RAMAYANA: THE STORY OF RAMA India has a golden heritage, a heritage of Epics, Vedas and Upanishads. India was known as Bharat in olden days. Many ‘Rishis’ (Saints or Sages) lived in Bharat. One of them was Sage Valmiki, who authored Ramayana, the epic written in golden words.
To understand the story of Ramayana, some information about the Gods of Hindu mythology is necessary. It is said that the Trimurthis (the three Ultimate Gods) existed at the beginning of the Universe. They are Siva, Brahma and Mahavishnu. Brahma is the God of ‘Srishti’ (Creator of all living things), Mahavishnu is the God of ‘Sthithi’ (Protector of all living things) and Siva is the God of ‘Samhara’ (Destroyer of all living things). Whenever evil is on the rise in the universe, Mahavishnu takes birth on earth in various incarnations to maintain peace and order in the universe. Ramayana is the epic story of Rama, one of the incarnations of Mahavishnu, who was
born to kill the Demon
king Ravana.
The epic goes like this. Dasaratha was the beloved king of Ayodhya. He had three wives (Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra) but no children. After years of despair, according to the advise of his ‘Guru’ (the Royal Sage), he conducted ‘Putrakameshti Yaga’ (a special offering to appease the Gods). The Gods were pleased at the end of the Yaga and King Dasaratha was given a bowl of divine ‘payasa’ (sweet pudding). He was told by the Gods to offer the sweet to his wives and then they became pregnant. Eventually they gave birth to four sons. The first was Rama, born to Kausalya, next Bharata, born to Kaikeyi and the twins Lakshmana and Sathrughna, born to Sumitra.
Rama married Sita, the beautiful Princess of Mithila and daughter of King Janaka. His brothers too married her sisters. King Dasaratha felt that the time was ripe to hand over the throne to Rama. But Mandhara, Queen Kaikeyi’s servant, told her that her son, Bharata should be the heir to the throne and not Rama. Years ago, Queen Kaikeyi was granted two boons by King Dasaratha for saving him during a battle, but she had not availed the boons. Grabbing this opportunity, she forced King Dasaratha to grant her the boons, one to send Rama to the
forest for fourteen years and the second to appoint Bharat as the heir to the throne. Hearing this, Dasaratha became very depressed, but he had no other way than to accede to her wishes.
Rama went to forest alongwith his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana. As he was born in the earth to wipe out evil, he killed many demons and demonesses in the forest. Meanwhile, the demon king Ravana kidnapped Sita and took her to Lanka, his island kingdom. Rama, with the help of Hanuman and his battalion of monkeys, constructed a bridge to Lanka and in the battle which ensued, killed Ravana and rescued Sita. He returned to Ayodhya in the ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ (an aircraft), which belonged to the God of Wealth, Kubera.
Rama was handed over the throne by his devoted brother Bharata. Under Rama’s rule, Ayodhya witnessed some of its glorious years. But, in between, Rama abandoned his pregnant wife Sita, on hearing his subjects’ doubts about the integrity of Sita, who was kept prisoner in Ravana’s palace for a long period. Abandoned in the forest, Sita gave birth to twin sons, Lava and Kusha. During an accidental meeting with his sons in the forest, Rama recognized them and took them and Sita back to his palace.
During the public confession in Ayodhya, Sita prayed to Mother Earth that if she was not
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