Re: SAGE JAIMINI- PART2
Rajaram Krishnamurthy
GOPALAKRISHNA WROTE SAGE JAIMINI- PART2 Continued from part1
DATED 12 5 26 WHICH HAD MANY REPETITIONS OF MINE AS WELL AS MISMATCHES AND UNEXPLAIED FOLK TALES SO A BROAD DETAILS FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAD FULLY: K RAJARAM IRS 13526
G The Test of Sense Control
KR WHAT WAS WRITTEN BY ME REPEATED ONCE AGAIN
GOPALA: Is sage Jaimini related to Ramayana in any manner? What are the differences in Uttara Ramayana while retelling by sage Jaimini?
KR ANOTHER PERIOD REPEAT OF MINE WITHOUT CONFIRMATIONS. WHEN WE READ, WE READ IN DEPTH; BUT ONE WHO READS HASTILITY, WRITES IN CONFUSION.
RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARATHAM HAVE SO MANY VERSIONS IN 10000S FORMS SAID TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY VERY WELL KNOWN RISHIS AS IN THOSE DAYS, THE WRITER WAS BEHIND REMAINED UNKNOWN, AND PLACED THE GREAT SAGES NAMES AS AUTHORED; AND ALL THESE HAPPENNED ONLY AFTER THE 500 BCE PERIOD; ESPECIALLY WHERE PALM LEAVES WERE USED FREELY THESE PSEUDO NAME LENDERS BECAME IN VOGUE WITHOUT MUCH REFERENCES, SO TOO JAIMINI WHO WAS NEITHE R IN THE RAMAYANA NOR IN THE MAHABHARTHA PERIOD AT ALL. ASTROLOGY BOOK REALLY WRITTEN BY JAIMINI AND BEING PRACTICED IN NORTH EVEN TODAY, REVEAL PLANETARY POSITIONS RELEVEANU AROUND 500 BCE TO1000 AD ONLY. {For example, Rig vedam speaks about rise of Krittika star as 1st in the east with certain configurations as seen then, which when tracked places the precession era 50000 years ago when Krittika was the 1st star and Aswini; on the contrary Jaimini astrology hold only Ashwini as the first star.} Hence retold versions of Uttara Ramayana, Ashva Medha parva etc are very-late -editions, stamped as Jaimini that too in the north sector about which many books had been written. So there is no point in retelling without reasons and evidences drawing our attentions. The Uttara Ramayana is reproduced different from Ramayana below; and the idea arose from Padma purana where Ramayana is retold differently and if time and space permitted I shall give those Padma purana notes also.
KR UTTARA RAMA CHARITHAM PRESENTED DIFFRENTLY
1 Padma Purana tells the story of Rama from how Valmiki does it. Reading the Jaiminiya Ashwamedha Parva recently, I was fascinated by the changes its author makes when he tells the Uttara Ramayana story.
2 The context is of the narration of the Ashwamedha battle between Arjuna and his son Babhruvahana. While describing the battle to Janamejaya, the author-narrator Jaimini compares it to the similar battle between Rama and his son Kusha. This prompts Janamejaya to ask for the details of the battle between Rama and Kusha and Jaimini responds by narrating the story at length, devoting twelve of the total sixty-eight chapters of the book to it.
3 Jaimini
After returning from his fourteen year exile, says Jaimini, Rama begins ruling Ayodhya. Years pass and yet Sita does not conceive – the duration mentioned by Jaimini is ten thousand years, whatever he means by it. Eventually she conceives and completes four months of pregnancy. It is when she is in the fifth month that Rama has a terrible dream. In his dream Rama sees that Lakshmana has abandoned Sita on the banks of the Ganga and she is weeping there like an orphaned child. Next morning he informs Vasishtha of his dream and requests the sage to fix a date for the pumsavana ritual, so that the pregnancy is completed without any trouble. Vasishtha fixes a date in the next fortnight. Accordingly Rama gives orders to Lakshmana to invite Sita’s father Janaka and sages like Vishwamitra for the ceremony. They arrive and the pumsavana is royally performed. Following the ritual, Janaka hands over his kingdom to Rama and retires to the forest for devoting his whole life for spiritual practices.
It is one night following this while Rama and Sita are in bed that Rama asks his wife about her daurhrida [dohada – the pregnant woman’s wish]. Sita tells him that by his grace she has no desires, all her desires are fulfilled, but there is one thing she is keen to do: visit the ashrams of ascetics on the banks of the Ganga.
Rama spontaneously bursts out laughing at this – a thing we cannot imagine Valmiki’s Rama doing. Laughing aloud he asks her if fourteen years of life in the jungle hasn’t satisfied her. He then promises her that she shall visit the banks of the Ganga the very next morning.
We can see clearly here that Jaimini is already taking an independent road in telling the Uttara Katha of Rama. Things are quite different in the Valmiki Ramayana. In the older telling of the story by the Adikavi, the prophetic dream Rama sees about Sita being abandoned in the forest is missing, and so is the pumsavana ritual. Naturally, Janaka does not come to Ayodhya to attend it nor does he hand over Mithila to Rama to rule over and retire to the forest for tapas. Rama asks Sita about her dohada not when they are in bed together, but in entirely different circumstances.
Valmiki
In Valmiki’s version, following his return from the exile and coronation as king, we find Rama and Sita in each other’s company in an atmosphere of love in the Ashoka Gardens on the palace grounds, a place filled with all kinds of beautiful trees. There are ponds in the garden, filled with acquatic flowers and abounding in chakravakas, swans, cranes, storks and all other kinds of birds that flock around water. Seated on a couch in the Ashoka Vanika, Rama lovingly gives Sita with his own hand a beverage called madhu-maireyaka to drink, just as Indra gives Shachi drinks. Servants bring varieties of meat and fruits. Naga women, Kinnaris and Apsaras, all pretty, all adepts at dance, all well adorned, dance around Rama, very close to him. The dancing women are inebriated and Rama enjoys their dances thoroughly. Seated with Sita, Rama looks as though Vasishtha is sitting with Arundhati.
Valmiki then tells us that Rama used to spend the first half of his days attending to his religious and royal duties and the second half, in the company of Sita like this for a long time, until winter passes. [The commentator Govindaraja explains a statement of the Advikavi here to mean that two winters thus passed after the coronation.] It is then that one day he notices signs of pregnancy on Sita. He is delighted and asks her what her dohada is – a pregnant woman’s desires should be fulfilled; what desire of hers can he fulfill? Sita smiles and tells him of her desire to visit the sacred tapovanas of the great sages on the banks of the Ganga and to sit at their feet. She wants to spend at least one night in the holy groves where these ascetics practice tapas. Rama happily promises that her desire will be fulfilled the very next day.
It is interesting to take a look at some of the changes introduced by Jaimini in his narration. Both Valmiki and Jaimini are portraying Rama’s great love and care for Sita. Valmiki speaks of their evenings together when Rama gives her drinks, meat is served and beautiful inebriated women dance around the couple. This is characteristic of Valmiki who is not shy of speaking of such things. Speaking of the scene of Ravana’s antahpura, for instance, the sage-poet unabashedly paints the picture of a post-orgasmic scene there, where few things are left to the imagination. Similarly in the Aranya Kanda he speaks of Rama giving a piece of cooked meat to Sita and asking her to try it, telling her it is good to eat, it is tasty and it is well-roasted – idam medhyam, idam swadu, nish?aptam idam agnina. Sage Bharadwaj too offers the soldiers of Bharata passing through his ashram both meat and drinks, along with other kinds of food and drinks. However, by the time of Jaimini perhaps these things had become unacceptable in the case of holy men and women like Rama and Sita, and the poet omits these details. There is no meat eating mentioned in this context, no intoxicating drinks, and no dance. He chooses other incidents to portray their intimacy. For instance, Rama’s spontaneous laughter at Sita’s desire to visit the forest again. That is a very intimate action. Rama also has the precognitive dream of Sita being abandoned – the kind of dream a loving person deeply concerned with another is likely to have. His interpretation of it is that something evil is going to happen to her pregnancy and he does what he thinks is appropriate – conducting a Vedic ritual to safeguard the pregnancy and Sita.
Jaimini
Following the promise he makes to Sita that she shall visit the ashram the next day, later that night, Jaimini tells us, Rama receives his spies and listens to the reports of each separately. The reports are all good. When Rama presses them, though, one of them admits that he has heard something negative too. The wife of a washerman had left her husband and gone away to her father’s place where she stayed for four days. The father then realizes that it is wrong for him to keep his married daughter at home for such a long period and, accompanied by his brothers, he takes her back to her husband. The furious washerman shouts at them, “Do you think I am Rama? He can accept back Sita who stayed in the house of the Rakshasas, but I will not.”
Rama sends the spy away and starts reflecting on his words. He ponders over what he should do. How can he abandon Sita whose purity has been proved by fire? No, he cannot, just as an educated brahmana cannot give up good conduct. Or maybe he should give her up, like brahmanas in the Kali age who give up the Vedas. By the morning, he makes up his mind to abandon Sita.
Early next morning his brothers meet Rama. Rama tells him all that happened in the night and informs them of his decision to abandon Sita out of fear for the censure of the world - lokabhaya.
The brothers are shocked. It is Bharata who speaks first. He reminds Rama of Sita’s purity which she has proved by entering fire. He also reminds Rama of Dasharatha’s words on that occasion. Dasharatha had appeared in the skies and told Rama not only that Sit is pure but also that she is capable of purifying others by her presence. In fact, Dasharatha had said then, he should not have been admitted into heaven because he had died grieving for his son, but it was because of his daughter-in-law Sita’s purity that he was admitted into the heaven. Bharata reminds Rama that the gods too had vouched for Sita’s purity.
Rama admits that it is all true; Sita’s purity is beyond doubt. But what is he to do with this evil talk that is going on? How can he put an end to it? For a king, there is nothing worse than ill fame and nothing more desirable than kirti, yashas – righteous fame. One should give up those who cause ill fame – be it a son, a brother, or a wife.
Here Rama quotes a few examples from the past, of people who had made great sacrifices for the sake of righteous fame. One of them is the highly anachronistic example of Karna ‘long ago’ giving away his armour and ear rings to Indra.
tathaiva kavacam karno vasavaya dadau pura - Jaimini 27.23
Lakshmana has difficulty in controlling his anger now. Waving his arms in fury, he tells Rama that his action is like giving up one’s own mother, like saving a cow from mlecchas and then abandoning it saying it has been touched by mlecchas and has hence become impure.
Shatrughna is equally furious at what Rama has said. He tells Rama he should carry out what he says and kill himself – that will make him immortal. And Sita is such, and her love for Rama is such, that she will bring him back from death. But, he asks Rama, how will he bring a dead Sita back to life? He implies that Rama is not capable of doing that, his love for her is not so powerful.
Rama’s only response is to say that his fear for ill-fame is such that if necessary he will give up himself and them, his brothers, what to speak of Sita.
Finding Rama bent on giving up Sita, Bharata and Shatrugha do not wish to stay with him anymore and go to their own palaces. Lakshmana however is not able to do so, seeing Rama’s grief. Rama tells him either to chop off his, Rama’s, head or to carry out his order and abandon Sita in the jungle. “I touch your feet and beg you,” Rama tells Lakshmana. “Abandon Sita on the bank of the river in the jungle. That sin will come to me.”
