About: Since childhood, I have heard and read the epic story of the Ramayana many times over and am still enthralled by its enduring appeal. Different storytellers strung their bows, shot their arrows-without the bow snapping-and it always hit me with the force of their narrative. Over the years the story has grown inside and locked itself with the other great Indian Epic, the Mahabharata – and the Bhagavad Gita neatly tucked-in. The learning has been profound and only gets amplified when I read yet another version. Another angle, another layer, another dimension…in a never-ending process. Oh, how did I miss this one the last time?

Warming Up

This time, I read a translation of the original Valmiki Ramayana to get to the embryonic strings of the great Epic; to tie loose ends, and amalgamate it with many other versions that I have read over the years. It’s difficult to find an ancient story better than the Ramayana (and along with the Mahabharata, the combination is hard to beat). I am currently reading the Kamba Ramayana, and it is a fabulous, romantic, poetic version, with mesmerising detailed descriptions of persons, places, and events.

Definition of a word often coming up ahead. A Yagna is a Hindu ritual of worship performed in front of a sacred fire with the recitation of mantras, typically in an Ashram. Sacrifices and offerings are made to the Gods, through the sacred fire, to secure specific boons-wishes, blessings, inner purification, spiritual enlightenment, or simply better conditions on Earth for peaceful, and duty-bound living of human beings.

The Epic

The Ramayana is the story of Prince Rama, who should have been crowned King, being the eldest of his father King Dasharatha’s four sons, but is banished to spend 14 years in exile, in the forests. This happens because Rama’s step-mother wanted her own son, Bharata, to become King and conveniently redeems two boons she once received from the King, to this effect. This at a time, when Rama (and his step-brother Lakshmana) had just returned from an adventure to protect and help Sage Vishwamitra conduct a Yagna in his Ashram, without distraction and disruption from demons.

After the success of the Yagna, Vishwamitra leads them to the Kingdom of Mithila ruled by King Janaka, telling them about a magnificent bow, which no one has ever been able to lift and string. Later, King Janaka explains the history of the divine bow, called Pinaka, crafted by the celestial architect Vishwakarma for Lord Shiva, which had been entrusted to his ancestors, by the Gods. He announces that if Rama can string the bow he will give his daughter Sita in marriage to him. The enormous bow is wheeled-in on a cart; Rama lifts it effortlessly, strings it, checks its tautness, and places an arrow when the bow snaps in the middle.

Keeping the promise, Rama marries Sita. And on the sidelines, other alliances are struck: Lakshmana marries Urmila-Janaka’s other daughter; Bharata and Shatrughana marry Mandavi and Shrutakirti, who are the daughters of King Janaka’s younger brother.

On the return journey to Ayodhya, the wedding party is confronted by Parashurama (an avatar of Lord Vishnu), who is angered that Shiva’s bow has been broken. He produces Lord Vishnu’s bow and challenges Rama to a combat. Rama grabs the bow, strings it and places an arrow -which then must be released. Parashurama is beaten, asks Rama to aim the arrow at ‘the worlds’ he has won on the power of his austerities, and to kill his own arrogance, so that he can return, in peace, to his home in the mountains.

King Dasharatha then announces the coronation of Rama, when Rama’s step-mother, Queen Kaikeyi, steps in to redeem boons.

Rama’s younger step-brother Lakshmana is devoted to him, since childhood, and refuses to leave his side. As does Sita, who could have comfortably lived in the palace, yet unflinchingly accompanies her husband into exile. A wife’s place is always beside her husband.

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana, guided by Sage Agasthya-who they meet in the forest-‘set-up hut’ at a location based on Agasthya’s directions. While thus living in the forest, the Rakshasa King Ravana’s sister, Shurpanakha comes across Rama and falls in love with him. She tries to grab Sita so that she can get the handsome Rama for herself, but Rama and Lakshmana fend her off, with Lakshmana doing the honours of cutting off her ears and nose.

