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DHARMAKUTAM

VOL. I.
BALAKANDA

BY

TRYAMBAKARAYA MAKHI,

SRIRANGAM

SRI VANI VILAS PRESS.

1916.

Copyright Registered.

PREFACE.

DHARMAKUTAM is a rare and hitherto unpublished work discovered for the first time from among the treasures of literature that lie huddled up quite unknown in the vaults of the once famous Tanjore Palace Library. The work is unique in that it consists of six dissertations in easy flowing Sanskrit style on the six kandas of the world-renowned “Ramayana” of Sage Valmiki. These lectures prove, as will be observed, in a most convincing manner that the great Valmiki wrote the Epic more to illustrate in practical life the precepts of the several Dharmasastras than to depict the life-history of Sri Rama. All the great Sages such as Vasishta, Gautama, Manu, Yâgnyavalkya and others have written Smritis to regulate the daily life of the Aryas. Probably Valmiki also wanted to follow in the wake of these eminent men and compose a Dharmasastra but he seems to have thought it better, as pointed out in this Dharmakutam, to write out the life of one who has regularly observed the tenets of the Smritis instead of recording in the usual stereotyped way the hard and fast rules themselves. He has thus made his work not only very entertaining but has also shown by concrete example the practical applicability of the Dharmasastras. It is in this light that Dharmakutam takes up the study of Ramayana. The object of these dissertations is to convince the readers that the Ramayana is chiefly intended to inculcate a right conception of one’s Dharma. Each incident therein depicted, each portrayal of character is chiefly intended to expound some one or other of the several aspects of Dharma. The lectures are all in very simple style, easily understandable by all, full of excerpts from the various Dharmasastras in justification of the intrepretations given of the Ramayana. This kind of intrepreting the Ramayana, not as a mere epic detailing the story of Rama but as an allegory teaching morals and duty, was a desideratum up to now. Further, this intrepretation appears to be the correct and proper one to make of the Ramayana for the following among other reasons.

  1. In the very beginning when the sage Valmiki questions Narada as “कोन्व् अस्मिन् etc.,” he desires to know of the great personage who has fully understood the Dharma and in the reply Narada speaks of Rama as “रक्षिता स्वस्य धर्मस्य” one who has well observed his Dharma.
  2. In the Aranyakanda even Mâreechi the hater of Dharma speaks of Rama as “रामो विग्रहवान् धर्मः” Dharma incarnate.
  3. In the Yuddhakanda the great Suka says यस्मिन् न चलते धर्मो यो धर्मं नातिवर्तते. He who does not transgress Dharma and in whom Dharma does not waver.
  4. Narada speaks of Rama as चातुर्वर्ण्यं च लोके ऽस्मिन् स्वे स्वे धर्मे नियोक्ष्यति one who directs the four castes to remain in their respective Dharma.
  5. In the Ayodhyakanda Rama speaks of himself as विद्धि माम् ऋषिभिस् तुल्यं केवलं धर्मम् आस्थितम् know me as one who like the Rishis live on Dharma alone.
  6. Lakshmana in the course of his vow says

धर्मात्मा सत्यसन्धश् च रामो दाशरथिर् यदि ।
पौरुषे चाप्रतिद्वन्द्वः शरैनं जहि रावणिम् ॥

If Rama is really Dharma incarnate etc., let this arrow kill the son of Ravana. 7. In the Yuddhakanda Brahma addresses Rama as लोकानां त्वं परो धर्मः you are the supreme Dharma of the people. 8. In the Bhagavadgita the Lord Sri Krishna says that all the incarnations of Vishnu are made only for the purpose of firmly establishing Dharma which might have fallen low.

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर् भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानम् अधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्य् अहम् ॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्म-संस्थापनार्थाय संभवामि युगे युगे ॥

Thus it will be observed that Ramayana is rightly understood only when Rama is studied as one who knows Dharma fully well, who has followed Dharma correctly and who is himself Dharma incarnate.

It may be asked why Rama of all people was chosen as the Ideal man when there were far superior beings such as Vasishta, Visvamitra and others. Dharmakutam supplies the answer. These superior personages have, on occasions transgressed the Dharmic laws but by means of their extraordinary Tapasic powers they have subsequently set themselves right. Rama was the only person who was throughout his life rigorously observant of Dharma in every act of his - so much so that Bhattacharya has stated that whatever Rama did was Dharma. Hence Valmiki took him as his hero. Even the apparently wrong acts of Rama are on scrutiny found to be quite justified in the light of the Smritis. In the Balakanda we have one such instance in the slaying of the Demoness Tadaka. To kill a woman is as everybody knows, considered a sin. The Dharmakutam adduces very sound and convincing arguments to show that Rama considered every side of the question before committing the deed and that he was perfectly within the Dharmic laws in killing that vile wretch Tadaka. As space forbids a detailed statement of this interesting discussion, the readers are referred to pages 127-134 of this remarkable volume. Another very interesting portion to which we wish to refer our readers is the discussion of the form of Rama’s marriage. At first sight Rama’s marriage does not appear to come under any of the recognised eight forms of orthodox marriage. But as a matter of fact it is the Prajapatya form of marriage as is clear from a perusal of pages 309-318 of this precious volume. Thus the Dharmakutam should be read in full to be appreciated at its true worth and we think we have shown enough to convince the readers that its study would be both useful and enlightening. It throws the Ramayana in the limelight of the Smritis and thereby makes its intrinsic merit shine in all splendour.

The author of this unique work is one Tryambakarâya Makhi who, while he was young, was brought up by king Ekkoji (1676–1684 A. D.) of the Bhosala Dynasty of Tanjore. King Ekkoji had as his minister one Gangadharâdhvari the son of Bâbâji Yajva of the Bharadvaja family. This Gangâdharâdhyari had two sons viz., Nrisimbarâya Makhi who was also a minister at the court of King Ekkoji and the author of Tripuravijayachampu and Tryambakarâyamakhi the author of this work. When King Ekkoji bequesthed his kingdom to his eldest son Shabji in the year 1684 A. D. he appointed this Tryambakarâyamakhi as his son’s minister after properly training him for the post. And when Shabji was succeeded by his next brother Sharfoji in the year 1711 A. D. Tryambakarâyamakhi continued as his minister also. Our author appears to have made Swamimalai-a holy spot on the banks of the Cauvery, four miles from Kumbakonam,- his place of abode. He seems to have performed on a grand scale with the help of his king Shahji, a yagnya in the Achara year 1698 as is evidenced by the “Navaneeta” of Ânandaraya Makhi alias Appâ Dikshita, the son of our author’s brother Nrisimbarâya Makhi and by the “Râghvâbhyudaya” Nataka of Bhagavantaraya. Thus it will be seen that our author comes of a highly respectable family whose members were almost all of them great Vidvans and ministers at the Court of the Bhosala Kings of Tanjore. The manuscript also of this book was found in the Tanjore Palace Library only as stated before and its existence was first brought to our notice by our esteemed colleague Pandit S. Subrahmanya Sastry of Tanjore. When we perused the manuscript we found that the author had performed his task in a marvellously lucid manner and that the work deserved immediate publicity. We are very much indebted to Pandit S. Subrahmanya Sastri who with his usual enthusiasm towards the cause of Sanskrit literature in general and towards the publications of the Sri Vani Vilas Press in particular, undertook the onerous task of editing this work with the help of this single manuscript that was alone available. We feel proud in having unearthed this work and brought it to light and we eagerly look forward to the completion of all the six dissertations when we might turn back with pleasure on the acquisition of a real masterpiece.

J. K. Balasubrahmanyam.