Pancha Kanya
https://ramamohanraocheruku.blogspot.com/2020/09/panchakanya.html
I am making a small attempt with the hope
that you will appreciate it. I opted for English just for the reason that I
have to type more English letters to get Telugu words if I express myself in
Telugu.
As you know the time, (mahaayugas, kalpas,
manvantaras,) is a wheel and if one cycle is completed the other starts. As
such we come across so many incidents pertaining to the same Yuga of various
cycles. The ultimate conclusion being the same the incidents leading to the
climax vary as we find through many Puranas. The other thing is when such
things are narrated by poets, for their own reasons they mold the ‘Katha vastu’
to their own taste. We can even quote Kalidasa also for the same. Keeping these
things into mind we now take up the topic of ‘Pancha Kanyas and not as 'Pancha
Pativratas'.
'Ahalya Droupadi Sita Taaraa Mandodaristathaa
Panchakanyaa smarennityam mahaapaataka
naasanam’
The verse possesses a puzzle worth grappling with. The important thing that strikes
to us is the epithet ‘Kanya’ who for the common sense are not kanyas. On the
other hand they had some unnatural relationship.
If we keenly observe, of this group of five
Ahalya, Tara, sita and Mandodari belong to Ramayana and only Droupadi belongs to Mahabharata. Hence somehow
I am not able to consider Tara of Brihaspati. However we will look into it
afterwards. So let us now consider the names mentioned in the above sloka one
by one. However I am not trying to elaborate their life stories but to the
point.
Ahalya: The name Ahalya itself has two meanings. One is not to find fault
with. The second is who cannot be ploughed. Hence I feel the name itself
confirms her virginity. She was unique beauty created specially by Lord Brahma
and handed over to Gautama, unlike the normal human beings. She is beyond human
relationships and hence is a virgin. (I do not want to go deep into stories as
you too know them.)
Sita: Sita is ayonija and the one suspicion on her is Ravana forcibly makes her
sit on his lap. But at the end she proves her chastity by sinking into
earth. Hence undoubtedly she is a virgin.
Tara: She I s a woman of unusual intelligence, fore site and self-confidence.
She has the title ‘sarvabhuta ritajna ‘meaning having knowledge of languages of
all the creatures (Maha Bharata)
In the Balinese dance Kebyar “Rama helps
Sugriva get his lover Tara back from his brother Vali. In Narasimhapurana Tara
is actually Sugriva’s wife and Vali forcibly takes her into his fold.
According to Telugu Ranganatha Ramayana Tara was gifted to both Vali
and Sugriva by Suras acknowledging the helping hand they extended to them while
churning for Amrita. Tara signifies ‘both Star’ and the ‘pupil of the eye’
conveying the idea of a Focal Point depicting concentrated essence. Among the
ten mahavidyas Tara takes the second place. Tara symbolizes ‘light’ which
represents guidance, path finding, knowledge and a tool to overcome the
hurdles. All these we find in Tara of Ramayana.
As regards Tara of Brihaspati the following is the little I can tell.
The Theosophical Encyclopedia refers to the Puranic
legends, where Tara is the second wife of Brihaspati who is the equivalent of
Jupiter and the spiritual guru of the gods. Tara was carried off by Soma (Moon)
and bore a son named Budha (Wisdom), who is considered to have written a hymn
in the Rig Veda. In The Secret Doctrine, H.P. Blavatsky indicates that
Brahmanaspati (Brihaspati) represents the materialization of the divine grace
through exoteric rituals and ceremonies, while Tara - his wife - is the
personification of an initiate in the (secret knowledge). Through soma (the
sacred beverage of the rishis), Tara is initiated in the mysteries, which
results in Budha (esoteric wisdom).
We can also interpret her name as coming from the causative
form of the verb t.’r, meaning ‘to cross’, ‘to traverse’ or ‘to escape’.
Tara, therefore, carries an aura of internecine strife.
