The Ramayana is one of the two greatest Indian epics, the other one being the Mahabharata. The Ramayan is the very soul of India. The Ramayana tells about life in India around 1000 BC and offers models in dharma. It acts as a complete guide to God-realization, the path to which lies in uprightness. The ideals of man are beautifully portrayed in it. Everyone should imitate those ideals and grow into ideal human beings and ideal citizens.
The original Ramayana was around twenty-four thousand couplet-long epic poem attributed to the Sanskrit poet Valmiki. It has since been told, translated and trans-created, retold throughout South and Southeast Asia, and the Ramayana continues to be performed in dance, puppet shows, drama, songs and movies.
The hero: Rama lived his whole life by the rules of dharma; in fact, that was why Indian considers him heroic. Oral versions of Rama's story circulated for over centuries, and the epic was probably first written down sometimes around the start of the Common Era. Rama is the 7th incarnation of Vishnu and the central figure of the Ramayana epic.
Rama took birth to free the earth from the cruelty and sins of the demon King Ravana. Ravana had practiced austerities in order to propitiate Shiva and Brahma, who had granted him immunity from being killed by gods, gandharvas or demons. One of the gods had to take on a human form in order to be able to defeat Ravana.
Dasharatha, King of Aydohya, had three wives and four sons. Rama is the eldest. His mother was Kaushalya. Bharata was the son of his second and favorite wife, Queen Kaikeyi. The other two are twins, Lakshman and Shatrughna.
Later In his youth, Rama went with Saint Vishwamitr to Mithila where the astute King Janak ruled and the ruler's daughter was Sita. Sita was an incarnation of Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu. King Janak had organized a svayamvaraa;an ancient custom wherein the bride chose her husband of her own accord from amongst a number of suitors. It was announced that whosoever would bend the bow of Lord Shiva will marry King Janak's daughter Sita
No one else could even lift the bow, but as Rama bent it, he not only strung it but broke it in two. Sita indicates she had chosen Rama as her husband by putting a garland around his neck. The disappointed suitors watch.
Since prince Rama was the eldest of four sons;he was to become king when his father retired from ruling. King Dasharatha, Rama's father, decided it was the time to give his throne to his eldest son Rama and retire to the forest to seek moksha(salvation). Everyone seemed to be pleased. In addition, everyone loved Rama.
However Rama's step-mother, the king's second wife, was not pleased. She wanted her son, Bharata, Rama's younger brother, become king to rule. Remembering that the king had once promised to grant her any two wishes she desired, she demanded that Rama be banished and Bharata be crowned. The king had to keep his word to his wife and ordered Rama's exile. Broken-hearted, the devastated king cannot face Rama with the news and Kaikeyi must tell him. Rama accepted the decree unquestioningly.
Rama, always obedient, was as content to go into banishment in the forest as to be crowned king. When Sita, Rama's wife, heard Rama was to be banished, she begged to accompany him to his forest retreat. She pleaded and finally Rama agreed, and Rama, Sita and his brother Lakshmana all went to the forest. After Ram left to the forest, Dashratha died from the pangs of separation from his beloved son Ram.
Bharata, whose mother's evil plot had won him the throne, was very upset when he found out what has happened, he sought Rama in the forest. Not for a moment did he consider breaking the rules of dharma and becoming king in Rama's place He reminded Rama that the eldest must rule. He requested him to come back and claim his rightful place as king.
Rama refused to go against his father's command, so Bharata took his brother's sandals and decided that he would place these sandals on the throne as symbols of Rama's authority. He would rule only as regent in your place, and each day he would put his offerings at the feet of Lord Rama. He also decided to joyously return the kingdom to Rama when the fourteen years of banishment got over, Rama was very impressed with Bharata's selflessness. Until his brother returned from the exile Bharat served the kingdom as a true and honest caretaker of Ram.
Years passed and Rama, Sita and Lakshman are very contented in the forest. Rama and Lakshman destroyed the rakshasas (evil creatures) who disturbed the sages in their meditations. Once Surpnakha, the sister of Ravana(King of Lanka) passed by the place where Ram was living. She saw Ram and became daunted by his good looks.
She transformed herself into a gorgeous lady and went to Ram and asked him to marry her. When Ram refused and told her he is already married to Sita, she became fuming. Coming back to her original form she ran towards Sita to kill her. When Lakshman saw that he cut her nose and one ear. Surpnakha then sent her brother Khardushan with fourteen thousand s to avenge her. But all of them were killed by Rama.
She returned to her brother Ravana, the ten-headed ruler of Lanka and told him about lovely Sita. He devised a plan to abduct Sita. He sent a magical golden deer which Sita desired. Rama and Lakshman went off to hunt the deer, first drawing a protective circle around Sita and warning her she would be safe as long as she did not step outside the circle. As they went off, Ravana appeared in a disguise of a holy man begging alms. The moment Sita stepped outside the circle to give him food, Ravana grabbed her and carried her off the kingdom in Lanka.
Rama is broken-hearted when he returned to the empty hut and could not find Sita In Lanka, Ravana tried to threaten Sita into marrying him, Ravana had carried Sita to his palace in Lanka, but he could not force her to be his wife so he put her in a grove and alternately sweet-talked to her and threatened her in an attempt to got her to agree to marry him but was rejected again and again.
Meanwhile, Ram made an alliance with the monkey King Sugreeva, who had been exiled from his kingdom by his brother Bali. Ram helped Sugreeva to regain his kingdom and in return Sugreeva raised an army of monkeys and bears, led by Hanuman. Hanuman, the general of the monkey band could fly since his father was the wind, and Hanuman flew to Lanka and, finding Sita in the grove, comforted her and told her Rama will soon come and save her.
Ravana's army capture Hanuman, and Ravana ordered them to wrap Hanuman's tail in cloth and to set it on fire. With his tail burning, Hanuman hops from house-top to house-top, setting the whole Lanka afire. He then flew back to Rama to tell him where Sita was.
Rama, Lakshman and the monkey army build a boardwalk from the tip of India to Lanka and cross over to Lanka. A might battle proceeded. Rama killed several of Ravana's brothers and then Rama confronted ten-headed Ravana. Rama finally killed Ravana.
Rama freed Sita. In order to set a fine example, however, Rama demanded that Sita should prove her purity before he could take her back as his wife. After Sita proves here purity, they return to Ayodhya and Rama becomes king. Rama, Sita and Bharata are all examples of persons following their dharma
This epic focuses on how the Ramayana teaches Indians to perform their dharma. Encourage students to pick out examples of characters in the epic dreaming that one day modern India would become a Ram-rajya.
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