In retaliation, on the pleas of a humiliated sister, Ravana hatches a plan to entice Sita with an unbelievably beautiful golden deer-which is actually a Rakshasha in disguise-grazing about the hut. On Sita’s request, Rama goes out hunting for the deer, and later Lakshmana is dispatched by Sita to look-up Rama when she hears cries of help, in Rama’s voice- by the dying Rakshasha,killed by Rama. Ravana then makes his entry, disguised as a renunciant, strikes a conversation with Sita, reveals his true form and identity, and spells out his intent. He abducts Sita, using his right hand to catch her by the hair and putting his left arm under her knees to lift and place her in his Flying Chariot. While in the air, hearing Sita’s cries, Ravana is challenged by an enormous bird, Jatayu, the King of Vultures. But in a hard-fought fight Ravana wounds the mighty bird, cutting off its wings and feet, and flies off, taking Sita to his Kingdom in Lanka, across the Ocean.

Ravana refuses to force himself on Sita until she willingly agrees to become one of his many wives. And he has a lot of them in his Palace, the Chief Queen being Mandodari, who is as beautiful as Sita. In fact, Hanuman on first seeing her during his flying adventure to Lanka, mistakes her for Sita!

Rama and Lakshmana set out to rescue Sita. They know she is alive from the tell-tale signs of her ornaments and pieces of clothing she throws down, and from the accounts of animals in the forest. They are guided to seek and make an alliance with the Vanara (Monkey) King Sugriva who has been dispossessed of his Kingdom (and his wife), by his brother Vaali, and is living in the forests. Hanuman is Sugriva’s trusted advisor. A deal is struck wherein Rama kills Vaali and enables Sugriva regain his Kingdom (and wife) and in return, the Army of monkeys, will be at the disposal of Rama, to find Sita.

During the search for Sita, and when they near Lanka, Ravana’s brother Vibhishana deserts his wicked brother and joins the side of Rama. He wants to rule Lanka – be a better King than Ravana, and a more human one – despite being a Rakshasha.

With location services being unavailable those days, Hanuman who has supernatural powers (he is a son of the Wind God)- and has to be reminded about them-flies across the Ocean to Lanka and locates Sita. Sita in turn believes him, when he shows a ring handed over by Rama. Hanuman offers to carry Sita back to Rama, but she insists that Rama should rescue her to regain his honour.

In the end Ravana is defeated in a deadly war with many twists & turns, which engulfs his brother Kumbhakarna, son Indrajit and finally himself. Rama gets back Sita, Vibhishana rules Lanka, in place of Ravana and Sugriva rules his Vanara world. While Rama and Sita rush to Ayodhya to be crowned as King (and Queen).

However, this is not before Rama telling Sita that she is free to go wherever she wants, as his only aim was to restore ‘his own honour’ as a royal, and King-designate. She has been sullied by being picked up by Ravana, who touched her, and lodged her in his Kingdom all these years, keeping her under his lustful gaze. He doubts her character and conduct, and questions, “How can a noble man take back a woman who has lived in the house of a strange man?” And in response, Sita asks for a funeral pyre to be made so that she can prove that she has never harboured thoughts about any other person other than Rama; she walks through the fire unharmed.

Meanwhile, the Devas have had enough and drop down from Heaven to tell Rama, that Sita is beyond suspicion and that he is actually an avatar of Lord Vishnu who was born on Earth to destroy Ravana. Rama does not know about his divinity-about the God in him- until then. Additionally, Lord Brahma declares that Sita is none other than Lakshmi (the consort of Vishnu) and was born on Earth to trap Ravana, in a Devas-crafted master plan to destroy evil, personified by Ravana.

The Stories Behind

Rama is in a constant struggle to uphold dharma, which is, righteousness, duty, law of being, and the right way of living. Despite the diabolical manipulation by his step-mother, he wishes to honour his father’s promise-uphold a King’s word. When going into exile in the Forest, Sita tells him, we must live by the Rules of the Forest rather than by the Rules of Man. Rama strives to strike a tough balance and preserve the Rule of the Kingdom as he belongs to the Ruling Class.

