Ram Vivah _Ayodhya

Ram Vivah, Ayodhya Dec. 10, 2010

Srikrishna Prapnnachari of 11

Ram Vivah ( rama ivavaah)

God’s creation has got composition of exclusive beings (jaIva), and the matter ( jagat) of the

cosmos. They eternally co-exist together but keep on changing their physical form through the

stages of birth and death or destruction brought about by a cosmic annihilation (p`laya AaOr mahap`laya - the epoch events of the creation). In fact, during pralaya the cosmos is wrapped up

and merge with God, maintaining the veiled entities of all the beings and the matter on such a small scale that one can imagine for understanding purpose to be even smaller than a tiny electron. Thus continues the cycle of creation superbly monitored at the divine level.

In this process, as the situation arises, Almighty Himself keeps on incarnating in various manifestations. This suggests that the incarnations also take place in cyclic order repeating the

similar manifestations in different periods of eternal cyclic order of time. Ramavatar (ramaavatar) being one of the very popular incarnations of God, is known to take place in treta yug (~otayauga), the second part of the four footed cyclic order of yug (yauga), defined by sequential order of

occurrence of satyug (satyauga), treta (~otayauga), dwapar (Wapr yauga), and kaliyug (kilayauga).

When Almighty manifests in human form, He truly observes the life style of a human being. Ram incarnating as a son of the king of Ayodhya, apparently passed through pains and pleasures of an earthly life. His wedding is a special event marking the union of Lord with His eternal divine consort, Sita. Ramayan is a graphic description of His period on earth, and it is in fact said to be composed by Valmiki before His advent was known to the human beings. Now a days, several versions of Ramayan is available composed by saints of later periods.

The regular recitation of the holy epic Ramayan partially or fully is a part of devotional practices. There are devotees who concentrate on a particular part of Ramayan, and there are others who instead only keep chanting the holy name of Sita and Ram. There are as many devotional practices as many devotees.

The wedding of Ram in Ramayan has description of all the pleasant moments of the wedding ceremony. The devotees reciting the descriptions of His wedding ceremony find utmost pleasure during the period of recitation and forget all other disturbing factors of the real life. Gradually this gave birth to a devotional cult, and the devotees of this cult, worship bridal couple of Sita - Ram, always immersed in the imagination of enjoying the pleasant moments of the Lord’s wedding. Thus came into practice celebrating Ram vivah. It is celebrated on full scale enacted like a real life wedding. This is celebrated annually occurring on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Agahan. Besides this, the fifth day of every fortnight is also held as the day of wedding, and is celebrated with utmost enjoyment.

Travel to Ayodhya ( AyaaoQyaa)

I left Delhi in the evening of Dec. 9, 2010 by Kafiyat Express (departing from Old Delhi railway station) and arrived in Ayodhya at about 7:50 am in the following morning of Dec. 10, 2010. The



keen long cherished desire was to participate in the annual divine wedding ceremony of Lord

Ram organized at Sri Viahuti Bhawan (EaI ivaAhutI Bavana) in Ayodhya.

Ram Vivah (rama ivavaah) is the divine wedding solemnized here regularly by the affectionate

devotees. Initially it happened to take place in Janakpur (now in Nepal) when Lord Ram fulfilled the royal condition put forth by the king Janaka of breaking the bow of Shiva. This lead to His

marriage with Sita, an incarnation of goddess bhu devi, BaU dovaI – divine consort of Narayan

known as Lakshmi. She was the only daughter of the king. It was treta yuga (~ota yauga), and the

story is well depicted in the Ramayan of Valmiki followed by several later saints. Tulsidas is one of the most popular saints who composed the Ramayan in the sixteenth century, called

Ramcharita Manas (rama cairt maanasa) in Hindi to

enlighten the north Indian masses. Kamb

Ramayan (kMba ramaayaNa), said to be composed by Kambar in Tamil in the ninth century, is similarly popular in south India. There are several versions of Ramayan composed in almost all the languages of India. The epic is popular in far-east countries also composed in the

languages of those countries.

