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Episode 01 - Chapter 14 - Canto on Rama viewing the vanara forces.

Chapter 14 - (Rama) viewing the (vanara) forces - தானை காண் படலம்.

 

Kamban brings to us the mobilization of the vanara army: the numbers he would count are mind-boggling indeed – at some stage we ought to wonder if this planet could accommodate so many – all simians!

 

We would also get acquainted, hereabouts,  with the stalwart commanders who bring in these multitudes to the threshold for viewing by Rama and Lakshmana. Some of the names would come up again several times as we journey further down – in Sundara Khanda and more vividly and rapturously in the course of the battles that we would witness in the Yudhdha Khanda. And, of course, we would see Hanuman everywhere holding centre-stage in Sundara Khanda and Yudhdha Khanda as we saw him here in Kishkinta Khanda. (Hanuman is present throughout Kishkinta Khanda, save one canto - கலன் காண் படலம்.

 

We would just note brief introductions of the commanders and the numbers they were fetching for the mere task of searching for Sita (the war is not yet in the reckoning). We would skip the hyperbole that Kamban is fond of imputing to his countless heroes.

 

(Your narrator had his head whirling as he tried to figure out the zeros in the numbers implicit in the poet’s hyperbolic measuring of the armies, defying rationality – Mother Earth, in the spatially slender-fit Thretha Yuga, could not have accommodated these kind of numbers!)

 

1)       “SATHA VALI” சதவலி (One with 100 rippling folds in his face).. No.mobilised: இரண்டு ஆயிர கோடி - Ten thousand crores of vanaras (with bent backs), commanded by one thousand commanders who are stated to have the cumulative strength of one million elephants. (No. 1,000,000,000,000 – One TRILLION.)

2)       “SUSESHANAN” சுசேடணன் (No. mobilized: பத்து நூறு ஆயிர

   கோடி - Ten Lakh Crores!) (No. 1,000,000,000,000,000 – One Quadrillion!)

3)       “THARAN” தாரன் (Father-in-law of Sugreeva, father of Ruma, Sugreeva’s wife). (No. mobilized – ஆறு எண் ஆயிர கோடி - 48000 crores! (No. 4,800,000,000,000 – 4.8 Trillion)

4)       “KESARI” கேசரி – (Father of our superhero, Hanuman) – (No. mobilized – ஐம்பது ஆய நூறாயிர கோடி - 50 lakh crores) (No. 500,000,000,000,000,000 – FIVE QUINTILLION!)

5)       “THOOMIRAN” தூமிரன்  Younger brother of the legendary Jambavan – He mobilized BEARS with teeth comparable with the immeasurably strong dentures of Sri Varaha Avathara of Sri Maha Vishnu – all of Two Thousand Crores (No.mobilised - ஆயிர கோடியின்

    இரட்டியின் கணித்த – Two Thousand Crores – (No.20,000,000,000 – TWENTY BILLION!)

6)       “GAWAKSHAN” – கவாட்சன்  (ஆன் பெயர்க் கண்ணன் - The One with the eyes of a cow) – (No. mobilized – ஈர் இரண்டு  ஆயிர கோடி - Four Thousand Crores) (No.40,000,000,000 – FORTY BILLION!)

7)       “PANACAN” – பனசன் – (No. mobilized – பன்னிரண்டு ஆயிர கோடி - Twelve Thousand Crores – (No.120,000,000,000 – 1.2 TRILLION!)

8)       “NEELAN’ – நீலன் – (No. mobilized - பதிற்றைந்து கோடி – Fifty Crores (No.500,000,000 –

 500 million)

9)       “DHAREEMUKHAN” தரீமுகன் – (No. mobilized - ஆறு ஐந்து கோடி – Thirty crores (No. 300,000,000 – 300 million)

10)     “AKKHAYAN” அக்கயன்  – (No. mobilized - முப்பதினாயிர

    கோடி – Thirty Thousand Crores – (No. 300.000,000,000 – 3 Trillion)

11)     “JAMBHAVAN” – THE ONE AND ONLY! THE GREAT, EVER-LIVING, BEAR – சாம்பன் – (No. mobilized - ஆயிரத்து அறுநூறு கோடி – (No.16,000,000,000 -16 billion)