Rama kills Vaali, hiding behind a tree, while Vaali is engaged in a one-to-one fight with Sugriva. Rama justifies that a monkey should be killed only as one would kill a monkey, not by human rules of direct combat. The ethics of battle do not apply to a lowly creature- a mere monkey. There is another version that says Vaali acquired a boon that automatically transfers all his opponent’s powers to him in a direct combat, hence it would be impossible to defeat him without hiding behind stealth and strategy.

Similarly, when killing Ravana, Rama says laws cannot be applied to a Rakshasha, who is not human and is a brutal demon. They live by different rules and we must use those rules against him.

Rama’s father, King Dasharatha, had three wives: Kausalya – Rama’s mother, Sumitra – mother of Lakshmana & Shatrughan, who are twins, and Kaikeyi – Bharata’s mother. Kaikeyi is the youngest and most favoured Queen. Some versions say Dasharatha had over 300 wives and the three were his primary wives. Despite such abundance he had no sons, and on the advice of Sage Vasishta, conducts a Yagna, on the conclusion of which Lord Agni (the God of Fire) appears with a golden bowl containing ‘celestial payasam’ infused with the divine essence of Lord Vishnu. One half went to Kausalya who had the maximum divine essence; Kaikeyi received a specific portion; and Sumitra received a split share left over from Kausalya and Kaikeyi’s, hence the twins lives are entwined to Rama and Bharatha, respectively.

Bharata is equally devoted to Rama, and is righteous in his own way. He refuses to accept his Mom’s plans for him and does not wish to rule in place of Rama, who should rightly be crowned King. He accuses his mother of being cruel and going against the King’s wishes. However, he is convinced by Rama to keep the ‘seat hot’ until he returns from exile. Rama’s sandals are placed on the throne and Bharata goes about the job of ruling the Kingdom.

Lakshmana comes across as a person who is cool and composed at all times, standing behind, beside, obeying Rama’s commands, though sometimes he questions Rama’s decisions. Often, Rama faints or swoons when something happens to Sita or even thinking about the hardships she is enduring-as a normal human. And Lakshmana is always near at hand. Sita castigates Lakshmana when he refuses to leave her side to answer cries of help, sounding like Rama, during the hunt for the golden deer. She even humiliates him, saying that he wants to possess her in the event Rama is killed. Lakshmana takes it all in his stride, as the rantings of a woman who goes to any length to ensure the safety of her husband. Lakshmana counters and says Rama is capable of protecting himself and how can a golden deer appear from nowhere, that too in a thick forest: it must be a trick by the form-changing Rakshasas (which indeed it is). But when Lakshmana tells Rama about this, Rama says he has made a mistake by succumbing to the angry tantrums of a woman. Did I not order you never to leave Sita’s side?

The Ramayana underpins the victory of good over evil: the conflict between dharma, upheld by Rama, and adharma, embodied by Ravana.

The Realm

The realm and setting of the Ramayana is fascinating, mystical, overwhelming, and magical, with many fabulous layers. It unfolds across three worlds: Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. But the real action is on Earth, set in ancient Bharat. And boons- mostly from the Gods, curses- mostly by humans… and the kind, fly off the shelves with ease, deciding various outcomes of life on Earth.

The story moves southward from the northern Gangetic plains of India, through forests and kingdoms to the southern tip of the subcontinent, and across the ocean to Lanka (present day Sri Lanka), which is the island fortress of Ravana.