In treta yuga (~ota yauga), the Lord’s wedding took place on agahan shukla panchmi (Agahna Sau@la pMcamaI), the fifth day of bright fortnight of the month of margshirsha (maaga-SaIYa-), variously called

agahan. This year, in 2010, it occurred on Dec. 10, Friday.

Sri Viahuti Bhawan (EaI ivaAhutI Bavana : Divine Wedding House)

It is a temple premises, popularly called wedding house of Lord Ram. It has its present origin way back in 1938 established by the saint Ramshankar Sharan. He is now no more, as he discarded his mortal remains in 1970. Among the galaxy of saints of Ayodhya, he was better

known by his other name, Pujari jee (pujaarI jaI, the venerable priest). The natal place of Sita, is

Janakpur which stands for a distinctive culture, called Mithila (imaiqalaa) representing the great

dynasty originated from Mithi. Ayodhya, the birth place of Ram is known as Awadh, an icon of a



characteristic culture of the house of the king Raghu. Viahuti Bhawan represents the Mithila culture in Ayodhya which means, it is like an island of Janakpur established by Pujari jee amidst Awadhi Ayodhya. Its sole purpose is to enact the marriage of Sita and Ram to infuse divine pleasure in the life of devotees.

Bade Maharaj jee

Ramshankar jee (Pujari jee) is called Bade Maharaj jee. Present Maharaj jee is Baidyanath Sharan jee who took over taking care of the devotees after Bade Maharaj jee deserted this

world in 1970. The advent of Bade Maharaj jee is known on Jyeshth shukla dasami in 1894 in a remote

hamlet of Hasanpurava (hsanapurvaa ),

near the town of Siwan, in the state of Bihar. Jyeshth shukla dashami

(jyaoYz Sau@la dSamaI), is better known

as ganga dashara (gaMgaa dSahra the

day of dawning of the sacred

river, Ganga gaMgaa on earth) in the

month of jyeshth (jyaoYz), one of the

summer months of north India. He was married in 1909 to Janaki Devi. He shifted to Ayodhya with his wife in 1915 to lead a sacred

spiritual life. Being born in a Brahmin family he qualified for a priest’s position in a

temple called Thathera Mandir (zzora maindr).

In the spring season of 1938 he lost his wife. Thereafter he became a real recluse initiated in the rare cult of bridal mysticism. It was summer of 1938 that he found an independent premises for Viahuti Bhawan, i.e., the dwelling place of divine couple enjoying the regularly enacted marriage ceremonies. There came the annual marriage celebration of agahan 1970 that three days short of the vivah panchami (i.e., on agahan shukla dwitya) he wrapped up his mortal remains for the eternal abode. It is this day of every agahan shukla dwitya that a grand bhandara is organized on the Viahuti Bhawan premises by distributing to visitors and devotees, sumptuous prasad having varieties of delicacies. Similar bhandara is organized on his advent day of ganga dashara on jyeshtha shukla dashami. He had maintained his position of priest in Thathera mandir, until he established Viahuti Bhawan in the summer of 1938. However, throughout his life he was addressed by the saints of Ayodhya as Pujari jee.



Rama jee (Bhagat jee)

Bade Maharaj jee was gifted with the natural talent of melodious voice, and was a great crowd catcher by his magical throat while presenting the vocal devotional songs. His magical songs caught the attention of another elderly saintly personality of the same

area known by his name Sri Rama jee (EaI ramaa jaI) who hailed from the village called

Khedaya (KoD,aya), situated about fifteen km from Hasanpurava, and was better known in

his area by a respectable nick name of Bhagat jee (Bagat jaI).

