jananii janmabhuumi;s ca

[Jan E.M. Houben]

Dear friends,
Mr. Pradip Bhattacharya requested me to post a
question regarding a famous expression that
occurs in Bankimchandra's novel Bande Mataram,
viz.
jananii janmabhuumi;s ca svargaad api gariiyasii.


> From which source is this half ;sloka taken?

The following, which he quotes from an answer
from R.P. Goldman, could be a starting point:

�As I have seen the verse, it is apparent that it
is from a version of the Ramayana story. Rama, it
appears, utters the verse to Lakshmana at some
point, probably in the Yuddhakanda. The full
verse runs:

Api svarnamayi lanka na me lakshmana rocate/

Janani janmabhumish casvargad api gariyasi//

I do not care for Lanka, Lakshmana, even though
it be made of gold.

One�s mother and one�s native land are worth more
even than heaven.�

�but I am not really sure, off the top of my
head, what the exact textual source is�I would
suggest checking other Sanskrit versions such as
the Ananda Ramayana, Kshemendra�s
Ramayanamanjari, Campuramayana etc.�

Best regards,
Jan Houben

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