Sri Rama is generally not regarded as a story-teller of any repute. You are able to picture the ebullient and enthralling Sri Krishna regaling His friends and Gopis with amusing tales, but somehow your imagination baulks at the prospect of the serious, straight-forward and sombre Sri Rama resorting to story-telling. However, Sri Valmiki does portray Sri Rama as telling tales to His friends of the monkey kingdom, not for entertaining them, but for their education and enlightenment. And one such is the Tale of the Dove?the celebrated Kapotha Upaakhyaanam.
Most of the Vaanara veeraas are against admitting Vibhishana into their camp despite his abject surrender at the lotus feet of Sri Raghava. They point out that one who has forsaken his dear brother at a time of crisis would not hesitate to betray his friends anytime. They advance many other arguments against Vibhishana being absorbed into their fold. However, Sri Rama, after affording everyone a patient hearing, comes out with His glorious formulation- - whatever be the shortcomings in the Saranaagata, apparent or latent, and however serious they were, it was His (Rama?s) sworn mission to extend succour and protection to anyone who surrendered. And to buttress His view point, He recounts the Tale of the Dove with telling effect?
?Shrooyate hi kapotena shatru: sharanam aagata:
Architascha yathaa nyaayam svaischa maamsai: nimantrita:?
Here, we may observe that Sri Rama doesn?t recount the story in detail, but tells his listeners ?You have of course heard of the tale of the Dove?. ?Shrooyate hi? says Sri Rama, referring to what must have been a very popular tale. For instance, when referring to the story of the hare and the tortoise, we refer merely to the title of the tale without going into details, for the story is too well-known for recounting. So too, the Tale of the Dove must have been quite famous and commonplace among people, so that Sri Rama had no need to go into details. This is no ordinary old wives? tale, but one capable of destroying all our sins, says the Itihaasa Samucchayam, attributing the story to Bhaargava Rishi, as told to Muchukunda Maharaja. Swami Desikan too has deemed it fit to comment on this tale, in his Abhaya Pradaana Saaram. Well, here is the story which you must definitely have heard before and which Srimad Mukkur Azhagiasingar used to recount with such moving words in his own inimitable fashion.
This happened in Krita Yugam. There was once a cruel man, who had made sadism and torture a way of life. He used to hunt down innocent animals just for the fun of it, incidentally feeding himself on their flesh and selling whatever he could not consume. He was shunned by all his relatives and lived the life of an outcast, intent on his own bestial pursuits. This man was caught one evening in a flood in the woods he lived in, with rains pouring down in sheets and inundating all available land space and the flood waters rising menacingly to neck height. Even at this time of misery, his sharp eyes espied a beautiful female dove on a tree, apparently searching for food for its loved ones. Immediately, he felled the bird with a stone and carried it with him for later use. Drenched to the skin, shivering with cold, terrified of the rising waters and the all-encompassing darkness, he made his way somehow to a small bit of dry land beneath a broad tree on a hillock and took shelter thereunder. In a short while, the rain stopped, the floods receded, the clouds dispersed and the moon and stars peeked out. His body racked by fever and discomfort, hunger gnawing at his insides, the hunter feared he would pass away there and then. At this moment of crisis, it struck to him to appeal to the deities of the woods (Vana Devata) for protection and succour and he did so in desperation, prompted by fear for his life.
The tree under which the man had sheltered happened to be the home of the fallen female dove, whose mate had been anxiously awaiting its return. The male dove atop the tree suffered in pain when it saw its beloved wife in the hunter?s net. The captive dove, however, consoled its husband and pointed out to the priority of protecting the hunter, who had sought their tree home as a refuge. Admiring the thought processes of its wife which were rooted in Dharma despite its being in mortal danger, the male dove flew near the hunter and asked him what he needed. Too cold even to reply, the hunter, through his shivering gestures, indicated that he was extremely cold and in need of warming up. The male dove flew away in search of dry twigs and leaves, found them after considerable difficulty, gathered them near the hunter, flew again to where a camp fire was burning and brought a lighted twig, with which it made a fire. Having relieved the hunter of his numbing cold, the dove asked him what more he needed. The hunter replied that he was being consumed by hunger. The male dove regretted its inability to feed the man who had sought succour from it. Had it been a human being, it would have had the requisite ingredients for cooking a meal for the refugee. Then a thought struck the dove, which realized that the hunter was a meat-eater. Immediately, it circled the fire thrice and fell in it voluntarily, so that its cooked flesh could satisfy the hunter?s hunger.
Put to shame by this extreme sacrifice on the part of a mere bird, the hunter could not bring himself to eat the dove?s flesh. Instantaneously, he gave up all his cruelty and bestiality and turned into a real human being, inspired by the conduct of the principled dove. As a mark of his having turned over a new leaf, he immediately set free the captured female dove, seeking its pardon. The freed dove thanked the hunter?however, too devoted to its mate to survive its death, the female dove too jumped into the fire and gave up its life. Immediately, there materialized from nowhere an air-borne vehicle, fully decorated, in which the male dove was already ensconced. The female dove joined its partner with a divine body and both ascended to heaven as the direct result of the supreme sacrifice they had performed in protecting one who had sought refuge.
This, then, is the Tale of the Dove recounted by Sri Rama to His listeners on the shores of Tiruppullaani, putting an end to the debate on whether or not to admit Vibheeshana to their camp. ?When a mere bird could give up its life for protecting a Sharanaagata, could a Prince of the exalted Ikshvaaku dynasty refuse to provide refuge to one who has surrendered?? enquired Sri Raghava, reiterating that it was His life?s mission to offer succour to Sharanaagataas??Abhayam sarva bhootebhya: dadaami, etat vratam mama?.
sadagopaniyengar@vsnl.net
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