their only son. Finally both decided that they would burn their son and enter the pyre and burn along with their dead son.

They set up a wood pyre and then putting their son in the middle and the king and queen sat on two sides of the pyre.

King of Death, Yama then came there. On his touch, the dead boy came back to life. Vishwamitra came there. He said all the good will he had earned by his penances were lost because of the kingdom he had got from Harischandra. He handed over the kingdom back to the rightful king.

Harishchandra returned back to Ayodhya with his wife and son.

When it was time, Ruhidas was made king of Ayodhya.

When Harishchandra passed away, he made his way towards heaven. Many animals like dogs and pigs also started going with the king, heavenwards.

Vishnu was amazed to see this. He did not like the fact that these animals were entering the heaven. He called Narada and asked why this was happening. Narada went and asked Harischandra why he wanted to go to heaven.

Proud of what he had done, the king started boasting about his feats.

The more he boasted, more he came downwards. Seeing this, the king stopped. The animals went back to their land, the king got stuck midways between heaven and earth.

008 Birth of Harit

Mandhata's son was Muchkunda, who had a son called Prithu, who could travel over the oceans with ease. Prithu had a som called Ishkawaku. He had Narada and Vashishtha as his guides. He had a son called Shatavarta whose son was called Aryavarta. Aryavarta had a son called Bharata. His sone was Bhudhar whose son was Khanda.Khanda had a son called Danda.
Danda was a person of bad character. He could not control himself if he saw a good looking woman. He would kidnap and ravish her.
People went to his father and complained saying they would not be able to live in Ayodhya and would need to leave the place, because of the atrocities levied on them by Danda.

Thinking that marriage would change him, Khanda got his son married. He sent his son to a nearby forest where Danda setup his kingdom, in the forest called Dandaranya. The sage Shukra used to live there. Danda used to go to the sage to learn from him.

One day when Danda went to the sage, he saw that the sage was not at home. He saw that the sage had a beautiful daughter Abja, who was picking flowers for worship. Danda said he wanted to make love to her but the maiden refused. She said , You are a student of my father, thus you are like my brother. What you are saying is sinful. Please discard these thoughts. If you want me, you will have to marry me, and for that you will have to ask my father for my hand.

Danda he would think of marriage later, first he wanted her. When the maiden refused, he forcibly ravished the virgin maiden. In the evening when Shukra came home, his daughter gave him seat to sit. Shukra wanted to know why his daughter looked different and behaved differently. With tears in her eyes, Abja told her father what had happened. He sent forth for Danda. Danda came there and stood before the sage. The sage asked him if this was the gratitude shown for the knowledge given. With fiery eyes, Shukra looked at Danda and the prince was instantly burnt to ashes.

With Danda no more, there was no one to carry the line of the king of Ayodhya.In Ayodhya, the sage Vashistha reluctantly took the reigns of the kingdom on his shoulder. A sage was meant for worship, and not ruling a land. Meditating, he realized that Abja would give birth to a son. He approached Shukra and asked him to send his daughter to Ayodhya. She was to be the mother of the future king of Ayodhya. Shukra agreed and Abja went to live in the palace in Ayodhya. She soon gave birth to son who was named Harit.

Harit was crowned king when he was old enough. One day he asked his mother how she was widowed at a young age. Abja explained to Harit, the story of his birth and also told him that she was never married to his father.

Harit had a son named Haribij. Haribij then had a son called Harishchandra.