Ayodhya, capital of the Ikshvaku (Solar) dynasty of the Kosala kingdom, on the banks of the Sarayu river – in present-day Uttar Pradesh – is the birthplace and home of Rama. Mithila, the Kingdom of King Janaka is present-day Sitamarhi district in northern Bihar. Sita’s birth-place is specifically at Punaura Dham. Sita is found- and not conventionally born-by King Janaka while he is ploughing a field to prepare the ground for a Yagna. A baby girl emerges from the furrow, created by the plough, and he names her Sita (literally ‘furrow’), and raises her as his own daughter. Later he decides she will be given only to the man who can string the great bow of Lord Shiva. At the end of the Epic, Sita returns to her mother, the Earth.

The forests of Rama’s exile span the vast Dandakaranya/Dandaka forest region, parts of central India, present-day Chhattisgarh- including parts of Bastar, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra, Chitrakoot and Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh, and Gadchiroli, Gondia, and Bhandara in Maharashtra. Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana live at Panchavati, Maharashtra, on the banks of the River Godavari, where Lakshmana builds a hut for them to stay. They navigate the Pamba River in Kerala on their way to Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, to reach Lanka.

Kishkindha, the Kingdom of the Vanaras- the Monkeys-is the Hampi/Anegundi region in Karnataka.

The Sages lived in the forests on the edge of the wilderness, which areas are the boundary between civilised order and the uncivilised, untamed forces.

On the other side, Lanka is the Island fortress, the city of Ravana, which is fabulously magnificent, equipped with the Flying Chariot, called the Pushpaka Vimana. It is the stronghold of the Rakshasas and their seat of power.

The Devas (Gods) are celestial beings, who with divine powers uphold dharma on Earth. They dwell in Heaven and are headed by Lord Indra. The Devas receive offerings from humans through Yagnas, and other beings, and hand over divine weapons and vehicles (such as Ravana’s flying chariot) to mortals when they are pleased and satisfied by the penance, dedicated austerities, and rituals undertaken as a true seeker.

Asuras (Demons) are powerful beings who oppose the Devas, hence wicked, and are their rivals. They inhabit the lower subterranean netherworld (Patala) realms and spend their time and energy in fighting the Devas for control of the three worlds. They are a lesser evil than the Rakshasas.

The Rakshasas (female Rakshasis) are more earthly living, in forest realms and in direct conflict with humans and sages, and capable of shape-shifting and creating illusions. Rakshasas are generally ugly, horrendous, vile, flesh-eating creatures. They are most powerful at night and can change their form at will. However, Ravana is not a typical Rakshasa. He is actually magnificent and regal, handsome, and majestic despite his ten heads and twenty arms. However Ravana’s sister Shurpanakha is ugly and crude. So is Kumbhakarna, Ravana’s gigantic brother who is terrifying and malformed.

The counterparts of the Rakshasas are the Vanaras of Kishkindha. They are magical and can change their shapes at will, as Hanuman does when he flies to Lanka in search of Sita. Each of the important monkeys has a divine father. Even, lesser monkeys are fathered by celestial beings where lies the secret of all their magical powers.

The other enchanting animals of the Forest such as Jatayu are able to speak human language and do uncanny things.

In the Ramayana, the Rakshasas of Lanka are the central threat to dharma on earth. Ravana is of mixed origin: Brahmin by paternal descent and Rakshasa by maternal lineage. He skillfully organizes his kingdom and builds great cities-most famously Lanka. The Rakshasas are not uniformly evil. Ravana’s brother, Vibhishana is more human and allies with Rama.

Return to the Stories Behind

Ravana’s chief wife, Mandodari, is the daughter of Mayasura the King of the Asuras and a celestial nymph, Hema. She is pious, fiercely loyal, and loves Ravana despite his faults. Understanding his weakness for women, and his other faults, she tries to course-correct him, including urging him to return Sita to Rama. She is not the typical partner-in-crime and could pass off as another version of Sita, but on the wrong side. Her son Indrajit is a warrior par-excellence, playing an active role in the battle between his father and Rama. In a way, he defeats Rama and Lakshmana in battle – making them unconscious- using magic and celestial weapons that he had acquired. In the final battle, Lakshmana kills Indrajit.

