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Continued from yesterday’s instalment
 Well, Guha was seething with rage and was preparing and motivating his army on this side of the river, for a war with Bharata to stop him before he could take another step in the direction of his Lord. He has a couple of other plans too - like obliterating the ‘greedy’ Bharata and his army, and putting his dear Lord on the throne back again! ‘Let all of us, hunters, join together to make our Lord the king again!’ Here is that most popular and well-known verse from Guha’s speech in Kamba Ramayanam. Any discussion on Guha would be incomplete without a mention of this verse.
‘aadu kodip padai saadi,’ Destroying the army whose flag is flying high
‘arathavarE aaLa’ (let us enable) Rama to rule this world.
‘vedu koduthadhu ip paar enum ip padham mEvIrO?’ Won’t you accept the high honour that this world was given to the Lord, by hunters? Collect, join and surge ahead. Let us destroy that evil-minded Bharata and put our Lord back on throne. You should be happy that you have been given this opportunity to fight and make Rama the king again. For when you do so, you will be praised by one and all. They would say that this world was offered to Sri Rama by huntsmen. It is an honour to our entire race. More over, look at this. What a pity!
‘naadu kodutha en naayaganukku,’ My Lord who gave them the throne so readily.
‘ivar naam aaLum kaadu kodukkilar aagi eduthadhu kaNeerO?’ They are not able to allow him to remain in this jungle that we rule and have swarmed here with a large army.
He gave them the throne happily and came to our forest. And they are not able to allow him remain in peace even in this place that we rule. Let’s fight this injustice.
‘Ezhu kadaR padai endraalum,’ Even if their army is as large as the seven seas put together, ‘aa munayin siru koozh ena ippouzhudhu aagaadhO?’ won’t it become the grassland completely grazed by cattle!
While this was going on, the scene on the other side of the river was quite different. Sumantra, the minister, charioteer, commander-in-chief all rolled into one, saw Guha from the other bank of the river. ‘Guha should have come with all his army to greet and honour him,’ he thought. That is to say, even the great minister of Dasaratha could not read what was going on in the mind of Guha, for the Guha he knew was such a humble and devoted person. He could by no means be thought of as preparing himself for a battle with Bharata! The magic of the situation is quite fascinating. Here is what Valmiki says.
 “Vividly perceiving him coming, the glorious Sumantra (the son of a charioteer) for his part, who knew what is called for at a particular time, forthwith spoke to Bharata (as follows) like an humble servant:- “Attended by a thousand of his kinsmen, here comes Guha, the sovereign lord of the Nisadas, who is a senior friend of your (elder) brother (Sri Rama), and is closely acquainted with the Dandaka forest. Therefore, allow him to see you, O scion of Kakutstha! Doubtless he knows well where the celebrated Sri Rama and Lakshmana may be.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Canto LXXXIV, Sloka 11-13)
Misreading again. But quite a harmless one. The world is what one perceives to be. The situation and the perception may not match!
More follows...
Hari Krishnan
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