These words of Rama shames Lakshmana. He remembers the injunction of the scriptures that one should always obey the orders of one’s elders. He remembers how Parashurama had cut off his mother’s head obeying the orders of his father Jamadagni. He orders his driver to get his chariot ready and goes by it to Sita’s house, his head hung heavy in pain.
Here Jaimini adds something beautiful: the horse collapses on the way and has to be brutally whipped to get up and proceed.
Seeing him bowing to her in her palace, Sita is delighted. He praises Rama’s generosity: he is fulfilling what she had asked for in the night, though she had said it in a light mood. She tells Lakshmana she will take gifts for the sages and their wives. Her words torment Lakshmana, but he remembers his duty to Rama and silently responds by saying all right, his head bent, tears flowing from his eyes.
Sita takes leave of Kausalya as well as Kaikeyi and Sumitra and happily boards the chariot. With a choked voice Lakshmana orders the charioteer to drive fast.
Valmiki
In Valmiki’s Ramayana, it is not from his spies that Rama hears of the evil talk about Sita, but from his friends. As usual he was sitting with his friends in his chamber that night listening to all kinds of humorous stories told by them. After a while he asks Bhadra, a friend, to tell him what the citizens are saying about him and his family. Initially Bhadra tells him of the wonderful things they say, but when Rama insists he tells him of what they are saying about Sita – or more precisely, about his continuing to keep Sita as his wife. “What joy can Rama’s heart have from enjoying Sita who was forcibly taken into his lap by Ravana? Ravana had taken her with him to Lanka and kept her there in his Ashoka Gardens. Why does he not reject her? Now we too will have to tolerate such behaviour from our wives.” Such is the talk going on in the towns and in all the villages, Bhadra tells Rama. Rama asks his other friends if this is true, and they all admit it is so.
So in Valmiki’s version, it is not just one washerman who talks maliciously of Sita, but there is wide talk of that nature in all towns and villages. As I point out in my article on the Padma Purana version of the Ramayana, there the author goes further and gives a reason for that washerman. In his previous lifetime, he was a parrot and Sita had separated him and his wife, and caged her. The female parrot had killed herself in the cage when Sita refused to release her, and the male parrot had jumped into the Ganga and killed himself, cursing Sita that she too will later be separated from her husband. Thus to the Padma Purana it is Sita’s past karma haunting her now. We all have to pay the price of what we do, whoever we are. Karma is inviolable.
To continue the story as Valmiki tells it, after dismissing his friends, Rama sends for his brothers in the night itself. When they come, he talks to them about how nothing is more important than one’s good name and how nothing in the world is worse than ill fame. He asks Lakshmana to take Sita and leave her in the jungle beyond the Ganga near the ashrams and tells his brothers if anyone spoke against his decision, he would treat him as his enemy forever.
Valmiki’s Rama does not allow his brothers to speak a word against him. He gives them no choice. Jaimini’s Rama is equally determined about abandoning Sita, but he at least listens to his brothers’ angry talk. Jaimini’s Rama shames Lakshmana into obedience by saying that he is requesting his younger brother by touching his feet. The emotional force used by Jaimini’s Rama is different too – he asks Lakshmana to chop his head off, if he will not obey him. Valmiki’s Rama appears more hard-hearted when he says whoever speaks a word against his decision will become his enemy forever.
Valmiki’s Lakshmana goes to Sita the next morning with his chariot to take her and abandon her. But he lies to Sita – he specifically tells her he is taking her to the hermitages of the ascetics on the orders of Rama, as desired by her. She picks up gifts for the sages and happily starts her journey.
Jaimini
Let’s now go back to Jaimini.
As the chariot proceeds, Sita sees evil omens everywhere. A female jackal comes before Sita and begins howling piteously. Flocks of deer are seen running helter-skelter in large numbers. And Sita’s right eye begins to flutter continuously. Sita suspects bad things – but not for herself. She prays for the good of Rama, so that no harm comes to him.
When the chariot reaches the Ganga, the river that destroys sins is in a spate. Lakshmana gets down from the chariot and takes her across the river by a ferry. On the other side, both Sita and Lakshmana take a bath in the Ganga and then proceed on foot into deeper jungles. Jaimini paints a dark picture of the terrifying jungle here – there are sharp thorns everywhere, there are ancient trees on which are perched crows which are being eaten by snakes that hiss constantly. The place is filled with cheetahs, bison, wild boars and black scorpions with raised tails. Tigers wait still looking for opportunities to pounce upon does. Wild cats are digging mice out of their holes.
Fear makes Sita’s hairs stand on their ends. “I do not see any ashrams here, Lakshmana; nor do I see any sages or their wives,” she tells her devar. “There are no ashram children running about either. I do not see smoke rising up from agnihotras. What I see instead is smoke rising from wild fires burning forest grass and trees. Instead of the sound of Vedic mantras, I hear the wild cries of forest birds.”
Such is Sita’s innocence that she puts the blame for it all on herself. Perhaps this is her punishment for turning away from Rama by desiring to visit the ashrams. She is indeed an ugly woman who does not deserve to see the sacred ashrams. The auspicious ashram sounds and sights are not for her.
Tears streaming down from his eyes, Lakshmana tells Sita that the ashrams are still far away. He then informs her how she has been abandoned by Rama out of fear for the censure of the world – loka-apavada-bhaya.
Sita hears those words and collapses on the ground like a star falling from the skies. It was as though she has been bitten by a deadly snake. Lakshmana fans her with the end of his cloth and she comes to and sitting up, asks Lakshmana, “Once you had left me alone in Janasthana and went away. How will you again leave me in this terrible forest and go away?”
She tells Lakshmana how he is the dearest of her devars, brothers-in-law, and recalls one by one his acts of love and devotion to her. She does not blame Rama for abandoning her for no fault of hers – it must be her karma from a past life time. She asks Lakshmana to hurry back, or else Rama might get angry with him for being late. As for her, the god who protected her in the womb and protected her in Lanka will protect her in the forest too. She gives messages of love and devotion to her mothers-in-law to Lakshmana.
Sita has only one complaint against Rama – he should not have entrusted the tender hearted Lakshmana with the work of abandoning her in the jungle. He should have asked someone like the hard hearted Sugriva, slayer of his own brother, or Vibhishana who turned against his own brother, to do that job. She gives her blessings to Lakshmana and asks him to leave her and go back. Lakshmana goes round her in reverence and praying to the forest gods and goddesses to protect her, begins walking away and finds his legs are refusing to carry him away from Sita. Sita looks on at the disappearing Lakshmana and hopes perhaps he would return. When she finds that he does not, she swoons again.
The Jaiminiya Ashwamedha Parva turns eloquent here in describing the sympathy of the forest for Sita. It describes how swans give up lotus stalks and start wailing in their harsh voices. The does and their babies give up feeding on grass and raising their heads stall still watching Sita lying in a swoon. Peacocks give up their dances and run towards her. Birds stop searching for food and instead spread their wings and protect Sita lying on the forest floor. Water fowls sprinkle water on her with their wings. The chamaris fan her with their chamara-like hairy tails. The wind takes a dip in the Ganga and then gathering the flowers lying around, showers them on Sita in an act of worship.
Sita wakes up taking Rama’s name. Because of contorting in pain as she lay in swoon, her hair is open now and like the rest of her body, it is covered in dust. Her first impulse is to end her life, but that would be the great sin of bhroonahatya – killing an embryo in the womb. Not knowing what else to do, she runs first in one direction, then in another, falling every now and then in her agony and loneliness. Her feet start to bleed from running in the thorn-filled and rough forest floor and from falling down repeatedly.
It is in this state that Sage Valmiki finds her in the jungle while he is roaming there along with his disciples looking for wood appropriate for a sacrificial pillar.
Valmiki
Jaimini differs from Valmiki in where Sita is left. In Valmiki Ramayana, Rama’s instructions are to leave Sita at some lonely place near Valmiki Ashram and that is precisely what Lakshmana does. In fact it is possible that from where Sita was left the ashram was visible and Sita was visible from the ashram too. For, Lakshmana says to Sita when they reach there:
asramante?u ca maya tyaktavya tvam bhavi?yasi
rajnah sasanam ajnaya tava evam kila daurh?dam
tadetajjahnavi tire brahma??i?am tapovanam
pu?yam ca rama?iyam ca ma vi?adam k?thah subhe
“Obeying the order of the king and as per your pregnancy wish, I am to abandon you near the ashram. Here is the sacred and beautiful tapovana of the brahmarshis on the banks of the Ganga. Do not grieve.”
Jaimini changes this and there is no indication that it is near the ashram that she is left. In fact, there are all kinds of contrary indications. Sita complains that she does not see any ashrams there, nor any sages nor their wives. She speaks of seeing no ashram children running about, seeing no smoke rising up from agnihotras. All she sees is smoke rising from wild fires burning forest grass and trees. Instead of Vedic mantras, she points out, all she hears is the wild cries of forest birds.
Jaimini’s forest is also not the gentle forest near ashrams – what we find everywhere is sharp thorns, ancient trees on which are perched crows who are being hunted by hissing snakes, and the forest floor filled with cheetahs, bison, wild boars, black scorpions with raised tails, tigers waiting to pounce upon does, cats digging mice out of their holes.
In Valmiki she is so close to the ashram the young ashram children see and hear her cries and inform the sage of her. Sita here has no consolation of being anywhere near ashrams. And she runs about madly in intolerable agony, first running in one direction and then in another. It is in this state that Valmiki who is looking for wood for making a sacrificial post finds her in Jaimini.
Also, in Jaimini, it is the fear of bhroonahatya – the sin of killing the children in her womb – that prevents Sita from killing herself. In Valmiki it is the fear that with it Rama’s ancient royal line will come to an end.
Summing Up
Summing up the differences so far, Jaimini in spite of being a lover of Rama, is quite critical of his action of abandoning Sita. He makes Rama himself compare his action to that of the brahmanas of Kaliyuga giving up the Vedas – when the brahmanas who are supposed to live for protecting the Vedas give them up, it is always for unholy purposes, for selfish ends. Jaimini does not see Rama’s fear of lokapavada – the censure of the world – as anything noble. Like so many of us today, he perhaps feels Rama took the easy way out. Instead of standing by Sita and fighting for her like a hero and making the people of Ayodhya realize their error, he chose to get rid of her so that he can be in their good books. He definitely was not setting up a good example before the world, just as a brahmana who gives up the Vedas is not, whatever his reason.
Jaimini makes Sita say that the god who protected her in the womb and in Lanka will protect her in the forest too.
yo garbhe rak?ita devo yo vai lankadhivasinim
mam sa vai rak?ita cadya na duhkham kartumarhasi.
These are the words of a woman who has been given up by the very man who is supposed to protect her. In fact, it is he who has thrown her into the middle of dangers. These words remind us of Draupadi, wagered and lost by Yudhishthira and thus made a slave, turning to God in the form of Krishna for protection, when they fail her.
