There was a certain chief of demons, Hirantayaksa, who troubled gods while living on the great mountain Cakravala. Harassed and seeing no other way, the gods came to the supreme god of gods, the remover of miseries, at Kailasa and sought help. 'Certainly, there is only one, Narayana, powerful enough to destroy this demon.' As the powerful master Isvara thought of him, Narayana appeared and wanted to know what he could do for him.
The lord said, 'There is a demon, Hirantayaksa, who is troubling the gods. Terrified, they have sought refuge with me and I have a desire to protect them. You are fully competent to fulfill this desire of mine, therefore go and kill the wicked demon and save the gods!'
Thus enjoined, Narayana, the savior of the world, set out and reached Cakravala. After a fight he killed this sinful demon, the tormentor of gods, with sharp weapons and went back to his abode, the Ocean of Milk. There he saw a handsome child as fair as the moon, resting on the lotus. Taking it into his arms he went quickly to Lord Siva and presented it to him. The lord, pleased, gave him the name Anomatan and foretold that the child would be the first king on earth.
A beautiful city of Ayodhya, was built by Indra at the command of the supreme lord. He named it after the four great sages, Achangvi, Yugagra, Daha and Yaga, taking the first letter from each of the name of the sages.
To the king Anomatan was born a noble-minded and worthy son Dasharatha (Totsarat in Thai). He was blessed with the son Sri Rama, adored by the whole world and adorned with all the good qualities. The devotees sing in praise of him in poetry, Ramakirti (Ramakien!), 'Glory of Rama'.
Initially I thought I would make a comparative study between the two versions, then decided to just narrate the Thai version. I think it will be less confusing. For instance Dasharatha is the 39th king in the long line of Ikshvaku lineage. Not that this difference really matters! I also learn that ikṣu means ‘sugar cane'.
I really do not now how some of us staunch 'Vaishnavaites' will accept that Ishwara was the supreme god of gods and could summon Narayana! I am not sure if it is a totally south Indian attitude as I saw in Bangkok some families observed both Shivaratri and Krishna Ashtami in dev mandir. Dev mandir, run by the Hindu Samaj of Bangkok, itself is a very tolerant place as all the popular gods including lord Buddha are installed in line. Many Thais, who are essentially Buddhists offer prayers to the many gods in the mandir.
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