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Continued
from yesterday’s instalment
 We
do not see much of Lakshmana in the first book, Bala Kanda. He doesn’t have
much of a role to play nor does he say or do anything significant. The
observation of Sri VVS Aiyar deserves our attention at this juncture. “We do
not see much of him in the First Book. He, of course, accompanies Rama to the
forest when Vishvamitra takes Rama to guard his sacrificial grounds against
Tadaka and her host. He is perfected in his knowledge of archery by the old
Rishi who teaches him along with Rama the method of invoking magical weapons. He
marries a daughter of Janaka at Mithila. But, generally speaking, he is but the
shadow of Rama all through the Bala Kanda of the Ramayana.”
What we very clearly understand in the Bala Kanda
is that every single one in Ayodhya, including Dasaratha considered Lakshmana as
an inseparable and inevitable companion of Rama even when they were very young.
If we see the Sloka by which Viswamitra seeks help from Dasaratha to protect his
yaga, he asks only for Rama. “Be pleased (therefore) to place at my disposal,
O tiger among kings, your eldest and heroic son, Sri Rama (who is) possessed of
true (unfailing) prowess though (yet) a boy (adorned with side-locks of hair
hanging over the temples after the fashion of the day.)” (Valmiki Ramayana,
Bala Kanda, Canto XIX, Sloka 8-9)
When Kamban narrates this scene, he mentions the
very same thing. ‘seru mugathuk kaaththi ena’
to offer protection (when the rakshasas) come in battle, ‘nin
siruvar nalvarinum,’ out of your four sons, ‘kariya
semmal oruvanaith thandhidu,’ give me that one handsome black boy.
I need one of your sons to come along with me for protection of my sacrificial
fire. Give me Rama. It may be observed that Lakshmana is not asked for.
Viswamitra very specifically asks for only one son. Though Dasaratha was
agitated initially at the request, when he sent Rama, he, as a matter of course,
sent Lakshmana along with him. He knew that a mention of Rama includes Lakshmana.
And whenever we find Viswamitra speaking to the
brothers, we see him addressing only Rama and not Lakshmana. Rt. Hon’ble
Srinivasa Sastriyar observes. “…we find curiously enough that Viswamitra who
did not invite Lakshmana takes notice of him only very rarely. If he talks to
them, he only says, ‘Rama, Raghava,’ addressing the elder brother. It would
be uncharitable to assume that he did not like the presence of Lakshmana or that
he wished intentionally to ignore him. I suppose in his mind too, as in the
minds of everybody else, to speak to Rama was to speak to the other brother too.
 ………Even
when he taught them the great twin mantras of Bala and Atibala, he taught them
to Sri Rama. The commentator, hard put to explain the matter, says that
Lakshmana is also included in the word Rama by Upalakshana, the Sanskritic
equivalent for one of the forms of the English figure of speech, synecdoche.
When Rama is mentioned, Lakshmana is included.”
The only significant event in the life of
Lakshmana - in the entire Bala Kanda - is his wedding with Urmila, the second
daughter of Janaka, while the daughters of Kusadhwaja, the younger brother of
Janaka are given in marriage to Bharata and Satrughna.
It is in the Ayodhya Kanda that we see the
character of Lakshmana taking shape. There we meet him as an angry youth.
Hari Krishnan
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