Ramayana Ancient History Eneyclopedt / Ramayana pefinition 9 byAninaite dasy published on 30 August 2016 ‘The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic, ¢o ICE, ttedcent eet tea cent | sanskrit by the sage Valmiki, who taught ito Rama’ sons, the wins Lava and Kush. At pout 24000 verses, itis a rather long poem and, by tradition, is known as the Adi Kavya (edi original, ist; Kavya = poem), While the baie story is about palace politics and battles with demon tribes, the narrative is interspersed with philosophy + ethics, and notes on duty. While in that other Indian epic, the Mahabharata, the characters 2°¢ ds an th all their human follies and failings, the Romayana leans more (owes sita the ideal wife, Hanuman the and even Ravana _, the dei presented wit ideal state of things: Rama is the ideal son and king, ideal devotee, Lakshman and Bharat the ideal brothers, illian, is not entirely despicable. mon kameshti = that, ged a Putra-kameshti sacrifice (putra = som, ded the king a golden vase RAMA IS BORN |dren. So he arrany the Dasharath, king of Ayodhya, had no chil ji (god of fire) arose e Sg «which is desired). At the sacrifice, Agni "Give this to your queens, suid the go * brimming with nectar. Aig eldest, the king gave half of the nei the second queen got a portion hat remain‘ , or tp ing gave he remaining half ofthe nectar and again, the second queen got the half. To the youngest qu en ae ie the queens Be hg Sons the eldest was born Rama, to the youngest was bor” a ee pe second queen were born ne CENS Lakshman and Shatrughna, SITA grown up so from the flames and han .d and disappeared. The king had three wives. To .ed when the queen had drunk her ne, the sage Vishwamitra arrived at RAMA, HERO OF THE RAMAYANA, 1S THE PAMA MARRIES ya and Lakshman be lent’ to him to IDEAL SON & KING, SITA ', When the princes had we Tatas court and aske id that fam eat were aguiag the ashram Fey nm rid is Herts ne yood and Bones an by ling THE IDEAL WIFE. _.» o} ‘dwellers by defi * successfully 4 the ashram of the demons, nae” them off. After ‘he neighbouring idngdom of Mithila to show the sage took ther jes of the Mitt princess, Sita, born ofthe earth. The king of that counery had adopted tiem ee a fata a ore had declared that he would give her in marriage to anyone BS ‘ita as his daughte " son ” * rssh ‘ilewHukaleen/Ramé seonsrrsentsaec ets{couse sang tne Great BOW OT Shiva No one coma, Several KINS. Princes, ana commoners nad ted And tariey “The swayamvar had been iN Progress for several months now and the bow still remained unstrung, It was to this py that the sage Vishwamitra Drought the two princes of Ayodhya. Rama and Lakshamn entered the assembly hall ae the bow was displayed in all its glory. Rama walked over, picked up the bow, strung it, and plucked the bowstrin, . such a twang that two things happened simultaneously: the twang Was heard for miles around, and the force a broke the bow into two with So great a sound that the king and his courtiers came running froin th chambers to, ‘what the commotion was about, When the confusion had settled, Rama was married to Sita, His three brothers wer married to a sister and cousins of Sita, and there were many festivities and much rejoicing in the two kingdoms, RAMA IS EXILED Some time later, Dasharath decided he had grown too old to rule and declared he would abdicate in favour of Kars, the eldest born and the crown prince. This is when his youngest queen invoked an old promise that Dasharath had : made to her: she demanded that Rama be exiled for it years and that her own son, Bharat, be crowned king Dasharath refused but Rama decided to honour his father’s old promise and left for the forests, He was accompanied by Sita and by Lakshman, both of whom could not be dissuaded from following him. In grief at the injustice of tall and at Rama's departure, Dasharath died within wo days. Rama, Sita, & Laksmans Rama, 2, & Laksmana Bharat was notin Avodhva when these events haoBened: he, and the fourth prince Shatruchna. were away holidavine Act ileonmarayera2 Dancin zn aencrres Hl 7aay drier Ersyopede Mer count They vere summoned to Ajodhya in aste and, when Bharstieam yj, He shouted at hig meeher refused to ascend the throne, and gathered the ‘owns, thi # forest and bring Rama back RAVANA ABD One day, a demoness named Surpanaicha say Rama and, being charmed out of her wits by his beauty, walked up. him and| her. I already have a wife. said Rama and pointed to Sita. "Why don't you marry my brother Lakshman. ‘When Surpanaiha turned towards Lakshman, he declared he'd taken a temporary yoy of celibacy and sent her back to Rama. What followed was that the brothers took turns to thus play ping-pong with her and when Surpanakcha, by now angry beyond measure, rushed towards Sita to ill her, Lakshmana ext off ‘Surpanakha’s nose and ears. Ravana the Demon King Ravana the Demon King, Ravana ed, Sri Lanka), ruled by her brother Ravana, and complained. Enrag y towards Lanka (modern ST % : ‘Surpanakha flew towar aceneysiopesaninl scans Ramayaras20-WDDArieMA Oty WIE“es [7 Ramayana Ancient History Encyclopedia ved vengeance: He persuaded the demon yfarich to disguise himself as a golden deer and wander near Rams, jen sta saw the golden deer, she beyyed Rama to get it for her. When the brothers were out pursuing the ‘wt avana arrived, abducted Sita, placed her in hig ying chariot» and flew through the skies to Lanka. When oe princes after having killed the golden deer and discovered it was « demon in disguise, returned to their hu, th Pend itempty and started t0 look for Sita a RAMA MEETS HANUMAN During their wanderings, the princes came upon a group of monkeys who showed them some ornaments of Sita the monkeys had seen a beautiful lady crying and dropping her omaments from a chariot in the sky that was bein driven southwards by a demon, « Among the monkeys was Hanuman, who ultimately