007 The Pregnant King

The first person was Niranjan who had three sons, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar. After three sons, he had a daughter called Kandini. She married Narada, son of Jaratkaru. They had a daughter called Bhanu. Bhanu married Jamadagni and Vishnu was born as their son. By the grace of Brahma, a son was born, who was named Marichi. Marichi had a son Kashyapa. Surya was born as the son of Kashyap. Manu was the son of Surya and Sushena, son of Manu.
His son was Yuvanashwa. He became the king of Ayodhya. He married the daughter of king Kandaka.
Though he had married his wife, he would not sleep with her. He was busy with worship and had no time for his wife. Not able to do anything, the queen went to her father and told him. The king began cursing his son in law.
Not knowing what to do, Yuvanashwa went to the priests and asked them to help him have a child. The priests found this funny. How could a man, who would not touch a woman, think of having a child? They asked him to do a worship and please the Gods. If they were pleased, there was a possibility. They told him to give the holy water to his queen, and then the queen could conceive, once she drank that water.
Happy, the king went about performing the worship and kept the water, in his room. He thought of giving to his wife in the morning. It was evening, and tired the king went to sleep.
In the night, the king woke up feeling very thirsty. In his sleep, he drank the water kept for the queen.
In the morning, the priests called the king and asked him to hand over the water to the queen. The king said, he had by mistake, drunk up the water.
The priests told him, he would now have to bear the child himself.
In time, the king started showing signs of being pregnant. After sometime, the king's stomach had to be cut open, and the king gave birth to a son. The king died in the process. Brahma appeared and named the son, Mandhata.
When it was time, Mandhata became the king of Ayodhya.

006 Lunar Dynasty

When the cosmic ocean was churned, the Moon arose from the waters. He had a son called Budha (বুধ) . Budha had a son named Purascha. Purascha had a son, Shatavarta. .Shatavarta had a son, Sarga. Sarga had a son called Shweta, who then had a son called Nimi. From his body was born his son Mithi. He was the one who founded the kingdom of Mithila. He had two sons Viradhwaja and Kushadhwaja. In this dynasty, Lakshmi was born as Sita.

005 Narada comes to help

One day Valmiki was sitting in a forest meditating on the name of Rama. On an adjoining tree, a pair of egrets playing around. (Note : The bird being mentioned in the Ramayana is the Krauncha bird. This is colloquially referred to as Koonj in Hindi).
A hunter had been observing the birds for long, and taking a chance, he shot an arrow which struck one of the birds. The wounded bird fell on Valmiki's lap.Putting a hand on his ear, Valmiki said you have killed a living being in my presence. You have killed someone who was innocent and for this you will have to suffer. Valmiki cursed the hunter. The curse itself came out in the form of a shloka from Valmiki's mouth. The curse started with MA NISHADA.
Valmiki quickly wrote he had just uttered. He could not understand himself, what he had just said.

(As per Valmiki Ramayana : the shloka is
Maa Nishada Pratistham Tvamagamahsāsvati Samaa
Yat Kraunchamithunaadekam Avadhi Kaamamohitam )

He searched out the sage Bharadwaj who was residing near by and asked him to explain what this meant. Brahma sent Narada to the place where Valmiki was.
Seeing Narada, Valmiki bowed down before him. He told Narada about the Shloka and the sage explained to Valmiki what the shloka meant.

(O fowler, don’t live for long. Let this be the end of your life.  When the male krouncha was with his partner with joy, you killed him. This is the cruelest of acts that one can deal to one who is most innocent. As you have dealt a deathblow to one of the two doves who was most innocent and not deserving of this harm, I utter this word of immediate annihilation of yourself.)

Narada then asked Valmiki to write about Rama in the same meter as the shloka. He said thus about a king called a Dasharatha who will be born in the solar dynasty. To kill Ravana, Narayana will born as Rama, as one of his sons. He will have three other sons - Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna. The four brothers will be born of three mothers. Sita was born in the house of Janaka. Rama will string a bow and make Sita his wife. To fulfil a promise of his father, Rama will go to the forest along with Lakshmama and Sita. Ravana will kidnap Sita. Hanuman will facilitate Rama's meeting with Sugriva. Rama will kill Vali and make Sugriva king. With Sugriva's help Rama will kill the ten headed Ravana. Rama will come back to Ayodhya and be crowned king. Agastya will tell Rama about the greatness of Ravana. Rama will exile Sita. Lakshamana will come and keep Sita with you. She will give birth to two sons, Kusha and Lava. You will teach them the epic, Ramayana. Rama will be united with his sons and handing over his kingdom to his sons, Rama will leave this earth. What I have told you, will happen once Rama is born. Saying this Narada left and Valmiki, having got a direction, with the help of the Goddess Saraswati, started his epic composition.

