Pranam
In continuation about Vararuchi: KR IRS 14222
Vara Ruchi short note
1 MAGADHAN LITERATURE BEING A COURSE OF SIX LECTURES DELIVERED AT PATNA
UNIVERSITY IN DECEMBER 1920 AND APRIL 1921 BY Mahamahopadhyaya HARAPRASAD
SASTRI, M.A, CLE., Professor of Sanskrit, Dacca University, talks about,
Dhakshasila and poets Upavarsha to Vara Ruchi the Gupta dynasty. (This is
another evidence of Adishankara was in Gupta period of 500 BCE where
Adishankara praises UPAVARSHA equal to his GURU. But British brought down
the Dhakshasila down under a period, mixing the Gupta and Mauryan Dynasty,
which had similar names to contemp0orary term that of Maurya and Alexander
invasion against Porus).
2 The country is called Magadha in the Kausitaki Aranyaka (VII 13) and
that the Kausitakis had a close connection with this country. The
Atharva-Veda has Magadhas, the plural denoting a tribe. (V 22 14) This
tribe was not very friendly to the Vedic Aryans as the Atharva-Veda thinks
that Malarial Fever should be driven away to Magadhas as beyond the pale of
Vedic civilization. One Sakha of the Veda joins the Angas with the Magadhas
and the other Sakha joins the Kasis with them. It is from this tribe, that
in the Kausitaki Aranyaka we get the name of the country as Magadha. The
word Magadha means an inhabitant of Magadha, not necessarily belonging to
the tribe of Magadhas. The Magadhas are neither Brahmanas nor Sudras (Vaja.
Sam. 30.22), and they are to be sacrificed in the Purusamedha to the god
Atikrusta (" Loud Noise."). In the Vratya chapter of the Atharva-Veda- the
Magadha is said to be a friend and adviser, a crony and a thunder of the
Vratya {mitra, mantra, hasa and stanayitnu) and this is the character which
the “Bhatas” and “Charanas” are still maintaining in Rajputana.{ The
historian of TN who wanted to establish the Tamil as the oldest attributed
the word Bhata as Banga and Charanas as Chera and said Tamil is older to
the Vedic period. (Banga as Vanga or Anga); and the real meaning was
deduced by Sastri as charanas; and not Cheras).
3 The Vratyas were certainly not confined to the East but they were in
every direction, as the Atharva-Veda distinctly says. But in the north,
their expansion was limited by the Himalayas, in the south by the Vindhyas
and in the West by the pressure of other tribes, while in the East they had
almost unlimited scope for expansion. They made the original inhabitants,
or the upper classes among them, their friends and advisers, and lived on
patches of plains cleared of jungles in their temporary habitations with
their horses and cattle.
4 The Sakyas and Mallas in Northern Oudh, Lichhavis and Videhas in North
Bihar, the Angas in the East, the Kasis on the West and the Barhadrathas in
the centre, i e , Magadha,—all became prosperous states with cities teeming
with busy population, country sites rolling in plenty, rivers covered over
with crafts full of merchandise, with Assembly-halls ringing with speeches,
songs, plays, discussions and disputations, with horses and elephants in
plenty, with splendid processions and imposing pageants. Brahmins were
their teachers, keepers of their conscience, the priests in their temples
and rtviks in their sacrifices. But the young vigorous people soon outgrew
the influence of their teachers and began to think for themselves. The
mighty upheaval of intellectual, moral and political life in the 6th and
7th centuries before Christ &00 to 600 BCE) ( Adi Shankara praises UPA
VARSHA who existed then) was the result of their comparative freedom from
the thraldom of the Brahmins, of the rise of monastic life in their midst
and of the transference of the intellectual capital from Taxilla to
Pataliputra. They were mostly converted into Kshatriyas and had to give up
some of their nomadic habits. The dress of the Sisunaga statues conforms
wonderfully to the dress described by Latyayana, Katyayana (another name of
Katyayana is Vara Ruchi). and others as proper for a Vratya.
