Uniiversality of the Epic Ramayana

By Rajendra Prasad

In ancient times, people of India used to travel around the world for business. Wherever he went, he left an indelible impression of his civilization and culture. The people of India also took the Ramayana with them. Ramayana left its indelible mark on those countries as well. Even after so many years, the influence of Ramayana is seen in foreign countries which is reflected in their inscriptions, murals, crafts and language. Knowing about them is not only interesting but also informative. In this book, the author has made an effort to collect the same evidence which is readable for every curious person.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rajendra Prasad
• Release date: Aug 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201061982

Book preview

The short story of the original Ramayana

Before knowing about the different types of Ramayans in the country and abroad, we need to know the story of the original Ramayana at least briefly so that we can easily understand what changes has been made in characters and story of original Ramayan.

Ramayana is the story of King Rama. The name Ramayana is made up of two words, Ram and Ayan. Ayan means journey hence Ramayana means journey of Rama. Valmiki wrote the story of Lord Shri Ram as told to him by Brahma (an Indian deity). Valmiki Ramayana is an early epic of Sanskrit literature, composed in Sanskrit language in anushtup verses (Anushtup chhand is the most used verse in Sanskrit poetry, containing eight syllables in a pada or ‘quarter-verse’). In this, a great and detailed description of the character of Shri Ram has been written in poetic form. Being composed by Maharishi Valmiki, it is called 'Valmiki Ramayana'. At present, all the texts available based on the character of Rama have their origin in Valmiki Ramayana by Maharishi Valmiki. This Ramayana is also the most authentic.

Maharishi Valmiki, the founder of 'Valmiki Ramayana', is considered 'Adikavi' and that is why this epic is considered 'Adikavya'. This epic is an endowment in the form of literature, being reflective of the important dimensions of Indian culture. There are six chapters of Ramayana known as Kanda, it has 24,000 verses. Some Indians say that it was written before 600 BC. Valmiki Ramayana is a unique epic in terms of poetic qualities. Scholars are of the opinion that this epic is the basis of Sanskrit poetry. The time of Ramayana is considered to be of Tretayuga. The Hindu calendar is based on the Chaturyugi system, according to which time is divided into four ages - Satyuga, Tretayuga, Dwapar Yuga and Kali Yuga.

Ram Katha

Saint Tulsidas composed epics like Ramcharitmanas which is the Hindi version of Ramayana written in Sanskrit by Valmiki. According to Tulsidas, the story of Shri Ram was first narrated by Lord Shri Shankar to Mother Parvati (Indian deities). When Lord Shankar was narrating the story of Lord Shri Ram to Parvati, there was a nest of cork (crow) and the cork sitting inside was also listening to that story. Even before the completion of the story, Mother Parvati fell asleep, but the bird heard the whole story. The same bird was reborn as Kakbhushundi. Kakbhushundi narrated this story to Garuda . This holy story of Shri Ram, which came out from the mouth of Lord Shri Shankar, is famous by the name of Adhyatma Ramayana.

Shri Tulsidas wrote the holy story of Lord Shri Ram in the native (Awadhi) language. Saint Tulsidas named this book of Lord Shri Ram written by him as Ramcharitmanas. Ramcharitmanas is also scommonly known as Tulsi Ramayana.

Ramayana story in brief

The plot of the Valmiki Ramayana weaves its fabric around Rama. Rama is the hero of this epic and Maharishi Valmiki portrays his character as a superman. Lord Rama, being the owner of divine uniqueness and extraordinary qualities, does not appear to be extra-human by any of his activities, his character has been portrayed as Purshottam (Best among men) According to Hindu scriptures, Lord Rama was a human incarnation of Vishnu (an Indian Deity). The purpose of this incarnation was to guide mankind towards an ideal life in this world of death. At the end, Shri Ram killed the demon king Ravana and restored the religion. There are 6 Kands (chapters) in Ramayana, Balkand, Ayodhyakand, Aranyakand, Kishkindhakand, Sunderkand and Lankakand, let us know about them in brief.

Balkand

In the city of Ayodhya there was a king named Dasharatha who had three wives named Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. Dasharatha performed Putrakameshti Yagya on the orders of his guru Shri Vashistha to get children.

Agnidev (Fire God) himself appeared and gave a sweet pot (kheer) to King Dasharatha, which he distributed among his three wives. As a result of consumption of kheer, Rama was born from Kaushalya's womb, Bharata from Kaikeyi's womb and Lakshmana and Shatrughna from Sumitra's womb.