004 Valmiki

For sixty thousand years Ratnakar sat, meditating on the name of Rama. In this long period, he was oblivious of his surroundings. Where Ratnakar was sitting, an ant hill grew and slowly the ants started spreading over his body and eating away his flesh. Ratnakar did not feel anything. All he did was utter the name of Rama.
Soon all flesh was eaten away and only bones remained. Over a period of time, grass and bushes grew over the mass of bones. The name of Rama did not stop.
Brahma and Narada had stepped away for a minute. This was sixty thousand years in human time. When Brahma and Narada got back they could not see Ratnakar.They looked around but no signs. While they could not see anyone, they could hear the name of Rama being uttered. Tracing back to the source of the sound, they came to an overgrown ant hill. They saw the name of Rama coming from the ant hill. So Ratnakar is here, Brahma thought. He called for Indra, God of Rains, and asked him to rain non stop for seven days and seven nights.
After the rain, Brahma saw a human skeleton uttering the name of Rama, With the grace of Brahma, Ratnakar got back his human form. Getting up, he prostrated himself before Brahma. You gave me the name of Rama, he said. Today I am free.
Brahma asked him to get up and said. You were Ratnakar. Today you get a new name. Eaten by the ants (Valmika), you will hence forth be known as Valmiki.
Valmiki wanted to know what to do next. Brahma said, go write the story of Rama, in seven chapters (Kanda).
Valmiki said he would do the same, but he was not very educated. How would he able to write an epic about Rama?
Brahma said - Do not worry. When it is time, Devi Saraswati, Goddess of all learning, will sit on your tongue. What ever you say about Rama, Rama will perform those tasks. Saying this Brahma and Narada left.

003 Greatness of the name of Rama

Ratnakar first went to his father. 'Will you share my sins with me', he asked. His father was offended. No scripture states that the son's sins would be shared by his father. His father said in life, there are changes. In one stage, he is the father and he has a baby, that is his son. In the later stage of life, there is a reversal of roles and now the father is like a child, and the son like the father. It is the duty of the son to now take care of the father. When you were small, the father continued, it was my duty to take care of you. If I had sinned then, then those sins would stay with me, would not touch you. Now there is a role reversal and you are like a father to me and you need to take care of me. Also, I never asked you to kill people and thus run the family. This was your choice and you need to bear the consequences.
Hurt, Ratnakar then went to his mother. Tell me the truth, Mother, will you share with me my sins. When I bore you in my womb, I made sure my sins do not affect you.I will not be a part of your sins.
Dejected, Ratnakar then went to his wife.Tell me, o beloved, he asked her, will you share my sins with me. His wife said I am your wife, and it your duty to take care of me. When you married me, you took vows that come what may, in whatever circumstances, you will always take care of me. If you have sinned, which you should have not, those will not touch me, as that is part of your duty.
He was scared now. What have I done. I thought I would have my family share all my sins, but no one was willing to. Raising an iron mace, he struck himself and fell senseless on the ground.
Coming to him senses, Ratnakar decided to go to the sage he had tied up. Maybe he can help me.
Saluting Brahma, Ratnakar said he had realized that there was no one to share his sins. He wanted to know what was the way of salvation for him.

Brahma asked Ratnakar to have a dip in the pond nearby and come to him. So much had he sinned, that the moment he touch the water of the lake, it all evaporated. The water creatures started dying.
Coming back to Brahma, the dacoit said he needed help. The pond was full of water but the moment I touched it, it all vanished and now innocent water creatures are dying because of me.