Hence I feel Tara is virgin in both the cases.
Rest Next……………
4. Mandodari: Mandodari: The Ananda Ramayana
account (1.9.33-57) has Vishnu create her from the sandalwood paste smeared on
his body to delude Ravana into believing that she is Parvati, whom he has asked
for from Shiva. Another story is that she is the daughter of Mayasura the son
of Kasyapa prajapati and Hema an Apsarasa,
According to the Ranganath Ramayana, it is Parvati who
makes the doll and Shiva breathes life into it. The doll is Mandodari, whose
beauty causes Parvati concern; she has Shiva turn Mandodari into a frog. When
Maya the asura begs for children, Shiva restores the frog to human form and
gives her to the Danava as his daughter.
Hence like Ahalya, Sita, Tara and Draupadi, Mandodari is also ayonija,
once again, not-of-woman-born. There is an analogous myth about her origin in
the Telegu Uttara Ramayana. Once, when Parvati was away, Shiva had
intercourse with the apsara Madhura, who came to Kailash to worship him. On her
return, Parvati turned Madhura into a frog. After twelve years, by Shiva’s
grace, the frog took the form of Mandodari who was adopted by Maya and Hema and
became the wife of Ravana. “The sperm of Shiva which remained dormant in the
womb of Mandodari when she was a frog began to develop, and finally gave birth
to Indrajit. Thus, the so-called son of Ravana – Indrajit of Lanka – was an
intelligence son [sic] of Shiva. “Here we find another clue to the reason
behind her name. Desiraju Hanumanta Rao, translating and commenting on the
epic, writes, “When Shurpanakha was claiming herself a befitting female for
Rama, and belittling Seetha she uses words like krishodari, shaatodari meaning
“a female with feeble... So also manda udari means 'slow, womb... and hence
she is lady with slow conception...' Mandodari gives birth to one Indrajit, son
of Ravana, an extraordinary fighter, and all-conquering warrior. Had Mandodari
given birth to one or two more Indrajit-s, a dozen Rama-s have to take
incarnation is what was told by sage Valmiki in yuddhakanda.
Because it was the custom among Rakshasas and
Vanaras to wed an enthroned queen for the new ruler Tara and Mandodari got
married to the successors of the thrown.
Hence I believe strongly that she is considered as a virgin.
Droupadi: Droupadi is Agni sambhava. Kunti herself
describes Draupadi to Krishna as sarvadharmopacayinam (fosterer of
all virtues, Udyoga Parva 137.16), using the identical term by which
Yayati describes his daughter Madhavi while gifting her to Galava
(ibid. 115.11). The conjunction of both occurrences of this epithet in the
same Parva is surely deliberate on part of the seer-poet Vyasa for
drawing our attention to these correspondences. Droupadi’s name is actually
'Krishna' and she used to address Krishna as 'Sakha' and he to her as 'Sakhi'.
This says that she is Krishna's alter-ego. It is also told in
Maha Bharata as per the contract among Pandavas when she goes to her
other husband’s house her chastity was reinstated and as such she is chaste and
is a virgin.
If we closely observe the names of the characters of
Itihasas are especially named after their qualities and that way also they
are KANYAS.
Above all they are Vanaras Devatas and Rakshasas. They
have their own customs, traditions, and laws by which their serenity is judged.
In Oria I came across this Sloka which goes on like this.
Pancha bhuta kshiti op tejo maruta Byomo
Poncha sati nirjyasa gyani bodho Gomyo
Ahalya Draupadi Kunti Sita Tara Mandodari tatha
Pancha kanya...
Five elements, earth, water, fire,
[[wind, ether are in essence the five satis. This, the wise know
as Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita, Tara and Mandodari.
The five virgins...Ahalya personifies
water, Draupadi represents fire, Sita symbolises mother earth and Tara
personifies wind and Mandodari ether.
This is what the best I could give an account of the topic.
Swasti.