In one of the most eloquent expressions of kindness and compassion the world has seen, Jesus from the cross asks God to forgive his tormentors and crucifiers. Valmiki’s Sita does the same, a few thousand years before Jesus. And Sita does not ask Rama just to forgive those who have been cruel to her, but going beyond it, to actively love them.
yatha bhrat??u vartethas tatha paure?u nityada
Valmiki’s Sita thus asks Rama to love the people of Ayodhya who have sent her to the jungle; and not love them with the common love of a king for his subjects, but as Rama loves his brothers – he loves no one more than he loves his brothers, not even her. This is loving your enemies in the truest sense of the term. She asks Rama to love her tormentors, her crucifiers with all his heart.
And when she does not kill herself by jumping into the Ganga, it is because she does not want Rama’s line to come to an end with her.
Valmiki’s Sita is almost superhuman in her compassion and kindness. But Jaimini brings her down to the earth, without reducing her in any way. She is so tormented by her fear and agony – it is not near the ashram that she has been abandoned, but in a terrifying jungle with scorpions and snakes and cheetahs and wild boars all around her – that she has no thoughts for the citizens of Ayodhya. And we can understand Sita if she refuses to kill herself out of the fear for bhroonahatya rather than out of the fear of loss that it will cause Rama. She is just being human there. Perhaps the thought that {TO BE CONTD K RAJARAM IRS 13526}
--SAGE JAIMINI- PART2
Continued from part1
The Test of Sense Control
Jaimini reportedly felt that he had mastered his senses to a point where he was above all lust and temptation.
The Scenario: To test him, Vyasa left Jaimini in charge of the hermitage and later appeared in the disguise of a beautiful young woman seeking shelter during a storm.
The Outcome: Despite his vows, Jaimini found himself overcome with attraction.
When he eventually succumbed and reached for her, Vyasa revealed his true form.
This event was a turning point for Jaimini, teaching him that true wisdom requires eternal vigilance and that no one is beyond the power of illusion (Maya).
Is sage Jaimini related to Ramayana in any manner?
Sage Jaimini is traditionally associated with the Mahabharata era, not the Ramayana period. He lived long after the events of the Ramayana had concluded.
While he did not personally live during the time of Lord Rama, he is connected to the Ramayana through his literary work:
Author of Uttara Ramayana:
In some traditions, Jaimini is credited with a unique retelling of the Uttara Ramayana, which covers the later events of Lord Rama's life, such as his return to Ayodhya and the story of Lava and Kusha.
Time Gap: Chronologically, the Ramayana occurred during the Treta Yuga, while Jaimini lived during the Dvapara Yuga and the beginning of Kali Yuga as a disciple of Veda Vyasa. This represents a gap of thousands, or in some views, hundreds of thousands of years.
What are the differences in Uttara Ramayana while retelling by sage Jaimini?
The retelling of the Uttara Ramayana by Sage Jaimini—primarily found within his version of the Ashvamedha Parva—diverges significantly from the standard version composed by Sage Valmiki.
While Jaimini's text maintains the core sequence of events, his narrative alters specific plots, introduces independent theological motivations, and directly shifts character dynamics.
The fundamental differences between the two retellings include:
Prophetic Omens: In Jaimini's retelling, Rama experiences a terrifying prophetic dream forecasting the abandonment of Sita long before it occurs.
Valmiki's text contains no such dream; Rama acts solely based on reports of local rumours.
The Pumsavana Ritual: Jaimini introduces the Pumsavana ritual (a Vedic ceremony performed for a secure pregnancy) for Sita.
Janaka's Abdication: Due to the ritual, King Janaka travels to Ayodhya, chooses to hand over the rule of Mithila to Rama, and leaves immediately for the forest to practice tapas (austerities).
In Valmiki's Uttara Kanda, Janaka remains the ruling king of Mithila and does not hand his kingdom to Rama.
Investigation of the Rumours-Spy Interviews:
After Rama promises Sita that she can visit the forest hermitages, Jaimini specifies that Rama secretly interviews multiple spies individually at night to review public opinion.
The Circle of Friends: In Valmiki's text, Rama does not gather direct intelligence from isolated undercover spies; he learns about the critical gossip regarding Sita's purity during an open discussion with his close companions and friends.
The Abandonment and Valmiki's Hermitage-Location of Banishment:
Jaimini changes the exact location where Lakshmana leaves Sita, positioning her further away from the initially planned river banks.
Valmiki’s Ignorance: When Sage Valmiki encounters the weeping, abandoned Sita in Jaimini's text, he does not recognize her. He must explicitly ask for her identity.
Valmiki's Omniscience: In the original Valmiki Ramayana, Valmiki possesses immediate, divine spiritual insight (tapas-shakti). He already knows exactly who Sita is, why she was exiled, and affirms her absolute purity without asking a single question.
Ashvamedha Yajna and Military Focus
Devotional Martial Scale: Jaimini's Ashvamedha Parva transforms the military campaign protecting the sacrificial horse into an expansive, highly devotional saga.
Lava and Kusha’s Combat: While Valmiki focuses heavily on Lava and Kusha singing the Ramayana epic in the royal court, Jaimini focuses intensely on the dramatic combat details between Rama’s royal army and his twin sons in the forest
Jaimini Presence in Mahabharata:
Historical and scriptural records place Jaimini firmly in the Mahabharata timeline. He was part of Yudhishthira’s council, visited Bhishma on the bed of arrows, and was present at King Janamejaya’s serpent sacrifice (Sarpasatra).
Scholarly Perspective: From a historical-academic viewpoint, Jaimini is estimated to have lived between the 4th and 2nd century BCE, whereas the core events of the Ramayana are traditionally dated much earlier.
Sage jaimini during Dwaparayuga
During the Dwapara Yuga, Sage Jaimini played a pivotal role as one of the chief architects of Vedic preservation and a key figure in the events following the Great Kurukshetra War.
Key Roles in Dwapara Yuga
The Division of the Vedas: As a direct disciple of Veda Vyasa, Jaimini was tasked with preserving the Sama Veda. During this era, Vyasa foresaw the coming of the Kali Yuga and the decline of human memory, so he instructed Jaimini to master and pass down the melodic and musical portions of the Vedas.
Advisor to the Pandavas: Jaimini served as a respected member of King Yudhishthira’s council in the Sabha Parva.
Witness to the Great War: He was present during the Kurukshetra War and visited the dying patriarch Bhishma as he lay on the bed of arrows (Sharashayya).
Famous Events & Interactions
The Snake Sacrifice (Sarpa Satra): After the transition to the Kali Yuga, Jaimini acted as the Brahmana priest (the chief supervisor) during King Janamejaya’s massive ritual to exterminate all serpents.
This sacrifice was performed to avenge the death of Janamejaya's father, King Parikshit.
Retelling the Mahabharata: While Veda Vyasa composed the original epic, Jaimini wrote his own version known as the Jaimini Bharata. Legend says he recited this version to King Janamejaya during the intervals of the Sarpa Satra.
Legacy in the Dwapara-Kali Transition
Jaimini is often credited with bridging the gap between the eras by founding the Mimamsa school of philosophy, which systematised the Vedic rituals necessary for maintaining Dharma as spiritual knowledge began to fade in the early Kali Yuga.
The Jaimini Bharatha
The Jaimini Bharata is most famous for its detailed and often fantastic version of the Ashvamedha Parva (The Book of the Horse Sacrifice), which is the only surviving portion of Jaimini's original epic.Unlike Vyasa's version, Jaimini’s narrative is deeply rooted in Bhakti (devotion) and portrays Arjuna not as an invincible conqueror, but as a warrior who frequently requires Krishna's intervention to overcome more powerful adversaries.
Unique Episodes in Jaimini Bharata-Story of Chandrahasa:
One of the most popular segments, it tells of an orphan boy who, despite various death plots by the wicked minister Dustabuddhi, miraculously survives and eventually becomes king.
The legend of Dushta buddhi-in detail
The story of Chandrahasa in the Jaimini Bharata is a classic tale of destiny and divine protection. Born as a prince of Kerala, he had a sixth toe on his left foot—a sign interpreted by astrologers as an omen of either extreme poverty or great royalty.
The Early Murder Plot-After his parents were killed in battle, Chandrahasa became a beggar in the kingdom of Kuntala. The wicked minister Dustabuddhi, who wished to seize the throne for his own son Madana, grew fearful when astrologers predicted the boy would one day rule.
The Jungle Escape:
Dustabuddhi hired assassins to kill the boy in the forest. However, moved by the child's beauty and innocence, the assassins could not bring themselves to kill him.The Proof: Instead of his life, they took his sixth toe as "proof" of his death to show the minister.
The Letter of "Poison" (Visha)
Years later, a grown Chandrahasa was found by a vassal and became a famous warrior. Dustabuddhi, realizing the boy was still alive, hatched a second plot.
The Fatal Instruction: He sent Chandrahasa to his son Madana with a sealed letter. The letter explicitly ordered Madana to give the messenger "Visha" (Poison) immediately.
The Divine Twist: Exhausted, Chandrahasa fell asleep in a royal garden.
There, Dustabuddhi’s daughter, Vishaya, found him and fell in love at first sight. She noticed the letter protruding from his clothes and read it.
The Edit: Realizing her father's cruel intent, she used her cosmetic charcoal and a small stick to cleverly add one letter to the word "Visha," changing it to "Vishaya" (her own name).
The letter now read: "Give Vishaya to this messenger in marriage immediately".
Madana, obeying his father’s "command," married his sister to Chandrahasa that very day.
The Final Temple Plot
A furious Dustabuddhi tried one last time, arranging for assassins to wait at a Kali temple to kill the first person who entered.
The Boomerang Effect: Chandrahasa was delayed, and it was Dustabuddhi’s own son, Madana, who entered the temple first and was killed by the waiting guards.
Resolution: Overcome with grief and realizing he could not fight destiny, the minister attempted to kill himself. However, Chandrahasa's great devotion moved the goddess, who restored Madana to life. Ultimately, Chandrahasa was crowned King of Kuntala.
The Battle with Sudhanva: Jaimini provides an elaborate account of King Hamsadhvaja and his son Sudhanva, who stops the sacrificial horse.
Sudhanva is a great devotee of Krishna and battles Arjuna fiercely to prove that devotion is superior to martial pride.
Chandi and Uddhalaka: A humorous episode involving the short-tempered Chandi and the sage Uddhalaka, used to illustrate human emotions and the power of domestic life.
Mairavana Carita: This unique episode features Hanuman and Sita using mantra-infused blades of grass to destroy demons, a concept Jaimini likely adapted from his teacher Vyasa.
The Rescue of the Horse by Bhima: While Vyasa focuses on Arjuna’s solo journey; Jaimini features Bhīma defeating King Juvanaswa of Bhadravatipur to recover the white sacrificial horse.
Babruvahana and the Sanjeevani Gem: Jaimini adds more details to the conflict between Arjuna and his son Babruvahana. In this version, a cobra (kin of the one killed in the Khandava fire) seeks revenge by refusing to provide the life-giving Amritamani gem to revive the fallen Arjuna.
Sacrificial Horse-Jaimini mentions of two horses (one white, one dark).Features only one white horse while telling by Vyasa.
I will continue in next part.
Compiled by R. Gopalakrishnan from websites and Google QA. 12-05-2026
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Rajaram Krishnamurthy
Uttara Ramayana: How Jaimini Tells It – Part 2
[An analysis of how Jaiminiya Ashwamedha Parva differs from Valmiki Ramayana in telling the Uttara Katha of Rama. Continued from the earlier part.]
