Who Was it Was Cursed by the First Sloka Verse?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24399Keywords:
allegory, blame, niṣāda, Rāmāyaṇa, VālmīkiAbstract
This article explores the scene in Ramayana 1.2 where a hunter kills a crane and Valmiki curses the hunter. The curse is explored as a stand-in for Valmiki’s composition and Rama’s education, prompted by Sita’s suffering at Valmiki’s ashram. The first half of the article discusses, but does not apportion, the blame for Sita’s abandonment. The second half discusses the blame for Sita’s suicide.
References
Balkaran, Raj. 2018. ‘The Sarus’ Sorrow: Voicing Nonviolence in the Valmiki Ramayana.’ Journal of Vaishnava Studies 26 (2): 143–61.
Bhagavadgita. See Dandekar 1971–76, vol. 2 (Mbh 6.23–40).
Bhatt, G. H., P. L. Vaidya, P. C. Divanji, D. R. Mankad, G. C. Jhala, and U. P. Shah (eds). 1958–75. The Valmiki-Ramayana, the National Epic of India, Critically Edited for the First Time. 7 vols. Baroda: Oriental Institute.
Bhattacharji, Sukumari. 2002. ‘A Revaluation of Valmiki’s Rama.’ Social Scientist 30 (1–2): 31–49. https://doi.org/10.2307/3518243
Brockington, John. 1998. The Sanskrit Epics. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004492677
Brockington, John and Mary Brockington (trans.). 2006. Rama the Steadfast: An Early Form of the Ramayana. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books.
Brodbeck, Simon. 2006. ‘Ekalavya and Mahabharata 1.121–28.’ International Journal of Hindu Studies 10 (1): 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-006-9000-x
——2009. The Mahabharata Patriline: Gender, Culture, and the Royal Hereditary. Farnham: Ashgate.
——2011. ‘The Rejection of Sakuntala in the Mahabharata: Dynastic Considerations.’ In Saswati Sengupta and Deepika Tandon (eds), Revisiting Abhijñanasakuntalam: Love, Lineage and Language in Kalidasa’s Nataka: 219–37. Delhi: Orient Blackswan.
——2013. ‘The Story of Savitri in the Mahabharata: A Lineal Interpretation.’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 3rd series, 23 (4): 527–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186313000424
——2014. ‘Refuge and Reform: Snakes, Gleaners, and Nisadas in Early Kavya.’ In Giovanni Ciotti, Alastair Gornall, and Paolo Visigalli (eds), Puspika: Tracing Ancient India through Texts and Traditions. Contributions to Current Research in Indology, Volume 2: 1–34. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
——2021. ‘What Difference Does the Harivamsa Make to the Mahabharata?’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 141 (1): 73–92.
Bronner, Yigal, David Shulman, and Gary Tubb (eds). 2014. Innovations and Turning Points: Toward a History of Kavya Literature. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Bulcke, Camille. 1958. ‘About Valmiki.’ Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda 8 (2): 121–31.
——1959. ‘More about Valmiki.’ Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda 8 (4): 346–48.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. 1798. ‘The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere.’ In William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems: 1–51. London: J. and A. Arch.
Dandekar, R. N. (gen. ed.). 1971–76. The Mahabharata Text as Constituted in its Critical Edition. 5 vols. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
Fitzgerald, James L. (trans.). 2004. The Mahabharata: Book 11, the Book of the Women; Book 12, the Book of Peace, Part One. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226252513.001.0001
Goldman, Robert P. 1976. ‘Valmiki and the Bhrgu Connection.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 96 (1): 97–101. https://doi.org/10.2307/599892
——(trans.). 1984. The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India. Volume I: Balakanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
——1996. ‘Valmiki and Vyasa: Their Contribution to India’s Discourse on Ethnicity.’ Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda 46 (1–2): 1–14.
——1997. ‘Esa Dharmah Sanatanah: Shifting Moral Values and the Indian Epics.’ In P. Bilimoria and J. N. Mohanty (eds), Relativism, Suffering and Beyond: Essays in Memory of Bimal K. Matilal: 187–223. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
——2004. ‘Resisting Rama: Dharmic Debates on Gender and Hierarchy and the Work of the Valmiki Ramayana.’ In Mandakranta Bose (ed.), The Ramayana Revisited: 19–46. New York: Oxford University Press.
Goldman, Robert P. and Sally J. Sutherland Goldman (trans.). 2017. The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India. Volume VII: Uttarakanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Goldman, Robert P., Sheldon I. Pollock, Rosalind Lefeber, Sally J. Sutherland Goldman, and Barend A. van Nooten (trans.). 1984–2017. The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India. 7 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Goldman, Sally J. Sutherland. 2000. ‘Speaking Gender: Vic and the Vedic Construction of the Feminine.’ In Julia Leslie and Mary McKee (eds), Invented Identities: The Interplay of Gender, Religion and Politics in India: 57–83. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
——2004. ‘Gendered Narratives: Gender, Space, and Narrative Structures in Valmiki’s Balakanda.’ In Mandakranta Bose (ed.), The Ramayana Revisited: 47–85. New York: Oxford University Press.
——2015. ‘The Legend of King Nimi and the Uttarakanda of the Valmiki Ramayana.’ In C. Upender Rao (ed.), Sanskrit Studies Vol. 4, Samvat 2071–72 (ce 2014–15): 72–105. Delhi: D. K. Printworld.
——2018. ‘Critical Evidence: Valmiki’s Uttarakanda and the Critical Edition.’ In Simon Brodbeck, Adam Bowles, and Alf Hiltebeitel (eds), The Churning of the Epics and Puranas: Proceedings of the Epics and Puranas Section at the 15th World Sanskrit Conference: 298–324. Delhi: Dev.
