Song of Ramayana

Rama went back with the horse and completed the sacrifice. Gifts were given to all. Valmiki went their with his disciples. Lava and Kusha were among the disciples. Rama gave seats to all. Valmiki called Lava and Kusha and said - I have taught you who to use weapons. You displayed your skills well and even Rama himself had to face defeat in your hands. I also taught you how to sing and use musical instruments. Tomorrow sing the Ramayana that I taught you. When Rama askes you who are are, say you are my disciples. When in the song you come to the point where Rama has to banish Sita, do not say anything to Rama. Come dressed as hermits.

Early morning, the two boys dressed in bark, came to the court of Rama. They had tied their hair and had a veena in each's hand. Rama asked the two boys to come where the sacrifice had happened. All came to listen to the Ramayana.

Every one was lost in the song of the boys. These were two replicas of Rama who could single handedly fight and win a battle, and also sing a song in a melodious voice.
After the first day's song. Rama asked Lakshmana to reward the boys. Gold was brought for them. Wonderful dresses were brought. The boys said they had no need for this.

Rama asked who had composed this. The boys said This is a song listening to which the childless are blessed with children. The fruits of a sacrifice can be achieved by listening to this. Even before your birth, the great sage Valmiki had composed this song. In Adi Kanda is your birth. In Ayodhya Kanda is your becoming crown prince. On the words of Kaikeyi, the king sent you to the forest. Leaving the people crying, you left for the forest. The king died in shock. His body was preserved in oil. Bharata came and performed the last rites of the king. In Aranya Kanda Sita was taken away by Ravana. In Kishkindhya Kanda Sugriva became king. In Sundar Kanda, the ocean was crossed and in Lanka Kanda, Ravana was killed. Sita had to go through the fire and Vibhishana was made king.

When the boys came to the point where Sita was banished by Rama, they were chocking.

Rama falls

Rama was grieving for his brothers when Lava and Kusha decided to return and fight. They shot arrows and the darkness vanished.
It was a fierce battle. Sometimes Rama had to take a step backwards and sometimes the brothers.
Struck by an arrow of the brother, Rama fell on the ground. Rama got up.
Lava shot an arrow and like a noose, the weapon wrapped itself around Rama's neck. Kusha shot an arrow which struck Rama. Rama fell on the ground.

Rama was in pain. The two brothers went to Rama. They started taking Rama's jewels and the crown. Hanumana and Jambuvana, being immortal were senseless, not dying as they were immortal. Taking their prize, the brothers rushed home. They decided to take Hanumana and Jambuvana as their prisoners.

Sita was wondering what had happened to her sons when they appeared. Happily they started telling Sita about their battles and how they had defeated Shatrughna, Lakshmana, Bharata and Rama. They also said they had got two prisoners. As they were huge in size, the brothers had not been able to get them inside the hut so had kept them outside. They then started showing the jewels they had got.

Sita recognized the jewels. She started lamenting. What have you done? You have killed your own father. I am want to go see Rama before the vultures swoon down on him.

The two brothers started crying. Coming outside, Sita saw Hanumana and Jambuvana, tied up. Sita said You have done something which you should never have. Hanumana is your elder brother, He jumped and crossed the ocean for me. You have killed your father. I will consume poison and kill myself. I do not want to live this life. Untie Hanumana and Jambuvana immediately.

To Hanumana, Sita said Please Do not tell anyone about this. They did not know who you were which is why they fought you.

Sita then ran to see Rama, with the two brothers behind her. Seeing Rama, she fell down at his feet and said Please forgive your sons who fought you unknowingly.

The two brothers said Mother, You never told us who our father was. How were we to know that we sons of Rama? We have killed our father and will not live this life. We will kill ourselves by jumping into the fire.

Sita said I will enter the fire first and you can do what you want to, after that.

Three fire pyres were built and burnt.

Valmiki had been meditating and saw blood in front of this eyes. He knew he was needed in his ashrama. He immediately rushed and came to the ashrama.