In all of this comes the building of the Rama Setu(Bridge) across the sea to walk the army to Lanka. Rama is advised to ask the Ocean for help using his powers of honest intent. He sits down in meditation to propitiate the Ocean to appear before him. But nothing happens and Rama in his fury unleashes a storm of arrows on it causing the God of the Ocean to appear and plead that it is completely unnatural to allow Rama to cross over. However, he assures Rama that the creatures of the Ocean will do them no harm and calls Nala, the son of the divine architect Vishwakarma, who says he can build a bridge to Lanka. The army of monkeys is organised to hunt for boulders and wood in the forests, which they throw into the Ocean to raise a bridge now called the Adam’s Bridge or Rama Sethu. Rama’s Army then crosses over to battle Ravana.

The Ramayana though rooted in earthly geography is permeated by divine intervention, boons, magic, and curses. A fascinating aspect of the Ramayana is the practice of giving boons-handed over by the Gods- which are magical, often with hidden exit clauses; and boons by Kings, which are more practical. Anybody can do penance, meditation, and engage in severe austerities to propitiate the Gods, and they are bound to appear before them to ask what they want, as a reward. Devas were in the serious business of dispensing boons, which they gave in good faith. And when they are misused, which happens all the time, to disrupt life of humans on Earth they are bound to appear in human form, using loopholes in the boon, to vanquish evil. And in-between they watch and stay updated on happenings on Earth.

The Sages, who are humans, live in Ashrams in the Forest, spreading knowledge of the Vedas, teaching life skills and warfare techniques. They are the schools of the Ramayana time. The Sages do their own penance and conduct Yagnas to please the Gods and obtain powers to enable them to go about their work peacefully. Naturally, the Asuras and Rakshasas do what they do best to disrupt the Yagnas and prevent the Sages from acquiring magical powers or humans from becoming powerful enough to destroy them.

Ravana is a Rakshasha who does penance to please the Gods and obtains a boon to make him invincible to the Gods and most other beings, but not humans or animals- In his arrogance he does not consider humans a worthwhile opponent, hence he can be killed only by a human being. Ravana himself is complex: a learned scholar of the Vedas, musician, a devotee of Lord Shiva; but he is driven by arrogance, desire, and adharma – by the beast in him. He allows his tribe a free-hand and backs up their mistakes with more mistakes. His learning and scholarliness comes in the way of him being an animal and feasting upon Sita. Call it taming the beast?

Lord Brahma grants the crucial boons and is involved in creation narratives. Other Gods (Indra, Agni-Fire, Vayu-Wind,father of Hanuman, and others) appear, intervene, or are invoked. Many Vanaras are fathered by Devas. The Devas themselves cannot fully overcome Ravana due to his boon, necessitating Vishnu’s human incarnation.

Lord Vishnu incarnates as Rama specifically to defeat Ravana.

Rama’s step-mother Kaikeyi is your regular Queen loving her son and step-sons equally, but is pushed by her maid Manthara, into the realm of evil, using her influence with the King. In the distant past, during a war between the Devas and Asuras, King Dasharatha, who had gone to fight on the side of Lord Indra, taking Kaikeyi with him, was wounded in battle and fell unconscious. Kaikeyi saves his life by carrying him away from the battlefield and caring for him. Delighted and grateful, Dasharatha grants her two boons. Kaikeyi deferred them, saying she would claim them whenever she needed them. There is another account which says she accompanied King Dasharatha as his charioteer and saved his life when his chariot’s wheel bolt failed—by holding it together with her thumb so that the chariot did not crash.

Under the influence of Manthara, Kaikeyi was reminded and later activated the two boons just before Rama’s planned coronation: one to make her son Bharata the King, and the other to exile Rama to the forest for 14 years.

