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Padma Puranaपद्मपुराण · Jain Ramayana
हिन्दी

Parva 63

Rama's Lament over the Senseless Lakshmana

Seeing Lakshmana senseless, Rama faints and laments, resolving to enter the fire with his brother, until the wise Jambunada restrains him.

Part of The War of Lanka

Summary

Rama reaches the spot where Lakshmana lies, swoons, and on reviving pours out his grief, releasing Sugriva and Bhamandala from his cause, regretting that he could never repay Vibhishana, and resolving to burn himself with his brother. The wise Jambunada stops him from touching Lakshmana and assures him that a Narayana cannot die now. Fearing that Lakshmana will not survive past sunrise, the Vidyadharas pitch cloth tents and post seven rings of guards and watchmen at every gate around him.

What happens

6 points

  1. Overwhelmed by grief, Rama comes to where Lakshmana lies and, seeing his brother felled by the shakti, faints himself. Reviving after a long while, he laments: ‘We crossed the ocean together and you were ever devoted to my service; speak to me! Our mother and father entrusted you to me; what answer shall I, shameless, give them now?’

  2. Rama declares his life and striving meaningless without Lakshmana: ‘What use is Sita, or anything else, without you? Wealth and pleasures can be found anywhere on earth, but not a mother, a father or a brother.’ He thanks Sugriva for his friendship and bids him and Bhamandala go home, saying he has given up hope of Sita and of life and will surely enter the fire with his brother.

  3. To Vibhishana Rama confesses his deepest sorrow: the best of men do good first, middling men repay good with good, and the lowest do not repay it even afterwards; Vibhishana, the best of men, helped them first by breaking with his own brother, and they have done nothing for him in return. He asks Bhamandala and Sugriva to build a pyre and reaches out to touch Lakshmana.

  4. The wise Jambunada stops him: ‘Lord, do not touch him; your brother has been struck senseless by a divine weapon and will recover, for that is the way of the shakti. Lamenting suits petty folk, not a hero; in a crisis only a remedy avails. Your brother is a Narayana and will surely live, his death has not yet come.’

  5. Still the Vidyadharas fear that no medicine can remove a divine shakti and that once the sun rises Lakshmana will hardly survive. They lay aside their armour, purify the ground in a moment, pitch tents of cloth and set seven guard posts around him: Nila with bow and arrows, Nala with a mace, Vibhishana with a trident, garlanded with wishing-tree flowers like the Ishana Indra, Kumuda with a quiver, Sushena with a spear, Sugriva with a bhindipala (javelin) and Bhamandala himself, sword in hand.

  6. A mighty king bearing the Ashtapada banner guards the eastern gate, another king the western gate, and Bali's powerful son Chandrarashmi, with his ministers, the northern gate, while the great Vanara warriors keep watch to the south. All sit in deep sorrow, unsure of Lakshmana's life, and the chapter teaches that no man, god, Nagakumara or Asurakumara can avert the fruit of one's own karma, while compassionate deeds bring long life and a healthy body.