PANCHAKANYA
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.
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