 Rama – Dasaratha and Rama
In the hands of Power
Imaginary or real, the
astras – or the missiles – did represent enormous power. Destructive power. The recipient was empowered, indeed, endowed with immeasurable destructive power that gave him the power to hold the entire world under one toe. If the missiles stood for power – or formed an essential part of the power that one wielded – money is one of the important forms that power assumes today. Added to it are the hierarchical, bureaucratic, political and other forms of power. Climbing up the rungs of the ladder of power, a person naturally tends to lose his head. And that is why the popular saying is, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’.
I need not elaborate on what money and other forms of power can do to the present-day man. We are witnesses to it. We are, however, most certain about one thing. Power by itself is neither good nor bad. It takes the shape of the whim of the person who wields it. That’s why Valluvar says,
‘paNbilaan petra perum selvam, nan paal kalam thImayaal thirindhu atru.’ (Kural 1000) “A boor’s great wealth is milk gone sour, in a can unscrubbed.” (Translated by P S Sundaram). Money as such is neither good nor bad. It takes the shape of the quality of the person who owns and employs it. Milk in unclean vessel goes waste; money in unclean hands goes weird.
Numberless are the instances where we come across persons behaving so well, pious and extra-religious until the portals of power are opened wide for them. Once those doors are opened, the mask falls down. We see the real colour of the person under the skin. One of the ways to judge the quality of a person is to see the way in which he conducts himself or herself before and after the acquisition of power. That is where we see a yawning gulf, a shocking chasm and a bottomless pit of a difference between the two major characters of the epic, Rama and
Ravana.
It is not that Rama was the first person, or the only person – save for Lakshmana – to have received the divine weapons –
astras and shastras as they are called – in the epic. The Asuras – demons – had received the very same Brahmastra, Mohanastra, Vilaapanaastra et al that we have detailed in our last post, long, long number of years before Rama did.
In addition to what Rama received from Viswamitra, Ravana and Indrajit were in possession of various other divine weapons like the Nagastra or the serpent noose, Chandrahasa, which is the sword of Lord Shiva, and so many other missiles and weapons that Rama was not handed over. The destructive force masqueraded itself, performed gory penance and brought the very Creator to a situation where He could not deny what was sought for. Power. Destructive power that paved the way to the golden city of Lanka, a city originally ruled by Kubera, the elder half-brother of Ravana, which was taken away from him by emotional blackmail; the
pushpaka vimana taken away from Kubera by force; and once this power (of all the boons) led the way to become super power by way of the acquisition of Lanka and
pushpaka vimana, the first thing that Ravana did was to go in war against the celestials, covet the supreme most position, go about seducing everyone – including his own daughter-in-law, Rambha, the wife of Nalakubara, who is the son of Kubera – the elder half-brother of Ravana. (See:
Curse of Kubera’s
son)
The path of Ravana is strewn with blood and unrestrained lust. He takes any woman by force until the curses of the Creator and Vedavati stop him from violating a woman against her wish. The thirst for war, blood and power had reached the ten heads of Ravana so high that he killed his own brother-in-law, Vidyujjihva, the husband of Sürpanakhä. We have gone in detail on the misdeeds of Ravana immediately on receiving the boons and on being empowered, in our study on him. Unless this was so, the avatar of Rama would not have become necessary at all! Both were endowed with the same power. One had power in his hands; the other let power to hold him in its hands.
Is it possible for a person with absolute power to conduct him in an orderly fashion? Is it at all possible to hold one’s head in place when endowed with enormous power? What did Rama do when he received from Viswamitra the very same – if not all – the divine weapons that Ravana and Indrajit received from the Creator, Lord Shiva and others? Was the absence of the hunger for power as well as the total absence of lust the only difference between these two major characters in the epic, Rama and Ravana? Or do they differ in any other respect?
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