Hämeen-Anttila, Virpi. 2018. ‘To Make the Short Story Long: The Development of the Frame-Story Structure in Sanskrit Narrative. The Vedic and Epic Models.’ PhD thesis, University of Helsinki.
Hammer, Niels. 2009. ‘Why Sarus Cranes Epitomize Karunarasa in the Ramayana.’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 3rd series, 19 (2): 187–211. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186308009334
Hara, Minoru. 1997. ‘The Losing of Tapas.’ In Dick van der Meij (ed.), India and Beyond: Aspects of Literature, Meaning, Ritual and Thought. Essays in Honour of Frits Staal: 226–48. Leiden: International Institute for Asian Studies.
Harivamsa. See Dandekar 1971–76, vol. 5.
Hess, Linda. 1999. ‘Rejecting Sita: Indian Responses to the Ideal Man’s Cruel Treatment of His Ideal Wife.’ Journal of the American Academy of Religion 67 (1): 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/67.1.1
Hiltebeitel, Alf. 2001. Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader’s Guide to the Education of the Dharma King. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Kishwar, Madhu. 2001. ‘Yes to Sita, No to Ram: The Continuing Hold of Sita on Popular Imagination in India.’ In Paula Richman (ed.), Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition: 285–308. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Kumar, Pratap. 1992. ‘Sita in the Last Episode of the Ramayana: Contrasting Paradigms from Bhavabhuti and Valmiki.’ Journal for the Study of Religion 5 (1): 57–66.
Leslie, Julia. 1998. ‘A Bird Bereaved: The Identity and Significance of Valmiki’s Krauñca.’ Journal of Indian Philosophy 26 (5): 455–87. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004335910775
——2003. Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions: Hinduism and the Case of Valmiki. Aldershot: Ashgate.
——2004. ‘The Significance of Valmiki for British Valmikis.’ In Julia Leslie and Matthew Clark (eds), Creating a Dialogue: Text, Belief and Personal Identity (Proceedings of the Valmiki Studies Workshop 2004): 1–5. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
McCarthy, Cormac. 2001 [1992]. All the Pretty Horses. London: Picador.
Mahabharata. See Dandekar 1971–76.
Masson, J. 1969. ‘Who Killed Cock Krauñca? Abhinavagupta’s Reflections on the Origin of Aesthetic Experience.’ Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda 18 (3): 207–24.
Misra, S. N. 1979. ‘The Desertion of Sita in the Ramayana and Uttararamacarita: A Socio-Political Analysis.’ Journal of Ancient Indian History 11 (for 1977–78): 39–48.
Narasimha Moorty, C. Lakshmi. 1995. ‘A Note on Passages 9 and 13 of Appendix I of the Uttarakanda.’ In R. T. Vyas (ed.), Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U. P. Shah: 211–15. Vadodara: Oriental Institute.
Pollock, Sheldon. 1984. ‘The Divine King in the Indian Epic.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 104 (3): 505–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/601658
——1984b. ‘Atmanam Manusam Manye: Dharmakutam on the Divinity of Rama.’ Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda 33 (3–4): 231–43.
——1985. ‘Raksasas and Others.’ Indologica Taurinensia 13: 263–81.
——(trans.). 2007. Rama’s Last Act, by Bhavabhuti. Clay Sanskrit Library. New York: New York University Press / JJC Foundation.
Ramayana. See Bhatt et al. 1958–75; for translation, see R. Goldman et al. 1984–2017.
Roney, Stephen. 1983. ‘Valmiki’s Bird Story: The Art behind the Epic.’ Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda 32 (3–4): 216–29.
Seuss, Dr. 1971. The Lorax. New York: Random House.
Shalom, Naama. 2017. Re-ending the Mahabharata: The Rejection of Dharma in the Sanskrit Epic. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Sharma, Vishal. 2020. ‘The Problem of Indifference to Suffering in the Mahabharata Tradition.’ International Journal of Hindu Studies 24 (2): 177–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-020-09276-2
Shulman, David. 2001 [1991]. ‘Toward a Historical Poetics of the Sanskrit Epics.’ In David Shulman, The Wisdom of Poets: Studies in Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit: 21–39. Delhi: Oxford University Press. First published in International Folklore Review 11: 9–17.
Singh, Upinder. 2017. Political Violence in Ancient India. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674981270
Sinha, Kanad. 2011. ‘A Tale of Three Couples and their Poet: Ramakatha, Love and Valmiki in South Asian Tradition.’ Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences 18 (1–2): 43–79.
Smith, John D. (trans.). 2009. The Mahabharata: An Abridged Translation. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books.
Söhnen, Renate. 1978. ‘Die Sage des Ramayana: Beobachtungen zur “Inhaltsangabe” in Buch I, Kap. I des Ramayana von Valmiki.’ Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 4: 54–78.
Stoler Miller, Barbara. 1973. ‘The Original Poem: Valmiki-Ramayana and Indian Literary Values.’ Literature East and West 17 (2–4): 163–73.
Sutherland, Sally J. 1989. ‘Sita and Draupadi: Aggressive Behavior and Female Role-Models in the Sanskrit Epics.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 109 (1): 63–79. https://doi.org/10.2307/604337
——.See also Goldman, Sally J. Sutherland.
Thapar, Romila. 2001. ‘Perceiving the Forest: Early India.’ Studies in History 17 (1): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/025764300101700101
Vaudeville, Charlotte. 1963. ‘Ramayana Studies I: The Krauñca-Vadha Episode in the Valmiki Ramayana.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 83 (3): 327–35. https://doi.org/10.2307/598072