Rama jee, alias Bhagat jee, lead a married domestic life full of kith and kin, and was a rare saint always immersed in enjoying the pleasure of the vision of the bridal couple of Sita - Ram. Whenever he could see a marriage procession, he would find his destination there, and getting closer to the groom he used to enjoy as if he were witnessing the well dressed lord Ram at the time of His marriage. Bhagat jee, being an impressive singer, devoted his life in organizing the song-full enaction of the divine marriage of Ram. In course of time, due to his advancing age, he was concerned of finding a potential successor who could carry forward the regular re-enaction of marriage ceremony of Lord Ram with Sita. In his cult of celebrating the divine marriage ceremony, he never adhered to a fixed date for celebration. Any day was the day of Lord Ram’s marriage celebration, and on the invitation of any household, he would help making preparations on a full real-life scale of enacting divine marriage ceremony. This was his style of worshipping the divine couple of Sita and Ram. Depending on the

available facility, he would organize all the associated rituals of a marriage commencing from receiving the invitation of auspicious marriage, covering particularly the ceremonies of turmeric smearing of Sita, and janeu of Ram. He had a full team of selected devotees who could perform the role of king Dasarath father of Ram, King Janaka father of Sita, royal priests Vashishth, and Satanand who had guided the original divine marriage in treta yug in Janakpur. (Rama jee with bridal couple in the inset

photo)

All the rituals are performed with the minutest details observing the social customs and local practices of a marriage ceremony prevalent in Janakpur of the legendry days. The performance of divine



marriage runs for about a week; couple of days preceding the marriage day are

dedicated in celebrating the janeu (janao} yaa ya&aopbaIt investing the groom with the sacred

thread) of Lord Ram, and haldi (hldI smearing the body of the bride with auspicious turmeric

gel) of Sita. The following couple of days after marriage are spent in celebrating kaleva

(klaovaa a great feast organized in honour of the marriage party), and chouthari (caaOqaarI the

fourth day from the marriage day celebrated as the joining of the married couple with the kith

and kin in an open pleasant social game of playing dice).

The role of divine couple is performed by young swarup (sva$p shadow persons) aged

between five to ten years, well pre-initiated in this special cult. Alternatively, in absence of properly pre-initiated swarup, their representatives are also created by placing the copies of holy Ramayan decorated specially to create an impression of a well dressed bridal couple.

Lord Ram, had got four brothers, and all of them were married together in Janakpur. Sita, the daughter of Janak was married to Ram, but the other three brothers Bharat, Lakshaman and Shatrughn were married to cousin sisters of Sita called Mandavi, Urmila, and Shrutikirti respectively. Four pairs of couples are Ram – Sita, Bharat –

Mandavi, Lakshaman – Urmila, Shatrughn – Shrutikirti (rama – saIta, Bart – maaMDvaI, laxmaNa –}ima-laa, Sa~uGna – EauitkIit-). At times, all the four couples represented by four pairs of 5-10

yrs old swarup, were present in the marriage ceremony. In absence of availability of proper well initiated live couples, four pairs of the copies of holy scripture Ramayan are

used. In addition, two more copies are used to represent Hanuman (hnaumaana), and

Tulasidas (tulasaIdasa) also.

Rama jee spotted his spiritual successor

In 1912, in a local devotional congregation of Bhagwat katha, Ramajee was impressed by an excellent melodious recitation of the Ramayan by Bade Maharaj jee. He instantly

picked him as his successor and called him Nause Babua (naaOsao babauAa), which means

Lord Ram Himself whom he always used to call a bridal groom. He was able to convince him to carry the torch of bridal mysticism being upheld by him in the nineteenth century north India. In subsequent consequential meetings, the inner affection of Rama jee and Bade Maharj jee became deeper and stronger.

Finally, on the inspiration of Rama jee, Bade Maharaj jee left the parental abode and came to Ayodhya in 1915 accompanied by his wife . Subsequently he kept meeting Rama jee in Ayodhya also, and they together organized several divine marriage ceremonies beginning from Hasanpurva to Janakpur. Rama jee used to offer aarati by a



dance maintaining a ghee lit lamp over his head. Subsequently this rare performance was taken over by Bade Maharaj jee.

