Rāma Kṛshṇa Prayāga Debate

At the great tīrtha of Prayāga, two brāhmaṇas argue over which avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu is the greater, Rāma or Kṛshṇa. Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī are visiting the tīrtha without being known, and they hear the whole discussion. Rāmadāsa tells the account to Vishṇudāsa, in the frame of the Rājya Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa. It gives the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa’s own answer to the question.

The setting

In the time of Rāmarājya, Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī went to the great tīrtha of Prayāga, where the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā meet the unseen Sarasvatī. They went to take the sacred bath and to see the pilgrimage. They wished to see how dharma stood on earth without being recognised. So they came unknown and moved among the pilgrims like ordinary devotees.

At Prayāga they met two learned brāhmaṇas in a lively debate. Both knew the Purāṇas well and both were deeply devoted to Bhagavān Vishṇu. They had come to a standstill on one question: which avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu is the highest, Rāma or Kṛshṇa?

The debate

The first brāhmaṇa argued for the Kṛshṇa avatāra. He pointed to Kṛshṇa’s part in the Mahābhārata war and to the giving of the Bhagavad Gītā. He spoke of the liberation of countless ātmās (souls) through his līlā (divine play) in Gokula and Dvārakā, and of the great number of devotees he drew. Kṛshṇa, he said, came in a time of the greatest adharma, and he brought the most complete rescue.

The second brāhmaṇa argued for the Rāma avatāra. He spoke of Rāma’s perfect keeping of dharma in every situation and his place as the ādarśa purusha (ideal man). He spoke of his conquest of the seven dvīpas and his steady ekapatnī-vrata (vow of one wife). He spoke of his Rāmarājya, which was likened to the Kṛta Yuga. He also said that Rāma is the mūla (original) avatāra, from whom all other accounts draw their śakti (power).

The debate covered many sides. It compared the purity of Rāma’s conduct with the parakīya-bhāva (love for another’s wife) in Kṛshṇa’s life in Gokula. It compared Rāma’s winning over Rāvaṇa with an army of vānaras and Kṛshṇa’s presence at Kurukshetra. It also looked at the different ways in which anugraha (grace) comes through the two avatāras.

Śiva and Pārvatī reply

Śiva and Pārvatī heard the whole debate and were very pleased. The question was a deep one, and both brāhmaṇas had spoken out of true devotion and learning. Śiva then gave his own view.

The text gives Śiva’s declaration that all the avatāras of Vishṇu are equal in their one divine nature, for the Paramātman is one and undivided. Yet the Rāma avatāra holds a special place as the pūrṇāvatāra (the full descent), the one in which Bhagavān Vishṇu showed fully the ideal of a life of dharma for the teaching of the world.

Śiva is himself a devotee of Rāma. The whole Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa is told by Śiva to Pārvatī.

Rāma’s own discourse on the avatāras

In chapter 20 of the Rājya Khaṇḍa, Rāma himself compares all his avatāras and declares the Rāma avatāra supreme. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa holds throughout that the Rāma avatāra is the fullest descent of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rājya Khaṇḍa, chapter 3 (the debate at Prayāga)
• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rājya Khaṇḍa, chapter 20 (Rāma’s discourse on the avatāras, mentioned only)