As we proceed further, the changes Jaimini introduces become more fascinating.
When Valmiki sees Sita who is wailing aloud in the hair-raisingly terrible jungle filled with fearsome animals, Jaimini tells us, he approaches her and asks her who she is, whose daughter and whose wife she is and why she has come to the uninhabited jungle. She introduces herself as Janaka’s daughter, Dasharatha’s daughter-in-law and Rama’s wife. She also tells him she has been abandoned by Rama for reasons she does not know. Valmiki consoles her telling her not to worry and introduces himself. He then takes her with him to his ashram and Sita goes with him quietly.
Valmiki
In Valmiki Ramayana these scenes are different. While Jaimini’s Valmiki has to ask her who she is, in the Ramayana, Valmiki knows everything about her without asking. In fact, he consoles her by addressing her as Janaka’s daughter, Dasharatha’s daughter-in-law, and Rama’s wife and tells her not to worry, the ashram is like a home to her. He tells her he knows everything about her with the power of his asceticism, knows why she has been abandoned, and knows she is pure.
Later, Valmiki Ramayana tells us in what is perhaps a later interpolation that Sita gives birth to the twins the same night as Shatrughna reaches the Ashram on his way to slay Lavanasura. Hearing of the birth of Sita’s children, Shatrughna goes and meets Sita and speaks of the grace of God. Next morning he leaves the ashram. It is twelve years later that Shatrughna comes back to Ayodhya and this time again he pays a visit to the Ashram and listens to the Ramayana composed by Valmiki. We are not told who sings it, but we are told that both the text and the narration is so realistic and powerful that Shatrughna faints while listening to it because of the emotions it awakens in him. The soldiers with Shatrughna pass through the same emotions.
One surprising thing here is that Shatrughna does not enquire about Sita or her children – there is no mention of them. It is this that first makes us wonder if the chapter in which we are told that Sita gave birth to the twins on the night Shatrughna reaches Valmiki Ashram is not a later interpolation. Otherwise it is impossible that Shatrughna does not ask any question about Sita and her children. Also, there is another thing suggests this chapter might be an interpolation. In the chapter describing the birth of the twins and Shatrughna visiting Sita and them, we are told this happened around midnight – other ashramites come and tell Valmiki about the birth at midnight. But the next chapter begins by saying that as night appeared, Shatrughna asked Chyavana about Lavana. The narration here is chronological and it is impossible that after the midnight events of such importance are mentioned, you suddenly start talking about be beginning of the night and a conversation like this. It is also indicated that the conversation with Chyavana went on the whole morning. Shatrughna does not say a word to Rama when he meets him in Ayodhya about meeting Sita in the ashram, either on his way to Lavana or on his way back.
Soon Rama performs the ashwamedha in Naimisharanya. It is done so that Rama is freed from the sin of brahmahatya, which he had accrued by slaying Ravana, a brahmana. And it is from here that we find some of the most amazing changes Jaimini introduces in telling the Uttara Rama Katha. He adds some dramatically powerful scenes to the story and drops other equally, if not more, powerful scenes.
The Ashwamedha begins in Naimisharanya on the banks of the Gomati, with a golden statue of Sita taking the place of Sita. While the Ashwamedha is in progress, Valmiki arrives there accompanied by his disciples Kusha and Lava. Valmiki orders Kusha and Lava to go around the whole place, singing the Ramayana – at the hermitages of the rishis, the dwellings of the brahmanas, royal palaces, highways and byways, everywhere. If Rama asks them to sing the Ramayana in front of him, Valmiki tells his disciples, they must do so to the best of their ability. “If Rama asks you whose sons you are, tell him you are disciples of Valmiki,” the sage instructs them.
As expected, Rama hears their singing and is fascinated. He invites them into the assembly and asks them to sing it there. At the end of the day, by which time they have chanted twenty cantos, they are offered a reward and but they refuse it, as Valmiki had instructed them, saying that they do not need money since they live in the forest. To Rama’s enquiry about the author of the poem, they say it is composed by Valmiki and consists of twenty-four thousand verses. It is arranged that on subsequent days the singing of Ramayana will continue in between the Ashwamedha.
It is through the song [Ramayana] that they sing, that Rama learns Kusha and Lava are Sita’s sons. He sends messengers to Valmiki, telling him that if Sita is pure and if there is no sin in her, with the sage’s permission she should take an oath to that effect in the assembly the next morning. The messengers go to the sage and give Rama’s message to him and he tells them to inform the king that Sita will do as desired by Rama because to a woman, her husband is her God. A pleased Rama sends out messages to the sages, brahmanas, kings and all others to be present in the assembly in Naimisharanya the next morning.
The next morning Rama himself goes and invites the great sages present in Naimisharanya and everyone else available to the assembly to witness Sita taking the oath of purity.
What follows is one of the most powerful scenes in world literature, modern and ancient. Maybe there are other scenes equal to it in power and emotional intensity, but none surpasses it. And one of the most amazing things about it is that, it is achieved with a minimum use of words and devoting very little space
While the assembly and invited guests are waiting, Valmiki walks in, followed by Sita quietly walking behind him. Her eyes are overflowing with tears, her palms are joined as in prayer, and her heart is on Rama. The Ramayana sees it as the beautiful picture of Shruti following Brahma. Great sorrow rises up in the assembly at her sight and people give expression that their grief.
Addressing Rama, the great sage says, “Oh son of Dasharatha, here is Sita, pious and practicing religious vows. Because of censure, you had abandoned her near my ashram. To you who fear the censure of the world, she will give proof [of her purity]; permit her to do so. These two are Sita’s children, born twins. These are your children – I vouch for the truth of it.”
“I am the tenth son of Pracheta, of scion of the Raghus. I do not remember ever speaking a word of untruth and I tell you, these are your children. I have done ages of tapas, and if Sita is evil, let me know attain the results of that tapas. I have not once in my entire life committed a sin in thoughts, words or actions. And let good results of that not come to me only if Sita is sinless. Every element that forms Sita is pure and so is her mind. I meditated upon this and saw the truth of it before I accepted her on the banks of the river in the forest. She is pure in conduct; she is sinless; to her, her husband is God. And now she shall give the proof of it to you who fear the censure of the world.”
A sage does not take oaths lightly. The greatest sage of the age vouches for Sita’s purity in the name of everything sacred to him. He speaks words I am sure he has never uttered in the past, but for her sake he speaks them.
Rama assures the sage he knows Sita is pure – she has proved it before the gods themselves. And he knows the twins are his sons. But, says he, the censure of the world is powerful and for that reason he will accept her when she proves it again there, in the assembly. And he asks the sage’s forgiveness for saying this.
The Ramayana says all the gods in heaven appeared there to witness Sita taking the oath of purity.
All this while, Sita has been standing behind Rama silently, her hands folded, her face cast down. As a sacred breeze starts blowing through the assembly, Sita, dressed in ochre, steps forward. She does not look at Rama once, though she hasn’t seen him after that evening in Ashoka Vatika years ago. She does not look at the men in the assembly. She does not look at Valmiki. Her eyes remain on the ground at her feet.
And then her soft spoken words ring out in the silent assembly. “If I have not once thought of a man other than Rama in my mind, then, Mother Earth, open up for me. If I have always worshipped Rama by thoughts, words and actions, then, Mother Earth, open up for me. I know no man other than Rama – if these my words are true, Mother Earth, open up for me.”
There is no begging for acceptance here. There is no hesitation. There are no more any longings in her heart. She wants to rest now – rest in the lap of Mother Earth.
Her words stun the assembly. They stun the sages and brahmanas. They stun the ministers and common men. They stun Rama.
With unbelieving eyes they see the earth splits open before them. From the opening rises up a divine throne adorned with divine ornaments, borne on the head of powerful serpents. On the throne is seated Goddess Earth. The Goddess stretches out her arms and speaks words of welcome to her daughter. She seats Sita beside her and the throne descends into the earth.
he heavens and the gods shower flowers upon Sita. The sky and the earth are filled with the sounds of approval. And in the middle of all that, while a stunned audience watches, Sita disappears into the earth.
he gives proof of her purity in a way no one will ever again question.
Rama will no more have to worry about the censure of the world because of her.
That is how Sita’s story ends in Valmiki Ramayana.
Jaimini
In Jaimini’s story, there is no mention of Shatrughna reaching Valmiki Ashram on the night Kusha and Lava are born. The children are of course taught the Ramayana by Valmiki, but it is as warriors that they grow up in the ashram and it is as warriors that we see them in the story. Valmiki gives them two bows and his friend Rishi Raibhya gives them two quivers that never go empty. Other sages give them all kinds of weapons empowered by mantras.
In Valmiki Ramayana we do not hear about the wanderings of the sacrificial horse. But in Jaimini, this is described in great detail. The most significant part of the ashwamedha story begins when the sacrificial horse, guarded by an army headed by Shatrughna, reaches Valmiki Ashram.
The sage is away at Patala, invited there by Varuna for a sacrifice. It is Lava who sees the sacrificial horse and captures it. He is challenged by the note tied to its forehead, which says, among other things, that Rama is the only true hero in the world and his mother Kausalya, the sole mother of a true hero. This infuriates Lava who asks: “Is our mother barren then? Hasn’t she given birth to an unsurpassed hero?”
It is refreshing to note here that Jaimini uses highly colloquial language much of the time in his telling. Lava’s speech here is charmingly colloquial.
A fierce battle follows, in which Lava proves himself an amazingly skilled warrior who is no less than Shatrughna in the battlefield. Eventually Shatrughna uses a sacred, infallible arrow. Though Lava breaks the arrow in two, he is wounded by one half of the arrow and faints. Shatrughna had been feeling great compassion for Lava throughout for two reason – for one thing, he is no more than a child, and another, he resembles child Rama in every way. He gathers the wounded, fainted Lava in his arms and carries him to his chariot.
Sita hears from ashram children that Lava has been wounded in the battlefield by some great warrior and wails at the news. It is then that Kusha who was away in the forest returns. She sends him to the battlefield. in the battle that follows, Kusha kills Shatrughna’s commander-in-chief and his bother. Shatrughna faints at the fierceness of Kusha’s attack. The rest of the soldiers run away to Ayodhya to give Rama the news.
By the time Lakshmana, sent by Rama, reaches the battlefield with a fierce army, Lava regains consciousness and joins the battle. Together, the two boys rout Lakshmana’s army. Kusha kills Lakshmana’s commander-in-chief Kalajit and renders Lakshmana unconscious, in battles described in at length by Jaimini in passages that remind us of the Mahabharata battle scenes.
Rama cannot go to the battlefield, since he has taken diksha for the sacrifice. Bharata now volunteers to go. But before he does so, he has a few interesting words to say to Rama.
He tells Rama not to grieve about Lakshmana – what has happened to him is exactly what he wanted to happen. He had no desire to live ever since he took Sita and left her in the jungle. In fact, he did not want to come back to Ayodhya after that but did so only to give Rama the news. But in spite of all that, Rama showed no kindness either to Sita or to Lakshmana. He has ever since been courting death. Lakshmana has voluntarily chosen death along with his brother Shatrughna. Lakshmana has finally freed himself from sin and now it is his turn to do so – he too is a sinner. In fact, he says, he had thought of killing himself when Rama abandoned Sita, but he did not want to do it in Ayodhya. Today his desire to end his life will be fulfilled and Rama should permit him by letting him go to the battle.
