The Tale of Jambavanth

 

Krishna fighting with Jambavanth

Jambavanth giving his daughter Jambavati in Marriage to Krishna

Whole Ramayana in a single picture

Hanuman, Sugreeva and Jambavanth

Vanaras building bridge to cross the ocean

Nala (the architect) and Nil 

    How foolish and egoistic I was, now I feel

    What reckless boon I did entreat from supreme God?

    What use of bragging myself as a vassal

    Of Ram, Dharma incarnate in purest form?

    Though born by blessings of Brahma, the Creator great

    Though gifted with enormous strength and valor

    Though blessed with longest lease of life

    I fumbled in recognizing my dearest lord;

    My foolish wish revealed my pride and ignorance;

    Have I lost my deep penetrating vision?

    Have I lost my sharp strategic scheming mind?

    Have I lost my discrimination and wisdom profound?

    If not what arrogant vain wish I asked

    To fight with almighty God of all worlds

    The source and substratum of all existence?

    Our mortal strength leads us to alleys blind

    To sink ourselves in hellish chasms deep;

    The strongest of all Vanaras all thought

    Myself, Vali, Angad and Hanuman

    Along with Nala, son of architect divine

    Along with Nila, son of sacred fire;

    My long-lived existence allowed me chance

   Of witnessing Lord’s incarnations nine

   A blessed gift indeed by Vishnu given;

   A celestial wonder for me to see the Lord

   Manifesting Himself as gargantuan tortoise

   To bear the mighty Mandar mountain

   On his sturdy adamantine back

   As Devas and demons churned the milky sea

   Seeking Amrit to transcend almighty death;

   Too blessed I deem myself to go around

   Lord Trivikram so many times

   As he pressed Bali down to nether world

  To claim His share of land; ever-expanding his form

  Touching heaven and earth, the universe entire;

  Most blessed I deem myself to behold

  The most handsome and righteous form of Lord

  Whose charming visage cast a magic spell

  Even on gods, sages and hermits divine;

  To meet and confer with him, I sent

  My trustworthy friend, Hanuman wise

  Who instantly became Ram’s loyal vasal

  And mitigated the grief of Sugreeva

  By making them both beloved friends.

  To search for Ram’s missing dear spouse, I chose

  The valiant son of Vayu with mystic powers

  To cross the southern seas leaping from Mahindra’s hill

  Though capable, restrained by age, I withdrew;

  A rare unforgettable battle scene

  In Lanka between demons and our own army

  Even gods witnessed this war from skies

  The bravest encounter between Ram and Ravan

  To see the occult viles of evil demons

  At last defeated by mighty princes great;

  When Lakshman swooned in the battle field

  I sent the son of Kesari to fly aloft

  And bring life-giving Himalayan herb;

  I blew the wits of the demon king

  With my thundering blows and made him flee;

  All of us rejoiced in the glorious victory

  Of Ram and crushing downfall of demons;

  As leading chief of Vanara’s army

  Many accolades and praise I got from all

My Lord granted gifts and boons to all of us;

I did misuse my precious chance I got

Will anyone desire to fight with God

Who gave him breath of life, body and soul?

That too with whom even gods fear to fight

With most merciful, forgiving ocean of grace?

Was I ignorant of Ram’s miraculous deeds?

Whose lotus feet absolved the curse

And turned a stone into a virtuous wife;

Whose single dart slayed the demoness fierce;

Whose single dart burnt Subahu soon;

 Shrewd Mareecha trembled with cowardly fear

 When he was hurled like a feather across the ocean

 By power of Ram’s piercing darts;

 Yielding to his nephew’s crooked plans

 Disguised as a golden deer he tried to distract

 The princes to help his evil demon king

 In abducting chaste virtuous Ram’s consort;

 And chose to die afraid of Ravan’s wrath;

 Had I not heard how Ram slayed Subahu’s son

 Makarakasha who with vengeful ire hurled

 Shiva’s spike to avenge his father’s death?

 Had I not heard how Ram lifted Rudra’s bow

 Just like a toy and broke it with ease?

 Had I not heard how Ram transformed a blade

 Of forest grass into a mighty weapon

 To punish Indra’s son who came to harass

 Sita at Chitrakut with swollen pride?  

 Had I not heard how Ram did fight alone

 To wipe out fourteen thousand demons in a trice

 Like forest fire reducing everything to ashes?

 Had I not seen how Ram did fell seven sturdy palms

 With one single dart with swift ligtning force?

  Had I not seen how he threw the weighty skeleton

  Of the bull-demon with a single touch of his foot?

  Had I not seen how Ocean-god shook with fear

  When Ram lifted his bow to dry the entire sea;

  So many thousands of years I did wait

  Meditating in my dismal cave

  To see my Lord and fulfill my crazy wish;

  Blinded by passion and overweening pride

  My Lord in Krishna I had not seen;

  To defend my daughter and retain this precious gem

  I snatched from lion’s mouth I madly fought

  Throwing boulders and thundering blows with my Lord

  So many days with prodigious strength

  As he with a mischievous smile warded off my blows

  And with mighty fists felled me down and with his mace

  Struck me almost dead-tired and weak;

  And now his power and prowess enfeebled me

  Exhausting all my strength and laid me down;

  I feel almost sinking on the threshold of death

  Who but Ram can face my gigantic power

  And crush me with his almighty fighting skills?

  I surrender now to my Lord with joyful tears;

  His loving touch soothed me and quelled my fears;

  To make amends for my grievous faults

  I fall before his forgiving lotus feet

  And give the precious gem I seized from the lion

  Along with my dear daughter and ask his pardon

  Surrendering all my egoistic pride;

  Blessed I feel myself to see my Lord again;

  And now I feel to retire in peace to Brahma’s world

  And pray to Ram till I attain salvation and peace.

