|| Mythological Masti :: Doubts & Discussions || - Page 4

Lola, even if Kaikeyi had not made any vow, the thought that Kaikeyi indirectly caused Ravan's destruction is anyway comforting.

agreed Vis, especially in the context of the scene you posted at the other thread (will join you there in a bit!). but not everyone shares that outlook, and when taking it as an ordinary narrative and oversimplifying all these complex moves of "vidhi ka vidhaan", they still tag Kaikeyi as the "vamp" and Vibhishan as the "traitor" and so on... then these kinds of stories are a great for maintaining that level of respect that all the characters deserve for having been a part of the divine plan.

lola

None of this is there in Valmiki, so it might be worth looking for some of this in the Ananda Ramayan.  I recall there was some threads in the Ramayan forum that point to the sources AS used:

Sagars sources for Gurmi Ramayan
Versions of Uttarkand
DOTW: Stories from Uttarkhand

There are probably a lot more threads, but these are the ones I'd start from.

^^ Thanks a ton for the links Vrish, I remember browsing through those threads during my silent member days... really interesting stuff! So far I haven't found that particular story yet, but since Ananda Ramayan's the one that had Kaikeyi as the culprit behind Sita's vanvaas via the "draw me Ravan" story, I don't think it would be in there... why justify Kaikeyi's role in the first vanvaas and then make her the culprit again for the 2nd? Will keep reading through them though, there really is some intriguing stuff so thanks once again for sharing. Btw any idea if is Khalrika still active? If you're in touch with her please do ask her to join us again, doesn't look like a doubts and discussions thread is complete without her!
Edited by lola610 - 12 years ago

I think Khalrika is inactive, but you can PM her to find out.  Vibs would be great here as well if she's still browsing these pages.

That whole story is inaccurate, as when Kaikeyi was Dasharath's charioteer (in the serial, they wrongly showed Sumantra as being present, but in that battle, Kaikeyi was the one who insisted on accompanying Dasharath and being his charioteer), he was battling not Ravan, but an asura named Shambara.  So it's inconceivable that Kaikeyi knew about this higher purpose.  The only Ayodhya rulers that Ravan fought were Mandhata, w/ whom he had a stalemate since Ravan's brahmastra & Mandhata's trishul (a derivative of Mahadev's) came head to head and threatened to obliterate all creation, so Brahma got them to withdraw these, and granted that neither of them was defeated.  The other Ayodhya ruler Ravan fought and killed was Aranya, who cursed him that someone from his dynasty will kill Ravan.

^ I read a story from another version where Ravan battles Dashrath as well. It had nothing about Kaikeyi in it, but it did alude to the ASR story that Ravan had insulted Kaikeyi's kingdom before coming there, and that he had been cursed by someone there as a result (Kaikeyi perhaps?). In this story, Ravan insults Kaushalya by telling her to come to Lanka as its queen, and he indicates his thigh to her (kind of like how Duryodhan did to Draupadi), and Kaushalya vows that the son born to her and Dashrath will kill him to avenge this insult.

jaisiyaram

Personally, as far as Ramayan goes, the only account I believe is Valmiki - nothing else is authentic, particularly if it contradicts VR.  But on pg 1, we did make a rule that we'd only comment on which sources any account comes from, w/o commenting on whether it's authentic or not, in order to avoid people's religious beliefs being offended.  None of the accounts above - whether it was Ravan getting Dasharath cursed that he won't be able to physically produce any children in his wives, nor the AS Ramayan of Dasharath battling Ravan w/ Kaikeyi present - are in Valmiki - just so one knows.

In the Uttarkand part of VR, Agastya and other rishis narrate to Rama the entire history of Ravan, and there, the story of his battle w/ Aranya is narrated.  Again, in Uttarkand, when Rishi Chyavan goes to Rama for support in killing Lavanasura, he narrates to Rama or Shatrughan - I forget whom - how Lavanasura killed Mandhata, who in turn had previously been undefeated by Ravan.  So there are indirect references in VR to these battles Ravan had w/ Rama's ancestors.  But there is nothing there about Ravan ever battling Dasharath.

There are other sources which might have such accounts, and I myself would be interested in knowing which ones they are.