According to Agastya’s instructions, when Sri Rama goes and resides in Panchavati, the major events in the story occur there. Shurpanakha sees Sri Rama, becomes infatuated with him, approaches him and pleads with him, “become my husband.” As Rama rejects her proposal, he makes fun of her.
anujaḥ tu eṣa me bhrātā śīlavān priya darśanaḥ ।
śrīmān akṛta dāraḥ ca lakṣmaṇo nāma vīryavān ॥ (Aranyakanda: Sarga 18:3)
He is my younger brother named...
āśīrnamaskriyā vastunirdeśo vā || (Dandin: Kavyadarsha)
is a famous aphorism. However, this was composed long after Maharshi Valmiki’s period. I simply cannot believe that Valmiki was completely bound by this rule. We don’t find any other example to claim that Valmiki was a poet who specialized in puns. One can shut the mouth of the opponent in an argument through clever feats of grammar. We can even astonish the opponent akin to performing...