The strong guilt the brothers feel about Rama’s abandoning Sita is an additional feature of Jaimini Bharata. They see Rama’s action totally unwarranted and unjustified and their guilt about it is so strong, all three of them want to kill themselves. Though Jaimini does not expressly say it, they feel they too are responsible since they did not stop Rama from doing it.
In the battle with Kusha that follows, Angada, Nala, Jambavan, and Bharata fall into deathlike unconsciousness, seeing which Hanuman attacks Kusha and he too is becomes unconscious in Kusha’s counter attack. When Rama in Ayodhya is informed of this, he too reaches the battlefield, accompanied by Sugriva. Initially Rama refuses to fight with Kusha and Lava, seeing they are mere children, but they force him and Sugriva and a fierce battle ensues between the two sides in which the children become victorious and Rama and Sugriva become unconscious, wounded by their arrows.
Kusha and Lava have an idea now. They will tie up Hanuman and Jambavan and present them to Sita, who, they believe, will be entertained by them. Hanuman and Jambavan come out of their swoon by then, but they pretend to be still unconscious. When Sita seem them, she asks her sons to take them back into the battlefield and release them, fearing their death if they saw her.
Having described the valour of Lava and Kusha and the battle scenes in great detail, Jaimini now, with almost shocking abruptness, ends Rama’s Uttara Katha, which he calls Kusha-Lava-Upakhyana.
As Sita and her sons are talking, Valmiki reaches back from Patala. The children tell their guru all that has happened. He straight away goes to the battlefield, sprinkles empowered water on all and brings back all from death and unconsciousness. “These are your children,” he tells Rama. “Please accept them. And if you consider Sita innocent, please take her too with you.”
An amazed Rama gets up and goes back to Ayodhya to continue his sacrifice. While the sacrifice is in progress, Valmiki reaches there with Sita and her sons. Rama completes the sacrifice with them beside him and they all live ‘happily ever after’, their lives filled with love.
As an afterword to his story, Jaimini adds that Valmiki did not describe the tale of the battle between the father and his sons because he did not want the world to drown in an ocean of sorrow.
~*~
Jaimini’s telling of the Kusha-Lava-Upakhyana caught the imagination of India. Ever since he told it, it became an integral part of the Uttara Ramayana story. I remember watching scenes of the battles of Kusha and Lava with their uncles and with Hanuman. I watched them holding my breath as a child in second and third rate reproductions of them in movies. Five decades later, I can still recall the scenes with vivid intensity, in spite of the movies being of very poor quality; such is the power of Jaimini’s narration.
It is interesting to consider why Jaimini gives so much importance to these battle scenes which do not exist in Valmiki Ramayana.
Perhaps Jaimini was writing for a different audience than Valmiki [and Vyasa] did. There are several strong indications that Jaimini’s is a much later composition than the Adi Kavi’s and Vyasa’s. For instance, in both Valmiki and Vyasa, all messages are sent verbally, suggesting the absence of writing at the time of the composition of their works. Whereas in Jaimini we clearly see that writing exists. The ashwamedha horse carries a written message, probably on a plaque, on its forehead, which people read. In the story of Chadrahasa, the girl Vishaya changes the word visha [poison] in a written message to vishaya [her name]. [A very interesting episode! Chandrahasa who was supposed to be given visha on arrival is given Vishaya instead.] The social milieu and the customs described are very different too. Perhaps Jaimini’s audience relished the details of the ashwamedha – both in the case of Rama Ashwamedha and Yudhishthira Ashwamedha – more than the audience of Valmiki and Vyasa did. Perhaps he was writing in, and for, a medieval India that was torn by constant wars.
Also, perhaps poetic and literary conventions had undergone great changes and people expected happy endings to stories. In the case of Jaimini, he very obviously had in mind a happy ending for the Ramayana, even if it forces him to drop one of the most powerful scenes in the Ramayana and in world literature. He therefore drops the dramatically awesome scene of Sita’s rejection of Rama and entering the earth. Instead, he makes Sita tamely go with Valmiki to Rama and live with him ‘happily ever after’.
I do not see the Uttara Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana as a later composition than Jaiminiya Ashwamedha Parva. To me, it has to be that Jaimini chose to omit Sita’s entering the earth, a story he was familiar with.
But it must be said that while Jaimini’s ending of the story comes as a big disappointment, his war scenes in the Kusha-Lava-Upakhyana are thrilling. He transforms two young boys who are really just talented singers in the Valmiki Ramayana into awesome warriors who defeat between themselves such a mighty line of warriors as Shatrughna, Lakshmana, Bharata and Rama, apart from Hanuman, Jambavan, Sugriva, Angada, Nala and numerous others, each a legend in his own right as a warrior.
While in the earlier part of his telling of the Uttara Rama Katha, Jaimini focus on pathos and succeeds in moving us to great depths of karuna, in the later part of the story what he wants is to thrill us with veera rasa – with the valour of his heroes – and he succeeds admirably in it too. K RAJARAM IRS 13526 TO BE CONTD
Rajaram Krishnamurthy
Gopala: Jaimini Presence in Mahabharata:
Advisor to the Pandavas: Jaimini served as a respected member of King Yudhishthira’s council in the Sabha Parva.
Witness to the Great War: He was present during the Kurukshetra War and visited the dying patriarch Bhishma as he lay on the bed of arrows (Sharashayya).
Famous Events & Interactions
The Snake Sacrifice (Sarpa Satra): After the transition to the Kali Yuga, Jaimini acted as the Brahmana priest (the chief supervisor) during King Janamejaya’s massive ritual to exterminate all serpents.
Retelling the Mahabharata: While Veda Vyasa composed the original epic, Jaimini wrote his own version known as the Jaimini Bharata. Legend says he recited this version to King Janamejaya during the intervals of the Sarpa Satra.
KR Critical Edition: A critical edition with an English translation, The Jaiminiya Mahabharata Mairavanacaritam & Sahasramukharavanacaritam, was released in 2017 (2 volumes) by Pradip Bhattacharya and Shekhar Kumar Sen, as seen on amazon.in.
Geeta Press: A Hindi commentary version is available from Gorakhpur Geeta Press.
Difference from Vyasa's Mahabharata
While Vyasa’s work is focused on Dharma and the consequences of war, Jaimini’s retelling is considered a "bhakti-oriented" revision, focusing on redemption and devotion through the Ashwamedha Yagna
Testerday I gave an extract from Jaimini bharatha which may be referred to
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GOPALA: Legacy in the Dwapara-Kali Transition
KR The Lost Mahabharata of Jaimini by Dr. Pradip Bhattacharya
Vyasa had five disciples: Vaishampayana, Jaimini, Paila, Sumantu and his own son, Shuka. In the Adi Parva, section 63 of the Mahabharata, Vaishampayana tells Janamejaya about his guru:-
“He compiled the Vedas.
And was called Vyasa, the Compiler.
Next he taught the four Vedas
And the fifth Veda, the Mahabharata, - 93
To Sumantu, Jaimini, Paila,
His own son Shuka, and to me,
His disciple Vaishampayana. - 94
And the Bharata Samhita
He published through them
Each separately….[1]
So, Vyasa had these five compose their individual versions. Only the one recited in his presence by Vaishampayana at Janamejaya’s snake sacrifice is extant in full as transmitted by Ugrashrava Sauti to Shaunaka and his sages in the Naimisa forest during intervals of their sacrificial rite. Of Jaimini’s version, only his Ashvamedha Parva exists in full where it is he who recites it to Janamejaya. The legend is that Vyasa rejected all the other compositions. According to Shridhara’s Marathi Pandavapratapa (17th century), Vyasa condemned Jaimini for introducing his own material. [2] This parva is of great significance because when Akbar commissioned Razmnama (Book of War, 1584, the Persian translation of the Mahabharata), for the Book of the Horse Sacrifice he chose Jaimini’s version over his guru Vyasa’s as is evident from the illustrations. We do not know if he made similar choices for the other parvas because his copy has not been studied, being locked away, inaccessible, in the Jaipur Palace museum.
Indications exist in Jaimini’s text that other parvas, preceding and succeeding this fourteenth one, existed. At the end (Section 68, slokas 14-15) Jaimini says,“O lord of the people, I have narrated fourteen parvas. Now, O king, listen to the parva named Asramavasa.”
Further, in Section 36, slokas 84-85.5, Suta (not “Sauti” who transmits Vaishampayana’s recital) addresses an audience of ascetics, presumably identical to Shaunaka and his community of sages in Naimisharanya:-“Suta said, “O bulls among ascetics, I have described to you all that Jaimini had told the son of Pareekshit.”
The way in which the name of Janamejaya’s father is spelt (Pareekshit instead of Parikshit) provides a clue to Jaimini’s period, as this spelling occurs first in the Bhagavata Purana. It means, “to look around,” while the Vyasa version means, “remnant (of a ruined family).”[3] Unfortunately, those other parvas are yet to be found.
The manner in which Jaimini’s Sahasramukharavanacaritam begins, with Janamejaya’s queries following the return of Sita and her sons to Rama, indicates that it is a sequel to Jaimini’s Ashvamedha Parva account of Lava and Kusha’s battle with Rama.
During research for editing the first English translation of the Jaiminiya Ashvamedha Parva, [4] exciting information was received from Professor Satya Chaitanya, visiting faculty at the XLRI Jamshedpur, that Government Oriental Manuscripts Library and Research Centre of the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology had palm-leaf manuscripts in Grantha script ascribed to the lost Jaimini Bharata.
Of 15 manuscripts 2 that were complete, viz. Sahasramukharavanacaritram (The Thousand-Faced-Ravana’s Deeds), and Mairavanacaritam (The Dark Ravana’s Deeds) were critically edited and published with a sloka-by-sloka English translation in free verse by S.K. Sen and myself. Neither has been published previously. The Lava-Kusa manuscript was not included, though complete, as the episode was included in S.K. Sen’s translation of Jaimini’s Ashvamedha Parva.
The Enigma of Jaimini
Jaimini is the celebrated author of the Purva Mimamsa and also of the Jaimini Bharata, fragments of which are turning up. Mairavana caritam appears to be an independent work included in the Jaimini Bharata not claiming connection with any of the parvas. On the other hand, Sahasra mukha ravanacaritram or Sita vijaya claims to be a part of the Ashrama vasa Parva of the Jaiminiya Mahabharata.
The link with Vyasa is visible as both these manuscripts have Sita and Hanuman using mantra-infused grass to consume the demons. In Vyasa’s Udyoga Parva (94. 27-30) Nara demolishes the army of Dambhod bhava by launching ishikabhir, blades of grass. Again, in the Shanti Parva (330. 48) Narayna takes an ishika, transforms it into an axe with a mantra and flings it at Rudra. Jaimini seems to have taken this concept from his guru.