12)     “DHUNMUKHAN” துன்முகன் – One with an ugly, disfigured face (No. mobilized – பத்து நூறாயிரப் பத்தினின் இரட்டி – Twenty Lakh Crores (No. 20,000,000,000,000 – Twenty Trillion)

13)     “DHUMINDHAN” துமிந்தன் – No. mobilized - கோடி கோடி நூறாயிர

    எண் – (Just Countless! )

14)     “MAHINDAN” மயிந்தன் – (No. mobilized - பத்து நூறாயிரப்

    பத்து எனும் கோடி – (No. 1,000,000,000,000,000 – One Quadrillion!)

15)     “ KUMUDHAN “ – குமுதன் – (No. mobilized - ஒன்பது

    கோடி – Nine crores (No. 90,000,000 – Ninety million)

16)     ‘PADHUMUKHAN” பதுமுகன் – (No. mobilized - ஏழின் ஏழு நூறாயிர

         கோடி – Forty Nine Thousand Crores – (No. mobilized 490,000,000,000 – 4.9 Trillion)

17)     ‘RISHABAN” இடபன் – (No. mobilized - தொள்ளாயிர கோடி – Ninety Thousand Crores – (No.900,000,000,000 – Ninety billion)

18)     “HANUMAN”  அனுமன் – The Super Hero from here onwards - (No. mobilized - அஞ்சு ஆயிர கோடி – Twenty Five Thousand Crores) (No. 250,000,000,000 – 250 billion).

19)     ‘NALAN” நளன் (Son of Viswakarma, the Divine Architect) – (No. mobilized - நூறாயிர கோடி – (No. 1,000,000,000,000 – One Trillion)

Other commanders who arrived were: Dheergapaathan (தீர்க்கபாதன்), Vinathan (வினதன்), Sarabhan (சரபன்) “KHUMBAN” (கும்பன்) AND “SANKHAN”, (சங்கன்) and they brought in their own armies that were again beyond count.

 

(The AAadi Kaavya matches this mind-bending with similarly wild numbers describing the mobilization of vanaras - shataani atha sahasraaNi koTyaH ca; koTi sahasraaNi; koTi sahasraaNaam sahasram; teSaam samkhyaa na vidyate – Kamban had had an inspirational precursor in his wildly imaginative count of vanara assembly.)

 

(The metaphor for the vanara assemblage in the aAadi Kaavya:

 

तटाकम् इव तम् दृष्ट्वा रामः कुड्मल पंकजम् ||

वानराणाम् महत् सैन्यम् सुग्रीवे प्रीतिमान् अभूत्

 

taTaakam iva tam dR^iShTvaa raamaH kuDmala pa.nkajam ||

vaanaraaNaam mahat sainyam sugriive priitimaan abhuut)

 

Rama became exultant of Sugreeva on seeing the massive army of Vanara-s which is just like a vast lake plethoric with buds of lotuses

 

எண்ணின், நான்முகர்   எழுபதினாயிரர்க்கு இயலா;

உண்ணின் அண்டங்கள் ஓர்  பிடி உண்ணவும் உதவா;

கண்ணின் நோக்கறின், கண்ணுதலானுக்கும்  கதுவா, -

மண்ணின் மேல் வந்த வானர சேனையின் வரம்பே!

 

If the venture was to count this immeasurable army, even seventy thousand Brahma’s could not accomplish that job. (Why Seventy Thousand of them?) If these ‘warriors’ set out to eat, the whole universe would not count for even one mouthful for them. For looking this mobilization over, it was beyond Lord Shiva with his extra eye set in his forehead. That was the limit(less) expanse of the vanara armies that were mobilized there (for Rama).

    

தோயின், ஆழி ஓர் ஏழும் நீர் சுவறி வெண் துகள் ஆம்;

சாயின், அண்டமும் மேருவும்  ஒருங்குடன் சாயும்;

ஏயின், மண்டலமும் எள் இட இடம் இன்றி இரியும்;

காயின் வெங் கனல்- கடவுளும் இரவியும் கரியும்.