5 Some centuries before the Buddha appeared on the scene, Taxila was the
centre of Vedic civilization. It was here that Janamejaya performed his
famous Serpent[1]sacrifice ; it was here that Mahabharata was first recited
; it was here that a beginning was made of the classical literature ; it
was here that people flocked from all parts of civilized India to (inish
their education ; and it was here that all Indian sciences had their origin
Jivaka, the earliest medical man known belongs to Taxila* The earliest
grammarian known belongs to that city* The earliest writer of Mimansa too,
belongs to that city. The earliest writer on Veterinary science on horse,
belongs to its vicinity In fact, all works in classical Sanskrit apart from
works written in the interest of Vedic Schools in their Parishads, all seem
to have their origin in Taxila.
6 But a great calamity overtook Taxila during the life- time of Buddha.
It was conquered by Darius, the Persian monarch { Darius I, 550–486 BCE),
commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_Persia> who served as
the third King of Kings <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Kings> of
the Achaemenid Empire <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire>,
reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE.}, who destroyed the
dynasty founded by Cyrus, and kept a considerable portion of the
North-western India for a century under his control. Taxila lost its high
position as the centre of learning, compelling eminent scholars like
*Panini,* Varsa and *Upavarsa* to seek the eastern region as a field of work.{
and Adishankara treats upavarsa as his guru also, in his treatise of the
Brahma sutra} Pataliputra was then fast rising into fame as the capital of
the most powerful kingdom in the east ; and they came there and were
honoured by the king in their quinquennial assemblies in a manner befitting
their learning and their position in society. Thus began the literature of
Magadha, long after Vedic Sanskrit had ceased to be the language of the
Brahmins.
7 The Barhadratha Dynasty ended, and Sisunaga became the king of
Magadha in the beginning of the 7th century B. C. The Sisunagas are
described as Ksattriyabandhus i.e. so called Ksattriyas. Buddha was born in
the reign of Bimbisara. His son Ajatasatru founded the city of Pataliputra.
Udayi, his grandson transferred the capital from Rajagriha to Pataliputra.
Just at this time Taxila, the centre of Brahmanic learning, languished
under foreign dominion ; and the great scholars there began to resort to
the eastern capital. Thus we have a tradition ( *4 ) in Rajasekhara's Kavya
Mimamsa in the following words : —“Sruyate cha Pataliputre
shastra-kara-parikshasa I atro Upavarsha, Varshao iha Panini Pingalav iha
Vyadih I Vararuchi, Patanjali iha parikshita kyathim upajagmuh II “ " The
tradition of the examination of the authors of Sastras at Pataliputra runs
thus : —Here Upavarsa and Varsa, here Panini and Pingala, here Vyadi and
here Bararuci and Pataiijali having been examined rose to fame.".
8 The treatise still goes far; now Vara Ruchi belongs to an era where it
was long after Mahabharatham, so Ramayanam is still far away. Nearly 6400
years had passed within which Ramayanam became so famous; and Vararuchi who
was in Magadha ,could not have entered Kerala; on the contrary if it is an
ordinary man then it is a folklore only.
KR IRS 14222
On Mon, 14 Feb 2022 at 11:47, Rajaram Krishnamurthy <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Pranam
> Forwarded materials of YATHARTH SANTESH BLOG IS FORMED AS FEW Q AND A
> above; nothing wrong about it; but the story of paratchi petra etc are
> stories not based on any evidence and a folklore only . It has been
> repeated "n" times by the idiot Narayanaswamy and srardham and this again
> and again seen as forwarded by Mr G. Let it be. Is there any history for
> kerala?; Vararuchi belongs to the Gupta dynasty of nava pandithas in the
> assembly and a poet who did not exist at the time of Ramayanam. Also advice
> of sumitra to Lakshmana is a concoction of importance of Ramayana in the
> Kerala folk tales as written by Santhesh. Sumitra advises her son Anujan to
> follow Rama and Seetha as Father and mother and the forest as Ayodhya (left
> out in the meaning translation above by Mr G) . And Vararuchi has nothing
> to do with Kerala also or Nambudiris as described under kaveri folk tale ;
> as any whirlpool may not be stagnant for people to arrive all the way from
> Kerala to Trichy . And as usual I am extracting below the Kerala folk tale
> and non history climate as written by the keralites which would as usual
> authenticate my view and awaiting as usual the blasphemy of durvasa.
