On the Indian Epics (One)

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Valmiki is a great Indian bard. He was a robber by profession in the first half of his life and he was as simple as anything. The change that has occurred in his life confirms that change is the law of nature. The Ramayana, the great epic of the ancient India, has been regarded as a magnum opus and this is obviously so. The story in it with all the episodes, the depiction of more than hundreds of character with minute distinctions in them, the crisis of monarchy and the dual between good and bad with final victory of the goodness, the brilliant framing and artistic presentation unheard still then --- all these and many more delicate and sublime ingredients --- make us kneel down silently before the great bard. Still I have been disturbed by the discord at the start and by many other afterwards. It is strange that this great epic begins with a curse and that too from the lips of the bard himself aimed at a poor hunter whose arrow has done the real mischief by penetrating the bosom of one of the birds engaged in making love. Valmiki could not bear the agonised notes of the injured bird and hurled the curse. Curses are not fewer in the Ramayana. Surprisingly, it is the cause of the birth of Ramachandra and his other three brothers who will be the descendants of Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya. Dasharatha during one of his games in a forest had accidentally killed the only son of a very poor and old and blind hermit. This hermit did not leave Dasharatha unhurt. Here,curses are the instant oral weapon used against the opponents demanding and desiring hiss loss of life or property or any such dear possessions. If we attempts to the mind of a cursing person we shall find things which lack finer elements of humanity. A cursing person is generally a defeated one and in some way or other he wants some damage to be done on his opposition or there emerges a desire in him to punish his opposition. And this trait of mind has some very important shortcomings. He instantly moves away from love and his ability to forgive other. He moves away from non-violence and finds satisfaction for the time being allowing some space of his mind to that dark element which we call hatred.