DOTW: Stories from Uttarkhand - Page 12

Originally posted by: ananyacool

I never said that 350 women married by Dasharatha were from 350 different rajyas😕

Chen2chic

Does Valmiki actually have the account of Rama promising Sita that she and she alone would be his wife? I've looked for references to it in 1-76 and 2-1, but couldn't find it. Nor is there any account of her suhaag raat in the Ramayan - something that has been glorified in so many movies.

Also, regarding your yagna question above, in 1-14-33, they do mention that Kaushalya symbolically thrust a knife into the sacrificed horse, symbolically 'killing' it, and the notes there state that all the 3 queens - KSK - performed this ritual. Note that this account is for the Ashwamedha, and not the Putrakshmeshti yagna. There was no mention of a rejected queen, and I don't think Sumitra qualifies, or else, Dasharath wouldn't have given her the payash 2 times.

Exit question: in Rama's Ashwamedha, wouldn't this symbolic sacrifice by the wife of the sacrificed horse have been needed as well, if it was with Dasharath? And if so, who could have done it? Mandavi, as the yuvrani?

Originally posted by: Chandraketu

Chen2chic

Also, regarding your yagna question above, in 1-14-33, they do mention that Kaushalya symbolically thrust a knife into the sacrificed horse, symbolically 'killing' it, and the notes there state that all the 3 queens - KSK - performed this ritual. Note that this account is for the Ashwamedha, and not the Putrakshmeshti yagna. There was no mention of a rejected queen, and I don't think Sumitra qualifies, or else, Dasharath wouldn't have given her the payash 2 times.

That matches Sita's description to Ravan.

But somehow, while I respect Valmiki as the ultimate authority, his stats & timelines sometimes invite more questions than provide answers. Like if Rama & Sita lived 12 years in Ayodhya, what happened during all that time? Also, how did Sita have all that renowned beauty that a ruler Sudhanva of Saamkaasha demanded Shiva's bow and her hand in marriage from Janak (1-71-17). Janak killed him in battle, and handed over his kingdom to Kushadhwaj. Which adult ruler, even then, would demand the hand of a 6 year old in marriage, particularly since the custom, even then, was to marry off daughters when they were at least in double digit ages, if not teens. (How about the possibility that Sita inflated her time in Ayodhya to demonstrate that she had been married even longer than she actually had been, in order to make the disguised Ravan less interested in her?)

Also, how much younger would Urmila have been then - 5, or 4? And along with Sita to Rama, Janak would have handed her over to Lakshman in marriage? Somehow, I still believe that the brothers were 16, and the sisters were 14 and younger, but not by much.