> "THE POLITICS OF LEGEND MAKING IN KERALA
>
> REFIGURING HISTORIGRAPHY AND LEGEND: CHAPTER 4
>
> Kerala historiography Even though Kerala has a culture and tradition of
> its own, comparable with the cultures of ancient world, the knowledge base
> in the area is very limited due to inadequate research and emphasis on
> legends. A close perusal of historical research emphasizes the fact that as
> in other regions, Kerala too did not evince much interest in historical
> writing. This phenomenon of keeping records or attempting to write the
> history of the country has seldom been attempted to, by the people of
> Kerala. As a result of the acute want of source materials to construct the
> history of Kerala, myths, legends and rumours form a large part of our
> historical narrations. The history of Kerala is therefore shrouded in myth.
> While assessing the nature of human progress and civilization that had
> centered in the Kerala region through the ages, it would appear that human
> endeavours did not articulate into social transformation till the middle of
> the 19th century. A. Sreedhara Menon writes (Kusuman 141) "... the Kerala
> region, like the Indian subcontinent, can claim to have a culture, the
> history of which runs into the dim recesses of antiquity...in fact, the
> secret of the vitality and strength of Kerala culture lies in its composite
> character...its history unfolds the romantic and fascinating story of a
> unique process of cultural synthesis and social assimilation. Its
> insularity also enabled Kerala from the very beginning of its history to
> develop its own outlook and the way of life, art and architecture, language
> and literature and economic and social institutions which in spite of some
> similarities with those in other part of India, have retained their own
> distinctive characteristics to this day...".
>
> In spite of this claim of a highly developed cultural outlook from
> ancient times, the development of history as an independent branch of
> knowledge did not receive the curious attention among the Keralites. This
> stagnant situation appeared more due to the outcome of the cultural
> hegemony by a ruling or dynastic class. In this process the very
> essentialities of social gathering and mobility came to be ignored by the
> dominant section. The ambition of the ruling classes passed through
> multifarious barriers like caste system, untouchability and
> unapproachability, traditional customs and practices, illiteracy and its
> consequential effect of ignorance and blind faith in religion with all the
> attendant evils like superstitious and conservative outlook. All these
> stood against the free movement and interaction of diverse group of people
> (Kusuman 142). The brahmin settlers had preserved some sort of a chronicle
> named Keratopathy. It represents their concept of a history of Kerala. The
> surviving shape of this book might go back to the 16th century of the
> Christian era. It may be argued that the original must be older than the
> 16th century since Barbosa and Zeinuddin reproduced some traditions found
> there. The anonymous work is a hotchpotch of legend and history, opening
> with reference to Parasurama's retrieval of Kerala from the sea and closing
> with an account of naduvazhis (rulers) who came to power after the last
> Cheraman Perumal's partition of Kerala. Arab, Chinese and European
> travellers, traders, officials and missionaries have left behind sketches
> of life in Kerala prepared for the benefit of their countrymen from time to
> time. Sheik Zeinuddin's Tuhfat-ul Mujahidin, an appeal to the Muslim world
> to organize jihad (holy war) against the Portuguese intruders contains a
> short history of Kerala, more or less on the lines of the brahmin
> chronicle.