Further, the invocation to Jaimini’s Ashvamedha Parva repeats Vyasa’s with a significant difference: he adds his guru’s name in the introductory namaskar:
narayanam namaskrrtya naram caiva narottamam /
devim sarasvatim vyasam tato jayam udirayet //
Vyasa is said to have assigned him the Sama Veda. In the Markandeya Purana (c. 250- 550 CE), Jaimini is the interlocutor. According to Monier-Williams, Kautsa is his other name. [5] However, in the Mahabharata, Sauti tells Saunaka that in Janamejaya’s snake-sacrifice, “The learned old Brahmin Kautsa became the udgatri; Jaimini the brahmana.” [6] In Yaska’s Nirukta Kautsa is a commentator questioning the meaning of Vedic mantras and his arguments are presented in Jaimini’s Mimamsa Sutra (4th to 2nd century BC). [7]
Bulcke [8] dates Jaimini’s Ashvamedha Parva to the period after the composition of the Bhagavata Purana (8th-10th century CE), which Jaimini mentions. It was translated into Kannada [9] in the 13th century. Its Kusa-Lava episode is very similar to that in the Padma Purana’s Patalakhanda (c. 10th century CE). There were different “Jaiminis” writing under the same name, as with Vyasa, creating different texts across the centuries following the time-honoured tradition of the guru-shishya parampara. [10] The author of Mairavanacaritam and Sitavijaya (if they are the same person) would be one such “Jaimini.”
The concluding chapter of Mairavana provides a clue towards the probable time of its composition. There is a reference to the “six syllable mantra” in sloka 6 of chapter 20. This is ram ramaya nama? found in the Rama rahasya Upanishad, which is possibly of the 17th century. In it, Hanuman instructs Sanaka and other sages on how to worship Rama. Again, the paean to Hanuman (sloka 24 of chapter 18) as adept in the Vedas and its limbs and the shastras is paralleled by Tulsidas (1532-1623) in his Vinayapatrika, where he calls Hanuman veda vedanta vid. [11] His Ramacharitmanas contains the Ahiravana tale. There is also a Sitopanishad celebrating Sita as Shakti but, unfortunately, its period cannot be determined. [12]
The language of Mairavana and Sitavijaya is quite pedestrian, strangely devoid of alankaras and rasas. The flamboyant poetry characterizing the Ashvamedha is entirely missing. Though one does come across the usual similes like, “burnt like trees in a forest fire,” or bathed in blood “looking like an Ashoka tree in full bloom,” or “arrows raining like rain from clouds,” the Ashvamedha’s striking use of metaphors and rhetoric is absent. The unexpected juxtaposition of opposites, the conceits, which the Jaimini of the Ashvamedha merrily uses, appears to be unknown to the Jaimini of Mairavana and Sitavijaya. Consider this from the Ashvamedha Parva: Nandi could not seize Garuda as an angry elephant cannot seize cotton-wool in a courtyard (21.32); or, Armour destroyed, Sita’s son stood on the battle-field like the newly-sloughed king of serpents (34.6); or, Rama’s glowing iron arrows were as useless as a poor man’s desires in a miser’s home (36.58).
Mairavanacarita and Sitavijaya are bereft of such interesting conceits. The only common feature is the use of hyperbole, especially in battle. The Jaimini of the Ashvamedha exaggerates outrageously. However, in Mairavana and Sitavijaya people do not grow on trees, horses do not turn into mares and tigresses, and no rakshasi has eight-mile-long breasts, which she uses as weapons in battle! The Ashvamedha effectively uses all the nine rasas. In Sitavijaya and Mairavana, only vira and bhayanaka with a sprinkling of raudra are seen, with adbhuta ruling. In Mairavana, Hanuman increases and decreases his body at will, creates an impregnable fort with his tail, Brahma constructs an amazing defence for Mairavana’s palace, Mairavana shape-shifts continually in battle, like Mahisasura fighting Durga. In Sitavijaya, Ravana has a thousand heads and two thousand arms, his brothers have hundreds of heads, eyes, bellies and hands, the diseases fight a terrific battle, Hanuman is given five heads, grass columns turn into blazing missiles, and so on.
A major difference between the Ashvamedha and these two manuscripts concerns variety. The Ashvamedha has many side stories, tales within tales, e.g. Agni and Svaha, Uddalaka and Chandi, Malini and Yama, Chandrahasa, Bakadalbhya, the golden mongoose, the quarrelling Brahmins, Babhruvahana’s exploits, etc. Almost all the sections contain different narratives. The battle sequences, the mainstay of all the three texts, are singularly dissimilar. Those in Sitavijaya are monotonous. The characters change, but the sequence of events is more or less the same in all, except the last battle in which Sita slays Sahasra mukha ravana with a grass-missile. Hanuman also uses mantra-infused blazing grass against Mairavana, but ineffectually. Here the descriptions of battles read more like the report of a war correspondent than literature. We miss the exuberance and creativity of the Ashvamedha’s Jaimini.
Besides the heroic, the other ruling sentiment of the Ashvamedha is Vaishnava bhakti. All the protagonists worship Krishna even as they fight him, their bhakti masked by the animus they display outwardly as they wish to receive death as his grace. The battlefield is their temple where they worship their deity with weapons. Krishna is worsted by them because the essence of the concept of bhakti is that the deity must be overcome by the intensity of the bhakta’s bhakti.
In Mairavana and Sitavijaya there is little bhakti. While the former is dedicated to the glory of Rama and the latter to Krishna, there is but a single paean to Rama at the beginning of the former and at its end. The latter has paeans to Hanuman and to Sita’s wondrous form towards the end. How can an author, so immersed in Vaishnava bhakti in one work, be almost completely bereft of it and extol Hanuman and Shakti in the two others?
An underlying current of Shaivism runs through the Sahasra mukha Ravana caritam. The crisis it deals with is precipitated by two insults: the first is by the Trinity to Anasuya; the second is to Shiva’s avatar Durvasa at Mandhata’s yagya. The latter parallels the insult to Shiva at Daksa’s sacrifice, which is destroyed by Virabhadra and Kali, routing all the sages and devas. The names of Durvasa’s sons, who rout the devas, are among the thousand names of Shiva in Section 284 of the Mokshadharma Parva of the Mahabharata. The presence of Shiva in Vyasa’s Mahabharata is quite significant, though understated. Therefore, Jaimini is not blazing an altogether new trail here. The dreadful destructiveness of Durvasa’s sons is of a piece with other demons originating from Shiva such as Andhaka, Bhasmasura and Jalandhara. Here Hanuman is a product of Shiva’s sperm and has five faces like him. However, the heads of lion, horse and boar represent avatars of Vishnu and his mount Garuda. This is, therefore, a Hari-Hara image, a fusion of Vishnu and Shiva. Parallel to the pair of Virabhadra and Kali, we have here the pair of Hanuman and the shadow-Sita.
There is a feature that indicates the somewhat casual attitude of the author of these two works. The names of the characters take different forms at different places. Matangi becomes Sita, Ustramukha becomes Osthamukha, Vakranasa becomes Vakranetra, and so on. This is a defect noticed in both the texts. The sincerity with which the Ashvamedha was created is missing in these. However, these could be copyists’ errors.
The Ashvamedha Parva is characterized by flamboyance of description, be it of a road, of a palace, or of nature. Consider the rhetoric of the passage in which Vrisha ketu describes a lake to Bhima (4.11-14): “…the enjoyment the elephants are getting from these waters is like the pleasure the lustful men get from making love to women. The life-giving water is tinted deep red with the vermilion falling from the temples of these elephants. Since the temples of the elephants are now bereft of charity, the bees have now forsaken them and entered the clump of lotus plants. There is no loyalty among the mean. Picking up the lotus-stalks, the swans are generously offering them to the bees, like those who know the principle of equity among beings. The fish are leaping in the lake as poor people do on getting riches…” There are many such instances throughout the text.
K RAJARAM IRS 13526 TO BE COTD
Rajaram Krishnamurthy
In Mairavana, there are only two descriptions: one of Ayodhya (section 1) and the other of a forest in Lanka (section 10, verses 2-6), of which the latter is the better one:-
“Having gone up to thirty yojanas,
a maha-forest was
afar, filled with bears, lions, tigers and
other animals and birds,
Narikela, panasa, amra,
patala, tinduka,
kapittha, jambunipa, jambira,
also nimbaka.
Filled with different trees it was like
Nandana.
Entering the forest, they saw a lake
of two yojanas,
Adorned with red and white lilies, crimson
and blue lotuses,
thousand-petalled lotuses and hundred-
petalled water-lilies,
All filled with cackling, teeming with
intoxicated bees,
the lake appeared like a sea adorned with
leaves all around.”
In Sitavijaya, there is only one description, that of the palace that Visvakarma built for Ravana (8.33-41):
“In width a lakh yojanas, double that
in length, a fifty-
yojana high excellent wall adorning it,
With four ornamented towers, four gates,
maha-roads, adorned with
ten million palaces each with a
hundred horned doors.
On four sides four lakh maha-markets stood
adorning. The maha-
royal road was provided with countless
large seats.
Five thousand yojanas long was the king’s
palace, furnished
with an unfathomable moat impassable
for enemies,
Many sataghns and equipped with
all weaponry.
On four sides, placing Sudharma and the
other halls with care,
In the centre an immaculate
assembly hall
endued with wondrous attributes, with
a hundred gardens
filled with flags and garlands of pennants,
With qualities superior to the world
of devas, abounding
in markets and shops, mixed herds of maha-
elephants like
the Meru and Mandara mountains,
Inhabited by divine horses swift
as thought, adorned
with lotus lakes full of swans and cranes,
Better than the Trinity’s abodes,
radiant as
newly arisen Bhanu.”
The qualitative difference between the excerpts is obvious. How can a poet capable of describing so beautifully in the first instance hardly use his talent in two of his own works? So is it with the dialogues. In the Ashvamedha there is profusion and variety. Dialogue is used to establish characters and situations effectively. In Mairavana and Sitavijaya there is only martial talk and the occasional paean. These two texts cannot stand beside the poetic elegance and expanse of the Ashvamedha Parva. It is unlikely, therefore, that their author is the same, although they might belong to the same “Jaimini” school.
Is their Author the Same?
Were Mairavana and Sitavijaya composed by the same author? The language and the style seem similar. As in Mairavana Rama and Laksmana are abducted when asleep, so, too, in Sitavijaya are Bharata and Shatrughna. In both, mantra-infused grass is used as a missile and the supernatural prowess of Hanuman is celebrated. However, an interesting difference in the colophons of these two works raises a doubt. The colophons in Mairavana mention Shri Jaiminibharata without stating the parva concerned. The colophons of Sitavijaya ascribe it to the Asramavasa Parva of the Jaiminiya Mahabharata. Would the same author composing two stories use different names in the colophons denoting the principal work of which these are parts? It is pertinent to recall that Vyasa first composed the Bharata of 24,000 slokas, without the fringe episodes:-“Originally the Bharata, without the fringe episodes, consisted of twenty four thousand slokas: this, to the learned, is the real epic.” [13]
caturvimsatisahasrim cakre bharatasamhitam /
upakhyanair vina tavad bharatam procyate budhaih // [14]
Is Mairavanacarita part of Jaimini’s version of the Bharata? But, then, is it not a fringe episode?
