November 4,2012.Day 3. Srimad Valmiki Ramayan - The First Epic Poem Of India.

Book I : Bala Kanda - Book Of Youthful Majesties : Chapter 1(Continued)

कः नु अस्मिन् सांप्रतम् लोके गुणवान् कः च वीर्यवान् |
धर्मज्ञः च कृतज्ञः च सत्य वाक्यो धृढ व्रतः || १-१-२

2. asmin loke = in this, world; saampratam = presently; guNavaan = principled person; kaH nu = who is, really; viiryavaan ca = potential one, also; kaH = who is; dharma j~naH ca = conscientious, also; kR^ita j~naH ca = what has been done, knower of it [a redeemer,] also; satya vaakyaH = truth, speaker of [habitually speaking the truth = truth-teller]; dR^iDha vrataH = determined in his deed.

"Who really is that person in this present world, who is principled and also a potential one, a conscientious one, a redeemer, and also a truth-teller and self-determined in his deed... [1-1-2]

In Sanskrit poems the poets are at liberty to use words at any place according to exigencies of their metric rules. So, the order of words used by the poet calledpada vibhaaga , in this poem is like this

kaH nu asmin saampratam loke guNavaan kaH ca viiryavaan dharma j~naH ca kR^ita j~naH ca satya vaakyaH dhR^iDha vrataH

We have not shown this division of words for all verses in a separate paragraph, but separated them in the verse itself, [even if it gives a low-brow reading,] for fear of repetitive work.

These very words are to be reconnected by readers to derive a particular meaning called anvyaya krama. By this process the words in this second verse will be connected like this:

asmin loke saamprataam guNavaan kaH nu; viiryaaan ca kaH; dharmaj~naH ca; kR^ita j~naH ca; satya vaakyaH dR^iDha vrataH; [ellipted]: kaH

Same words available in the verse but with changed placement. All the verses are provided with word-to-word meanings in anvya krama, i.e., words parsed according to Sanskrit way of reading and then meanings are given.

Further, we tried to give meanings in verse-by-verse in order to tell each on its own. But at times, the meaning rolls into next foots. Then it is inevitable to push and pull the feet of verses, up or down, to give a meaningful paragraph. Some of our readers are a little confused about this arrangement. Hence we request you to go by the verse numbers in such places, and there will be many such pulls and pushes as we go along.

The meter filling words like tu, hi ca, sma, ha, vai: paada puuraNe - amara kosha do not usually mean anything and they fit-in as meter fillers, hence will be dropped in word-to-word meanings. But if they are used specifically, they play havoc in rendering meaning. Here the word dharmaj~na is used, which means, 'knower of rightness...' but when coupled with ca it means 'also, the knower of wrongness... ' where the ca assumes the character of 'either...' and the use of numerousca-s here in these questions of Valmiki, is to denote that every questioned merit plusses itself into one human being. We are showing all the ca-s and tu-s throughout, giving their meaning as 'also...' and they may be dropped, if need be, in the gist of verse.