Lakshmana: Epic Characters of Ramayana

By Prof. T. N. Prabhakar

Lakshmana was Dasharatha and Sumitra'a son, Rama's brother and an incarnation of Adisesha, the divine serpent. He mastered the Vedas and other subjects in quick time. He accompanied Rama when sage Vishwamitra wanted help in the conduct of a yajna which was being troubled by demons. After standing guard with Rama at the yajna and helping him kill several demons, he expressed no desire to return home. After Rama won Sita's hand, Lakshmana got married to Urmila. When he came to know Kaikeyi's evil demand, he was furious and was prepared to eliminate all obstacles, even if it meant killing his father. He gave up everything in order to be with Rama and Sita during their stay in the forest. He protected both of them as can be seen by the way he chopped off Shoorpanakha's nose and ears when the latter tried to attack Sita. After Sita's abduction, it was Lakshmana who instilled confidence in Rama whenever he lost it. He was highly duty conscious and expected others to be like him –Sugreeva got crowned as king of Lanka and promised to help Rama in searching for Sita but forgot about it. Lakshmana was furious and had to be calmed down by Rama. His support to Rama during the battle at Lanka was invaluable. After Rama was crowned, he desired Lakshmana to be the yuvaraja but he insisted that the honour must go to Bharatha. He was heartbroken when Rama asked him to leave Sita at Valmiki's hermitage because some people had doubted her fidelity. Caught between his duty to his brother and Durvasa, he chose to sacrifice himself. Thus he faced banishment and later entered swarga with his body and soul. It was no wonder that Sage Valmiki expressed that Lakshmana was the outer breath of Sri Rama.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana
• Release date: May 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9789389020717

Book preview

EPIC CHARACTERS oF RAMAYANA

Lakshmana

Written by

Prof. T.N. Prabhakar

Translated by

Prof. G. S. Mudambadithaya

© Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana, Bengaluru. All rights reserved.

Published by:

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FOREWORD

Sri Srirangasadgurave Namah

Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana, the intellectual and spiritual offspring of Bharatha Darshana, a premier publishing house of Bangalore, has been rendering yeoman services to the cause of literature, culture and its blossom, ‘The Epic Characters of the Mahabharatha,’ has bloomed in all splendor in the world of children’s literature and we have welcomed and blessed it. Now the second bud has blossomed in the form of ‘The Epic Characters of Ramayana’ and has already begun spreading its fragrance around. It is a set of books based on Ramayana. We welcome it and bless it.

There is a difference between the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha in style and treatment. There is no second opinion about differences regarding form, magnitude, delineation of characters and the time of composition of these two great epics. Srimad Ramayana is a pure epic in seven cantos. There are twenty four thousand stanzas. It is an epic par excellence dealing with a theme and characters who lived in tretayuga, composed by a contemporary poet. The Mahabharatha is essentially history. It is in eighteen parvas having hundred thousand stanzas. It deals with a theme and characters who lived in dwaparayuga, again composed by a contemporary poet. (There is a view that these two great epics depict the culture of different regions of this holy land and are composed by many poets and they portray the various events and circumstances which took place during the Aryan invasion of India. We do not agree with such views).

All the same these two epics provide us with the images of the Vedas. These are the essence of vedas, national epics of Bharatha and sources for thousands of books on our culture which followed them from the natural stream of poetical composition and enjoyment of literature. At the same time they are never drying sources of Purusharthas namely dharma, artha, kama and moksha. In the background of the struggle among human beings, they paint the struggle between the good and the evil very beautifully and announce to the world the message of victory of the good over the evil. These eloquent and learned creations, have a few universal and sovereign truths to give to the world and as a result they have occupied the pride of place among great literary works in the