Parallels and Variations
Our tribes have analogous versions of both the stories Jaimini relates. [15] Writing on the Mundas of Chhotanagpur, K.S. Singh notes that they believe the vanaras were forest dwelling tribes who wore part of their dhoti trailing loose as a tail, as the Mundas and Savaras still do on their dancing ground. [16] The episodes also occur in Ramayana retellings and plays in South East Asian countries. However, there is no mention of these two stories in the Rama tales of Sri Lanka, Tibet, Khotan, Mongolia, China, Japan and Vietnam (Champa).
Sahasramukharavanacaritam or Sitavijaya
The Agarias, an ironsmith tribe of Madhya Pradesh, have a tale in which Sita tells Rama about a thousand headed Ravana in Patala. He pulls out from his foot the arrow Rama shoots at him and despatches it to kill the sender. Rama falls. Sita, frightened, goes to Lohripur and asks Logundi Raja to send Agyasur and Lohasur with half an earthen pot of charcoal. By its smoke, she turns black. Carrying the pot in one hand and a sword in the other, she cuts off Ravana’s heads. Agyasur and Lohasur lick up the blood. [17] Thereafter, according to a tale in Braja literature, Sita becomes Kali-mai (mother Kali) in Calcutta. [18] The Marathi Shatamukharavana Vadha (19th century) by Amritrao Oak also narrates the killing of this demon. [19]
There are Tamil two tales relating to the hundred headed and thousand-headed Rava?as, Sadamuka Ravanan Kathai, Sahasramuka Ravanan Kathai, that do not not occur in Kamban. [20] In Telegu there is a similar Shatakantha tale, which occurs in Assamese, Oriya and Bengali Ramayanas too. [21] In the Uttarakanda of Ramamohan Bandopadhyaya’s Ramayana (1838), the tale is retold along the lines of Chandi’s killing of the demons Shumbha-Nishumbha.[22]
In Sanskrit the Adbhut Ramayana [23] and Ramadasa’s Ananda Ramayana [24] (both c.15th century) relate how Sita kills the hundred and thousand headed demons. Rama Brahmananda’s Tattvasa?graha Ramayana (17th century) has five-headed Hanuman helping eighteen-handed Sita to kill the hundred-headed demon. [25]
Jaimini’s version, running to fifty chapters, is very different. The interlocutor is Janamejaya and the narrator is Jaimini. However, in slokas 10-11 of the first chapter, the last verse of the second and slokas 30-31 of chapter 50 at the very end, there is someone else, nameless, who is narrating what Jamini told Janamejaya. This would be a suta, a wandering rhapsode. He is never named here.
Jaimini alone provides the cause for the birth of the thousand-headed demon along with his brothers, with hundred heads, hundred bellies, hundred tongues and hundred eyes, viz. the insult to Anasuya by the Trinity and to Durvasa in Mandhata’s sacrifice. Bharata and Shatrughna are abducted and married off (without any demur) to the demon’s daughters. In the battle the devas, monkeys, rakshasas, kshatriya kings with their armies, Rama and even the Trinity fall. That is when Sita takes the field, bestowing five heads on Hanuman with which he devours the demonic army. With fiery grass columns she despatches the thousand-headed demon. Rama is not terrified of her, as her form is not horrifying, though wondrous. After being paeaned at length, Sita joins Rama and all return to their abodes. The demon’s city is divided between Citradhvaja and Citraratha, the sons of Bharata and Shatrughna who are not mentioned in any Ramayana. There is no mention of Bharata and Shatrughna being accompanied by their new wives when the four brothers meet their mothers back home.
What is of great interest is that here Sita does not abandon Rama and her sons to disappear into the bowels of the earth. All kings condemn the washerman (there is only this cryptic mention) and praise Sita, whom Rama embraces. Brahma gives him a span of eleven thousand years to rule, as in Valmiki.
Janamejaya is eager to know what further deeds Rama did after the return to Ayodhya. Jaimini responds by telling Janamejaya that what he has been narrating so far is (part of) the story renowned as Ashramavasa Parva beginning from the victory of Sita till the death of King Dhritarashtra. The closing benediction dedicates the work to Krishna.
Mairavanacaritam
The tale is completed in twenty chapters. Jaimini’s creation is quite distinct from other versions. It is not an episode composed by Valmiki, but by Jaimini and is narrated by Agastya to Rama to celebrate a wondrous nocturnal deed of Hanuman. He rescued Rama and Laksmana who were overcome by an enchanted sleep and abducted by Mairavana to the nether world.
In Jaimini it is not Laksmana but Rama who, enraged with Shurpanakhi’s amorous advances, cuts off her nose as Ravana informs Mairavana. Indeed, in the entire story, neither brother has any role to play, being asleep throughout.
The story of Mahi (earth) or Mai (collyrium or black in Tamil) Ravana is a celebration of Hanuman’s prowess and intelligence. It was far more popular than tales about multiple-headed demons other than Ravana. Besides Sanskrit, it exists in Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Nepali, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Hindi, Thai, Lao, Khmer, Malay and Burmese and has many tribal variations. It is not surprising that some manuscripts are entitled Hanumadvijaya, the victory of Hanuman. [26]
In Cambodia, on the walls of the Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh, extending for 642 metres, reaching a height of 3.65 metres, frescoes of scenes from the Ramayana were painted during 1903-04 by a team of 49 artists led by Oknha Tep Nimith Theak. [27] Among these is a huge fresco depicting Mairavana’s abduction of Rama and the rescue by Hanuman.
Silver Pagoda, royal palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, fresco depicts Hanuman swallowed Phrea Ram to hide him from the Demon (left) who shoots a bright globe into the sky so that all think it is dawn and safe and fall asleep.
Mairavana abducts sleeping Rama in a magic box Hanuman enters Mairavan’s temple by breaking the spire and kills him with a sword. Rama and Yaksha Waivayet asleep (right) Hanuman rescues sleeping Rama Hanuman keeps Phreah Ram on the Asorakan Chantak Mountain watched over by the deities.
Panchamukhi Hanuman, Jaipur, late 18th century, crushing Devi under one foot and the demon under the other Sita as Kali killing Sahasramukha Ravana Many films have been made about the story since 1922 in Marathi, Tamil, Hindi and Telegu. [28] Not a single film, however, has been made about Sita and the Thousand-Headed Ravana. In the recent television serial on Star Plus channel, Siya ke Ram (2016), however, this incident features as episode 256. [29]
In Sanskrit, Advaita’s Ramalingamrita (dated 1608) and Ramadasa’s Ananda Ramayana recount how Ahirava?a and Mahiravana take Rama-Laksmana to the netherworld and how Hanuman kills them with the help of his son Makaradhvaja and a Naga’s daughter in love with Rama. [30]
The matter of Jaimini’s Mairavanacaritam is virtually the same, except that:-There is no Airavana.
Mairavana gains access to Rama and Laksmana by assuming the form of Vibhisana and carries them off in a magical box.
Entry to the underworld is via a lotus-stalk known to Vibhisana.
Hanuman’s son by a makari is named Matsyaraja.
The entry to the palace is through a magical bridge Brahma made that collapses if an enemy steps upon it.
The demon is killed a hundred times but keeps resurrecting. His life lies in the seven horns of a seven-headed bee, which Hanuman destroys and then pulverises him.
Rama and Lakshmana remain asleep.
Mairavana’s sister Durdandi is the helper here, not a serpent princess.
Her son Nilamegha is crowned king of the netherworld and marries Mairavana’s daughter.
Matsyaraja becomes Nilamegha’s general.
The bard states that this narrative was not related by rishi Valmiki, who considered that the bringing of the medicinal herbs by Hanuman was heroic enough, but was narrated by Jaimini.
The final benedictory verses state that the Ramayana or the Mahabharata must be in every village, otherwise an expiatory vow must be observed. Hanuman’s twelve names are given as the mantra for success.
One would have expected the Hanumannatakam [31] or Mahanatakam to narrate these wondrous exploits of Hanuman alongside Sita and his rescue of Rama and Laksmana. Strangely enough, they do not feature in this Sanskrit play whose author is supposed to be none other than Hanuman himself.
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Rajaram Krishnamurthy
KR: PURVA MIMAMSA SUTRA AND THE PERIOD ESTIMATABLE AS LATE ERA
Predecessors of Jaimini
Although Purvamimamsa sutras of Jaimini is the earliest work available, there were several Acharyas of Purvamimamsa. Jaimini refers to eight Acharyas in his Sutras by name and refers to others by ‘eke’ (JS 9.3.4).
These Acharyas, whether they had composed any work on the subject or not, but were undoubtedly great teachers of Mimamsa and held their viewsindependently on the subject.
Divine origin
There is an unbroken tradition of teacher – disciple lineage which shows the divine origin of the Mimamsa. Brahma instructed the Mimamsa to Prajapati, Prajapati to Indra, Indra to Agni, Agni to Vasistha, Vasistha to Parasara, Parasara to Krishnadvaipayana and Krishnadvaipayana to Jaimini; Jaimini having got the instruction (upadesa) from Krishnadvaipayana, composed in his treatise.
Pre-Jaimini Mimamsakas 1. Badarayana - Jaimini refers to Badarayana in five places in 1.1.5; 5.2.19; 6.1.8; 10.8.4; 11.1.65 in connection with the views on purely Mimamsa topics. Jaimini agrees with Badarayana in all these places except only in one place (JS 10.8.44). The name of Badarayana is more familiar to us as the author of the Brahmasutras.
But it is difficult to say on the basis of evidence of the views quoted in the JS that the author of the Brahmasutras and the other one referred to in JS is the same and one or both are different Acharyas. It may be said that the author of the Brahmasutras also mayhave been the teacher of Purvamimamsa.
2. Badari - Jaimini refers to him at four places (JS3.1.3;6.1.27; 8.3.6; 9.2.33), mostly to refute his viewsexcept one place (JS 9.2.33) where he agrees with him.Badari refuted the view of Jaimini that the Sudra is notentitled to perform Vedic sacrifices. He argues that theVedic text viz. ‘Vasante Brahmano’ etc., is onlynimittartha (untingent); therefore all the castes should be entitled to perform sacrifices. (JS 6.1.27)
3. Atreya - Jaimini refers to him thrice (JS 4.3.18; 5.2.18; 6.1.26) and agrees with his views. BaudhayanaGrhyasutra also refers one Atreya as a padakara.Mahabharata (13.173.3) refers to a sage of that namewho was a teacher of Nirgunabrahmavidya.
4. Aitisayana - Jaimini refers to him thrice (JS 3.2.43;3.4.24; 6.1.6). He is of the opinion (JS 6.1.6) that in orderto use of the particular gender (i.e., masculine) on theinjunction - ‘Svargakamo Yajeta’ only men are entitledto perform the sacrifice. Jaimini rejected it, but inother two places (JS 3.2.43; 3.4.24) both Jaimini andAitisayana agree with each other.
