Rarh and Magadh

[Citraku’ta is famous for being a place where the ca mental concept of Ra’ma’yana was conceived by Valmiki wrote Ra’ma’yana in Sanskrit. The place has a uni ecological similarity with what the poet has expressed in book. ]

25 March, 1984

On the route to Allahabad from Banda, Baba visited (har kuta. Chitrakuta is part of Gondwanaland and is situated af north-western extremity of the Vindhya ranges from when the Yamuna valley starts.

Baba asked us 3 questions about the locality:

1. Is there a river nearby?
2. Does the river take a turn!
3. Is there any village by the name of Ranka or Lanka situat here?

While surveying the locality we discovered a river nearly which turned beside a place called Lanka.

The Ramayana is not real

While at Allahabad Baba made the following observat about the origin of the Ramayana.

Valmiki wrote the Ramayana in Sanskrit in the post Buddhist period about 1,300 years ago.

• This is proven by his criticism of Buddha in his book.

The Ramayana was translated in Bengali during the first portion of the Pathan period.

• Tulsidas wrote Ram Charit Manas Avadhi during early Moghul rule.

25% of the Ramcharit Manas is in Bhojpuri because Tulsidas wrote version of Ramayana in Varanasi.

The environment around Citrakuta most probably inspried Valmiki’s imagination.

• It explains why there is a close correlation between the environment described in Valmiki’s Ramayana and Chitrakuta.

Kuta means a hill.

• Citrakuta means a hill on which Valmiki sat to compose the entire panorama of his epic Ramayana.

In Avadhi, Bagheli, Bundeli and Bhojpuri, Ranka or Lanka is a low-lying place surrounded by a turning river.

A place called Lanka, is situated near Cakula while another place by the same name is situated in Varanasi.

The latter place is situated on low land, where the Ganga makes turn.

The Lanka near Chitrakuta was most likely covered in water during the days of Valmiki while the hill on which he imagined his epic was probably strewn with rocks.

Monkeys having black faces and long chins are called Hanuman monkeys and found aroun Chitrakuta.

The recognition of Hanuman as a deity is a recent phenomenon.

• It occured only 400 years ago.

The place could have been called Chitrakuta, because of cave-paintings here, but mostly because Chitrakuta is the place where Valmiki got the inspiration for his epic.

The Ramayana is a Purana, an imagined story with educative value.

It teaches moral values and inspires people to follow Dharma.

But these are all from Valmiki’s imagination:

• Rama
• Sita
• Hanuman
• Ravana
• Lanka, a land surrounded by water where the approaching road is made of rocks floated on water

They have inspired and enthralled generations of readers.