located Sits’s whereabouts to be in Ravana's kingdom in Lanka Rama gained the help of the monkey chief Sugreeva gathered & monkey army, marched southwards, built a bridge across the ocean and crossed over to Lanka. Rama, after an epic battle , was then able to kill Ravana and finally free Sita SITA FACES A TRIAL BY FIRE scone lau koe RamayansPo20 20MOO / yen Sita walked up to Ram when Sita ip to Rama, however, he refused to accept her since she had been a living in a demon’ pa lace a) jus while. Hurt, Sita entered into a burn i ning intending to give up her life. However, Agni rc vevpingan unhurt Stain hisatms and sage ns Wi rose from the fame, cord rae TERE a et Here, Rama, is Your Sita. She has not an iota of sin in het. (Valmiki Ramayana, 6.18) this event came to be known as the Agni Pareeksha (agni = fire, Pareeksha = test) RAMA IS CROWNED AT AYODHYA since the 14 years were over by now, Rama then returned to Ayodhya, was erowned king, and ruled the Kingdom wi reat wisdom: no child died before their parents did, no 400F needed locks against robbers, no farmland lay barren, no tree went fruitless, and there was peace and prosperity all around. SITAIS BANISHED The Ramayana, as composed by Valmiki is thought to have six chapters and to end at this happy point. A seventh chapter, called the Ultar-Ramayana (uttar = post, afer, that which comes later) continues the story and ends on a slightly less happy note. This is how the story continues: After many months of Rama's rule, rumours began to surface among the populace regarding Sita's chastity since she had been abducted and imprisoned by a demon. Mindful of the feelings of his subjects, Rama asked Sita to undergo 4? Agni Pareeskha again. Sita refused, whereupon Rama banished her, Lakshman was deputed to escort her out ofthe kingdom: he did so ‘unwillingly and left Sita near the hermitage of Valmiki smayana: Places Ramayana: Places LAVA & KUSH SING THE RAMAYANA tes tkaeerRamayane%20-%20AncenazoritorManenrtered 9 Ht a/ Ee an aa ee Valmiki took her in as an ashram inmate, and she 62° birth to her twins there: sons Pp vcryavel hom Valmiki brought up with great love and ‘affection, teaching them princely skills such as as scholarly skills such asthe Vedas and other seripcares. alent ‘also taught them (o sing the Kanayana, which he had finished composing by this time: ThE Wi" who were unaware of their parentage and, ‘imily, would recite the poem at gatherings: ‘They became so Tama’ ears who summoned ther for a performance, It jhe twins: that they, spitting Images of the king, were his hence, unaware that they were singing about their ow" well-loved for their sweet recitation that their fame reached was here at Rama's court that the true story was revealed to © sons and that their mother was none other than the Sita whom IY NE of. anna, in remorse, asked Sita to return to the palace ifhe could prove her chastity again before an assembhy Sia, in from this place forever!” ‘Whereupon the ground parted, the qotklessPrithivi arose ona golden throne, rook Sita in het D> descended, and the rift closed. Sita was forever lost. Griefsteicken, Rama decided to live no longer: He najeated th throne in favour of his sons and, along with his others entered the waters ofthe river Sarayu that sirted “Ayodhya; their spirits left their bodies and ascended vo the heavens. anguish, cried out,"O mother earth, just take me away REGIONAL VARIATIONS “The Ramayana was composed in Sanskrit, Over the year® of re-tellings, ‘embellished the story, added regional touches, and inserted explanations ‘he hero, Rama, in a not-too-heroic light. The Ramavalars> ‘composed by the Tamil poet Kaman in the 12th century rhern parts of India In the north, the Remacharie Manet composed by the Awadhi poet several vernacular versions emerged tha and justifications for those bits that showed CE. is popular in the s “Tulsidas, is extremely popular. Other variations exist n sengali, Malayalam, Telegu, Kannada, and other Indian languages staircase of the Kailas Temple, Ellora staircase of the Kailasa Temple, Ellora LEGACY cir way into the common speech 3 neir way into the peech and idiom of the land. Public recitations oF The Ramayana's characters have found ‘peen adapted into plays and films; ar by local is also enacted every ¥ the Ramayana are comnion, The epic ba® of elope fil eee ro eee ! wrprciert History Encyclcgeda Rane" sa guring ne Dusserafestivides ofthe presen es Sere om coupes and neighbourhood societies in North Ind ples 37055 AS walls of some of the oldest © “and itis not uncommon tofind a Ramatemple if almost the epic can be seen on th in of god Vishnu try in the nother P aysia te story of Rama continues to be cold through ama is worshipped as a ‘every other neighbourhood in the cow ‘outh-East Asia, such as Cambodia, Indonesia, and Mi , tricately crafted shadow puppet shows. arts of India, especially in the Gangetic belt. In countries ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anindita Basu svorcinvesests include Indology, data visualisation, and exymolegy aindita is a technical writer and editor. Her off-v EDITORIAL REVIEW Cur editorial team reviews every submission for accuracy, being easy to read with students and the general public in mind reliability and adherence to academic standards, while Bibliography Ramayana: Interactive map of places and events ‘The Ramayana of Valrntk dar, RC, The History and Culture ofthe Indian People (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. 2016) Maju Puranie Encyclopaedia (Motilal Banarsidass, 884 License vinsten by Anindita Basu published on 20 August 2016 under the following sense Creative Commons: Attribution- NonCommercial-Shareslike This license lets others 1 build upon this content non-commercially. 25 long a¢ aorcmadie the author and license their new ereations under the identica|verms . mb, weak, janiml o sicpadeemamayent20- 20° e itr hE u