In 1921 December, there was a mammoth all India spiritual congregation organized by Rupkala Samiti at Tulsi Udyan in Ayodhya. Bade Mahraj jee presented a rare performance of devotional song. The entire Ayodhya was under the influence of this magical bridal mysticism, and a large following began to gather to witness the rare performance of Bade Maharaj jee. First such congregation he organized independently in 1922, on the premises of Thathera Mandir itself. Thereafter he performed such celebrations at other places beginning from the one at his natal place Hasanpurava. It was in 1928, Jyestha Krishna dwitiya, that Bade Maharaj jee lost the association of Rama jee who took to his eternal abode due to old age. The loss was shocking but Bade Maharaj jee carried forward organizing the divine marriages in several places as far as Chitrakoot, sweeping as far north as Janakpur.

Every fifth day of each fortnight was being organized as marriage ceremony of Lord Ram and Sita. The performances included taking out huge colorful marriage procession accompanied by elephants, horses, chariots amidst the strong crowd of devotees. Agahan panchmi remained the fixed date for celebration at Ayodhya. Besides, he also stayed at Ayodhya in the months of Chaitra (birth of Lord Ram), Vaishakh (birth of goddess Sita), Jyestha and Shrwan ( for Jhoola – swinging ceremony of the pleasant divine couple) to celebrate the respective occasions.

Bade Maharj jee with the divine bridal couple.



Present Maharaj jee (Baidynath Sharan jee)

After the departure of Bade Maharaj jee in 1970, the onus of organizing the divine ceremonies was taken over by present Maharaj jee. Viahuti Bhawan witnessed surging devotees in all the

ceremonies. Maharaj jee fully maintained the practices laid down by Bade Maharaj jee. This year in 2010, the occasion of annual marriage anniversary of Lord Ram and Sita, falling on agahan shukla panchmi, i.e., Dec. 10, 2010 was organized with a great splendor. After the chanting of round the clock Ram Nam, on Dec. 6 and 7, 2010, Ram Janeu and Sita haldi were performed on the successive days of Dec. 8 and 9 respectively. Surrounding the chariot of the bridal couple, the marriage procession left Viahuti Bhawan at about 4:00 pm on Dec. 10, 2010 with the strong crowd of devotees lead by colorfully elephants, and horses. The main street of Ayodhya from Tulasi Udyan

(tulasaI ]Vana) to Hanuman Garhi (hnaumaana gaZ,I) had

hardly any inch of space left vacant. The route of the procession was from Viahuti Bhawan, via Tulasi udyan to Hanuman Garhi, moving past the streets

behind Kanak mandir, and Asharfi Bhawan, it closed the circuit back to Viahuti Bhawan. The bridal procession was offered a grand welcome back at Viahuti Bhawana at about 8 pm.

Annual anniversary of divine marriage

Ayodhya celebrates the annual marriage ceremony of its Lord with great gala and show of festivity. About half a dozen marriage processions are taken out from various devotional premises. All the processions have a common route from Hanuman Garhi to the street behind Kanak Bhawan through Asharafi Bhawan. The tunes played on the bands of trumpet, and varieties of colorful sparkles of lighted festoons mark the movement of the bridal procession. The procession of Kanak Bhawan has a distinctive style of carrying the small idols of Lord Ram and Sita on a palanquin born over the shoulders of the devotees.



Chariot carrying bridal couple of Viahuti Bhwan



Ramuday jee taking incessant shelter in holy Ayodhya for over one and a half decade.