There were jackals and vultures everywhere. He asked Sita what had happened.

Sita said Lava and Kusha fought and killed their father and uncles. You taught them how to use weapons and see what has happened.

Valmiki said Do not worry. Rama and his brothers will come alive. The others who have fallen will also come alive. I will tell you all. Come inside the ashrama with your sons.

He asked Lava and Kusha to sprinkle holy water on all who had fallen. This was an elixir and as soon as the water touched them, the dead people sat up. Sita was relieved to see Rama and his brothers get up. Valmiki asked Sita to go inside with her sons.

Rama saw Valmiki and asked about the two boys, Valmiki asked Rama to go and complete the sacrifice. When it was time, he would come to Rama. 

Killing of Lavanasura

One day Lakshmana came to Rama and said the sage Bhargava wanted to meet him. Rama asked for the sage to be brought in immediately and Lakshmana brought the sage and his disciples inside.
Rama bowed down and touched the feet of the sage.
The sage said he had come to express his grief. Rama wanted to know what was the trouble.

The sage said You have killed a might Ravana but there is one who is equal to Ravana. Earlier there was a daitya called Madhu who was a great devotee of Shiva. Shiva had given Madhu a weapon. If Madhu had the weapon in his hand, no one could defeat him. Madhu's son, born of Ravana's sister, Kumbhanashi, inherited the weapon. The son, Lavanasura, is tormenting everyone. Help us by killing him. If Lavanasura has the weapon in his hand, no one will be able to defeat him. Let me tell you more. The king Mandhata, king of Ayodhya, in the olden days wanted to take over the heaven, Seeing him come, Indra fled. The Gods asked Mandhata to take half the ocean and rule over it, to which Mandhata refused saying he wanted the whole heaven. The Gods decided to teach him a lesson. They said Mandhata needed to first conquer earth before approaching heaven. There was a rakshasa called Lavana. If Lavana was defeated then Mandhata could come and talk about conquering heaven.
Mandhata first sent a messenger to Lavanasura but the messenger was driven away. Seeing this, Mandhata attacked Mathura, the kingdom of Lavanasura. Lavanasura attacked Mandhata with the weapon of Shiva and Mandhata was killed.
This is the Lavanasura who had killed an ancestor of yours. Please kill him and help us.

The three brothers stood near Rama. Shatrughna said to Rama - You and Lakshmana have fought many battles. Please permit me to go and kill Lavana. Rama agreed. He said Killing Lavana, claim the kingdom of Mathura as yours and become the king of Mathura.

Shatrughna started on his journey. On the way, he stopped at the ashrama of the sage Valmiki and bowed down to the sage. At that time, Sita gave birth to two twin sons. He asked his disciples to keep it a secret and Shatrughna should not get to know about this. After Shtrughna left, the sage asked the sons to kept on salt and kusha grass. Seeing the boys, the sage named them Lava and Kusha. The boys began growing up in the ashrama.

Going back to Shatrughna, he reached the ashrama of the sage Bhargava and wanted to know how to kill Lavana. The sage said Lavana goes hunting in the morning and leaves the weapon of Shiva at home, That is the time to kill him.

Shatrughna and his army waited for Lavana. They saw the rakshasa return with his kill. Shatrughna attacked Lavana. Lavana tried to go and bring his weapon but Shatrughna taunted him saying Lavana wanted to run away. Hearing this, Lavana decided to fight. Using a arrow of Vishnu, Shatrughna killed Lavana. As soon as Lavana died, the weapon of Shiva vanished.

Shatrughna then setup the kingdom of Mathura.

After that he started on his way back. He again stopped at the ashrama of Valmiki. There he heard two boys singing the song of Ramayana. Shatrughna wanted to know who these boys were. Valmiki said they were his disciples and he was teaching them the song.

Shatrughna then left for Ayodhya. He went and told Rama about the killing of Lavana. Rama was very happy to hear that. 

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.