>
> It has a vivid account of the nadus (regions), big and small which
> existed in Kerala after the disintegration of the kingdom of the Cheraman
> Perumal. In the modern period, the first serious attempt to reconstruct the
> history was undertaken by William Logan, the collector of Malabar. He
> compiled the district manual called Malabar in accordance with the Imperial
> Gazetteer scheme of the British Empire in India. Pachu Moottathu, a
> courtier of the Maharaja of Travancore had composed a history of Travancore
> in the middle of the 19th century on traditional lines. It contained no new
> methods or sources. For the first time, Logan examined the traditional
> accounts critically in the light of the foreign accounts and the newly
> discovered archaeological and literary sources. The immediate results were
> not very encouraging, especially in relation to the early periods with
> their chronological maze and numerous puzzles. However, it was a
> path-breaking attempt and held up some promise for the future. The imperial
> British rulers succeeded in persuading the native states of Cochin and
> Travancore also to prepare the state manuals on the model of the district
> manuals of British India. The quality however was not the same. The present
> century has been a period of achievement when the modern trends took roots
> and flourished, and started yielding fruits. Shangoony Menon, Dewan Peshkar
> of Travanacore who published a history of Travancore, represents the first
> generation of English educated Indian historians in Kerala. He followed the
> example of Logan instead of his own father in attempting a critical
> examination of sources. Though he was able to go further, he was frustrated
> because there was no significant improvement in relation to documentary
> evidence. He ended up with Notes on the Letters of Visscher, posthumously
> published by T. K. Krishna Menon under the misleading title of History of
> Kerala in four volumes. This classified encyclopaedia of Kerala history was
> the starting point for new researches in our own times.
>
> New archaeological, epigraphic and literary material for the history
> of Kerala and the neighbouring territories came to light from the second
> decade of the century with the publications of the department of
> archaeology in British India and the native sates. The Travancore
> Archaeological Series, the Bulletins of the Ramavarma Research Institute,
> Trichur including Cochin Epigraphic Supplement, The Kerala Society papers,
> The South Indian Inscriptions etc., carried innumerable photographs,
> original documents, translations, commentaries and discussions by experts.
> Various attempts were made to tackle the problems of early history in the
> light of advances in the study of South Indian history by scholars ofthe
> Madras university. There was some success in the chronology and political
> history of the Chera dynasty in the Sangam period and post Sangam period.
> Nevertheless, the scholars had to travel a long way before the legends of
> Parasurama, St. Thomas and Cheraman Perumal could be replaced with reliable
> historical knowledge (Kusuman 194). By the middle of the century,
> historians could no longer complain honestly, as Logan and Padmanabha Menon
> had done, about the scarcity of indigenous materials for the pre-portugese
> period in the history of Kerala. The study of the subject was both
> challenging and inviting and with the advent of independence and the
> formation of the Kerala state, academic and popular interest in the subject
> was generated. When the history of Kerala became a subject of study for the
> postgraduate students of Malayalam literature, Prof. Elamkulam Kunjan
> Pillai undertook serious academic studies."
>
> KR IRS 14222 NB I shall write about Vararuchi in the afternoon fdro
> those who may have interest to read.
>
> On Sun, 13 Feb 2022 at 20:31, 'gopala krishnan' via iyer123 <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> QUES ANSW DIVINE 02-2022-12
>>
>> Dear friends,
>>
>> These are information posted by members compiled as QA by me in
>> 1998’s-2004’s and stored in my computer. At this date I have no information
>> of the members posted.
>>
>> *BEING COMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS.*
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> *R. Gopalakrishnan, 78, dated 13-02-2022*
>>
>> Q1 Which is the most important verse in Ramayana?
>>
>> A1 Refer Vararuchi story and the talking birds…The king asked vararchi
>> the above question and given time limit to answer. With out getting answer
>> Vararuchi started walking in the forests. He heard two birds talking about
>> it. According to the birds, the most important verse was the advice
>> given by Sumithra to Lakshmanan, when Sri Raman, Seetha and Lakshmanan
>> started for forest exile.
>>
>> "Ramam Dasaratham vidhhi, maam vidhhi Janakaatmajam
>> Ayodhya mataveem vidhhi, gaccha thaatha yattha sukham"
>>
>> *(Consider Raman as if he were their father Dasarathan, Seetha as mother
>> and the forest as Ayodhya; may the journey be a blessed one).*
>>
>> Varararuchi answered so to king and king was very happy.