Bridal deities of Kanak Bhawan inside Palanquin (top),

Head priest of Kanak Bhawan on a separate palanquin (left)

The time upto midnight of Dec. 10, 2010 was full of song-ful presentations solemnizing the divine marriage. On conclusion, the devotees were offered full meal dinner prasad comprising of



varieties of sweet delicacies, rice, puri and vegetables. The following evening of Dec. 11, 2010 witnessed the splendorous festival of Kaleva. The bridal couple received warm welcome through several events marked by melodious songs of deeper connotations composed by Bade Maharaj jee. The program of Kaleva concluded at midnight by serving the devotees with sumptuous prasad having varieties of sweets and other innumerable delicacies. Malpua

(maalapuAa) of Viahuti Bhawan has its distinctive flavor and no devotee would ever allow any

chance to miss it. Viahuti Bhawan takes due care that all the devotees are gifted with colorful new scarf and cloths to wear while joining the marriage procession.

Chothari is concluded by a mammoth bhandara inviting saints, citizens and visitors of Ayodhya who enjoy the sumptuous food served by blessing hands of kind and compassionate Maharaj jee. Dec. 18, 2010, i.e., Agahan Shukla Dwadashi witnessed the rare and affectionate celebration of the birthday anniversary of Maharaj jee.

Concurrent Bridal Mysticism of South India

As regards the manifestation of Almighty, He is said to be present in five emanations: (i) par, (ii)

vyuha, (iii) vibhava, (iv) archa, and (v) antryami (pr, vyaUh, vaOBava, Acaa-, Antyaa-maI). North India

has witnessed the direct presence of vaibhava form (i.e., incarnation) of Ram and Krishna. Their divine marriages are beyond human perception which have been described in the preceding paragraphs covering the divine marriages of Lord of Ayodhya, Ram, and beloved of Janakpuri,

goddess Sita. The stories of maharas ( maharasa AaiSvana pUiNa-maa) of Krishna in Vrindavan has similar

connotations.

Coming to the south India, the prevalence of bridal mysticism of archa avtar is worthy of a reference here. Lord Balajee of Tirumala is an eminent example. His divine marriage with the goddess Padmavati is well known. Lord stays at Tirumala, and the goddess stays at Tirupati, but their divine marriage is celebrated every day at Tirumala in a special event

called Kalyan Utsava (klyaaNa ]%sva) which is thronged with the affectionate devotees inside the main premises of the temple. The celebration is marked

by vaidic solemnization performed everyday from 10 am to 12:30 pm of the idols of the Lord and His twin consorts bhu devi and sri devi. The attending devotees are blessed with new silk cloth, silver coin embossed with the divine form of the deities, and several big laddus and bada. The annual anniversary is specially celebrated on Vaishakh shukla dashami.



Another famous example is of goddess Godamma (gaaodmmaa), variously

called Andal, and Goda (AMDala, gaaoda). She was found alive at Srivilliputtur

(about 80 km south of Madurai) as a nascent child in the grove of Tulsi by Alwar saint Vishnuchitta swamy. She was an incarnation of divine consort of Narayan and with her unalloyed devotion she was married to the deity of Lord Ranganath at Sri Ranagam (Tirichy). She used to

observe a holy vrata (va`t vow) in the entire month of Dhanur mas (i.e.,

when the sun remains in the ninth zodiac sign of Sagittarius). Her vow was worship of Lord Krishna and it commenced with the bath taken in

early wee hours of everyday between 4 am to 6 am of the month of Sagittarius. Every day she composed a verse in honour of her beloved Lord and the entire composition of 30 verses in

Tamil is called Thiruppavai (it$PPaavaO). The chanting of Thiruppavai is carried out early morning

for one full month preceding the month of makar sankranti, i.e., when the sun enters into sign of Capricorn. As regards Dhanu, it commences from around Dec. 15 / 16 ending on Jan. 15 of

every year. Andal is the only woman who is one among 12 alwars (Alavaar) of sri vaishnavite

cult. Every year her marriage is solemnized in all the vaishnav temples on shukla dashmi of

paush mas (paOYa Sau@la dSamaI ). True vaishanavites affectionately observe the practice of

chanting Thiruppavai every morning round the year, while conducting the Lord’s worship.

Ram Vivah _Ayodhya

Documents

Transcript of Ram Vivah _Ayodhya