The Rāmāyaṇa (Sanskrit: “Adventures of Rāma” or “Rama Saga,”) composed c. 300 BCE, is one of the two great epics of the Hindus, the other being the Mahābhārata. The Rāmāyaṇa identifies the god-king Rāmā as the seventh incarnation of Viṣṇu. It is the principal source for the worship of Rāmā.
The Rāmāyaṇa describes how Rāma, assisted by his brother Lakṣmaṇa and the monkey-god Hanumān, rescued Rāma’s wife Sītā from the clutches of Rāvaṇa, the ten-headed demon king of Lanka.
The Rāmāyaṇa’s allegorical plot consists of events that epitomize elements of the Hindu spiritual journey and depict exemplary human virtues and values. For example, Rāmā is the perfect prince and an embodiment of dharma (righteousness.) Rāmā and Sītā set the ideal of marital love, and Rāmā and Lakṣmaṇa characterize supreme fraternal devotion.
Ascribed to the legendary sage Vālmīki, the Rāmāyaṇa evolved over a long period of oral composition, starting c.500 BCE. It is a narrative poem of 25,000 couplets (ślokas) divided into seven cantos (kāṇḍas): Bālakāṇḍa (‘The Childhood Book,’) Ayodhyākāṇḍa (‘The Ayodhyā Book,’) Araṇyakāṇḍā (‘The Wilderness/Forest Book,’) Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa (‘The Kiṣkindhā Book,’) Sundarakāṇḍa (‘The Beautiful Book,’) Yuddhakāṇḍa or Laṅkākāṇḍa (‘The War Book’ or ‘The Book of Laṅkā,’) and, Uttarakāṇḍa (‘The Last Book’ or ‘The Book of Further Adventures.’) The first and the last cantos were possibly added to the main text of the Rāmāyaṇa later to complete the narrative’s frame and influence how it is interpreted.
Historians believe that the early compositions, sometimes called Rāmakathā, formed the outline of many oral and written retellings not only in Sanskrit but also in various vernaculars, sometimes with substantial variances in expression form and content. The most eminent renderings of the Rāmāyaṇa is Tulsīdās’s 16th-century retelling, the Rāmcaritmānas (c.1574–77, ‘The Holy Lake of Rāma’s Deeds,’) which transformed the Rāmāyaṇa into an inclusive bhakti (devotional) scripture. It also inspired the popular Rāmlīla folk re-enactments during the yearly Vijayadaśamī festival pageants. Other important versions of the Rāmāyaṇa include the 12th-century Tamiḻ Irāmāvatāram by Kampan, 15th-century Sanskrit Adhyātma Rāmāyaṇa, and the 15th-century Bengali Krittivasi Ramayan by Krittibas Ojha.
The Rāmāyaṇa enjoys immense popularity in India, where its recitation is considered an act of great merit. It is also popular in much of Southeast Asia—particularly in Indonesia, where it features in traditional Javanese-Balinese dance, theater, and shadow puppet plays.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by The Ramayana
O Lord, wandering with thee, even hell itself would be to me a heaven of bliss.
—The Ramayana
Topics: Hell
Time will always follow its rules. It will never transgress those boundaries it imposes on itself. Nobody can harm time. Hence, nobody can change what fate has in store for them.
—The Ramayana
Sorrow kills ones patience,
sorrow makes forget one’s ability to distinguish between good and bad,
sorrow takes away all good qualities and thus
the sorrow is the biggest enemy of an individual.
—The Ramayana
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