 

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    6th January, 2021                             Somaseshu Gutala

 

Note:  Jambavanth belonged to the clan Riksha race (wild bears) and was born with Brahma’s boon. He was a knowledgeable person and knew about administration, war strategies, medicines and Dharma. He was the main advisor to Sugreeva, the Vanara king.  He was gifted with a long lease of life and so he was blessed enough to witness the nine incarnations of Lord Vishnu. He had the strength of ten million lions. He was the head of the Vanara army. He was main motivator who encouraged Hanuman to cross the ocean and go in search of Sita. He sent Hanuman to negotiate with Ram when he saw him near Rishyamuka mountain. He fought bravely with Ravan who lost his consciousness and was rescued by his charioteer. He described the qualities and appearance of the Himalayan herb, Sanjeevani, when Hanuman went to bring it to revive Lakshman in the battle field. After the war was won, Ram asked Jambavanth to ask for any boon. Jambavanth expressed his desire to fight with Ram. Lord Ram assured him that his desire would be fulfilled after many years by the end of Dwapar Yuga. So Jambavanth went and lived in a cave and spent his time in meditating on Lord Ram. When Krishna came to the forest searching for the precious gem, Syamnatak jewel, he saw a girl wearing that gem as an ornament. The girl cried on seeing Krishna enter the cave. Jambavanth became very furious and fought with Krishna for twenty- eight days and later became very much exhausted and weak. Then he realized that the person who defeated him was none other than Lord Ram who came to fulfill his desire to fight with him. He realized his mistake and asked Krishna to pardon him. Krishna manifested Himself as Rama to make Jambavanth happy. Jambavanth prostrated before him and surrendered the precious jewel and requested Krishna to accept his daughter also as his spouse. Later he left for Brahma Loka to spend time in doing penance till he got salvation.    

References :

 Demoness fierce—Tadaka, a terrific demoness along with her sons, Subahu and Mareecha used to harass and attack rishis performing yajnas in the forest. Rama on behest of sage Viswamitra killed her when she came desecrate Viswamitra’s Yagna and tried to devour him and Lakshmana in the forest. Subahu was killed by Rama with Agneyaastra and Mareecha was hurled by Rama’s arrow (Pavanaastra) one hundred leagues away into the ocean. Mareecha compelled by Ravana later transformed himself into a golden deer to divert Rama from Ashram so that Ravana could abduct Sita in the guise of a hermit. Rama killed the golden deer. Even then Mareecha shouted mimicking the voice of Rama to distract Lakshmana’s attention and leave Sita alone in the hermitage. 

Khara was half- brother of Ravan and was the ruler of Dandakaranya kingdom with Janasthan as the capital. Khara and Dhushana along with fourteen thousand powerful demons attacked Rama in Janasthan when Lakshman mutilated Ravana’s sister who came to tempt Ram and Lakshman. Dhushana, Khara’s brother and the commander of the army was killed by Rama. Another demon Trishiras was also killed by him. Rama killed Khara with Indrastra and the other remaining demons single handed within a span of 72 minutes. 

The precious jewel – Satrajit, a Yadava king worshipped the Sun God with devotion. Pleased with his prayers the sun god offered him a precious jewel called Syamantaka jewel which used to produce (eight bauruas)170 pounds of gold every day. Krishna once visited him and suggested that Satrajit should give that jewel to Ugrasena, the supreme leader of Yadavas. Satrajit refused Krishna’s suggestion and later gave it to his brother Prasen who wore it and went out for hunting. A lion mistook the jewel for a piece of red flesh and attacked Prasen and killed him. When Jambavanth saw the red jewel carried by the lion, he fought and killed the lion and took it away.  Meanwhile Satrajit suspected that Krishna might have killed his brother and stolen the jewel. To free himself from this accusation, Krishna went in search of the jewel and found the corpse of Prasen and the lion in the forest. Following the tracks of a bear he entered Jambavanth’s cave and saw a girl playing with the jewel. Hearing the cries of the girl, Jambavanth came and fought with Krishna with various weapons for twenty- eight days. Jambavanth lost all his strength and was weakened by the powerful blows of Krishna. Then he remembered the boon he had asked from Rama and realized that Krishna was none other than Rama with whom he wished to fight. He felt repentant and later surrendered the jewel and also gave his daughter in marriage to Krishna with devotion and joy. 

Nala –son of Vishwakarma who helped Rama in Building a bridge across the ocean covering a distance of ten yojanas (80miles 0r 130 kms) called Ram Setu. In the battle he killed a giant called Tapana.

Nila – son of Agni who killed demons like Nikhumbha, Prahastha and Mahodara. He was a chieftain in the army Rama. In some versions Nala and Nila are described as the builders of the bridge across the ocean.

Makaraksha – Khara’s son who attacked Rama to avenge his father’s death. He hurled the powerful spike given to him by Shiva. Rama cut off the hands of Makaraksha with a crescent shaped arrow and invoked Agneyastra to kill him.

Indra’s son – Kakasura, Indra’s son, assuming the form of a crow pecked at Sita’s bosom while Rama was sleeping on her lap at Chitrakut. Rama woke up and saw the blood- stained bosom of Sita. He plucked a blade of grass and converted it into a powerful dart and threw it at the wicked crow. Kakasura fled through three worlds to seek protection in vain. At last, he fell at the feet of Rama begging pardon. The crow lost eyesight in one eye as a punishment for his offence.

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