Rāma Vaṃśa Vistāra

The Vivāha Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa ends with a short account of how Rāma’s family grew in the next generation. Rāma and Sītā see 120 grandsons and 24 granddaughters born. Kuśa’s line, through Kumudrā, gives Atithi, the king who carries the Sūryavaṃśa forward. The khaṇḍa closes with Nārada singing the Rāmanāma Sahasra Stava, and then the phalaśruti (the text’s statement of the fruit of hearing it).

Kuśa’s family

After the great year of weddings, the eight royal princes of Ayodhyā lived with their wives in their own houses. Kuśa and Champikā lived happily together. In time Champikā bore Kuśa nine daughters, each blessed and brought up with royal care, but no sons. This fulfilled Vasishṭha’s earlier word that Champikā would give daughters, not sons, to carry the Sūryavaṃśa forward.

Vasishṭha had also foretold that later, after Bhagavān Rāma’s mahāprasthāna (great departure) to Vaikuṇṭha, the nāga maiden Kumudrā, sister of the nāga king Kumuda, would become Kuśa’s second wife. Through Kumudrā, Kuśa would have eight sons and one daughter named Champakamālinī. The eldest son, Atithi, would follow Kuśa as king and carry the Solar dynasty into the next generations. (Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9)

The families of the other princes

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa records that the children of the other seven princes follow one pattern. Each of the fourteen wives bore her husband eight sons and one daughter. They were:

  • Lava: through Sumatī and Kañjānanā, eight sons and one daughter from each.
  • Aṅgada: through Kañjākshī and Chandrikā, eight sons and one daughter from each.
  • Citraketu: through Kañjāṅghrī and Chandravadanā, eight sons and one daughter from each.
  • Pushkara: through Kalāvatī and Chañchalā, eight sons and one daughter from each.
  • Taksha: through Kālikā and Chapalā, eight sons and one daughter from each.
  • Subāhu: through Kamalā and Achalā, eight sons and one daughter from each.
  • Yūpaketu: through Mālatī and Madanasundarī, eight sons and one daughter from each.

Fourteen wives with eight sons each make 112 grandsons. Fourteen wives with one daughter each make fourteen granddaughters. Add Champikā’s nine daughters, who had no sons, and Kumudrā’s eight sons and one daughter still to come. The totals then reach 120 grandsons and 24 granddaughters of Rāma. (Chapter 9)

Rāma arranges the marriages of the grandchildren

Rāma lived to see the marriages of all his granddaughters. He gave them to worthy kings from across the realm. His grandsons found wives in the traditional ways. Some married by svayaṃvara (the bride’s own choice), some by rākshasa-vivāha (marriage won by courage), some by gāndharva-vivāha (marriage of love), and some by the ordinary marriage rites of the śāstras. In this way the grandsons of Rāma spread the Ikshvāku line through the kingdoms of Bhāratavarsha. (Chapter 9)

Nārada’s Rāmanāma Sahasra Stava

After the wedding of Yūpaketu, the last of the great weddings in the Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Nārada Muni stayed on in Rāma’s court. When all the celebrations were over, he rose before the whole assembly and sang the Rāmanāma Sahasra Stava, the hymn of a thousand names of Rāma. He sang it with deep devotion, praising the endless forms, qualities and deeds of Bhagavān Rāma. After this highest act of bhakti, Nārada took Rāma’s leave and rose into the sky by the aerial path and departed. (Chapter 9)

Phalaśruti of the Vivāha Khaṇḍa

The narrator of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa then gives the phalaśruti of the Vivāha Khaṇḍa:

  • Those who hear this khaṇḍa will not suffer parting from spouse, sons, grandsons or great-grandsons.
  • To one who seeks dharma, dharma is given. To one who seeks wealth, wealth. To one who seeks desire, its fulfilment. To one who seeks moksha, liberation.
  • Those who hear this khaṇḍa for the sake of a spouse will receive a beautiful and virtuous partner.
  • A young woman who bathes and hears this khaṇḍa with bhakti will gain a loving and honourable husband.
  • A husband and wife who hear it together will enjoy happiness in this world and the company of apsarās in svarga.
  • A sumaṅgalī (a woman whose husband is living) who hears it will never know the sorrow of widowhood.
  • Those who recite it over seven days, or over a full year, will gain a worthy spouse, even if their ability is ordinary.

The set order of recitation begins with one sarga (chapter) on the first day and two on the second. It rises by one each day to the ninth day. From the tenth day it falls by one each day. Or all nine sargas may be read on the first day, twice over on the second, and so on in multiples. (Chapter 9)

Sources

  • Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vivāha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9