Monday 24 September 2012

Rāvaṇa threatens to eat Sītā for breakfast

Having killed Jaāyu, Rāvaa takes Sītā back to Lakā, but she refuses to become his wife. He threatens to torment her but she remains faithful to Rāma.



वृद्धम् खगम् हत्वा रावणः सीतया सह लङ्काम्  अगच्छत्

Having killed (the) old bird, Rāvaa went to Lanka with Sītā
वृद्धम् old, adj. agreeing with bird
खगम् bird. masc. accusative sing. Accusative because Rāvaa does something 'to' the bird. If it was just 'bird' in the nominative, it would have been खगः not खगम् . Please take special note of this. Not to distinguish between the two is a mistake very easily made by Hindi speakers. 
हत्वा having killed.This grammatical form is called the 'gerund'. It is an indeclinable (avyaya) particle. The ending could be  त्वा or य, and will not change with gender/number/case etc. It talks of an action that has already happened.
रावणः masc, nom, sing. 
सीतया सह instrumental case+ सह = 'with' Sītā
लङ्काम्  To Lakā. fem., acc., sing. 
अगच्छत् - went. 3rd person, nom., sing., agreeing with रावणः

लङ्कायाम् रावणः सीताम् पुनः अवदत् हे सीते मम भार्या भव इति
In Lakā Rāvaa said again to Sītā - become my wife.
लङ्कायाम् - in Lakā. locative, fem., sing.
रावणः - Rāvaa. masc., nom., sing.
सीताम्  - to Sītā. accusative, fem, singular
पुनः - again (avyaya)
अवदत् - said. Past tense of वद् to speak
हे सीते - O Sītā. vocative, fem., sing. 
मम - my
भार्या  - wife nom., fem., sing.
भव - become. This is the imperative form of भू to become
इति - direct speech marker, and an avyaya


सीता  तु न कदा अपि अवदत्
But Sītā said, never!
सीता fem., nom., sing.  
तु - but/lekin. avyaya - used for stress
न कदा अपि - never (once we do sandhi, you will normally see this as कदापि). कदापि means sometime, any time, but with the न it becomes NEVER
अवदत् - said


कुपितः रावणः सीताम् उद्याने अस्थापयत्
(The) angry Rāvaa placed Sītā in a garden.
कुपितः रावणः (The) angry Rāvaa - masc, nominative, singular. Note adj/noun agreement
सीताम् - सीता को fem, acc., sing. (again, please note it is not enough to say सीता as we do in Hindi. It has to be सीताम्) 
उद्याने in (a) garden. Locative, neuter, singular
अस्थापयत् - placed/established. past tense of स्था 'to stand, stay


तस्मिन् उद्याने अशोकवृक्षाः आसन्
In that garden there were Aśoka trees
(I've always loved the irony of Aśoka w.r.t Sītā's state...)
तस्मिन् उद्याने - locative - in that garden 
अशोकवृक्षाः - Aśoka trees masc., nom., plural
आसन् - were. 3rd person, nom., plural past of √अस् - to be

रावणः अवदत् यदि  सीता अचिरेण मम भार्या न भविष्यति तर्हि अहम् ताम् प्रातराशे खादिष्यामि इति
Rāvaa said, if Sītā, does not become my wife soon, I will eat her for breakfast.
रावणः अवदत् - Rāvaa said
यदि  - if (avyaya)
सीता 
अचिरेण - soon (avyaya)
मम - my
भार्या - wife, fem., sing., nom.
न - not
भविष्यति - will become. 3rd person, sing., nom., future of √भू
तर्हि - then (we did yadi/tarhi on the 22nd of Sept)
अहम् - I
ताम्  - accusative, feminine, singular उस को
प्रातराशे - locative, masc., singular (lit. at breakfast)
खादिष्यामि - (I) will eat. 1st person sing., future of √खाद् to eat
इति - direct speech marker, and an avyaya


तत् श्रुत्वा सीता  अतीव दुःखिता अभवत् 
Having heard that, Sītā became very distressed/miserable.
तत् -that
श्रुत्वा - having heard - gerund, like हत्वा above
सीता  
अतीव दुःखिता extremely distressed - notice दुःखिता is an adjective and agrees with सीता, but अतीव does not, making it an ... avyaya
अभवत् - became, 3rd person, sing., past of √भू 


रावणः सीताम् राक्षसीनाम् मध्ये अस्थापयत् 
Rāvaa placed Sītā amongst demonesses
रावणः Rāvaa
सीताम् accusative fem., sing. सीता को
राक्षसीनाम् - genitive fem., plural - 'of' the demonesses 
मध्ये - in the middle. locative singular of मध्य (masc/neut)  
अस्थापयत् - placed/established 3rd person sing., past


राक्षसीभिः सीता पुनः पुनः पीडिता
Sītā was tormented again and again by the demonesses. (The 'asti' is assumed, which is very common in Sanksrit sentences. These are called nominative sentences) 
राक्षसीभिः instrumental, plural, fem., - 'by the' rākṣasīs 
सीता nom., fem., singular
पुनः पुनः again and again (double avyaya - 'baar baar')
पीडिता - tormented adjective agreeing with सीता 


राक्षस्यः पुनः पुनः आक्रोशन् रावणम् गच्छ तस्य भार्या भव च इति
The rākṣasīs shrieked again and again - Go to Rāvaa and become his wife.
राक्षस्यः - nom., fem., plural - rākṣasīs
पुनः पुनः - again and again
आक्रोशन् - (They) shrieked. 3rd person, fem., plural, past of kruś 
रावणम् - masc., accusative., sing., to Rāvaa
गच्छ - go. imperative of √gam
तस्य - his
भार्या - wife
भव - become. imperative of √bhū
च - and (avyaya)
इति - direct speech marker (avyaya)


रामे एव स्निह्यामि इति सीता अचिन्तयत्
Sītā thought - I only love Rāma 
रामे locative case, (the act of loving takes the locative in Sanskrit)
एव - only (avyaya)
स्निह्यामि - I love  
इति - direct speech/thought marker (avyaya)
सीता - fem, nominative, singular
अचिन्तयत् - thought past of चिन्त् - to think





1 comment:

Anurag Sharma said...

This is a major theme in Vedic Astrology/ Jyotiṣa. Rāvaṇa is indicated by Rāhu Graha and just like Rāvaṇa has ten heads. This has a deeper meaning. It means desire and ambition without perspective is ten times stronger than any other pull in existence. Rāhu and Rāvaṇa are terrible.

Sītā in Laṅkā is indicated by Venus/ Śukra in Aquarius/ Kumbha. Women with this placement may feel like Sītā must have when she was abducted by the demon-King. Males with this combination stand to suffer the chance of treating women in this manner or from the prospect of losing their wife just as Śrī Rāma was deprived of his wife. Hinduism and the Veda is all interconnected. We only need to know.