Ramayana is a mostly read ancient Indian epic that forms important Hindu norms that are followed up to date. Ramayana means the march (ayana) of Rama in search of human values. It contains 24,000 verses in seven books and 50 cantos. The Ramayana is part of Hindus sacred literature for it speaks about the meaning of life and how one should learn from it and it is used as a guideline by the Hindus. It is a story of friendship and adventure at the same time it is a psychological insight that has spiritual meaning and wisdom .The story tells us about life in India, human values and Dharma’s concept about human beings and life.
Ramayana is a story about Rama’s life and his wife Sita. Dasharatha king of Ayodhya had three wives namely, Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra and could not have any children. After performing a fire sacrifice , he was able to get three sons from his wives whose names are Rama, Bharata and Lakshmana who were brought up as princes’ of realm who got teachings and instructions from the scriptures and in warfare (Robert 67).
The story revolves around Rama who married Sita a child who was found in a deep dug furrow by king Janak and he took her as his daughter. There was competition in marrying Sita but she chooses Rama to be her husband. Due to Kaikeyi’s jealousy that Rama was to succeed the throne after his father yet she wanted her son Bharata to take over, she conspired with her maidservant and ordered that Rama should be taken to exile for fourteen years. Rama is forced to leave and he is accompanied by his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana but even though Rama leaves, his brother Bharata refuses to take over. After their father died out of heartbreak after Rama leaves, Bharata takes Rama’s sandals on the throne and rules on his behalf because he did not want to take what rightfully belonged to his brother.
In their journey, Sita is abducted by evil Ravana after Lakshmana cuts off Ravana’s sister’s nose and ears when she tries to kill Sita and seduce them at Panchavati forest. Rama and Lakshmana meet Hanunan who later helps them to free Sita from evil Ravana. Hanunan spies and explores the demon kingdom and locates Sita and later helps Rama rescue Sita who insisted that she wanted her husband to do it. After Sita is rescued, she is forced to prove her purity to Rama by plunging herself into fire which lord Agni the lord of fire raises her out of the fire unharmed to at testify of her purity.
After Rama’s exile time expires, he goes back to Ayodhya together with his wife and brother and he is crowned king. Even though Sita had proved her purity to her husband, stories about her impurity spread all over and Rama was forced to banish her to the forest. At that time she was pregnant and she gaves birth to two sons while in the forest. Later, Rama learns that the two sons were his children when they come to sing in his kingdom and Sita appears and varnishes. When God’s messenger appears to Rama, he returns to his celestial body.
Rama who is king Dasaratha’s eldest son is the main character in the story. Rama has been regarded as for many years by Hindus as an incarnation of the god Vishnu. He is portrayed as the avatar of god Vishnu and together with his wife Sita, they have served as role models for many generations to the Indian people. He is also depicted as an essence of virtue to the Indian race. Sita is also a main character for the story revolves around her life with Rama. She was an adopted daughter of king Janak and was regarded as a blessed child for she was found in a dug furrow. In the book, she is represented as an epitome of female purity and virtue. She is also considered as the avatar of Goddess.
Dasaratha was the father to Rama and the king of Ayodhya which was the capital city of Kosala He had three wives and three sons and died after being heartbroken when his favorite son Rama was sent to exile. Another common character is Hanunam who was the leader of the monkey tribe. He had magical powers that he got from his father who was the god of the wind (Buck and Van 96). Through his powers, they allied with Rama and ware able to rescue Sita from the Ravana the ten headed king of Lanka.
Themes
The main theme in Ramayana is the battle between good and evil. The heroes in Ramayana are seen fighting those who do not respect Dharma. They fight for a godly law and good virtues in the society by fighting those who are evil in the society. The characters in the story are judged by doing the right things and they focus on doing the right so that they can be accepted with the society because of their good morals. Additionally, the battle between virtue and vice is also seen in this story where lord Vishnu incarnates and takes a physical form in the world to fight wickedness. In simple words, the theme is that everybody must be contented with whatever they have and do the right thing.
There is also the theme of love between husband and wife and wives remaining pure to their husbands. This is shown by Sita when she remains pure while away from her husband and even proves it by going through fire (Oliver 145). Furthermore, there is loyalty whereby both the wife and the husband should be loyal to each other. Sita is loyal to her husband even after being denounced and banished to the forest by Rama. There is also the expression of loyalty to Dharma whereby everyone has to abide by his virtues and do the right thing.
Lust is also shown in this story and it is considered as a horrible sin in Ramayana. Rama conquers lust in his life and saves many lives. He learns it from the story of Shiva and Ahilaya’s story where she is punished to turn into a stone after she surrenders to Indra even though she did not know. It is also shown when Ravana’s sister tries to seduce Rama. This story teaches about good morals and human values through Rama who demonstrates them and stands all the tests of time and virtue after he was sent to exile by showing the righteous paths of Dharma for the human race to follow (Dutt 113). Rama’s whole life in the story adheres to the rules of Dharma.
In conclusion, in Ramayana, good triumphs over evil and the moral value of the story is that evil will never prevail. It depicts good morals through both Rama and Sita and this teaches the reader to have good morals, be truthful and be loyal. It also teaches that only truthful people will prevail. Rama’s life was to fight evil and indeed he did it.
Works Cited
Robert, P. Goldman. The Ramayana of Valmiki: An epic of Anccient India. New Jersey: Princeton university press,1996. Print
Dutt, Romesh, C. Ramayan. New York: Kissinger Publishers, 2008. Print.
Oliver, Fallon. Bhatti’s Poem: The Death of Ravana. New York: New York University Press, 2007. Print.
Buck, William and Van Nooten. Ramayana. California: California Press, 2004. Print.
