This is in continuation of my post NO. 931 here click here to go to 931 at this blog. 2) And post No. 124 at Ramayanayb.blogspot.com Click here to go to ramayanayb.blogspot.com/search/label/124. The idea of Ayodhya-ganj, Kursela, as a probable location of Ancient Ayodhya of Rama Janma Bhumi, I have also covered partly at my post No. 138 Click here to go to ramayanayb.blogspot.com/search/label/138. I shall quote from what I wrote in that post:--
"...But, I have a strong feeling that the trio didn't move southwards. They might have moved towards sasarAm (rohtas), babhuva (kaimur), then gaya. There was a village called "gOdAvari" in gaya District.
...Did the trio take the niranjan and mOhana - falgu rivers as gOdAvari? This question taunts my mind everyday. gaya and bOdh gaya had buddhist culture. valmIki rAmAyaN described rAvaNa approaching pancavaTi in ochre robes. The gupta dynastic period, during which vAlmiki rAmAyana evolved as a tangible book from the status of a ballad or a folk song, had some stones to grind against buddhism.
...mArica's abode was his mother's abode i.e. tATaka garden (taDka) was in bIhar. One matanga hill is in rAjagrih. rAvana's mandara mounts are in bhagalpur and banka.
...The entire scenario seemed to have moved south-eastwards on the ganga river via buxar-sasarAm-gaya-patna-hajipur to bhagalpur apparently rAvana's Capital. kishkindha, we have already identified between vindhyAcal and sasarAm.
This post No. 138, at my ramayanayb was made on 24th Dec. 2012, about 5 years back. At that time I believed that there was some rivulet near Godavari village in Gaya District, which might have been the river bank for the PanchavaTi cottage of Sita Rama Lakshmanas, from where Sita was abducted by Ravana. At that time, I have tried to contact the District Officials of Gaya, Bihar, if any archaeological information can be traced. But, no help was forthcoming from their side.
At that time, I was aware, that according to legends, Sita performed the obsequies-oblations (worshipful offerings) for her Late father-in-law Dasaratha, on the banks of River Phalguni, Gaya, VishNu pada ghaTTam. I have tried to delve into the histories of the temples in Gaya, as to whether any evidence can be collected about the movements of Sita Rama Lakshmanas there during their 14 year forest exile. But, I could not achieve much, except that the story of Sita performing the worship of Dasaratha by making sand pinDas (food-bolluses) and Dasratha's hand rising from the River, as some fantastic story of Tourist Circuit, to boost the tourist importance of that place.
Recent Trigger, of a few days back: Shri Garikapati Narasimha Rao, a Renowned Telugu Scriptural Scholar, an avadhAna expert and also a TV Discourser
OM TV Channel- a Telugu TV Channel broadcasts the Discourse of Kalidasa's Raghuvamsam, by Shri Garikapati Narasimha Rao at 1 pm every day. After kalyanotsavam of Lord Venkateswara at SVBC Channel, I usually view Raghu Vamsam on Om TV. Few days back, I saw an Episode by Shri Garikapati Narasimha Rao, about Dilipa's worship of the divine cow 'kAmadhEnu'. Shri Garikapati has a gift of gab of mixing up several things in his Discourses. He also applies to the Discourse his style/mode of common sense. He is a flexible person. I do not want to compare my writings with what he discourses. Objectives differ.
In that particular episode about the divine-cow's-face worship by King Dilipa, as against the customary convention that cow's back is to be worshipped and not face, he narrated his experience of his Gaya visit. Then, he narrated the story of Sita worshipping Dasaratha at Gaya's Phalguni River. He might have heard the story from the Gaya Priests. His stress was more on IMPORTANCE OF TELLING TRUTH 'satya nishTha'. Welcome. In that story, when Shri Rama came back with necessary provisions for cooking the food-bolus (pinDam), Sita told him that she had already performed it. Shri Rama didn't believe. Sita had to call witnesses. 1. Phalguni River. The river said that it did not see Sita performing. 2. Priests of those days at Gaya. They denied having seen Sita performing the oblations. Then the third witness Akshaya vriksham, an ancient tree, which said that it has seen Sita performing the oblations. Then, Mr. Narasimha Rao how the Phalguni River and the Priests have become cursed, and how the Askhaya Vriksham glows with its glory. So far so good. I greatly appreciate and admire the effort of Shri Narasimha Rao, for the importance he gave to 'satyam'.
What I felt when I saw that Episode
Shri Narasimha Rao, who is very much conscious about the importance of 'truth', why he did not spend a few minutes about whether it could be possible for Sita, Rama, Lakshmanas visiting Gaya? The distance aerial/straight between Chitrakut and Gaya is about 500 kms. In those days, there were no roads or highways or railways. No transport, probably not even bullock carts. Sita Rama and Lakshmana were walking.
The real problem with our 'discoursers' and 'scholars' is: they do not go into the 'ROOTS' and 'ROUTES'. They take it for granted, tourist circuit's stories, which are palmed off in the name of 'sthala purANam' and 'skAndha purANam'.
