1.8. Rama the Ruler as Valmiki Reveals Him

Tradition associates the sage Valmiki with Rama. It was he who had given shelter to Sita when she had been abandoned by the latter. It was in his Asrama that she had given birth to the twins Lava and Kusa whom he had brought up and taught the Ramayana. It should, therefore, be worthwhile to see as to how he finds him, Rama, as a statesman, the kind of ruler that he was. That should have a stamp of authenticity about it. Valmiki's first mention of the qualities of a good ruler in Rama is through Dasaratha who had noticed them in Rama strengthening him in his resolve to install him as Heir Apparent. According to Dasaratha Rama was steady in mind and soft in speech. Even when spoken to harshly, he did not reply back. Even one good turn would please him while a hundred bad ones by his highmindedness he would not care. He was brave but not proud of his bravery. He, the learned one, would never tell a lie, would respect the elders, was loved by his subjects and would himself love them. He was kind-hearted with control over his anger, honouring the Brahmins and taking pity on the pitiable. He knew Dharma, would subdue the wicked and was pure in conduct. In prowess he equalled Yama and Indra, in intelligence Brhaspati, in fortitude a mountain and in qualities was superior even to him, i.e. Dasaratha: sa ca nityam prasantatma mrdupurvam ca bhasatel ucyamano'pi parusam nottaram pratipadyaten' kadacid upakarena krtenaikena tusyatil atmavattayai cua smaraty apakaranam satam apy a. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

viryavan na ca viryena mahata svena vismitahiss³ na canrtakatho vidvan vrddhanam pratipujakahi anuraktah prajabhis ca prajas capy anurajyateir sanukroso jitakrodho brahmanapratipujakahi dinanukampi dharmajno nityam pragrahavan chucihi yamasakrasamo virye brhaspatisamo mataul mahidharasamo dhrtyam mattas ca gunavattarahi It should, therefore, be no wonder that with all these qualities he made for the Ramarajya. It should be interesting to know as to what kind of rajya it was. Valmiki gives a graphic description of it in the Yuddhakanda. According to him when Rama ruled nowhere was the widow's wail heard and no one was in dread of poisonous reptiles. The world was rid of depredators. No one was overtaken by calamities. It did not fall to the lot of the old men to perform the obsequies of the young. There was happiness everywhere. Everyone was keen on Dharma. Their eyes ever on Rama, people caused no harm to each other. With Rama ruling, people lived for a thousand years and bore a thousand children. They knew neither ill health nor sorrow. The trees with outspread boughs were perennially in fruit and flower. The rain god sent timely showers and the breeze in its touch was soothing. Busy with their own duties the subjects were perfectly content to follow their own ways of life. They were devoted to Dharma and not untruthful: na paryadevan vidhava na ca vyalakrtam bhayami na vyadhijam bhayam casid rame rajyam prasasatill nirdasyur abhaval loko nanartham kascid asprsati na ca sma vrddha balanam pretakaryani kurvatell sarvam muditam evasit sarvo dharmaparo 'bhavati ramam evanupasyanto nabhyahimsan parasparam!! asan varsasahasrani tatha putrasahasrinahi niramaya visokas ca rame rajyam prasasatill nityamula nityaphalas taravas tatra puspitahi kamavarsi ca CC-0. Prof. Satya asti Baianyah sukhasparsas ca marutahNA

Rama the Ruler as Valmiki Reveals Him 57 svakarmasu pravartante tustah svair eva karmabhihi asan praja dharmapara rame sasati nanrtahni All this Rama could achieve with his sense of duty towards his subjects. As a ruler he would attach prime importance to the affairs of the State. He gives vivid expression to his distress in not having been able to do that for four days after banishing Sita showing thereby his great consideration for his subjects. As if that were not enough, he clearly points to the fact that a king who does not attend to the business of the citizens every day falls into the dread hell, which is closed and sealed on all sides: catvaro divasah saumya karyam paurajanasya cal akurvanasya saumitre tan me marmani krntati paurakaryani yo raja na karoti dine dine! samvrte narake ghore patito natra samsayahil As a statesman Rama knew in depth as to how a king is to conduct himself. His questions to Bharata come to meet him in the forest to persuade him to go back to Ayodhya to assume the reign reveal more than anything else as to what he expects of a king and that when in office he would have avoided himself all that he is apprehensive of in the case of Bharata. He is stricken with twofold doubt on seeing him (Bharata). One, that the father is no more. Bharata would not come to the forest if he were alive. Two, that he being of tender age has lost the kingdom. In the latter case he develops certain apprehensions about Bharata's conduct. He mentions them to him expecting him to clear them up. These apprehensions put forward in the form of queries afford a peep into the working of Rama's mind in identifying the pitfalls a king is to avoid to be a successful ruler. The queries are: (i) Do you begin an activity small in the beginning but leading to greater good and not delay it? (ii) Is it that the other kings have no knowledge of all his actions which are either over or are yet to take place? (iii) Is it that he assigns his honest good ancestral ministers, not accepting bribe, with proper duties? Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

