Rama

Ramayana epics are centred on Rama who is the 7th incarnation of Vishnu. Ramayana has great influence on Hindu culture and it is a path finder for human beings.

Cruelty was a time-pass for the demon king Ravana. It is said Rama surfaced on the earth as the son of Dasaratha, the king of Ayodhya, aimed at ending the cruelty of Ravana. Ravana had propitiated Shiva and Brahma and gained immunity from the wraths of gods, demons and Gandharvas (a specy of god-cum-demon). In order to overcome the immunity factor anyone of the gods had to manifest as a human and embark upon the task of annihilating Ravana. It was thus Rama came on the scene as the son of Dasaratha and Kausallia. Rama had three brothers – Bharatha, Lakshmana and Shatrugna. Kikeyi, the second wife of Dasaratha, gave birth to Bharatha and the third wife Sumitra gave birth to Lakshmana and Shatrugna.

The Yakshi (female demon) Taraka and her two children, Mareech and Subahu, used to terrify saint Vishwamitra and other saints. Fed-up of the nuisance, Vishwamitra approached king Dasaratha and requested to send Rama and Lakshmana to teach a lesson to the demon trio. Dasaratha agreed and sent Rama and Laxkmana along with Vishwamitra. When they reached a dense forest Taraka and her sons confronted and tried to kill them. In the ensued fight Rama killed Taraka and Subahu by a weapon provided by Vishwamittra. An arrow thrown by Rama towards Mareech pierced through his body and his body was thrown away.

The happy Vishwamitra persuaded Rama to accompany him to Mithila, the kingdom of Janaka, where Janaka had proclaimed a Swayamvara for his daughter Sita. Swayamvara is a custom prevailed among the ancient rulers. As per this custom the bride can choose husband of her choice from among the gathered prospective grooms. The wise king Janaka had set a condition that one who bends the bow of Lord Shiva is alone eligible to Swayamvara by her daughter. Many tried to lift the bow but failed. Finally Rama got up and lifted the bow with ease by one hand and broke it by bending. Thus Rama got married to Sita, who was an incarnation of Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu.

At this stage king Dasaratha decided to give the throne to Rama, the elder son. Hearing this, the second wife Kikeyi reminded the king a promise he had given to her when she saved his life once. The king had promised to fulfil her two wishes as and when she desires. She wanted her son Bharatha to be crowned instead of Rama, and exile Rama to forest for14 years. Behind these demands the brain was of crooked Manthara, the maid-servant of Kikeyi. The king was aghast. At this juncture Rama thought it is the duty of a son to help keep the word of his father and he volunteered to go to forest, and left. The deep love and affection to Rama prevailed on Lakshmana to accompany him.

The heart-broken Dasaratha died shortly thereafter. Consequently Bharatha went to Rama and begged for coming back and ruling the kingdom. Rama was unrelenting for he wanted to keep up the word (promise given to Kikeyi) of his father. The dismayed Bharatha took Rama’s Methiyadi (wooden sandal) and placed it on the throne as a symbolical ruler, in place of Rama. Bharatha handed over the kingdom to Rama when he returned after completing the exile.

Surpanaka, the sister of Ravana happened to see Rama. Impressed by his beauty and charisma, she lodged a request on Rama to marry her after manifesting herself as a beautiful lady. Rama curtly refused to oblige, saying he is already married to Sita. The anguished Surpanaka took her original form and rushed to Sita to kill her. Visualizing the motive of Surpanaka, Lakshmana cut her nose and an ear. For retaliation Surpanaka sent her brother Khardushan and 14000 Rakshasas (demons). All of them were killed by Rama and Lakshmana. Still vengeance ruled Surpanaka. She approached her elder brother Ravana to teach a lesson to Sita. But Ravana had a different scheme in his mind. He intended to make the beautiful Sita his wife and sent a golden deer near Sita. Seeing it Sita expressed interest in having the deer when Rama and Laxmana went chasing the deer. Noticing the absence of Rama and Laxmana, Ravana whisked away Sita to Lanka, his kingdom. En-route a vulture named Jatayu fought with Ravana in the air in an attempt to rescue Sita. In the tussle one wing of Jatayu was chopped and fell down. He could however inform Rama as to what happened, before his death.

After reaching Lanka, Ravana employed all methods – persuasion and threat – on Sita to get her node for marriage. She bluntly rejected all advances.

At this point of time monkey king Sugreeva, exiled from his kingdom by his power-lust brother Bali, approached Rama to regain his kingdom. They both struck a deal and as part of it Rama helped Sugreeva get back his kingdom. In return, Sugreeva raised an army of monkeys and bears and put Hanuman in captaincy. Hanuman flew across the sea and landed in Lanka where he could locate Sita after some efforts. Ravana noticed Hanuman and ordered the Rakshasas (demons) to capture and set fire to his tail after wrapping with oil-rags. Ravana lengthened his tail endlessly, but Rakshasas set fire to it. With the burning tail Hanuman burnt down the entire Lanka except the portion where Sita was lodged. While Lanka was burning Rama and Sugreeva’s army had built a bridge between Lanka and the mainland India. The sea-crossed army and Rama fought with Ravana’s army. All Rakshasa fighters were killed and finally the battle was between Rama and Ravana. Ravana was killed by a weapon given to Rama by saint Agastya and rescued Sita.

In the battle Lakshamana was wounded. The wound was cured by a herb found only in Himalayas. Hanuman was flown to Himalayas. When he could not recognize the herb he brought the entire mountain.

Ayodhya’s crown finally went to the deserving Rama.

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