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 The role of
fate-15
Destiny is but a phrase of the weak human heart - the dark apology for every error. The strong and virtuous admit no destiny. On earth conscience guides; in heaven God watches. And destiny is but the phantom we invoke to silence the one and dethrone the other. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), English dramatist & politician
XV. Singular fate and derivative result
“As you sow so shall you reap” – declares a proverb. One of the consequences of reaping what was sown carries over to the offspring. This consequence is a strong deterrent to those inclined to commit sin. It is generally true that many people refrain from committing sin out of fear that they will suffer in their future births as well as their children would also experience the evil consequences. One of the Thamizh adages holds,
‘mAthA pithA pAvam makkaL thalaiyilE’ (the sins of the parents will be visited upon their
children).
There is also a statement in the Bible, “Do not sin or up to seven generations your progeny will be cursed or punished.” Another is, “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7). Is there any truth to these prophecies? How does a sin (bad karma or teevinai) committed by somebody survive like primordial poison to infect succeeding generations? Is fate really cross-generational? Does it also manifest in one’s own lifetime? Let us examine its occurrence in
Ramayanam.
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Dasharatha, Kaikeyi, and
Rama |
King Dasharatha, who ruled over the Kosala kingdom from Ayodhya, did not have a male progeny to rule the kingdom after him. He performed a yagna (sacrifice) invoking all the celestials to bless him with a male child. From out of the sacrificial fire a celestial appeared bearing a golden vessel of sweet pudding which when consumed by Dasharatha’s wives would produce the offspring that Dasharatha desired. In due course Rama and his brothers were born to the three queens of Dasharatha. Dasharatha was the happiest. Fate smiled at him. He didn’t know it would eventually frown too.
Back in his youthful days Dasharatha was a mighty archer who can aim his arrows, sight unseen, in the direction from where the sound emanates and hit the target unfailingly. Once, in one of his hunting expeditions, he hit a young man while he was collecting water from a river for his blind parents, thinking it was an elephant drinking water. The young man died on the spot. Dasharatha, feeling immensely sorry, took the water pot to the aged parents and confessed his gruesome act. The aged parents cremated their son and entered the funeral pyre too. Prior to doing so they cursed Dasharatha that he would meet his death too by grieving for a son. That time for Dasharatha was in the offing.
Back when Dasharatha did not have any male offspring he married Kaikeyi as his third wife. At that time he gave assurance to Kaikeyi’s father that a son born to her would become his successor and occupy the throne at Ayodhya. At that time he never gave any second thoughts to the consequences of such a promise. Fate made sure it covered all the angles.
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Mantharai & Kaikeyi |
However, he also owed Kaikeyi a couple of boons for saving his life during a war. Kaikeyi, as fate would have it, deferred the boons to be redeemed at a later time. At a spur of the moment Dasharatha decided to appoint Rama as prince-in-waiting for the throne thinking that fate might conspire to derail his noble thoughts if he waited longer. What he feared did happen, indeed. It arrived in the form of Mantharai (Kaikeyi’s maid and friend) who sought to influence Kaikeyi to demand her two boons from the king, one to get her own son Bharata to be anointed as the prince-in-waiting and the second to banish Rama to the forest (in order to forestall any trouble if Rama stayed behind in Ayodhya). While the “bad” counsel given by Mantharai to Kaikeyi is cited to label her as “evil incarnate”, destiny ordained that Kaikeyi’s pure heart should be changed by Mantharai’s evil counsel in order to serve an ultimate purpose.
When Kaikeyi lay on the floor (in the “sulking” room) in a miserable and unkempt state prior to Dasharatha’s visit to her chamber, Dasharatha told her that he would alleviate her misery by any means and swore to do so “in the name of Rama”. That was again fate making sure it was proceeding gradually to its denouement.
When Kaikeyi demanded that Bharata be crowned and Rama be sent to the forest for 14 years Dasharatha knew it was payback time. He knew he had to lose his favourite son Rama and that fate was fulfilling its mission. Rama learnt of Kaikeyi’s demands from her and rightaway decided to fulfil his father’s promise. He prepared for his sylvan existence and departed for the Dandaka forest with Sita and Lakshmana. Rama told Lakshmana that Kaikeyi was an instrument in the hands of Destiny. He recognised that fate (daivam) made Kaikeyi seek the two boons at the wrong time and that Kaikeyi was just a passive instrument in the hands of fate. Kaikeyi’s merciless demands and Rama’s accession to them form the basis to establish Rama’s virtues. They are also the starting point for the eventual destruction of evil Ravana. But for her demands, Ramayanam would have ended with Rama ruling Ayodhya. This situation is similar to Shakuni’s plot to get Yudhishtra to play the dice game which was the starting point for the eventual Mahabharata war.
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Bharata, after learning all that happened in his absence in Ayodhya, decided to reverse his mother’s evil deeds and proceeded to the forest to get Rama back to Ayodhya. When Rama learnt from Bharata about the king’s demise, his misery knew no bounds. He felt responsible for his father’s death. It was sage Vashishta who consoled Rama at that time that Dasharatha died in accordance with the dictates of fate. Kamban, in Kambaramayanam (Ayodhya kandam, 13, 75), describes the scene as follows:
puNNiya naRuneyil poru il kAlamAm
tiNNiya tiriyinil vidhi en tIyinil
eNNiya viLakku avaiyiraNDum enjinAl
aNNale! avivadharikku aiyam yAvado?
(This life was lit by a flame called fate, with time as the wick and good karma as the fuel to sustain it. When the good karma got expended and time comes to an end, the light of life gets extinguished. No need to doubt it).
It was Dasharatha’s fate which wrought its consequences not only on him but also on his most-loved son Rama. Rama was already distraught by having to leave his father to honour his word. That caused further misery to Dasharatha resulting in his death. Rama was further distressed to note that he was not present to do the final obsequies to his father. That bad karma will also affect the offspring of a person is made obvious in the case of Dasharatha and Rama. Fate used other people (Mantharai and Kaikeyi in this instance) as agents in consummating the verdict.
Sethuraman Subramanian
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