Summary: स्वागतं तपोधनायाः
उत्तररामचरितम् tells the story of Rama after his coronation; its author is the great poet भवभूतिः. This dialogue between the वनदेवता and आत्रेयी is from its second act.
A voice welcomes the ascetic; Atreyi, dressed as a traveller, enters. The forest goddess asks who she is and why she has come to Dandakaranya. Atreyi says she has come from Valmiki's hermitage to learn वेदान्त from Agastya and other sages living here.
The goddess is surprised — other sages go to Valmiki for वेदान्त! Atreyi explains the first obstacle: some divine being brought two boys, Kusha and Lava, to Valmiki. He raised and protected them like a nurse for eleven years, performed their thread ceremony and taught them the three Vedas. Their intellect is so brilliant that ordinary students like her cannot study alongside them.
A verse explains this: a teacher gives knowledge equally to the bright and the dull, yet the results differ — a clear jewel catches a reflection, a lump of clay does not.
The second obstacle: Valmiki went to the Tamasa river for his midday bath; a hunter shot one of a pair of krauncha birds; hearing the female's cry, a new divine speech in अनुष्टुप् metre burst from the sage ('मा निषाद …'). Brahma appeared and told him to compose Rama's story; Valmiki is now absorbed in it, so study there is impossible. Atreyi then asks the way to Agastya's hermitage.
Key points to remember
- Play: उत्तररामचरितम्; poet: भवभूतिः; Act II
- Speakers: वनदेवता (forest goddess) and आत्रेयी (a woman ascetic)
- Place: दण्डकारण्यम्; Atreyi wants वेदान्तविद्या from अगस्त्य and others
- Obstacle 1: the very bright boys कुशः and लवः in Valmiki's hermitage
- Valmiki raised them for 11 years and taught them त्रयीविद्या
- Verse: the teacher gives equally; a clear jewel reflects, clay does not
- Obstacle 2: the krauncha bird, the first श्लोक in अनुष्टुप् metre
- Brahma: 'रचय रामचरितम्' — Valmiki busy with the Ramayana
- 'नूतनः छन्दसाम् अवतारः' — a new form of metre beyond the Vedas