(iv) Is it that he has not caused disaffection among subjects by inflicting on them severe punishment? (v) Is it that his subjects do not insult him by his extortion of heavy taxes from them? (vi) Is it that he does not associate himself with atheistic Brahmins? (vii) Is it that the cultivators and the dairy farmers are dear to him and the people are happy in trade? (viii) Is it that he pays proper salary and allowance to the army in time and does not delay them? (ix) Is it that a noble person, a person of good conduct, a pure soul, without being examined by experts in Sastras is sent to prison out of greed under false charges? (x) Is it that a thief under arrest after interrogation with enough evidence for being so (a thief) is not released out of greed for money? kaccid artham viniscitya laghumulam mahodayami ksipram arabhase karma na dirghayasi raghavan 10 kaccin nu sukrtany eva krtarupani va punahi vidus te sarvakaryani na kartavyani parthivahull amatyan upadhatitan pitrpaitamahan sucini sresthan sresthesu kaccit tvam niyojayasi karmasu 12 kaccin nogrena dandena bhrsam udvejitah.prajahn¹³ kaccit tvam navajananti yajakah patitam yathal ugrapratigrahitaram kamayanam iva striyahi¹4 kaccid balasya bhaktam ca vetanam ca yathocitami sampraptakalam datavyam dadasi na vilambasel's kaccin na lokayatikan brahmanans tata sevasel 116 kaccit te dayitah sarve krsigoraksajivinah? vartayam sampratam tata loko'yam sukham edhatell¹7 kaccid aryo'pi suddhatma ksaritas capakarmanahi adrstah sastrakusalair na lobhad badhyate sucih1118 grhitas caiva prstas ca kale drstah sakaranahi kacein na mucyate coro dhanalobhan nararsabhan USA CC-0. Satya

Rama the Ruler as Valmiki Reveals Him 59 Proceeding further, Rama enumerates dosas, weak points, of kings enquiring of Bharata as to whether he avoids them. The fourteen weak points are: atheism, untruthfulness, anger, negligence, procrastination, non-association with knowledgeable people, indolence, sensuousness, keeping counsel to oneself, to have discussion with people who give wrong advice, not to execute the decisions once arrived at, not to keep a secret, not to observe auspicious ceremonies and the like, to start hostilities (at once) on all sides: nastikyam anrtam krodham pramadam dirghasutratam! adarsanam jnanavatam alasyam pancavrttitam!! ekacintanam arthanam anarthajnais ca mantranami niscitanam anarambham mantrasyapariraksanami mangaladyaprayogam ca pratyutthanam ca sarvatahi kaccit tvam varjayasy etan rajadosamis caturdasai 20 The basic concept behind kingship is that a king is to provide happiness to his subjects. The word rajan is explained on this very basis: raja prakrtiranjanat, rajan is so called because of his propitiating his subjects. The idea of prakrtiranjana has been so much in the minds of the thinkers of old in India that they have changed the very etymology of the word. Etymologically rajan can be formed only from Vraj, Vrajr diptau, 'to shine, to be radiant' and not from Vranj, Vranja, rage, 'to be happy'. That still it has been shown to derive from the latter is a proof positive of the importance being attached to prakrtiranjana, to cultivate the subjects, a prime duty of the kings. Rama, an ideal king that he was, symbolized in him this duty. It is to please them only that he abandoned his dear wife whose purity had earlier been tested in fire before his very eyes. As a king, lokaradhana or prajaranjana was his first and foremost duty. He could not afford to turn his back on his people. It was for him to set the norms for them. He had, therefore, to have an exemplary character. If he were himself to be centre of controversy, how would he be able to do that? Public calumny, lokapavada, was the greatest abhorrent to Rama and he was Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

