Doubts and Discussions from the Ramayan II - Page 60

Originally posted by: Vibhishna

Guess work again . . .

The citizens doubted Sita because she had stayed in another man's home for so long. They could not understand how any woman could have withstood so long. They could not imagine that anyone could be strong and hence the doubts. For them it was impossible and so they judged even Sita according to their (the common people's) standards. If they had been educated and intelligent enough, they would have appreciated the strength of character she had shown. Ram was much above the ordinary man - he was a king. A king must understand the mentality of the common people and act accordingly. Hence, punishing the citizens, would have been like punishing someone who had committed a crime (though completely heinous) unknowingly. Besides, if they had all fallen at his feet and asked him to spare their lives, Ram would have had no other choice - he would have spared them.

As to why Ram threatened Mother Earth - she was the one who took his Sita away. Threatening her could have made the Earth give Sita back - so that she, as a Mother to all who live on the Earth, would give back Sita to save the other lives. Killing the people of Ayodhya would definitely not bring back Sita. At that moment, (my guess again) I think all Ram knew was that his Sita is being taken away by the Earth and he wanted her back at any cost and nothing else mattered for him.

The one thing which I did not understand in the episodes was that when Sita said that she was leaving the Earth everyone bowed down to her - it felt as though everyone were saying goodbye. Is it just me or did I miss something important and misunderstood the whole thing.

Originally posted by: Chandraketu

Khalrika, congratulations on #600 - probably the last major milestone in this thread.

Vibs is probably right - it was a last ditch effort to salvage Sita. But Khalrika, I do agree w/ Chen2, even though she was partly tongue in cheek - doing nothing about the Avadh people who caused this to happen, but threatening Bhoomi Devi, who took Sita away because she was asked to by Sita, unlike the Avadhis who separated Sita from Rama. Yeah, granted Rama was grief striken and his reaction was understandable, but as far as his wrath went, it should have been directed at those who separated Sita from him against her will, not the mother who took her away in accordance with her will. The misdirection of his wrath is the only thing that was being criticized here, not Rama's anger or grief itself per se.

Chen2

I thought that Rasatal, Pataal, Naglok, etc were all within Bhulok

Originally posted by: Chandraketu

Khalrika

Your first post at the top of this page was #600 for this thread

Originally posted by: Vibhishna

Khalrika ji, congrats on 600 😊

Chandraketu, thanks for keeping count incessantly 😊


Some more information I found about sacrifices done to celebrate victory:

The king of Ellichpur (and the Rashtrakootas), Dantidurga performed the Hiranyagarbha Mahayajna in Ujjaini to celebrate the victory of the Rashtrakootas. Dantidurga was very successful in his campaigns.

A golden Hiranyagarbha jar in the shape of a lotus was placed in a beautifully decorated pandal. After the ritual bath, the king entered carrying the images of Lord Brahma and Dharmaraja (Lord Yama) in his hands. The air resounded with the vedic chants sung by the Brahmans.

Dantidurga made the offering of the ten weapons (no idea what all these were) to Lord Brahma.

After the ceremony, the king made generous gifts of cows, gold and land to the deserving.