Guha, Godavari and Ganga - A myth, a king, and an epic.

Guha, a character that needs no introduction to people who have watched or read something about Ramayana. Many of us remember this character as someone who helped Rama cross a river. But how many of us remember or correctly know which river Rama crossed with the help of Guha? I asked the same question on different social media platforms with the following options:

Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, and Godavari. 

The question received 60 votes as below:

Ganga (33.9% - 20)

Yamuna (14.3% - 9)

Brahmaputra (3.6% - 2)

Godavari (48.2% - 29)

Godavari got the highest number of votes, but the correct answer is Ganga. Then how did we end up with Godavari getting the highest votes?

This can be attributed to movies in regional languages and a slight mistranslation of the Valmiki Ramayana. So, what does Valmiki Ramayana have to say about Guha and his role in Ramayana?

The episode of Guha begins in Ayodhyakanda, Sarga 50, with Rama reaching the banks of the Ganga.

The intro of Guha goes like this:

तत्र राजा गुहो नाम रामस्यात्मसमस्सखा।

निषादजात्यो बलवान् स्थपतिश्चेति विश्रुतः।।2.50.33।।

Guha was introduced as a friend of Rama and the king of the Nishada. Guha offers hospitality to Rama and his entourage reach the banks of the river Ganga. After extending the hospitality, Guha enquires about the future plans of Rama. Lakshmana explains to Guha about their plans to stay in Dandakaranya and protect the ascetics of Dandakaranya from the evil rakshasas. On hearing Lakshmana, Guha ordered his men to arrange a boat to cross the Ganga, along with helmsmen to row the boat.

अस्य वाहनसंयुक्तां कर्णग्राहवतीं शुभाम्।

सुप्रतारां दृढां तीर्थे शीघ्रं नावमुपाहर।।2.52.6।।

Did Guha himself row the boat as shown in the movies? The answer is no. Guha didn't cross the river along with Rama, Lakshmana and Sita. How can we know this? From the below slokas, we can infer it clearly.

अथारुरोह तेजस्वी स्वयं लक्ष्मणपूर्वजः।

ततो निषादाधिपतिर्गुहो ज्ञातीनचोदयत्।।2.52.77।।

ततो निषादाधिपतिर्गुहो ज्ञातीनचोदयत् - meaning that Guha ordered his helmsmen to row the boat.

Then, the below sloka says that Rama orders the helmsmen to proceed after permitting Sumantra and Guha to leave for their respective places.

अनुज्ञाय सुमन्त्रं च सबलं चैव तं गुहम्।

आस्थाय नावं रामस्तु चोदयामास नाविकान्।।2.52.80।।

And, did the story of Guha end with helping Rama to cross the river Ganga? The answer is again no.

The actual story of Guha looks more interesting than the distorted, filmy story. Guha reappears in Ayodhyakanda, Sarga 84, when Bharata reaches the ban.ks of the River Ganga to meet Rama in Dandakaranya. Initially, the king of Nishada, Guha, thinks that Bharata, the son of Kaikeyi, is waging a war against Rama.

बन्धयिष्यति वा दाशानथवाऽस्मान्वधिष्यति।

अथ दाशरथिं रामं पित्रा राज्याद्विवासितम्।।2.84.4।।

सम्पन्नां श्रियमन्विच्छन्स्तस्य राज्ञ स्सुदुर्लभाम्।

भरतः कैकयीपुत्रो हन्तुं समधिगच्छति।।2.84.5।।

He indeed prepares for a war by asking his people to be ready with arms and organising his army.

तिष्ठन्तु सर्वे दाशाश्च गङ्गामन्वाश्रिता नदीम्।

बलयुक्ता नदीरक्षा मांसमूलफलाशनाः।।2.84.7।।

Another interesting thing, Guha and his men have ships floating in the Ganga that can carry 100 men each, along with their arms.

नावां शतानां पञ्चानां कैवर्तानां शतं शतम्।

सन्नद्धानां तथा यूनां तिष्ठन्त्वित्यभ्यचोदयत्।।2.84.8।।

In the above sloka, we can clearly see the numbers 5 (पञ्चानां ) and 100 (शतानां ).

Despite doubting the intentions of Bharata and preparing for a war against him and his army, Guha went to meet Bharata with gifts. This is nothing short of a lesson in diplomacy. 

इत्युक्त्वोपायनं गृह्य मत्स्यमांसमधूनि च।

अभिचक्राम भरतं निषादाधिपतिर्गुहः।।2.84.10।।

Though Guha was doubtful about the intentions of Bharata, he approached Sumantra (the minister of Bharata) and introduced himself as a loyal affiliate of Ayodhya, and he wanted to know the reason for their visit.

Sumantra, aware of the kingdom of Nishada and its loyalty to Ayodhya, introduced him to Bharata as a friend. Bharata explains the reason for his visit. Guha becomes happy with that and offers help to Bharata and his entourage to cross the river Ganga.

Now, the question to be answered here is, how did Godavari emerge as the answer if Ganga was clearly mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana?

When I looked at the poll results, I was surprised to see Godavari with the most votes. I thought it was only due to the Telugu audience, as I am aware of the folklore in Telugu movies and serials. However, when I checked with my Kannada and Tamil friends, I realised that the trend is there among most South Indians who didn't read or listen to Valmiki Ramayana. So, how did we end up with such a misconception about a famous episode?

The answer lies in how South Indians interpret the word Ganga. The word Ganga is commonly interpreted as a synonym of water in most of South India, and Godavari is the only mighty river in South India. So, when Ramayana became a part of folklore, it got translated as Godavari instead of Ganga, due to constraints in the regional and cultural understanding of the geography. 

This was later amplified by the regional film-makers who didn't emphasise much on correcting the folklore.

I hope the readers and public in general make a conscious effort to understand the epics in their original form. This blog post and other similar blog posts and my humble effort to bring the originality of our epics to the best of my knowledge.

Jai Shree Ram. 🙏