>>
>> And the most important phrase in it was "Maam vidhi Janakaatmajam" (Consider
>> Seetha as your mother).Recollect when such was ordained Sita doubted
>> Lekshmana..
>>
>> Q2 What is Vararuchi story?
>>
>> A2 Vararuchi, the great Brahmanan, is destined to marry the girl just
>> born in a Parayan (very low caste) family born on a particular date. It
>> was also told by the talking birds while he was wandering in the
>> forest. However he did not prefer it.
>>
>> He informed to the king as the birds told about his marriage. The king
>> was very pleased with vararuchi about his correct ramayana answer .So
>> the king decided to help him.
>>
>> Accordingly, the little girl was traced, kept in a small raft (made out
>> of banana plant peelings) with a lighted torch stuck on its head and
>> floated in the river.
>>
>> One day, many years later, Vararuchi, during one of his travels, went
>> into a poor Brahmanan's house for food. *When Vararuchi set some
>> preconditions (in code language) for taking food there, a girl from inside
>> assured that all the conditions will be met*.
>>
>> Impressed by the intelligence of the girl who could understand the
>> complicated conditions he had put forth and the perfect arrangements she
>> made for him, he was attracted to her and married her.
>>
>> *Vararuchi soon realised that the girl he married was the same one who
>> was sent afloat in the river, and that none can change the course of
>> destiny. *
>>
>> It was an Antharjanam (Namboothiri wife) of Narippatta Mana of Kodumunda
>> village on the northern bank of Nila (Bharathapuzha) across from Thrithala
>> who had found the floating girl and had raised her.
>>
>> Thereupon Vararuchi proclaimed *ex-communication for himself* from the
>> Brahmanan community, due to his marriage with a low caste girl.
>>
>> Along with his wife, Vararuchi started on a pilgrimage.
>>
>> During Vararuchi's travels along the Nila river, his wife had given birth
>> to twelve children. Each time he told her to go into a denser part of
>> the forest and upon delivery, asked her if the baby had mouth. If she
>> said yes, he would say, "God will feed it if it has mouth", and would
>> ask her to leave the child there and then proceed. Grieved by these,
>> when the 12th child was born, *she lied and said the baby did not have a
>> mouth*, upon which he permitted her to take the child along.
>>
>> But when she was about to breast-feed it, *the mouth was actually not
>> there,* proving that the words of great personalities do indeed become
>> real.
>>
>> Vararuchi then deified the child on a hill, which is called
>> "*Vaayillaakkunnilappan"
>> (*Hill Lord without mouth), near the place Kadampazhipuram (in the
>> present Palakkad dist.).
>>
>> The children left out in the forest were subsequently found, adopted and
>> raised by families belonging to different communities, reccognised one
>> another as they grew up, and used to get-together at the Illam
>> (residence) of the eldest son, Mezhathol Agnihothri, on their father
>> Vararuchi's death anniversary (Sraadham) - so goes the story or myth.
>>
>> These twelve sons are: Mezhathol Agnihothri (Brahmanan), Paakkanaar
>> (Parayan, a very low caste), Rajakan (Washerman), Naaraanathu Bhraanthan
>> (Elayathu, a lower class Brahmanan), Kaarakkal Maatha (high caste Nair),
>> Akavoor Chaathan (Vysyan), Vaduthala Nair (Nair Soldier), Vallon
>> (Thiruvalluvar of Tamil Nadu), Uppukottan (Muslim), Paananaar (Paanan, a
>> very low caste of country musicians), Perumthachan (carpenter),
>> Vaayillaakkunnilappan (deity).
