Would you like to see Luv Kush fight their uncles?

I know that they are going to show it. But I'm completely against it. If the idea behind it was poetic justice (there's one version of the cartoon l-k's that has Bharat wondering whether the defeats of Shatrughan and Lakshman were due to the injustice done to Sita, and then Rama accusing him of being a coward😕, and then Bharat apologizing and then going), then SLB were not the ones guilty, or even supported, exiling their mother. In that case, a K-L vs Rama battle would have been more appropriate. And if the idea was to show their valor, even that was incomplete if they fought everybody but not Rama. So if they do show it, as they most likely will, I hope they do show them battling Rama. In some versions, they do shoot arrows at him, which he parries, and then, when he puts a divyastra on his bow, Valmiki intervenes. On other versions, Rama asks them who their parents are and when they say their mother is Sita, he faints, and they confiscate his crown and take it to Sita. Either one they should show.

Bottom line - given that in Valmiki, it was a simple affair, devoid of any recriminations, I'd prefer it to be shown that way. But on the battle issue, I think that LK battling SLB is actually worse than their battling Rama, since SLB were innocent of the injustice done to Sita, whereas Rama wasn't.

Chatter

In the Valmiki version, there is nothing about Kush-Luv fighting anybody: the entire horse trip passes off w/o incident, and it's Lakshman who takes the horse, not Shatrughan (who is in any case the king of another independent kingdom). So any depiction of K-L in battle is fiction to start with.

Now, on the stories of the battle, there are many versions which are all over the place, which makes it a Chinese buffet selection for the Sagars. In the Padma Puran, which Rajnish described in a thread a few months ago, Luv only fought Shatrughan and Pushkal (Bharat's son), who ran into several battles on their journey. In the most common version (I think it was Adhyatma), they had Shatrughan, Lakshman and Bharat, in that order battle L-K, and finally a standoff between K-L and Rama. Another author Bhavabhuti has Luv battling Lakshman's son Chandraketu, who was the one accompanying the horse. I've even read one version that has K-L decimating Rama's army, and Lakshman, who accompanied the horse, recognized that they were Rama's kids and suggested to Rama that he challenge them on Brahma-gyan. So here, the only battle that takes place is K-L vs the soldiers.

It will be interesting to see what they choose to show.

Originally posted by: Chandraketu

Chatter

In the Valmiki version, there is nothing about Kush-Luv fighting anybody: the entire horse trip passes off w/o incident, and it's Lakshman who takes the horse, not Shatrughan (who is in any case the king of another independent kingdom). So any depiction of K-L in battle is fiction to start with.

Now, on the stories of the battle, there are many versions which are all over the place, which makes it a Chinese buffet selection for the Sagars. In the Padma Puran, which Rajnish described in a thread a few months ago, Luv only fought Shatrughan and Pushkal (Bharat's son), who ran into several battles on their journey. In the most common version (I think it was Adhyatma), they had Shatrughan, Lakshman and Bharat, in that order battle L-K, and finally a standoff between K-L and Rama. Another author Bhavabhuti has Luv battling Lakshman's son Chandraketu, who was the one accompanying the horse. I've even read one version that has K-L decimating Rama's army, and Lakshman, who accompanied the horse, recognized that they were Rama's kids and suggested to Rama that he challenge them on Brahma-gyan. So here, the only battle that takes place is K-L vs the soldiers.

It will be interesting to see what they choose to show.

Originally posted by: Chandraketu

Chatter

In the Valmiki version, there is nothing about Kush-Luv fighting anybody: the entire horse trip passes off w/o incident, and it's Lakshman who takes the horse, not Shatrughan (who is in any case the king of another independent kingdom). So any depiction of K-L in battle is fiction to start with. I wouldn't say it is fiction, since it is in Ramcharitmanas and about every other version except Valmiki's. And I think people tend to follow LuvKush's battle with their uncles and father because it's a bit boring if they follow only Valmiki's in which nothing really happens.

And I know you don't take the Old Ramayan for a source, but the old Ramayan explains Luv Kush's battle with their uncles as "answering to the challenge written on the horse". No one says anything about the battle being the result of the injustice done to Sita. The message on the horse says that if one is a true kshatriya, they must fight the army but if they do not want to, they must bow before it and accept Ram as their King. Luv Kush knew they were kshatriyas, so they tied up the horse with the intention of fighting the army. And LBS and Sugreev's battle with them was only to reclaim the horse.

Though I know this version is not Valmiki's, it is at least consistent.

Now, on the stories of the battle, there are many versions which are all over the place, which makes it a Chinese buffet selection for the Sagars. In the Padma Puran, which Rajnish described in a thread a few months ago, Luv only fought Shatrughan and Pushkal (Bharat's son), who ran into several battles on their journey. In the most common version (I think it was Adhyatma), they had Shatrughan, Lakshman and Bharat, in that order battle L-K, and finally a standoff between K-L and Rama. Another author Bhavabhuti has Luv battling Lakshman's son Chandraketu, who was the one accompanying the horse. I've even read one version that has K-L decimating Rama's army, and Lakshman, who accompanied the horse, recognized that they were Rama's kids and suggested to Rama that he challenge them on Brahma-gyan. So here, the only battle that takes place is K-L vs the soldiers.

It will be interesting to see what they choose to show. Knowing the Sagars' lack of originality, they most probably will copy from the Old Ramayan like they did for most other scenes.🤔