Those Eventful 39 Years of Sri Rama

By Prabhakar Rao V

Ramayana, the legend of Rama is one of the most popular textin the world literature. This book, for a change seeks to find the chronology of events on a day to day basis, and covers the sequence of events through the 39 Years of the tale. I is a well researched book which will opens many questions, gives a detailed account of the sequence of events and tries to reconstruct it from the scattered references in Valmiki Ramayana.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Giri Trading Agency Private Limited
• Release date: Feb 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9788179506493

Book preview

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Those Eventful 39 Years Of Sri Rama

Author :

V.Prabhakar Rao, Singapore

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GIRI

GIRI TRADING AGENCY PRIVATE LIMITED

Guidelines to pronunciation

CONTENTS

Guidelines to pronunciation

Dedication

Foreword

About the Author

Author’s Note

Introduction

The Big Picture

Those auspicious 25 days

Those crucial 45 days

Those Painful 10 Months

Those extraordinary 3 days

Those victorious 2 months

Those divinely final 7 days leading to Pattabhisheka

Conclusion

References & Acknowledgements

Dedication

To my parents due to whom I am what I am

To my parents in law for their faith in me when I was just beginning my journey

To my wife for steadfastly standing by me

To my children including the son in law for their enthusiastic support for whatever I do

To my brothers, sisters, brothers in law, sisters in law, nephews and nieces and uncles and aunts for their love, affection, care and respect

To Ramayana Forum students, research project holders and Skype attendees for energising me with their zeal and enthusiasm

To my friends and Ramayana Forum well-wishers whose support keeps me going

And most importantly to that Divine Guru Rayaru whose guiding hand is felt all the time ……

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Foreword

By

Dr.R.Rangan

(Son of Sri Sri Krishna Premi Swamigal and a well learned Vedic Scholar, with Ramayana and Lord Sitaram close to his heart)

‘Those eventful 39 years of Sri Rama’ is a nice book. What is there in those 39 years? Why they are so significant? Why had all the Kavis chosen to describe only of those 39 years of Rama who lived much longer? If we closely read the content, Valmiki’s focus is not even on those 39 years as a whole. He narrates only the events belonging to that of just 15 months. What is there in those auspicious 25 days? In those crucial 45 days? In those painful 10 months? In those extraordinary 3 days? In those victorious 2 months? In those Divinely final 7 days? Why these 15 months are focused on again and again by the Kavis throughout the several millenniums?

Those auspicious 25 days are the days of education. Therefore they are important. In these 25 days the extraordinary sage Vishvamitra brought the royal children out of their palace and showed them the external world. He answered all the questions asked by the curious children patiently. He explained about many rivers, mountains and regions. He took them to the great Kings like Sumati and Janaka. He gave chance for them to show their prowess in archery. He gave many missiles to them. Finally he even made matrimonial arrangement. This is the education presented by Ramayana which was revealed in those 25 days. These days are named as auspicious because education and marriage are auspicious.

Those crucial 45 days are the days of sacrifice. Sita sacrifices all materialistic wealth due to her chastity. Bharata sacrifices the Kingdom due to his ideal brotherhood. Lakshmana sacrifices his wealth due to his devotion. Guha is ready to sacrifice his wealth for the sake of friendship. Sumantra is ready to sacrifice for the sake of servitude. Subjects of Ayodhya sacrifice their comforts due to their devotion to Sri Rama. Dasaratha sacrifices his own son who is more to him than his own life for the sake of truth. Sri Rama sacrifices his Kingdom for the sake of Truth and devotion to his parents. Sacrifice, sacrifice and sacrifice! Selflessness, selflessness and selflessness! Is the epitome of these 45 days which set the role model for the mankind forever.

Those painful 10 months are the months of Love. Rama and Sita bear extreme pain for the sake of love. Rama could have gone back to Ayodhya and got married to some other woman after a short search in the forest. But he never gives up. Though Ravana promises to transfer whole of his property of Lanka to Sita, she treats everything to be a straw and stood steadfast in her Dharma of love.

The one day which reveals the most of the potential of Hanuman is the day when Hanuman searched for Sita in Lanka. Hanuman himself glorifies this day as Sujaatamula subhaga keertimaalaa yashasvini the night which is grounded well in auspiciousness, which is auspicious, which wears the garland of glory and which is glorious……". Today we admire Hanuman, we worship him and we are even mad after him mainly due to this night in which almost all potentials of Hanuman, his intelligence, his dexterity, his patience, his emotional intelligence, his compassion and his love and devotion - everything is revealed. Really, we should be