Kumbhodara Episode (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa)

In the Yātrā Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, the muni Kumbhodara comes to Ayodhyā and tells Bhagavān Rāma, the ruler of all seven dvīpas (continents), that he has not yet made a tīrtha yātrā (a pilgrimage to the sacred places). Rāma accepts the counsel and decides to visit all the tīrthas of Bhārata. The same episode tells how the Pushpaka Vimāna grew to one hundred floors for the journey, how Rāma’s four great flags came to be, and how four charioteers were named.

Kumbhodara’s challenge

The muni Kumbhodara, great in tapas (austerity), came to Rāma’s court in Ayodhyā. He stood before the king and spoke plainly, with no ceremony and no flattery. Rāma was the king of the earth with all seven dvīpas, and his character was of great puṇya (merit), yet he had not made the tīrtha yātrā.

It is a brāhmaṇa’s duty to speak the truth to kings, even when the truth is hard to hear. Kumbhodara did this duty directly. This is in the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5.

Rāma’s answer

Rāma took Kumbhodara’s challenge with perfect calm and agreed that the counsel was right. The text calls this an act of loka-śikshaṇa (teaching the world). By accepting a muni’s correction in the open and acting on it, Rāma showed all kings and all beings that even the greatest ruler must listen to counsel given by dharma, and must do his duties of devotion and pilgrimage.

Rāma at once decided to make the tīrtha yātrā, and the preparations began. This is in the Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5.

The Pushpaka Vimāna with one hundred floors

For the journey, the Pushpaka Vimāna, the divine aerial vehicle, grew so that the whole royal court and the assembled vassal kings could ride in it. It grew to one hundred floors, and each floor was set apart for one kind of traveller.

The plan for passengers and goods was careful and complete. Rāma’s own family had the highest floors. The vānara chiefs (Sugrīva, Hanumān, Aṅgada and the others), Vibhīshaṇa and the vassal kings each had their own floors. The armies of the kings, with their elephants, horses and camels, had room. The cooks, physicians, Vedic scholars, bards, entertainers and craftsmen all had their places. The vimāna was a flying city.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa says that inside the vimāna every need was met at every time. There was never a lack of food, water or anything else. The only complaint of the travellers was that they were never hungry enough to enjoy eating. The physicians on board gave medicine powders (chūrṇa) to those who wished to feel hungry, so that they could enjoy the divine food. This is in the Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5.

The four flags of Rāma

The Pushpaka Vimāna carried four great flags on the yātrā. Each had its own sacred origin.

  1. Kovidāra dhvaja (the flag of the Kovidāra tree). The Kovidāra tree from which this flag was made had been watered and tended by Sītā herself, with great love, in the years of the forest exile.
  2. Bāṇa dhvaja (the arrow flag). It is linked to the tradition of Guha, the nishāda chief who was one of Rāma’s most devoted allies. The flag came through Guha’s line.
  3. Kapi dhvaja (the vānara flag). It is the flag of the vānaras. It stands for Hanumān, Sugrīva and the whole vānara host who served Rāma in Laṅkā.
  4. Garuḍa dhvaja (the Garuḍa flag). It is the flag of Bhagavān Vishṇu, with the great eagle Garuḍa. It proclaims that Rāma is an avatāra (descent) of Vishṇu.

Each flag had its own origin, rooted in devotion, alliance or the identity of Rāma. This is in the Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5.

The four charioteers

Four charioteers were named for the journey. Each had set duties for different parts of the vimāna’s flight and for the processions on the ground at the tīrthas that were visited. Their naming fits the grand ceremony of a ruler of the whole earth on pilgrimage. This is in the Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5.

The sound of the Pushpaka

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa describes the great noise of the Pushpaka Vimāna as it came near the tīrtha of Pushkara on the western yātrā. The sound was made of many sounds together:

  • musical instruments: mṛdaṅga drums, vīṇā and many wind instruments
  • the chanting of the Vedas by the scholars on board
  • the recitation of Rāma’s thousand names
  • the temple bells and the bells on the flagstaffs
  • the cries of the elephants, horses, camels and monkeys carried on the vimāna
  • the churning of milk and grinding of spices in the kitchens
  • the laughter and singing of the dancing women, and the jingle of their ornaments and waist-bells
  • the sound of babies in their cradles

This great roar was heard from miles away. The people of Pushkara did not know where it came from. They wondered if it was the bell of Nandī, the vimāna of Indra coming down, the apsarās (celestial dancers) drawing near, the roar of the ocean, or the voice of Hanumān, the son of Vāyu. This is in the Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8.

Sources

  • Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Sarga 5 (Kumbhodara’s challenge, Rāma’s answer, the Pushpaka Vimāna, the four flags, the four charioteers)
  • Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yātrā Khaṇḍa, Sarga 8 (the sound of the Pushpaka near Pushkara)