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रामोपाख्यान (rAmopAkhyAna)

 
Monier Williams Cologne
English
रामोपाख्यान
n.
 ‘episode of R°s’,
N.
 of an abridged story of Rāma in
MBh.
 iii, 15872-16601 (cf.
IW.
 366).
Mahabharata
English
Rāmopākhyāna^1 (“the episode relating to Rāma [Dāśarathi]”). § 10 (Parvasaṅgr.): I, 2, 326 (parva, i.e. Rāma pākhyānaparvan). Cf. Rāmāyaṇa(m) upākhyāna(ṃ).
Rāmopākhyāna^2 (“the episode relating to Rāma Jāmadagnya”). § 638b (Rājadh.): Jahnu &gt
Aja &gt
Balākāśva &gt
Kuśika, who performed penances in order to get a son
Indra became his son: Gādhi. Bhṛgu. (2) Viśvāmitra. (1) Satyavatī~Ṛcīka. Jamadagni. Paraśu-Rāma. Ṛcīka destined a certain portion of the sacrificial food (wherein had been placed the brahman energy) for Satyavatī, which would give her a son of great wisdom, the foremost of brahmans
and another (wherein had been placed the sum total of kshatriya energy) for her mother, which would give her for a son an invincible kshatriya. Then Ṛcīka proceeded to the woods to practise penances. King Gādhi, on a tīrthayātrā, arrived at Ṛcīka's retreat with his queen. There the mother of Satyavatī, from ignorance, exchanged the two portions of the food. Ṛcīka predicted that the son of Satyavatī would become a terrible kshatriya, but asked by Satyavatī, he granted that not her son (Jamadagni) but her grandson (Paraśu-Rāma) would become such
her mother would give birth to a brahman (Viśvāmitra). Besides the other sciences, Rāma mastered the Dhanurveda
gratifying Mahādeva on Gandhamādana, he asked him for weapons, especially the axe, which made him unrivalled on earth. Meanwhile the virtuous kshatriya, the Haihaya king Arjuna Kārtavīrya, who had got 1, 000 arms through the grace of Dattātreya, having subjugated the whole earth with its mountains and seven islands, became a powerful emperor, and gave away the earth to the brahmans at a horsesacrifice. Once, solicited by Agni, he gave alms to that deity: springing from the points of his shafts, Agni burnt villages, etc., and also the retreat of Āpava (i.e. Vasishṭha, Nīl.), who cursed Arjuna, saying that Rāma should lop off his arms. Arjuna, always devoted to peace, always regardful of brahmans, etc., did not think of that curse. His sons, always haughty and cruel, seized and brought away the calf of Jamadagni's homa-cow, without the knowledge of Arjuna
Rāma lopped off the arms of Arjuna and brought back the calf
the sons of Arjuna came and slew Jamadagni, in the absence of Rāma, who vowed to free the earth of kshatriyas, and slaughtered all the sons and grandsons of Arjuna, and thousands of Haihayas, and annihilated all kshatriyas, and then, filled with compassion, retired into the woods. After some thousands of years, the grandson of Viśvāmitra and son of Raibhya, Parāvasu said to Rāma in public: “were not Pratardana, etc., who were assembled at a sacrifice at the time of Yayāti's fall, kshatriyas by birth
thou art not true of thy vow
through fear of kshatriya heroes thou hast betaken thyself to the mountains.” Rāma once more slew kshatriyas by hundreds. Those kshatriyas, however, that he spared, counted by hundreds, multiplied and became mighty monarchs on earth. Rāma once more slaughtered them, not sparing the very children. Some kshatriya ladies, however, succeeded in protecting their children. Having made the earth destitute of kshatriyas twenty-one times, Rāma, at the completion of a horsesacrifice, gave away the earth as a sacrificial present to Kaśyapa. In order to preserve the remnant of the kshatriyas, Kaśyapa told Rāma to repair to the shores of the southern ocean and not to reside within his dominion. The ocean suddenly created Śūrpāraka for Rāma. Kaśyapa gave the earth to the brahmans and then entered the great forest. Then śūdras and vaiśyas began to cohabit with the wives of brahmans
unprotected duly by kshatriyas, the earth quickly sank, and was held by Kaśyapa on his lap (ūru), whence she was called Urvī. For protection's sake she asked Kaśyapa for a king, saying that she had concealed some Haihaya kshatriyas among women
[further]
Paurava (son of Vidūratha), brought up among bears in the Ṛkshavat mountain
[further]
a son of Saudāsa, protected through compassion by Parāśara, and named Sarvakarman (etymology)
Śibi's son Gopati, brought up in the forest among kine
Pratardana's son Vatsa, brought up among calves in a cowpen
Dadhivāhana's grandson and Diviratha's son, concealed on the banks of Gaṅgā by Gautama
Bṛhadratha, protected by apes (? golāṅgūlaiḥ, cf. BR.
PCR.: wolves) on Gṛdhrakūṭa
many kshatriyas belonging to the race of Marutta have been brought up by the ocean
they are living among artisans and goldsmiths
“their fathers and grandfathers have been slain for my sake by Rāma
it is my duty to see that their funeral rites are duly performed.” Kaśyapa, seeking out those kshatriyas, installed them duly as kings in days of yore. Those kshatriya races that are now extant are the progeny of those princes.
वाचस्पत्यम्
Sanskrit
रामोपाख्यान
न०
 ६ त० । १ रामस्योपाख्याने । तदधिकृत्यकृतो ग्रन्थः अण् । २ भारतवनपर्वान्तर्गते तदुपाख्यानप्रति-पादकेऽवान्तरपर्वणि च ।