Parnashala

8/7/2019 Parnashala.

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/parnashala 1/5

Friday, March 19, 2010

Parnashala.







Parna means leaf and shala means shelter so Parna shala means a residence built withleaves or it simply means a hut. The Parnashala I am writing about is the name of the

place along River Godavari in the dense Dhandakaranya forest where Lord Sri Rama

along with Sita Devi and his brother Laxmana resided for several years of their 14 years

of Vanava sam (banishment from Ayodhya / his kingdom). This is the place where

Laxmana cut the nose and ears of Surpanaka, sister of Ravana the demon king of Lanka.

This is the place where Mareecha a Rakshasa appeared in the disguise of a gold colored

deer. And this is the place from where Ravana kidnapped Sita Devi. Parnashala is at a

distance of 35 Kms. from the pilgrim town of Bhadrachalam and 360 Kms. from

Hyderabad. At Parnashala, Lord Rama and Laxmana are addressed as Ramaswamy and

Laxmanaswamy and Sita Devi as Sitamma. As Ramaswamy, Sitamma and Laxmanaswamy were moving south during Vanavasam

they rested for a day at the Ashram of Agasthya Maharshi. The Maharshi advised them to

go further south and spend their Vanavasam at a beautiful place on the banks of river

Godavari in the Dhandakaranya forest describing the place as most suitable for them and

called it as Panchavati - a place with five different types of trees. And it is to this place

that Ramaswamy went. They built the Parnashala at Pancahvati and resided there. The

Ramayana describes that the combination of these five types of trees at this place have

plentiful benefits like cool breeze with medicinal values to ensure good health, nutritious

fruits for them and the birds that would give them company and that the trees would set

about powerful vibrations to ward off evil forces and ensure clarity of thought and rightway of thinking.

As their 14 year exile was coming to an end, Surpanaka the sister of Ravana saw

Ramaswamy, fell in love with him and asked him to marry her. Ramaswamy told her that

he is already married and as she persisted he asked her to approach his brother Laxmana.

Laxmanaswamy also refused to marry her and Surpanaka angry with the rejections

intended to kill Sitamma. Sensing her intentions Laxmanaswamy punished her by cutting



off her nose and ears. Surpanaka returned to Lanka and complained to her brother Ravana

of her insults and injuries and mentioned about beautiful Sitamma. This prompted

Ravana to send Mareecha in the disguise of a gold colored deer to Parnashala. On

Sitamma¶s request Ramaswamy went to hunt for the deer and as the deer gave out a false

alarm Laxmanaswamy drew the Laxmana rekha at Parnashala asking Sitamma not to

cross it and went to find Ramaswamy. It is at this time that the demon king Ravana cameto Parnashala as a Sanyasi (hermit) and sought food from Sitamma. He then kidnapped

Sitamma from there by picking her up along with the soil on which she had fainted. This

pit can still be seen there. As Ravana was taking away Sitamma on

his Pu shpaka Vimanam (flying chariot), a huge bird by the name Jattayu tried to stop

Ravana. In the ensuing battle it lost a wing. It continued to fight and ultimately fell to the

ground. When Ramaswamy came in that direction looking for Sitamma, Jattayu narrated

about the abduction by Ravana and died. This place where the bird met Ramaswamy is

called Jattayu paaka or Yetapaaka and the place where the bird¶s wing had fallen is called

Rekkapalli (a place named after the wing) and these places close to Parnashala have

become big towns now.Adjacent to Parnashala is a lake called S ita Vaagu where Sitamma used to bathe. One

can find soft-stones of yellow and red color here which Sitamma has used as turmeric and

kumkuma to adorn herself as per custom. And one can also see the imprint of her Saree

and her foot prints here. On a hill on the other side of River Godavari, marks are visible

which are said to be made by the Pu shpaka Vimanam of Ravana while kidnapping

Sitamma.

There is a big town called Dummugudem close by where Ramaswamy is said to have

killed 14000 demons headed by Kharadeoshana. Dummu means dust and this place is

called Dummugudem because it has come up on the ashes and remains of these demons.

There are many such places around Parnashala that speak about the presence of

Ramaswamy and Sitamma in this area for several years. There is a Temple of

Ramaswamy at Parnashala where the deity is referred to as µShokarama¶ ± meaning

grieving Rama.

Today the entire scenario of Parnashala is recreated here, as it appeared ages ago. This

can be understood from the above photographs of us at Parnashala. The entire area in and

around Parnashala along River Godavari is very beautiful and it is a great feeling to be in

the land of Lord

Rama and Sita Devi.

Posted by Raghu N at 9:18 AM

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