The Villagers Put the Creator on Trial
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 119
Doha 119 · Movement 1 of 2
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Turning home, the villagers grieve and accuse destiny within their hearts. The Creator's work seems reversed at every turn. He marked the moon, salted the ocean, left the wish fulfilling tree rooted and remote, and now has sent the royal youths into the forest.
Their loving indictment gathers force through each contrast. If Sita, Ram, and Lakshmana must wander barefoot, why were vehicles invented? If they sleep upon kusha and leaves, why fashion beautiful beds? If tree shade is to be their dwelling, what purpose was served by laboring over gleaming palaces?
The questions seek no philosophical answer. They arise because the villagers cannot reconcile exquisite tenderness with a harsh road. Every luxury of the world appears wasted when those most worthy of comfort walk away without it. Grief turns creation itself into evidence before love's bewildered court.
As the three forest figures recede, the villagers look upon vehicles, beds, and palaces as abandoned answers to the wrong world.
Read the passage from the Manas
फिरत नारि नर अति पछिताहीं। देअहि दोषु देहिं मन माहीं।। सहित बिषाद परसपर कहहीं। बिधि करतब उलटे सब अहहीं।। निपट निरंकुस निठुर निसंकू। जेहिं ससि कीन्ह सरुज सकलंकू।। रूख कलपतरु सागरु खारा। तेहिं पठए बन राजकुमारा।। जौं पे इन्हहि दीन्ह बनबासू। कीन्ह बादि बिधि भोग बिलासू।। ए बिचरहिं मग बिनु पदत्राना। रचे बादि बिधि बाहन नाना।। ए महि परहिं डासि कुस पाता। सुभग सेज कत सृजत बिधाता।। तरुबर बास इन्हहि बिधि दीन्हा। धवल धाम रचि रचि श्रमु कीन्हा।।
Turning back, the men and women grieved deeply, blaming Vidhi in their hearts. Filled with sorrow, they said to one another: all the Creator's works have gone upside down. Utterly wilful, merciless, and shameless is He who made the moon diseased and blemished. He made the Kalpataru a mere tree and the ocean bitter with salt. That same Creator has sent the Rajakumara into the forest. If He has given them vanvaas, then He created worldly comforts and luxuries for nothing. They walk the road without padtraana on their feet, while the Creator fashioned every kind of vehicle in vain. They sleep on the bare earth, spreading kusha grass and leaves. Why, then, did Vidhata toil to create fine beds? The Creator gave them shelter under trees, having labored for nothing to build gleaming white palaces.