In the holy pot that Brahma was carrying, there was some water. Brahma took some water from there and sprinkled it on him. Thinking of a way to remove the sins, Brahma asked Ratnakar to utter the name of Rama.
Though he tried, he could not take the name of Rama. So great were his sins that his tongue got twisted when he tried to take Rama's name.
Brahma began thinking. This was not good. Ratnakar needed to take the name of Rama. He thought - Rama is spelt as Ra and Ma together. If you reverse the order say Ma and then Ra, after some time it will become Rama. Calling Ratnakar, he said, when you kill a person and the person is dead, what do you call that dead person? Ratnakar said why they say Mara. (Note - in bengali, the dead - Mara is spelled as ম ড়া ). Brahma said, change the Ra and say Mara (ম রা ). After struggling for some time, Ratnakar was finally able to utter Mara (ম রা ). Utter this in continuation, Ratnakar was finally able to utter ম রা ম রা ম রা ম রা ম রা ম রা .... which became transformed to রা ম রা ম রা ম রা ম ... He was now free of his sins. He was now liberated.
Turning to Narada, Brahma said, this is what Shiva had spoken of. The greatness of the name of Rama. Just once did Ratnakar utter the name, and all his sins were gone.

002 Ratnakar

Narada and Brahma started thinking. Where would they find this sinner? Who was this person? THey were told that there was a Rishi called Chavan. He had a son called Ratnakar. All evil deeds - name it and he had committed it. Though born of a rishi, he was leading the life of a robber - looting and murdering
Narada and Brahma arrived where Ratnakar was. Incidentally this was a day when Ratnakar had not been able to loot anyone. As a dacoit, looting, robbing and murdering was his way of life. Climbing up on a tall tree he tried to see if anyone was coming down the path. He spotted two people and came down the tree. These two were Narada and Brahma. They were in the guise of old sages. Ratnakar thought, if nothing else, let me kill these two and take their clothes. They do not have anything else with them.
Raising an iron mace, he tried killing Brahma. He was unable to do so. He was just not able to lift the mace. This was a spell that Brahma had cast. Seeing that he could not attack them, Brahma asked him who he was. Ratnakar said he was in no mood for introductions, he wanted to kill the them and take their garments as booty.
Brahma said killing him would not give him any wealth, but his sims would increase. Brahma said the sin of killing of hundred people was equal to the killing of one cow. The sin of killing a hundred cows was equal to the sin of killing a woman. The sin of killing a hundred women was equal to killing a brahman. The sin of killing a hundred brahmans was equal to killing a brahmachari (a celibate, who had devoted his life to worship). You have killed countless sanyasis who have come down this path.
Ratnakar just smiled. He said he killed countless sanyasis. Brahma said if he so very much wanted to kill him, then had better take them to a place which was not infested with insects. Brahma said he did not want to fall on and kill insects, crushing them with his body, when he was killed.
Brahma then asked him, for all the sins that he had committed so far, for whom was he doing this? The robber said he was doing this for his family. He had parents , wife and children and from the people he was looting, he was fending for his family. The loot was shared by all, so all his sins were also thus shared by all.
Brahma smiled. Why would they share your sins? You have sinned, so your sins stay with you. Your sins will not be shared. If he so desired, he could go and ask his family if they were willing to share his sins.If they agreed to share his sins, he was free to kill anyone he wanted to. Till the time he came back, the sages would sit under the tree.
Ratnakar started thinking. I think he planning to escape from me, which is why he is saying all this. Addressing Brahma, he said this excuse of an escape would not work. Brahma said was promising he would run away and would stay there. Not believing them, and tying them to a tree, Ratnakar went homewards.

001 Four forms of Narayana

In the highest heaven of Goloka Vaikunthapuri , Narayana was relaxing. A pleasant breeze was blowing. He was sitting below the wish fulfilling tree, Kalpataru along with his consort, Lakshmi. A wonderful land it was, with the Sun and Moon always giving light. The Lord, clad in wonderful clothes, was sitting on a throne in the Virasana pose. A thought came into the Lord's mind, what if I split myself into four parts and became four entities? As soon as he thought of it, he decided to test it out. He appeared as Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna. On Rama's left, Lakshmi took her place as Sita. Lakshmana took his place behind Rama and held an umbrella. On right and left of the throne on which Rama and Sita were sitting, Bharata and Shatrughna stood, fanning with fans made of yak tail. Hanuman was seated at Rama's feet with folded hands.