The Ramayana presents a world where divine order (embodied by Rama and the Devas), human and allied beings (Vanaras, Sages), and powerful opposing forces (chiefly the Rakshasas) interact through boons, curses, alliances, and battle, ultimately restoring dharma.

Rama is exceptionally brave and a skilled warrior devoted to the art of archery. Additionally Vishwamitra bestows a large arsenal of divine astras (mantra-powered missiles) on Rama and Lakshmana. These include various chakras (Danda, Dharma, Kala, Vishnu, Indra), maces, nooses, Agneya (fire), Vayvu (wind), and high-level weapons such as the Brahmastra. He also teaches them the science of launching and recalling (countering) them.

When Rama first meets Sugriva, he is not impressed with Rama and is doubtful that Rama is stronger than Vaali. He points to seven Sala trees which Vaali could shake and make the branches fall down, saying that if Rama could pierce even one tree he would trust him as capable of defeating Vaali. Rama then draws his bow, takes a single arrow, aims at the Sala trees and releases it. The arrow pierces all seven trees as well as the mountain behind, hits the subterranean Earth, and magically returns to Rama’s quiver. Thus the alliance with Sugriva was sealed.

Rama

Rama exemplifies plain straitjacket honesty, righteousness, and diligent following of Rules of the Kingdom. And never wavers or bends to change them (to his benefit).

Rama represents the ideal man: the ideal householder, the ideal commoner, the ideal son, the ideal brother, the ideal husband, and the ideal king. You may argue that Rama spent most of his life away from his wife (maybe that’s an idea) but it was mostly due to Sita overstepping ‘safety boundaries’, which Rama always ensured being duty-bound to protect his wife, and he does it almost perfectly. But Sita breaks it many times – hence the test by fire becomes inevitable. Rama is the model of exclusive marital fidelity to Sita. And other than conventional respectful gestures, such as touching the feet of a sage’s wife, Rama never touches another woman in an inappropriate way.

In his personal life Rama is steadfastly monogamous. He says he will have only one wife, contrary to what Kings of those times did. They had multiple wives to beget sons to rule after them and expand the Kingdom. Rama argues that his father suffered greatly, dancing to the tunes of his many wives and he does not want to be in the same league, subject to such influences.

Rama as a householder faces the vicissitudes of family life calling for sacrifices and compromises especially cooly managing the typical woman in Sita and sometimes her obstinance; as a King and Ruler he draws the lines between right and wrong, enforces them and sets an example by following them like any of his subjects would.

Being good is awfully tough and it brings chariot loads of trouble, which could be avoided by breaking the Rules and being bad- as Ravana did. Rama sets an unparalleled example for humankind by not breaking rules.

Rama’s equanimity, grace, uprightness, and honour in the face of terrible things that happen to him, Sita’s devotion to her husband, Lakshmana’s and Hanuman’s fierce loyalty to Rama makes the Ramayana a glorious story. Every character in the Ramayana has a strong, deep history, which opens our eyes to many dimensions, beyond what we see on the surface.

In the end, Rama rewards Hanuman saying, ‘You will live as long as the story of the Ramayana is told’. I reckon I have just extended Hanuman’s life, a ‘tail’ bit!

Hanuman makes a cameo appearance in the Mahabharata when he (actually his tail) stands in the way of his Brother Bheema (they are both sons of the Wind God) while Bheema hunts for a flower to present to Draupadi. Bheema exacts a promise from his big brother to ensure the safety of the Pandavas, and Hanuman watches the Mahabharata war perched on the flagstaff of Arjuna, in a tiny form. Arjuna’s charioteer is Lord Krishna – the next avatar of Lord Vishnu, after Rama. And the epic continues.

One day I hope to catch a glimpse of Hanuman sitting on a slender tree branch outside my window! Jai Shri Ram.

(It’s getting long; I hope to return with an epilogue to describe the end of the Epic, Rama’s sons and Sita’s test by fire – yet again, one more time -and her return to Mother Earth; and Rama’s end).