DOTW: If Dasharath had not killed Shravan

Shravan Kumar belonged to the time when King Dashratha ruled Ayodhya. He was born of poor and blind parents, but they had brought him up remarkably well. He was strong healthy and honest, and he had a good character. He bore sincere love and respect for his parents. He was also a great devotee of God. Everyday he worked hard to make his parents as comfortable and happy. In his leisure time he prayed to God and attended to his poor, blind and aging parents.

One day his parents told him that they had be- come quite aged. They, therefore, wanted him to take them to the various places of pilgrimage : this could make them fully satisfied and give them abundant peace of mind. It is a typical Hindu belief that a pilgrimage to the various shrines and holy places under- taken in old age, purifies the soul and takes one nearer to one's Maker ere the icy hand of Death touches one. To a Hindu mind nothing is more precious, than becoming one with the great Maker of this Universe. In those days means of transport were scarce and costly, and Shravan Kumar could not afford to hire- them. He, therefore, decided to place his parents in two baskets and carry the baskets on his shoulder to the places of pilgrimage. He took a strong bamboo- stick, at its two ends he tied the two baskets with strong ropes, and placed his father in one of the baskets and his mother in the other. Carrying on his shoulder this bamboo stick with a basket at either end, Shravan started on the pilgrimage. After having visited a few places of pilgrimage, he found himself on the banks of the sacred river Sharayu. Pleased with the beautiful scenery around. he decided to take a little rest there, with his parents. Shravan then placed the baskets in the shade of a tree. And after describing the beauties of the scene to his blind parents, he told them that he wanted to take a dip in the river Sharayu- The bath was sure to re- fresh him. His parents asked Sharavan to take his bath leisurely: they also asked him to fetch them pitcher of water from the river, for they were feeling thirsty. Shravan went to the river and had his dip. Now he had to fetch drinking water for his parents, and so he dipped a pitcher into the water. As the pitcher was getting filled, there was that peculiar bubbling sound caused by the air escaping from within. At that precise time. King Dashratha of Ayodhya. who was on a hunting expedition, happened to be near the spot. Hearing the bubbling sound, the King thought that it was caused by a deer drinking water in the river. Dashratha stood silent for a while and only with the bubbling sound to guide him carefully took aim and shot his arrow. Indeed the arrow hit the target with precision, but the King was astonished to hear the pain-stricken screams of a human being instead of the painful cry of a dying deer. Shravan had become the target of the King's arrow. Injured fatally, he lay screaming in a pool of blood. The King came to the spot and saw the ghastly mistake he had committed. He repented for his hasty action, but it was too late. He then placed Shravan's head on his lap, and tried to elicit some information about himself. Shravan Kumar told him that he would be dying in a few minutes, but he felt sorry for his blind parents, who were resting in the shade of the tree, waiting for him to quench their thirst. He. Therefore, requested the King to attend to his old, blind parents. Soon Shravan breathed his last. Now the King; had to perform the duties of Shravan. He lifted the pitcher and brought it to Shravan's parents and raised it up to the lips of the blind old man. The King did not utter a single word for fear of revealing the stark reality. But the parents would not take water till they heard the familiar voice of their beloved son. So they asked: "0 dear son. why do you not speak today? Are you angry with us because you have to toil so much to serve up?" At last King Dashratha had to tell them all that had happened. The parents were unable to bear the grief as their beloved son was no more. They told Dashratha that they could not live in this world with- out their son. They cursed the King that he, too would meet his death caused by the sorrow of separation from his son just as what had happened to them. Shortly afterwards both the parents passed away.

Many years passed, and Dashratha had four sons. The eldest son was Rama. In due course. Dashratha began preparing to crown Rama as the King of Ayodhya so that he could retire to the jungles and live there a peaceful life praying to God. Now Dashratha had given two boons in the past to his wife Kaikeyi. Rama's step-mother. She insisted that the King grant her the boons before crowning Rama. The King hesitated, but had to concede in the end. She demanded that Rama be sent to the forest for fourteen years and her son Bharat be crowned as the king of Ayodhya. The shock of the thought of fourteen years' separation from his son, Rama was so great that Dashratha instantly collapsed and died. And thus the curse of Shravun Kumar's parents came true.

Source: http://www.mantraonnet.com/shravan-kumar.html

the king believes tht every character n incident in the ramayan n mahabharat had a purpose. vishnu knew he had to take an avatar in treta yug to kill ravan n restrore dharma on earth. hence shravan being killed by dasarath was juzz a chain of events which fially led to the incarnation of the devine one himself.

in the gita he had said tht it is he who is the kriya, kartha n karmena while v r mere spectators. everything has already been scrpted by him n v r juzz playing those characters.

if dasarath was not cursed then he wud not b separated by his son. if he was not separated by his son then sita wud not b kidnapped by ravan. if ravan wud not kidnap sita then ram wud not kill ravan. if ravan needn't be killed then the incarnation of ram was not needed. so the curse was a part of it.

*king*

It was all the "maya" of Vishnu.😊

Small nitpick - Shravan Kumar incident happened when Dasharath was still the yuvraj. It was sometime after that that Aja & Indumati retired, after coronating him.

Good question. Obviously, without that curse, Kaikeyi's boons would have been worthless. In which case, the only other way for the devas (assuming they were behind this) would have been to contrive to have Rama's coronation contingent on his defeating and killing Ravan. Manthara might then have been inspired (by Saraswati, no less) to plot such that to become yuvraj, Rama had to invade Lanka and kill Ravan. That way, when Bharat returned, he and Shatrughan too could have joined Rama & Lakshman in battle (if Dasharath & Kaikeyi took back the boons), and it would have been the 4 brothers invading Lanka. Of course, how the Vanaras would have been involved is tougher to imagine, and if they were going out to war, there would be no reason for Sita to go (since she did not have the same mental toughness to tolerate bloodshed the way Kaikeyi did).

