Ramayana in Rhymes

By Jyothirllata Girija

Mrs. Jyotirllata Girija, born in Chennai. She wrote her first story when she was at the age of thirteen. She has written in so many forms - Stories for children, novels, short stories, dramas etc. So far, she has written more than 600 short stories, 19 novels, 60 novelettes and 3 dramas. She has also written 25 short stories in English and she has written around 150 stories for children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pustaka Digital Media
• Release date: Feb 9, 2017
• ISBN: 6580501501861

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Ramayana in Rhymes

Author:

Jyothirllata Girija

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Table of Contents

SYNOPSIS OF RAMAYANA

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

Chapter – 1

Chapter – 2

Chapter – 3

Chapter – 4

Chapter – 5

Chapter – 6

Chapter – 7

Chapter – 9

Chapter – 10

Chapter – 11

Chapter – 12

Chapter – 13

Chapter – 14

Chapter – 15

Chapter – 16

Chapter – 17

Chapter -18

Chapter – 19

Chapter – 20

Chapter - 21

Chapter – 22

Chapter - 23

Chapter – 24

Chapter – 25

Chapter – 26

Chapter – 27

Dedicated to the memory of

1. My beloved father, (late) Shri B.A. Subrahmanyam, School Teacher and Scoutmaster of Batlagundu (Tamil Nadu), who educated me braving the opposition of orthodox Brahmins in the village,

&

2. (Late) Padmashri Dr. Krishna Srinivas, who originally serialized Ramayana in Rhymes in POET of which he was the editor.

******

SYNOPSIS OF RAMAYANA

ONE

In ancient India, there were two kingdoms – one called Mithila, ruled by King Janaka, whose daughter was Seetha, and the other called Kosala, ruled by Dasaratha, who had three wives and four sons Kouwalya, the chief of the queens, gave birth to Rama, the hero of.Ramayana, while Sumitra had twins called Lakshmana and Satrughna.and Kaikeyi, the most beautiful queen, had Bharatha. Rama was the handsomest of all.

Those were the days of gods and demons and Ravana was the mightiest of all the demons with ten heads. Though a demon, he was a devotee of Lord Shiva by whose grace he had obtained many boons. Ravana was so aggressive and powerful that even gods feared him. At one stage they all approached Lord Vishnu and begged Him to save them from him. Vishnu said that he would divide Himself into four parts and be born taking human forms as the four sons of King Dasaratha.That the.other gods would take the form of apes, bears etc. and help Rama in his battle with Ravana. Thus it was that Dasaratha got the.above said four sons by his three wives. All the four boys were trained.as princes should be trained and they became clever not only in their studies, but princely feats like archery, use of arms, riding, driving, fencing etc. very quickly, Rama being the best of all in all respects. When the princes were sixteen, a sage by name Vishwamitra came to the palace.in the capital city of Ayodhya. He asked the king to send Rama with him so as to destroy the demons that were causing all sorts of nuisance and also destroying the offerings he made to the gods and were thus obstructing his yaga. At first, Dasaratha was very hesitant to part with Rama, but finally agreed so as not to incur the wrath of the sage..Lakshmana also offered to go with Rama.

Reaching the jungle where the sage was residing, Rama destroyed the demons and then the sage took them both to Mithila where the king Janaka was performing a great yaga. King Janaka welcomed them and showed them the bow of Lord Shiva (Shiv Dhanus). He also told.them he was willing to offer the hand of his daughter, Seetha, to the youth who would lift the heavy bow and bend it; but that many warriors had tried and failed. With the permission of Janaka, Rama lifted the.heavy bow with ease and strung it. When he bent it, it broke into two and everyone was stunned! The king happily said he would offer Seetha to him. So messengers were sent to Dasaratha who was also equally jubilant. And the marriage of not only Rama and Seetha, was performed, but also those of the other boys with girls chosen by King Janaka himself And, after the marriages were performed, they all returned to Ayodhya.

TWO

Rama and Seetha loved each other and started to live happily in Ayodhya.. After some time, Dasaratha wanted to choose Rama as his heir to rule the kingdom after him and everyone agreed with him not only because to crown the first-born was the royal custom but also because Rama was the fittest of all. All the three queens were happy about the choice and the whole city looked anew the streets being decked with banners and festoons. In short as Rama was liked by one and all, the whole kingdom wore a festive look.

But, there was a single soul which hated Rama becoming the heir of Dasaratha and that was Manthara, an old nurse and intimate friend of Kaikeyi. Rama, during his childhood days, due to innocence, used to throw clay balls aiming at her hunch-back, making fun of her. So,nurturing hatred and vengeance towards Rama, Manthara goaded Kaikeyi to ask Dasaratha for the two boons which he’d granted her long ago when she saved his life by carrying him away in the chariot driving it herself from the battle field when he was seriously wounded.Besides having bravely accompanied him, she had saved his life and.later nursed him back to normal life. The grateful king had granted her.two boons but she had declined them at that time. Now Manthara.reminded of the boons and induced her to ask for them.