When the princes grew up, sage Vishwamitra taking the permission of King Dasharatha took Rama and Lakshmana with him to protect the ashram from the demons. Rama killed the demons like Tadka and Subahu and Maricha to protect the ashram. On the other hand, Lakshmana killed the entire army of demons. On receiving the invitation of King Janak for the bow yagya, Vishwamitra along with Rama and Lakshmana came to the city Janakpur. When Rama came to Mithila (Janakpur) and tried to lift the bow, it broke from the middle and as promised by King Janak, Rama was married withSita. Simultaneously with the marriage of Rama and Sita, Guru Vashistha married Bharata to Mandvi, Lakshmana to Urmila and Shatrughan to Shrutkirti.

Ayodhya Kand

Sometime after Rama's marriage, King Dasharatha wanted to coronate Rama. Then Manthara, who was Kaikeyi's maidservant, turned Kaikeyi's intellect. Kaikeyi went to Kopbhavan on Manthara's advice. When Dasharatha came to celebrate, Kaikeyi asked him for a boon that Bharata should be made king and Rama be sent into exile for fourteen years.

Sita and Lakshmana also went to the forest with Rama. Dasaratha died in Ayodhya due to the separation of his son. Vashishtha called Bharata and Shatrughna from their maternal grandmother. Upon his return, Bharata strongly condemned his mother Kaikeyi for his deviousness and rejected the kingdom of Ayodhya and went to Chitrakoot with all his relatives to bring Rama back. But Rama, in order to obey his father and follow the custom of Raghuvansh (Raghu's lineage), declined the invitation Bharata came back to Ayodhya with Rama's paduka (sandals). He placed Rama's paduka on the royal throne and himself started residing in Nandigram.

Aranyakand

Rama went ahead and met Sharbhang Muni. And on moving forward, Rama saw heaps of bones in places about which the sages told Rama that the demons had eaten many sages and these were the bones of the same sages. On this, Rama promised that he would kill all the demons and make the earth demon-less. Rama went further and, meeting sages like Sutikshana, Agastya etc., entered the Dandak forest and made Panchavati his abode.

In Panchavati, Ravana's sister Shurpanakha came and made a courtship request to Rama. Rama sent him to Lakshmana, saying that he was with his wife and that his younger brother was alone. Lakshmana knowing that she is his enemy's sister, rejected his courtship, cut off his nose and ears. Shurpanakha sought help from Khar-Dushan and they came to fight with their army. In the battle, Rama killed Khar-Dushan and his army. Shurpanakha went and complained to her brother Ravana. Ravana sent Maricha as a golden deer to take revenge, Sita demanded the golden bark of deer from Rama. After ordering Lakshmana to protect Sita, Rama went to kill the golden deer. Maricha (golden deer) was killed by Rama, but while dying, Marich cried 'Ha Lakshmana' by making the voice of Rama, hearing which Sita, in apprehension, sent Lakshman to Rama. After the departure of Lakshmana, Sita was deceitfully abducted by Ravana who took her with him to Lanka. On the way, Jatayu fought with Ravana to save Sita, but Ravana injured him with sword.

On his return, Rama became very sad and mourned not finding Sita and started wandering here and there in search of her and then he met Jatayu on the way, Jatayu told Rama about his plight by Ravana and informed him that he took Sita in the south direction. Ram proceeded in search of Sita.

Kishkindhakand

Rama came near Rishyamook Mountain. Sugriva along with his ministers lived on that mountain. Sugriva, fearing that Vali might not have sent the two heroes to kill him, sent Hanuman as a Brahmin to inquire about Rama and Lakshmana. After learning that he had not been sent by Bali, Hanuman befriended Rama and Sugriva. Sugriva consoled Rama that Sita would be found and he would help in finding her as well as told about the atrocities committed on him by his brother Bali. After killing Vali, Rama gave the kingdom of Kishkindha to Sugriva and the position of prince to Angad, the son of Bali.

Sugriva sent the monkeys to search for Sita. The monkeys who went in search of Sita saw an ascetic in a cave. Tapaswini (ascetic) took the search team to the beach with Yoga Shakti, where they met Sampati. Sampati told the monkeys that Ravana had kept Sita in Lanka Ashokvatika. Jambavan asked Hanuman to cross the ocean and find Sita because he could only do this work among monkeys.

Sunderkand

Hanuman left for Lanka. On the way, Hanuman killed the shadow-catcher demon and entered Lanka after killing Lankaini. There he met Vibhishana. Hanuman reached Ashokvatika and met Sita when she was lonely, and gave her the ring of Rama. Hanuman destroyed the Ashoka Vatika and killed Ravana's son Akshay Kumar. Other son of Ravana Meghnath tied Hanuman in the nagpasha and took him to the court of Ravana. In response to Ravana's question, Hanuman introduced himself as Rama's messenger. Ravana tied a cloth dipped in oil to Hanuman's tail and set it on fire, with which Hanuman burnt