RAMAYANA FOR CHILDREN
BALAKANDA
CHAPTER 2
The Sage, Valmiki and his disciples gave glowing praises of
the Divine Sage, Narada, after he put king Rama’s virtues and incomparable
qualities in a nutshell. He also suggested that Valmiki write the story of the
king Rama.
Valmiki spent some hours in his cottage. He was absorbed in
the sayings of Narada after His departure. It soon was noon bath time. And
Valmiki went to the river, Tamasa. This river is not far from the Holy river,
Ganges or Ganga. The brook, Tamasa had crystal waters. The smooth and pellucid
waters reminded him of the hearts of good men. For, the hearts of good men are
smooth and pellucid ,too! The good men are calm and unruffled. The pure and
pellucid waters of Tamasa had a unique charm for the Sage today. Otherwise, he
would ordinarily go to the Holy River, Ganga to take bath. He took his noon
bath in Tamasa.
Not far from him, a pair of curlews, cock and hen, were
disporting themselves merrily. Valmiki’s soul was filled with boundless love
and compassion and justice. In front of the sage, even as the birds were in
deep love, a hunter downed the male bird or the cock. And it fell down and
wallowed in its own blood. The hen shrieked around the dying cock. Valmiki’s
heart went out for the stricken bird’s plight. He cried in agony. “Even for a
hardened hunter this is a cruel act. How could he kill the bird while the hen’s
kisses were warm on its lips?” The mighty sage cried at this injustice. He also
was stricken with sadness for the hopelessly disconsolate hen.
The sage was moved in anger and a mighty curse shot forth in
pure and unconscious wrath for the plight of the birds. He cursed the hunter
for his act of cruelty. And then he paused. “How did I come to be cursing a
hunter like this? My heart has always been subdued of passions and always
serene. Now as I have let out this curse, my hard-earned spiritual might shall
have been lost!” The sage rued the fact that he had lost all the merits of his
austerities and tapas because of this cruel curse!
But, even as he rued for his act, his mind got cleared. A
new light of understanding was born in his mind. “My heart was rung with pity
and grief at the fate of the birds. But my curse, lo and behold, are arranged
in equal lines of even feet. They are perfect and flawless. Thus they are
admirably adapted to be sung or played. Well, this shall confer undying fame on
me!” he exclaimed to Bharatvaja. And he
listened to him in awe and wonder.
Then Valmiki finished his bath. And then went through his
prayers. Then he slowly returned back to his hermitage. His thoughts were still
engrossed with his prophetic words. That marvellous verse that came to him in
the form of a curse had come to him unbidden! Bharatvaja followed him humbly.
Even though the Sage Valmiki went through his discourse to his disciples, his
thoughts were far away. They were about the utterance of the morning.
Thereafter the four-faced Brahma, Father of the Earth and
the Skies, came to visit Valmiki. He needed no one’s assistance to record the
holy life and deeds of Rama. But, for certain reasons, he chose the sage
Valmiki to write the story of Rama for the benefit of the Humanity. Sage
Valmiki rose reverently to welcome the visitor. The omniscient accepted the
seat allotted to Him. Bidden to be seated by His side, sage Valmiki’s thoughts
came repeatedly to the wretched manner in which the bird was killed by the
hunter that noon.
The omniscient Brahma smiled to himself at this. He said, “You
should not despair of the fate of the bird. It was a drama. It was Goddess
Saraswati who made you to come up with that melodious curse, indeed! So you
should not worry about the curse. Using the melody and pattern of the curse,
you must tell the story of King, Rama! Hereby We give you the power of knowing
the full and detailed story of king Rama, and other characters in that great
drama!”
After the departure of the four-faced Creator of the World,
Brahma, Valmiki became ecstatic. “Now I shall sing the Life of Rama, yea, the
whole of it, in such verse after the pattern of the curse!” he was telling himself.
This was how, the great sage, Valmiki came to be writing the
ineffable story of the righteous King, Ramachandra!
THE END OF CHAPTER TWO OF THE BALAKANDA OF RAMAYANA FOR
CHILDREN