5. Karsnajini - Jaimini refers to him twice (JS 4.3.17;6.7.35). He holds that ‘Sahasrasamvatsara’ should beregarded as a functions for generations as it isimpossible for a non identical with the author of thepresent Sutras. This view, however, may be acceptedtill to get sufficient evidences. It is also possible to saythat he who was a Mimamsaka might have been aVedantin too. It is corroborated by the references ofthe various Acharyas in both systems.Apart from these, there were many more Acharyasof the Mimamsa, who lived and taught before the periodof Jaimini and who have been mentioned in earlierworks, although Jaimini does not make any referenceto them. The name of Kasakrtsna and Apisali asteachers and perhaps founders of independent schoolsof Purvamimamsa are found in the VyakaranaMahabhashya of Patanjali and in the Sutras of Panini.
In fact these two teachers must have been very oldand perhaps, were Grammarians too.Post-Jaimini MimamsakasSabara - As the scholars know, Sabara is the greatBhashyakara of Jaimini Sutras. His bhashya is the firstcomplete work on the Jaimini Sutras. He had precededSankara who referred to him in his commentary on theVedanta (3.3.53). He has divided the book intoadhikaranas. He has explained each adhikarana in alogical way. He has discussed the pros and cons andthe author’s view. Thus he has made his commentaryperfect. Regarding his personal history, we are still indark. It is learnt that his original name was Adityadevawhich he changed to Sabara when he disguised himselfas a forester for fear of Jaina persecution. The traditionof scholars says that he had six sons - the great IndianAstronomer Varahamihira from Brahmana wife, RajaBhartrhari and the king Vikrama from the Kshatriyawife, the great Vaidya Harichandra and Sanku from hisVaisya wife and from the Sudra wife he had Amaru.Sabarasvamin is well-known among scholars as asenior contemporary of the great ‘Vikramaditya’, thefounder of the ‘Samvat’ era and therefore believed thathe flourished in 57 B.C. Scholars, however, having seenhis relation with Varahamihira, opine that he might havelived before 400 A.D. which is the probable date ofVarahamihira. Quite a few facts gleaned from hisbhasya may infer that he might have lived in NorthernIndia. Nothing can be said regarding his personal historyand other works.Kumarila (7th century A.D.) - Kumarila Bhaa is knownas Kumarila Svamin or Tutata Bhaa, one of the greatestscholars, particularly Mimamsakas that India has produced. At the time of Kumarila, Buddhism hadspread its influence all over the country as a great enemyof the Vedic ritualistic culture. Buddhist scholars wereattacking Hindu religion, philosophy and culturevehemently. Therefore it was the need to refute theirviews for bringing about the downfall of Buddhism.This was an opportunity for Kumarila to write mainlyagainst the different schools of Buddhism whichexisted during his time. His main object was to savethe orthodox religion from the attack of the heterodoxsystems and to keep the old rituals of the Vedas alive.He wrote Slokavarttika, Tantravarttika, Tuptika,Brhattika and Madhyamaika. The Slokavarttika, whichis a commentary to the end of third chapter. The Tuptikawhich is a short commentary on remaining chapters.The Brhattika and Madhyamaika are unfortunately notavailable to us. Slokavarttika of Kumarila occupies aunique place, not only in the history of Purvamimamsa,but in the whole Indian philosophy. This treatise is themost important part of Mimamsa, since it brought thestatus of independent system of philosophy.
The tradition says that Kumarila in disguise, learntall the secrets of Buddhism from Buddhist monks andthen defeated them in open challenge. He also defeatedis own guru and committed a sin. For the expiationof this sin he came over to Prayaga where he burnthimself alive on the banks of Triveni. Sankaracaryamet him when he was half-burnt and expressed hisdesire to bring Kumarila back to life which he did notlike (Vide Sankaradigvijaya VII). According to tradition,he is an avatara of Kumara or Kartikeya. He is oftenreferred to as Bhaapada or simply Bhaa by later writersand his followers are called as Bhaas. His views areknown as Bhaamata. Kumarila became so famous forhis scholarship that he founded a school of his ownand that is known as Bhaa school. He got large numberof followers.Prabhakara Mishra - Prabhakara Mishra (7th centuryA.D.) wrote two commentaries on the Bhashya ofSabara, one a large one called ‘Brhati’ and the other amore concise one called ‘Laghvi’, Brhati is acommentary, in which Prabhakara simply explainedbhasya and nowhere criticized it as Kumarila done it inseveral places. Prabhakara became very famous andfounded a school of his own in the system. His schoolcame to be recognized as the Prabhakara school orthe Guru school. He was according to ancient tradition, the pupil of Kumarila. Once there was a problem before Kumarila, like Kumarila, as per the tradition, faced difficulties insolving this problem. Prabhakara, however, did not find any difficulty. He solved as Having seen this, Kumarila became very happy and praised Prabhakara by heart as ‘Guru’.
From this event, Prabhakara came to be recognized as ‘Guru’ and his views are called as Gurumata. Both these two Mimamsakas became very rominent that they elipsed name and fame even of the Jaimini and {{ }} important figure of this period. He contributed to Mimamsa by writing Nyayamala in verse along withthe Vistara in prose. This work is the gist of theadhikaranas in very easy language. This book came tobe recognized as a standard book for beginners. Hegives the views of both the schools of Mimamsa. Hispatron was Bukka Raya of Vijayanagaram.Ramakrishna Bhatta (16th cent. A.D.) - RamakrishnaBhatta was a great scholar of name and fame. He hasgiven every detail of himself in the beginning of hiscommentary on the Sastradipika. His only work onMimamsa is the Siddhantachandrika, a commentaryon Sastradipika.
Annam Bhatta (17th cent. A.D.) - Annam Bhatta iswell known for his small primer on Nyaya-Vaisesika,named Tarkasangraha and its dipika. On Mimamsa hewrote 1) Subodhini, a commentary on Tantravarttika.
2) Ranakaphakkikavyakhya, a commentary on theNyayasudha of Somesvara also known as Ranakojjivini.
3) Ranakabhavanakarikavivarana in 54 verses.Appayya Dixita (16th cent. A.D.) - Appayya Dixitawas well known scholar of all branches of Sanskritliterature. He did not neglect any branch. He had beenascribed the authorship of over hundred works. Hisworks on Mimamsa are:
1) Vidhirasayana, in verse with a commentary in prose,called Vivekasukhopayojani. This was written accordingo the views of Kumarila, 2) Upakrama-parakrama,
3) Vadanaksatravali, which is also calledVadanaksatramala,
4) Mayukhavali, a commentary onthe Sastradipika,
5) Chitrapata and,
6)Dharmamimamsaparibhasha.
Narayana Bhatta (16th cent. A.D.) - Narayana wasthe great Mimamsaka. He was the follower of Bhattaschool and had two works to his credit on Mimamsa;
1) Tantravarttikanibandhana, a commentary on the
Tantravarttika
2) Manameyodaya.
Laugaksi Bhaskara (16th cent. A.D.) - Bhaskara ofLaugaksi family flourished at the end of the 16thcentury. There is a difference of opinion regarding thepriority and posteriority of Bhaskara and Apadeva, theauthor of Nyayaprakasa. The only work of Bhaskaraon Mimamsa is Arthasangraha. This is very usefultreatise for the beginners. It became very popular among
the Sanskritists.Visvesvara Bhatta alias Gagabhatta (17th cent.A.D.) - Gagabhatta was the son of Dinakara Bhatta andgrandson of Ramakrishna Bhatta. Gaga was the petame given by his father. He was the leadingMimamsaka of his time. He was the protege of greatMaratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji. He wrote anindependent work on Mimamsa sutras, namedBhattachintamani. His second work is Vrtti, calledKusumanjali, a commentary on the Jaimini Sutras. Thethird work which has great historical importance ofChhatrapati Shivaji. This work is in continuation of the Slokavarttika in verse.
Apadeva II (17th cent. A.D.) - Apadeva was the son of Anantadeva I, grandson of Apadeva I, and greatgrandson of Maharashtra Saint Ekanatha. He wroteMimamsa Nyaya-Prakasa popularly known as Apadevi.This is a very popular text for the beginners. This bookis quite interesting and helpful for understanding thetopics of Mimamsa. Another work of Apadeva isAdhikaranachandrika which summarises theadhikaranas of Mimamsa.Khandadeva Misra alias Shridharendra (17thcent.A.D.) - Khandadeva is illustrious writer onMimamsa. His works are:
1) Mimamsakaustubha: It extends up toBalabaladhikara (3.3.7) only. It is very elaborate and itsstyle appears to have been influenced by Navya-Nyaya,
2) Bhattadipika: This is the magnum opus ofKhandadeva. It occupies the same place among theSanskritists in the South which the Sastradipika doesin the North. It is not so elaborate as the Kaustubha.
3)Bhattarahasya: It discusses the Sabdabodhaprakriyaaccording to the Mimamsakas.Krishna Yajva (18th cent. A.D.) - Krishna Yajva wasthe celebrated author of the Mimamsaparibhasha. Thisis an elementary primer which gives in short the entirecontents of Mimamsa. Beside these, there are severalother Mimamsakas flourished in twentieth century, viz.,Panditaraja Pattabhiram Shastri, Swami KevalanandSaraswati who prepared Mimamsakosa, P.V. Kane whowrote, History of Dharmasastra, D.V. Garge who wrotecitations in Sabarabhashya and so on.
Date of Jaimini
As regards the date of Jaimini, we are still inconfusion. According to Dasgupta, Jaimini Sutras wereprobably written about 200 B.C. Radhakrishnan opinesthat the fourth century B.C. is the earliest period wecan assign for Jaimini’s work. Prof. Jacobi places theMimamsa Sutras of Jaimini between 300-200 B.C. onthe assumption and the belief that Jaimini is postPaninian, a contemporary to Katyayana and prior toPatanjali. Mm. Kane, however, concludes that thelowest limit to which the extent PM. Sutra can bebrought down is about 100 A.D. and the highest limit isabout 300 B.C. But the same author has fixed the dateof Purvamimamsa Sutras about 400 B.C. to 200 B.C.Garge came across with many evidences which provehat the extant JS falls into the earlier part of theSrautasutra literature i.e., circa 500 B.C.The arrangement of Jaimini Sutras is as follows:Sutras are divided into 12 chapters, each chaptercontaining four padas except the third, sixth and tenthhich contain eight padas each. Each pada containsseveral Adhikaranas (topics for discussion). There areroughly speaking 2745 sutras, 907 adhikaranas and 60 padas according to Madhava’s reckoning. The word sutra means a thread or string. It is so called because the words are tied together as in a string to express the meaning. It helps one to remember easily. A padaoriginally means a part of anything. There is a rule, achapter is divided into four parts, each part is calleds pada. An adhikarana is a thesis or subject whichforms part of its discussion. It consists of five partsviz., vishaya (the subject), vishaya (the doubt),urvapaksha (the prima facie view), uttarapaksha (thereply) and nirnaya (the decision).
K RAJARAM IRS 13526
Rajaram Krishnamurthy
Friends,It is the first time in my life a member responds in parts. That too the last sentence even not completed.If a member posts a material normally a responder will responds in one or two pargraphs maximum.It is the first time I am seeing for a posting in 10 pages , response in more than 20-30 pages.Better he can make his own postings as a curator copy paste in pages or attach a word document.God save the readersGopalakrishnan
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Rajaram Krishnamurthy
So beautifully brought out, KR Sir. Thanks, ManiAll our epics should be done justice to.
Rajaram Krishnamurthy
Always Mr.APS Mani appreciate copy paste.Go ahead clay headed
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