Uttarkand - had Sita not gone and been captive of Ravan, the question wouldn't have arisen. But if she had been captive by any chance, point remains that Rama wouldn't have been king, and therefore, the likelihood is that Dasharath would have relieved him of the yuvraj title, giving it to Lakshman or Bharat, and asking Rama and Sita to live together private lives within the royal family, or at worst in ordinary dwellings within Ayodhya.

This is my best stab at it.

Side question: when Dasharath and Kaikeyi fought the asuras, was it Ravan that they fought? I've seen no mention of that in the Uttarkand, but in the Zee-TV serial Ravan, they seem to suggest precisely that.

Curses and boons were facilitators, or tools of fate, but the script may well have been different.

Originally posted by: Chandraketu

Small nitpick - Shravan Kumar incident happened when Dasharath was still the yuvraj. It was sometime after that that Aja & Indumati retired, after coronating him.

Good question. Obviously, without that curse, Kaikeyi's boons would have been worthless. In which case, the only other way for the devas (assuming they were behind this) would have been to contrive to have Rama's coronation contingent on his defeating and killing Ravan. Manthara might then have been inspired (by Saraswati, no less) to plot such that to become yuvraj, Rama had to invade Lanka and kill Ravan. That way, when Bharat returned, he and Shatrughan too could have joined Rama & Lakshman in battle (if Dasharath & Kaikeyi took back the boons), and it would have been the 4 brothers invading Lanka. Of course, how the Vanaras would have been involved is tougher to imagine, and if they were going out to war, there would be no reason for Sita to go (since she did not have the same mental toughness to tolerate bloodshed the way Kaikeyi did).

Uttarkand - had Sita not gone and been captive of Ravan, the question wouldn't have arisen. But if she had been captive by any chance, point remains that Rama wouldn't have been king, and therefore, the likelihood is that Dasharath would have relieved him of the yuvraj title, giving it to Lakshman or Bharat, and asking Rama and Sita to live together private lives within the royal family, or at worst in ordinary dwellings within Ayodhya.

This is my best stab at it.

Side question: when Dasharath and Kaikeyi fought the asuras, was it Ravan that they fought? I've seen no mention of that in the Uttarkand, but in the Zee-TV serial Ravan, they seem to suggest precisely that.

Kaikeyi asked for her 2 boons with the expectation that she would then be the rajmata, and continue to enjoy the privileged status of favorite queen that she did under Dasharath. She also expected that it would make Bharat happy, and Kaushalya and Sumitra unhappy. Once Bharat made his feelings known, she undoubtedly regretted what she had done. Unfortunately for her, due to Dasharath's death, she was in no position to undo it.

However, had Dasharath survived Rama's departure, then, on Bharat's return, once he mutinied against Kaikeyi for this, she would have taken back the boons that she asked, and Dasharath would have been only too glad to accept it for a substitute. Rama left to fulfill his father's vow, but once that was revoked by mutual agreement between Dasharath and Kaikeyi, he would have been under no obligation to stay on in the forest. Remember, the reason he stayed on was that his father was in no position to acknowledge Kaikeyi's revokation of the boons he granted her. But if he was there to do it, Rama would have been as compelled to return as he was anyway after 14 years.

Exit question: why didn't Dasharath, unlike Rama, simply split his kingdom between his sons, or conquer a new kingdom for Bharat?

Originally posted by: Chandraketu

Kaikeyi asked for her 2 boons with the expectation that she would then be the rajmata, and continue to enjoy the privileged status of favorite queen that she did under Dasharath. She also expected that it would make Bharat happy, and Kaushalya and Sumitra unhappy. Once Bharat made his feelings known, she undoubtedly regretted what she had done. Unfortunately for her, due to Dasharath's death, she was in no position to undo it.

However, had Dasharath survived Rama's departure, then, on Bharat's return, once he mutinied against Kaikeyi for this, she would have taken back the boons that she asked, and Dasharath would have been only too glad to accept it for a substitute. Rama left to fulfill his father's vow, but once that was revoked by mutual agreement between Dasharath and Kaikeyi, he would have been under no obligation to stay on in the forest. Remember, the reason he stayed on was that his father was in no position to acknowledge Kaikeyi's revokation of the boons he granted her. But if he was there to do it, Rama would have been as compelled to return as he was anyway after 14 years.

Exit question: why didn't Dasharath, unlike Rama, simply split his kingdom between his sons, or conquer a new kingdom for Bharat?

WOW! What a great question Chandra. There could be 2 reasons for Dhasarath not doing that.

1) Nobody bothered to resolve the issue. No one sent for Bharath immediately and bothered to ask him if he will take the crown. Ram, Lakshman, and Sita decided to go to the forest.. Dhasarath died in a couple of days and only then was Bharat asked to come back to Ayodhaya. I have always wondered why no one sent for Bharath as soon as Dhasarath asked for the boon. Why didn't they ask Bharath if he wanted the kingdom or not? If Bharat had said "yes" then Ram could have gone to the forest. If no, Kaikeye's boons would have been worthless and Ram could have been crowned. I guess then there would be no Ramayan. The purpose of this avataar was to kill Ravan and the other asuras.

Oops! forgot the other reason. There is no precedence for Dhasarth to divide his kingdom. I think he Ikshvaku/Raghu Vamsis' family/king culture gave the throne to the eldest son, always. Also, only Dasarth had 4 sons, whose birth times were so close to each other. This was a new experience for this Vansh. So, Dasarth, I think, bungled. Ram, IMHO, probably learned from his father's mistake and divided the kingdom among his brothers. Also, since the birth times were so close, all of them probably had a claim to the throne.