In this form Vishnu was sitting there, Narada, the celestial sage appeared there. With the Veena in his hand, singing the praises of Hari (Vishnu), Narada came and bowed before the lord. Seeing the new form of the Lord, Narada could not control himself and tears welled up in his eyes.

He thought he will ask the five headed God, Brahma, why Narayana was in this form. Thinking so, he went to where Brahma was sitting. With Brahma, Narada then went to Kailasha, where he bowed down first before Shiva and then before Durga. Seeing them, Shiva wanted to know why the reason of their appearance. Shiva said it was always nice to see both Brahma and Narada and wanted to know what the occasion that had brought them to Kailasha.

Brahma said I have seen the Lord of the World (Jagannatha) in a wonderful pose. I used to see Narayana alone and now I am seeing him in four forms. O Shiva, Do you know why this is happening?

Krittivasa (not the poet, but a reference to the tiger clad Shiva) then said in future, Narayana will be born in this form on the earth after a long time (the poet says Lord will be born after sixty thousand years). There will be a rakshasha called on Ravana on Earth. To kill Ravana, the lord will be born. In the house of Dasharatha, four brothers Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna will be born. They will be born to three mothers. To fulfil a promise of his father, Rama along with Sita and Lakshmana will go to the forest. Rama will rescue Sita by killing Ravana. Lava Kusha will born to Sita. If someone takes the name of Rama, he will be absolved of all sins. If the greatest of the sinners takes the name of Rama, all his sins will be washed away.

Smiling at Shiva's words, Brahma wanted to know if there was such a sinner on earth. The Yogi lost in meditation (Dhurjati, another name for Shiva) said on the earth there was one such sinner. If he utters the name of Rama, the earth will be relieved. 

Introduction

This is a retelling of the Krittibasi (or Krittivasi) Ramayana. Krittivasa. Krittivasa is another name for Shiva. Krittivasa means one who is clad in tiger skin.

The poet Krittivasa was born in 14th century Bengal, in a Brahman family.

The Krittivasi Ramayana is not a translation of the Ramayana written by Valmiki. This is a retelling in the Bengali style, for the common people of Bengal to understand. The settings are very Bengali in nature.

One big thing that comes into light from this text, is Bhakti or Devotion. The path to enlightenment is selfless devotion to the Lord. Historically, this was the start of the Bhakti movement, and this version of the epic Ramayana, had a big role to steer people towards that path of devotion or Bhakti.

With love for Krishna being prevalent in the house of the poet, Vishnu and Krishna are seen synonymous with one another. When the poet talks about Narayana, he talks about a God who is in Goloka (supreme abode of Krishna ) and is sitting below the Parijata Tree, instead of the traditional Vishnu image , reclining or standing on a snake.

With the prevalence of love of Krishna, in Bengal, in that period, Vishnu and Krishna became synonymous.

The poet does mention Narayana by other names like Gadadhar (holder of a mace) and also talks about Vaikuntha, which is the abode of Vishnu.

To understand the poem, one has to also understand the people in Bengal at that time.

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The Krittivasi Ramayana is nearly lost. It is difficult to make out how much of it was written by Krittivasa and how much was later addition. The existing manuscripts are available in various universities.
The current version that is being read in houses in Bengal, is something that was revised by Jayagopal Taralankar.

Born in 18th century Bengal, he was a professor of Sanskrit in Sanskrit College, Kolkata in 1824. He played a big role in translating the Sanskritized Bengali language of that time, into a more readable understandable version that we, today and can follow and enjoy.

Two of the important Bengali works that worked with are the Ramayana by Krittivasa and Mahabharata by Kasidas.