> 'viswAmitra' seeks the help of 'daSaratha' to safe guard his 'yAga' and
> sets off to his Ashram with rAma-lakshmaNas.
>
> As is the context, due to no mentioning of him in the 'SlOka', one has =
to
> assume that the presence of 'lakshmaNa' was totally ignored or neglecte=
d.
>
Dear sir, I am trying to answer you with what ever little knowledge I =
have on
Ramayana.
(I hesitate posting Sanskrit slokas on TELUSA. If you want slokas pls. =
ask I will
post them personally)
There are two reasons for not waking up Lakshmana.
A) Lakshmana sleeps only after Rama went to sleep and wakes up before =
Rama wakes up. (From Valmiki Ramayana)
B) During the days of Aranyavasa, even when they were with Vishwamitra =
Lakshmana never slept, so where is the question of waking him up !!
( From : Kamba Ramayana)
guruvugAru! vayasulO cinna vALLaku aMtagA viluva ivvaraMDee,
rAmAyaNaM time lO kooDA adE uMDivuMTuMdi :-)
> Of course, I answered my friend saying that originally 'viswAmitra' ask=
ed
> for 'rAma' only. Whereas, 'daSaratha', due to his own anxiety sends
> 'lakshmNa' also with them. So, the saint would not have felt the
> responsibility for 'lakshmaNa' at all.
>
Vishwamitra in fact cared them both equally. He promised Dasaratha that =
he
will look after them as if they were his two eyes. He taught "bala, atib=
ala"
vidayas for them.
> However, thinking over it, later on I realized, this tendency continues
> further in 'rAmayaNa'. In some of the original translations (in Telugu)=
, I
> still remember reading that 'viswAmitra' teaches the various 'astrAs' =
only
> to 'rAma' . In turn, with the saint's permission, 'rAma' teaches his
> brother. Certainly, it appears that the saint's attitude towards
> 'lakshmaNa' looks a bit unusual/unfair by present day standards. Or,
> probably we may have to take it 'that was the way in those days'.
>
:-) I understand :-)
In fact your observation is 100% correct. "Dhanur Veda" is an upavEda =
for
adharvaNavEda. There is a rule kept in teaching. If two brothers atten=
d the
same gurukula the elder one should be taught first. That is the *rule*=
..
FYI, "Lakshmana is the bodyguard to Rama". In Ramayana it was said that=
Rama came down as an ordinary human. But Lakshmana, having full
knowledge about his "AdisEsha" avatAra, came down just to be with Sri Ram=
a.
Hence Rama required training not Lakshmana.
Even, if we look at the other way, Lakshmana never has shown interest =
in
learning about Astras! it is true, he some times told his guru to teach =
Astras to
Rama and went in to the forest in order to get "kandamulAs".
With best regards
Madhava Kumar