>>
>> After the "Prathishta" of "Vaayillaa kkunnilappan", Vararuchi is
>> believed to *have undergone Samaadhi at Mannoor*
>>
>> Most of these twelve families still exist in the southern part of
>> Palakkad district (Shoranur, Pattambi and Thrithala areas). Recently, on
>> 30-11-97, all of them met in Vemancheri Mana, the Illam (residence) of
>> Mezhathol Agnihothri, near Thrithala.
>>
>> *My note- According to this incident, all sons can join together to
>> perform srardha of father.*
>>
>> Q3 Is it correct to conduct Sraddah together by all the sons to their
>> parents?
>>
>> A3 According to Vararuchi story of parachi petta panthirukulam it is
>> considered divine
>>
>> The twelve brothers of Agnihothri (Pantheerukulam) are said to have been
>> meeting at Vemancheri Mana, the home of Agnihothri, *every year on the
>> Bheeshmaashtami day of Utharayanam to perform the death anniversary rites
>> (Sraadham) of their father*, Vararuchi It was to this Mana that
>> Agnihothri's brother Paakkanaar of Paraya caste had turned up carrying the
>> udder chopped off from a dead cow in order to perform Sraadha (in his own
>> style) of their father Vararuchi. The famous scholars Payyur Bhattathiris
>> claim their ancestry to Agnihothri.
>>
>> *My note- I have read somewhere the udders changed to vegitable Kovaikka
>> on opening the pack.*
>>
>> Q4 What is the importance of Mezhathol Agnihothri?
>>
>> A4 According to history, *after Budha and Jain periods, the deteriorated
>> Vedadharma and Yagna (Yaagam) culture were rejuvenated in Kerala, several
>> years later, by Mezhathol Agnihothri, by performing Yaagam ninety-nine
>> times, one after the other.*
>>
>> Only seven of the thirty two Namboothiri Graamams (villages) co-operated
>> with Agnihothri and accepted the Yaagam culture again.
>>
>> Even today, only these seven Graamams (Thaliparambu, Alathur, Karikkad,
>> Panniyur, Sukapuram, Perumanam and Irinjalakkuda) have families having
>> right to perform Yaagams.
>>
>> It is said that a person who performs 100 Yaagams will become god Indran.
>> When 99 Yaagams were over, Lord Indran feared that his power would be lost
>> to the Yajamaanan (leader) of this Yaagam.
>>
>> *Indran personally arrived in the 99th Yaagasaala to accept the oblations
>> meant for each of them, and pleaded to Mezhathol Agnihothri to stop
>> performing the 100th Yaagam*.
>>
>> The leader, Mezhathol Agnihothri, declined the request saying that he is
>> performing it not for a better position but for retaining the culture of
>> Yaagam among Brahmanans.
>>
>> *Indran then conceded Mezhathol Agnihothri and his seven colleagues, his
>> equal status.*
>>
>> It is now believed that Aazhvaancheri Thampraakkal performed the duties
>> of "Brahman" in all these Yaagams. Vaidyamadham family members were the
>> Yaagasaala physicians
>>
>> Q5 Is there any story that Melathol Agni hothri- son of vararuchi has
>> married a Tamil Brahmin girl as his third wife?
>>
>> A5 yes. The story goes that once a huge vortex appeared in the river
>> Cauvery. *An Amyar (Malayalam term for Tamil Brahmanan lady) girl
>> residing on the bank of the river apparently got a divine message and said
>> that only Mezhathol Agnihothri can find a solution for this cyclonic
>> formation in the river.*
>>
>> When invited, he went there, went down into the waters and came up on the
>> third day with three spears in his hand. Some Gandharvans had apparently
>> lost them there.
>>
>> Agnihothri accepted the Amyar girl as his third wife, returned and
>> installed the gold spear in his own house, the silver spear at
>> Velliyamkallu and the copper spear at Kotikunnath.
>>
>> It is believed that the gold spear installed on the west side of the
>> quadrangle (Patinjaatti) in Vemancheri Mana, later grew itself as a
>> large stone lamp (Kalvilakku).
>>
>> Bhattathiris claim their ancestry to Agnihothri.
>>
>>
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