Besides, Shri Rama himself was not very particular about 'sathyam' (truth). I have given some examples of verses in Valmiki Ramayana, which show that Shri Rama went back his words he gave to Kausalya and Guha, to live like a Muni (hermetic). Breakage of his words took place, the very next day he crossed River Yamuna, and entered forest enroute to Chitrakut. But our discoursers and preachers will never cover those verses, because if such inconvenient verses are analysed, they will not be invited to give a discourse. Not touching 'displeasing things' is a marketing technique. For that reason only, there is a Sanskrit maxim: 'satyam brUyAt, priyam brUyAt, na bruyAt satyam ariyam'. Tell truth, tell what is pleasing. But never tell a truth which will cause displeasure. (If we tell a truth which may cause displeasure, we may be beaten and driven ouf of the place).
Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhyakanda (last part) and Aranya Kanda are silent about SRLs going to Gaya. The general impression among Scripture Discoursers and some historians is, that SRL travelled towards South, ultimately towards Nasik/Bhadrachalam, after Sita's abduction two brother's walk to Kishkindha (according to Tourist Circuit, near Hampi, Karnataka), and finally to Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, for crossing over to Lanka.
Nowhere, we can see SRLs going to Gaya. Either that story should be incorrect, or Ayodhya, Kishkindha, Lanka everything should have taken place in Old Bihar-- with the Northernmost points Janakpuri (Nepal), Valmikinagar, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Tadkha (Tataka's place), Gautama's Ashram, Chapra, Sasaram, Kathihar-Kursela, Hajipur etc. etc. southwards, on the West side of Vaishali Kingdom. Then the story will spread southwards, cross River Ganga (an island on Ganga River near Bhagalpur may be Lanka), and enter into Jharkhand, which is associated with Asuras. At may ramayanayb blog, there is a discussion about width of Ravana's kingdom from Rajasthan-Kota-Indore-MP-Chattisgadh-Jharkhand-to-Bengal west-to-east. Ravana travelled on his donkeys' pulled cart-chariot called pushpaka, to abduct Sita.
If everything is in Bihar, Chitrakut-2 and Godavari-3 should also be near Gaya.
Historian Late Sankalia opined that Ravana's Lanka might have been in Chota Nagpur Region , i.e. in Jharkhand-Bengal Border. I have discussed in one of my blogposts, the possibility of Bhagalpur as being the Lanka of Ravana, or any of the islands in Ganga river, on the northern side of Bhagalpur as Lanka. There is a Trikuta mountain in Bhagalpur. Baidynath, the place where Ravana is reported to have installed his Shiva-phallus, is also nearby south to Bhagalpur. On the other side of Ganga River, opposite to Bhagalpur, we get Hajipur and the Kathihar Areas, our Kursela, Ayodhyaganj.
Anjana Devi's place (Hanuman or Anjaneya's mother) is in Jharkhand, on the west direction of Bhagalpur and Bydyanath.
There is an important tribe called 'asuras' in Jhar Khand.
There are a few villages with the name 'Lanka', to the South of Anjadevi's place, in Jharkhand..
According to Wikipedia. the word 'kursela' according to Wikipedia.org, mentions 'kuru' as the origin of the place, and linked it to Kauravas and Pandavas. But I believe that 'kursela' is probably 'kOsala', from which Kausalya hailed.
There are many gaps in this narration of mine. One possibility: Dasaratha's Ayodhya in Phyzabad District, Uttar Pradesh, might have been called Ayodhya, but it might not have been 'kOsala Kingdom'. kOsala kingdom, must have been kausalya's native place, which is kursela in Bihar. Shri Rama might have been born at Kursela, even without the name Ayodhya. Or Kursela can be Old Ayodhya, and Phyzabad Ayodhya can be new Ayodhya.
According to Kursela's locals, it appears that the name 'ayOdhya ganj' was given to that place in Kursela town, by the local baron (jamindar) after independence 1947. It may or not be true. Reason: Kursela's Ayodhya was in the trade route between Delhi and Kolkata even during the days of Aurangzeb, Europeans, Clive, Hastings, Surajuddaula, Mir Jaffar etc. et al. It was said to be a Mandi Centre and an important place for warehousing in those days.
First Possibility
Shri Rama, Sita and Lakshmana, might have gone WESTWARDs from Kursela-Ayodhya to Gaya's Phalguni Tirtham , probably even to that Godavari village in Gaya District. One guess I made was that Kishkindha was in Mirzapur which is East to Allahabad. From Gaya / Gaya's Godavari, after Sita's abduction by Ravana, the two brothers might have gone to Mirzapur.Second Possibility
As per the map shown above, SRLs might have moved eastward from Chitrakut to Gaya. In those days, there were no compasses. There were not many villages. Those who go in forest paths depend on oral inquiries. It is possible, Rama and Lakshmana might have come westwards from Gaya to Mirzapur (Kishkindha), and stayed there. The Southern batch sent by Sugriva, to search Sita, led by Angada and Hanuman, might have crossed Ganga River at Mirzapur (Vindhyas), then moved eastwards till they reached Bhagalpur, via Anjanadevi's place. Hanuman might have been familiar with this path.
This is a 1000 page subject. To continue adding / deleting / modifying. और जोडने की है। ఇంకా జోడించాల్సింది ఉంది.
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