Kindle Notes & Highlights
According to the Padma Puran, the parrots narrated this tale to Sita before her marriage. But they did not know the whole tale. Angry, Sita locked them up in a cage and one of the parrots died. The survivor cursed Sita that she too would experience separation from her husband. And that is why Sita was abandoned by Ram soon after their return to Ayodhya.
How could Sita hear the Ramayana when she played a role in it? The explanation given is that the Ramayana that was narrated by Shiva, then Narada, then Valmiki and finally the parrot was the Satakoti Ramacharitra or the timeless Ramayana, which becomes reality in every Treta yuga,
In traditional Hindu thought, the Ramayana is an eternal story, not the creation of one poet, not restricted to one period. Thus the Valmiki Ramayana is not the ‘original’ Ramayana. It is simply the ...
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Valmiki cursed the hunter for his crime. The curse came in the form of a verse and Valmiki realized that the roots of poetry lay in pain.
Valmiki heard that Hanuman had written a Ramayana. So he travelled north to the plantain grove where Hanuman resided. There, etched on the rocks, he found Hanuman’s Ramayana. It was the most brilliant piece of literature that Valmiki had ever read. Tears rolled down Valmiki’s cheeks. ‘Why do you cry?’ asked Hanuman. ‘Because your work is so beautiful,’ said Valmiki, ‘and because after reading your work no one will read mine.’ Hanuman felt sorry for Valmiki and without any qualms, with a flick of his tail, smashed all the rocks that had Ram’s tale etched on them. ‘Stop! What are you doing?’
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