Post No.7799
Date uploaded in London – 8 April 2020
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Panini’s Ashtadhyayi mentions many rivers and two of them have strange names and Panini mentioned them to show they are not controlled by the rules he has just said. Later Kalidasa, the most famous poet of India, used them to compare the gait of Rama and Lakshmana.
In the sutra III-1-115 Panini says,
Bhidyoddhyau nade
River Bhidya means that which breaks the banks (of the river).
River Uddhya means that which overflows.
Uddhya is Ujh flowing through Jasrota district and falling into Ravi.
Bhidya may be identified with a river named Bai, rising in Jammu about 15 miles to the west of Ujh, and flowing into Ravi in Gurdaspur district.
The names Uddhya and Bhidya suggest that they dried up in summer but flowed in torrents in the rains. Kalidasa who lived in the first or second century BCE, approximately 500 years after Panini, compared the rivers with the brisk walk of teenagers Rama and Lakshmana.#
In Raghuvamsa XI.-8 he described the brisk movement of their arms and slow walk behind the great sage Viswamitra.
Here is the sloka,
वीचिलोलभुजयोस्तयोर्गतम्
शैशवाच्चपलमप्यशोभत।
तोयदागमे इवोद्ध्यभिद्ययोः
नामधेयसदृशम् विचेष्टितम्॥ ११-८
vīcilolabhujayostayorgatam
śaiśavāccapalamapyaśobhata |
tooyadāgame ivoddhyabhidyayoḥ
nāmadheyasadṛśam viceṣṭitam || 11-8
vIci lola bhujayoH tayoH gatam shaishavAt capalam api ashobhata tooyada Agame iva uddhya bhidyayoH nAmadheya sadR^isham viceShTitam
11-8. vIci lola bhujayoH= by ripples, swinging, with such arms – arms swinging like ripples; tayoH = their; capalam api gatam = restless, though, their gait; tooyada Agame= water, on coming – in rainy season; uddhya bhidyayoH= udhya, bidhya – names of rivers; nAmadheya sadR^isham viceShTitam iva= in keeping with their names, comparable, as with; shaishavAt ashobhata = by their childhood, shone forth.
The gait of those boys whose arms were restless like the ripples of a river, though sportive on account of childishness looked charming like two called Uddhya and Bhidya, which in keeping with their names will be rushing at the advent of the rains. [11-8]
Childlike, unsteady paced they, fair to see,/With lissom arms like crested waves that dance,/As streams, when rain-clouds gather, work and whirl,/As suits their name.
These two rivers, are defined as: ujghati udakam iti udhyaH; bhinatti kuulam iti bhidhyaH; one that spurts water it is Udhya River; while the other that collapses banks with its rush is Bhidya River. These indicate the upshot mood of the boys for an adventure.
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White Shiva and Black Snaake
Later he used the black Yamuna and White Ganga to the bhasma (ash) dharana, white coloured Shiva and the black snake around his neck.
क्वचिच्च कृष्णोरगभूषणेव
भस्माङ्गरागा तनुरीश्वरस्य।
पश्यानवद्याङ्गि विभाति गङ्गा
भिन्नप्रवाहा यमुनातरङ्गैः॥ १३-५७
kvacicca kṛṣṇoragabhūṣaṇeva
bhasmāṅgarāgā tanurīśvarasya |
paśyānavadyāṅgi vibhāti gaṅgā
bhinnapravāhā yamunātaraṅgaiḥ || 13-57
kvachichcha kR^iShNoragabhUShaNeva
bhasmA~NgarAgA tanurIshvarasya |
pashyAnavadyA~Ngi vibhAti ga~NgA
bhinnapravAhA yamunAtara~NgaiH || 13-57
slokas taken from Sanskrit documents.org
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What do these similes tell us?
Two thousand years ago everyone was very familiar with these rivers. Ganga and Yamuna are in Sangam Tamil literature too. But Bhidya and Uddhya are not known.
Now we can imagine how Rama and Lakshmana walked in the forest behind sage Visvamitra.
tags — Rivers, Uddhya, Bidhya, Panini, Kalidasa, Rama Lakshmana
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