prepared to go to any length to avoid it, even to the length of losing his life not to speak of losing his brothers and his wife Sita: apy aham jivitam jahyam yusman va purusarsabhahi apavadabhayad bhitah kim punar janakatmajami²¹ This verse forms the key to the real nature of Rama. It is not to suppose that Rama was hunting for popular applause. His readiness to abandon all that is dear to a human being was not born of craving for cheap popularity but was the outcome of the high ideal of a king, viz., that a king should not wish to be exempt from the national rules of morality and conduct which he would compel his subjects to abide by. Ceaser's wife must be above board was Rama's motto which he followed all through his life inviting in the process great hardship on himself, a kind of mental torture that few would have undergone. He knew Sita was not at fault. Still he forsook her. The pepole had begun to say all sorts of things about her. The ill-fame had begun to spread. This had to be checked. This required of Rama, an ideal king, great personal sacrifice which he underwent without demur. He says it in so many words when Valmiki presents Sita and her twin sons before him: lokapavado balavan yena tyakta hi maithili seyam lokabhayad brahmann apapetya abhijanata parityakta maya sita tad bhavan ksantum arhati 22 There are two expressions in Rama's statement that deserve special notice. One, apapety abhijanata, knowing full well that Sita was apapa, not having committed any sin, was faultless, had done no wrong. Two, lokabhayat parityakta, Sita was abandoned for fear of the people. Who would there be a king, if it were not Rama, who would nurture in him the fear, the fear of his own people? It is all credit to his caring nature for them' that he respected their feelings, good or bad, well-founded or ill-founded. A great warrior that he was, the vanquisher of the greatest of the warriors of his time Ravana, he could just have ignored all that was said about him or CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Chis wife and dismissed it contemptuously

Rama the Ruler as Valmiki Reveals Him 61 as of no consequence, a mere prattle deserving of no notice. But then he was Rama out to establish the Ramarajya. He knew for sure that the simmering calumny was already spreading, lokapavado balavan, and had to be stopped not by repression of the people spreading it but by suppressing one's own self. As an upholder of morality he wanted to get rid of it at the earliest opportunity and that is precisely what he did disrupting in the process his happy family life. Rama was a statesman of the highest order. It was an act of his statesmanship to have accepted Vibhisana, the deserter of the enemy's camp into his fold. It is through him that he was able to solve many a tangle in the battle with Ravana. It was again an act of statesmanship on his part to have raised in the forest allies to fight the enemy on his behalf. That he could do so practically singlehanded with his brother only by his side speaks volumes for his sagacity and skill in statecraft. That he could command absolute loyalty and devotion of his new-found allies like Hanuman also goes to prove his statesmanship. It has already been said in the context of Rama's queries to Bharata that Rama laid great stress in keeping the armed forces contented and happy by payment of adequate salary and allowances to them in time. The same thing he told Satrughna when he came to seek his permission to march against the demon Lavana. Said he, "Take with you four thousand horses, two thousand chariots, a hundred splendid tuskers and shopkeepers from the city, with a plentiful supply of excellent goods for sale. Take with you a million in pure bullion and enough wealth and goods and mounts to meet all requirements. And you should, O best of men, endear yourself to your army by maintaining it handsomely, well-fed and contented and cheered by frequent friendly addresses. For wealth and women and relations will not be available to your troops where they will have to be placed, so they should be kept in good cheer": CCimany asvasahasrani catvari purusarsabhai rathanam dve sahasre ca gajanam satam uttamami²3 hiranyasya suvarnasya niyutam purusarsabhai Satva cadaya gaccha satrughna paryaptadhanavalanghoundation USA

balam ca subhrtam vira hrstatustam anuddhatam sambhasasampradanena ranjayasva narottaman nahy arthas tatra tisthanti na dara na ca bandhavahi suprito bhrtyavargas tu yatra tisthati raghavan 24 What has been said above would point to Rama having been a very wise statesman, thoroughly versed in polity and statecraft which knowledge he brought to bear in an abundant measure for the good of his people when he assumed the reins of office as king after his exile for fourteen years and established a kingdom in the highest traditions of the welfare state. Going after his name, the Ramarajya, it has remained a model, an ideal to be achieved for kings and rulers in India for thousands of years. 1. Ramayana, II. 1.10. 2. ibid., II. 1.11. 3. ibid., II. 1.13. 4. ibid., II. 1.14. 5. ibid., II. 1.15. 6. ibid., II. 1.39. REFERENCES 7. ibid., VI. 128.98-103. 8. ibid., VII. 53.4. 9. ibid., VII. 53.6. 10. ibid., II. 100.19. 11. ibid., II. 100.20. 12. ibid., II. 100.26. 13. ibid., II. 100.27. 14. ibid., II. 100.28. 15. ibid., II. 100.32. 16. ibid., II. 100.38. 17. ibid., II. 100.47. 18. ibid., II. 100.56. 19. ibid., II. 100.57. 20. ibid., II. 100.65-67. 21. ibid., VII. 45.14-15. 22. ibid., VII. 97.4 23. ibid., VII. 64.2. 24. ibid., VII. 64.4-6,