Accordingly, Kaikeyi reminded Dasaratha about them and as counseled by her old nurse told the king that her own son, Bharatha,should be crowned and Rama should be banished to live in the forest for fourteen years. Hearing the heartless words of Kaikeyi the king fainted.

Then, after recovery, he spoke to Kaikeyi in a tremulous voice choked with both acute anger and profound grief. He asked Kaikeyi.not to stress on her wishes, but Kaikeyi was adamant. She blamed that he was a liar inclined to break his word. So, in fine, Dasaratha had to submit to her wishes.

The next day, Rama was told that he would have to go to the forest and Bharatha was to be crowned as king in his place. Rama took it with a dispassionate mind and instantly agreed to obey the king’s command. He was happy that Bharatha would be the future king. Rama’s mother, Kousalya, and Lakshmana urged Rama to disobey the king’s order but Rama refused to abide by their request. Seetha to whom he went to take leave insisted upon accompanying him to the woods as a dutiful wife. Lakshmana too decided to go with Rama, despite his objection. So, the three, clad in poor robes, left the palace and two nights after Rama’s departure Dasaratha died of a broken heart, with Rama’s.name on his lips. Bharatha who was then in another kingdom as a guest there was immediately sent for Bharatha was not told about the happenings in the palace and on arrival there learning about the banishment of Rama whom Seetha and Lakshmana had accompanied and the consequent demise of Dasaratha, he became furious towards.his mother, Kaikeyi. He told her that he would never agree to take Rama’s place and that he would somehow bring him back to be crowned.

After performing the funeral rites of his father, Bharatha left for the woods with an army. Meeting Rama, living in a hut with Seetha and Lakshmana, in the jungle Bharatha was in tears. He fell at the feet of Rama and begged of him to return to Ayodhya to get crowned. The princes and Seetha were grieved knowing about the demise of the king, but Rama refused to return saying that he would obey the king’s last command. Having failed to convince Rama, Bharatha at last asked for the sandals of Rama saying that he would place them on the throne as a substitute for the rightful heir and rule the kingdom till his return after fourteen years.

THREE

When days were thus passing in the woods for the three, one day, a demon princess by name Soorpanaka came to the hut while wandering in the woods and saw the handsome Rama. She fell in love with him the very instant and wanted to have him all for herself. She was a very ugly woman. So, in order to entice him, she changed her appearance and became a pretty damsel. She shamelessly approached Rama and begged him to come away with her discarding Seetha. Rama stoutly refused. At that, the demon princess flew at Seetha so as to harm her but Lakshmana intervened and cut the nose of the intruder with his sword. Then the demon princess ran away from there wailing loudly to Khara, the demon , her own brother.

Khara immediately came to the place of Rama with an army to attack him. After sending Seetha away, along with Lakshmana to a secret place, Rama, arming himself with divine weapons attacked the army all alone and Khara and his retinue were destroyed in no time. Soorpanaka alone escaped and she instantly went to the other brother, Ravana, who, hearing about what had happened vowed to fight with and kill Rama. Then Soorpanaka told Ravana that Rama had a very beautiful wife and suggested his snatching her away and taking her to Lanka, his kingdom. Then Ravana hatched a plan with the aid of his uncle, a magician, to dupe Rama and Lakshmana.

Accordingly Maareecha, the uncle, took the form of a golden stag and wandered near Rama’s hut. Seeing the beauty of the stag, Seetha wanted it for her and Rama went after it. It ran at high speed and Rama followed it too.

At last, the tired Rama shot an arrow at it and it dropped dead. But while falling down, it shouted the name of Lakshmana mimicking the voice of Rama so loudly as to reach the ears of both Seetha and Lakshmana in the hut. Thinking that Rama was in danger and so called Lakshmana for help, Seetha asked him to go, but Lakshmana refused to move out of the hut leaving her alone, for he guessed that it was not a real stag and that there was something fishy about the whole incident.

Seetha, ignorant of it all, again and again requested him to go and help Rama, but Lakshmana told her that none could harm Rama. Seetha could not be convinced and she blamed Lakshmana of hatching a scheme to snatch her away on Rama’s departure. Lakshmana who considered Seetha as his mother was in tears hearing the accusation. But he decided to stay. Yet, he had to leave the hut as Seetha threatened to immolate herself if he did not go to help Rama.

Now, Ravana, who was hiding there nearby in the guise of a hermit, approached the hut and accosted Seetha for alms. Taking him for a real mendicant, Seetha let him in. Then he revealed his identity and asked her to come with him to Lanka, saying he’d make her the chief queen. Seetha became furious at that and asked him to leave at once lest he would have to face the wrath of Rama, a divine person. At that, Ravana bragged about his own powers and