 

If the vanara armies assembled there chose to have a dip (bathe), all the seven seas would dry up completely and would be left with only the white sediment; if these tilted to one side, the planet earth and Mount Meru would tilt too; if these got up and took a trek, the earth would be filled up without space - a grain of til (sesame), if dropped from above, would not drop to the ground. If these got angry, even Agni, the god of Fire and the Sun would incinerate.

 

This verse is constructed as அடிமறிமாற்றுப் பொருள்கோள் structure i.e. you could switch the lines in any position – the first line to the third, the second to the fourth, etc. – but there would no impact on the meaning, continuity and purport.

 

அனையது ஆகிய சேனை வந்து இறுத்தலும், அருக்கன்

தனையன், நொய்தினின் தயரதன் புதல்வனைச் சார்ந்தான்;

'நினையும் முன்னம் வந்து அடைந்தது, நின் பெருஞ் சேனை;

வினையின் கூற்றுவ, கண்டருள்நீ என விளம்ப.

 

As this awesome, colossal, mobilization settled in front of Rama, Sugreeva approached Rama and invited him: “Your large army had arrived even before I thought it would; Oh! The God of Annihilation of evil! Please do view it.” வினையின் கூற்றுவ – would also denote the Almighty who would grant deliverance from all accumulated karma for souls.

 

ஐயனும் உவந்து அகம் என முகம் மலர்ந்தருளி,

தையலாள் வரக் கண்டனன் ஆம் எனத் தளிர்ப்பான்,

எய்தினான், அங்கு ஓர் நெடு வரைச் சிகரத்தின் இருக்கை;

வெய்யவன் மகன், பெயர்த்தும், அச் சேனையின் மீண்டான்.

 

Rama was pleased – how much was he pleased? He was delighted as if he had regained Sita! He ascended a hillock, that would provide him a vantage point for his viewing the sea of vanaras.  Sugreeva returned to the vanara army marshalled all around.

 

பத்து இரட்டி நன் பகல் இரவு ஒருவலர் பார்ப்பர்,

எத் திறத்தினூம் நடுவு கண்டிலர், முடிவு எவனோ?

 

If the duo, Rama and Lakshmana, spent twenty days and twenty nights together in viewing these armies, would they arrive at least to its middle?

 

இராமன்,

கண்ணின், சிந்தையின், கல்வியின், ஞானத்தின், கருதி,

அண்ணல் தம்பியை நோக்கினன்

 

Rama, with his eyes, with his mind, with his knowledge and with his highly evolved intellect, internalized what he saw and looked at Lakshmana.

 

ஈசன் மேனியை, ஈர் - ஐந்து திசைகளை, ஈண்டுஇவ்

ஆசு இல் சேனையை, ஐம்பெரும் பூதத்தை, அறிவை,

பேசும் பேச்சினை, சமயங்கள் பிணக்குறும் பிணக்கை, -

வாச மாலையாய்! - யாவரே முடிவு எண்ண வல்லார்?

 

Here is an interesting matching of the comparison and the compared - உபமானம், (the objects of comparison) and உபமேயம் (the object that is compared) –

 

The (limitless) sareera of the Almighty, the endless ten directions, the five elements, the pure, ever-expanding knowledge, the countless spoken languages, the eternal truth about which different religions squabble, and this awesome army that is marshalled over here: who could contemplate these conclusively?

 

ஈண்டு தாழ்க்கின்றது என், இனி எண் திசை மருங்கும்,

தேண்டுவார்களை வல்லையில் செலுத்துவது அல்லால்?

 

Enthused and happy, Rama exclaimed: “What are we waiting for, without sending post-haste search parties in all the eight directions?”

 

Canto on organizing the search parties - நாட விட்ட படலம்

 

Rama exclaimed to Sugreeva : “Is there a finite limit to this huge, impressively marshalled, army here?”

 

Sugreeva responded with a dignified modesty: “Knowledgeable elders would assess this as a countable எழுபது வெள்ளம்**. One would have go by that assessment. Otherwise, how is it possible to make a count?”

 

எழுபது வெள்ளம்** (Seventy “Floods”?) is a term that is used consistently in this epic when the vanara army’s size is referred to. We found the following calculation from the reference books:  வெள்ளம்=8 மாக்கடல்=13209037701120

எழுபது வெள்ளம் = 13,209,037,701,120 x 70 = over 92 trillion!

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