Ramayana: The Legend of Rama and Sage Vishwamirta
This is one of the greatest Hindu epic stories that have been told for such a long time. It talks about a young prince that leaves behind everything he possessed so as to save the world from demons. It is a good adventure story talking about both love and morality in the world. The story concentrates on Rama a son to the king of Ayodhya, Dasharatha and his wife Queen Kausalya as well as two other wives, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. The king is blessed with three other sons Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrugha with Rama being the eldest. This narrative shows the meaning of relationships depicting perfect characters like the perfect father, the perfect wife and the perfect brothers and sisters. During Rama’s travels he met king Janaka’s daughter who he later married. Rama gained the right to marry Sita after lifting a heavy bow in a competition organized by his father to find his the most suitable husband for her.
This legend tells us that young Rama as an incarnation of the Indian god Vishnu who had decided to claim a human body. The main reason for this incarnation as is later revealed is for Vishnu to be able to defeat Ravana, a powerful king with demonic powers who could not be killed by gods, demons or spirits. Rama was portrayed to hold extraordinary powers but he did not know he was actually an incarnation of Vishnu throughout the story. Rama had his constant companion and brother Lakshmana who moved with him throughout the story helping him whenever he needed help.
A wall painting of Rama and his wife Sita
This story tells us how Rama and his three brothers were raised as princes during their time. These brothers underwent the obligatory training in warfare and were exposed to the knowledge of Vedic. They showed signs of valiance and much interest on the affairs that affected the people. From here is when Rama developed a bond with his brother Lakshama making them inseparable all through the narrative. With time all these princes grew up to handsome young men much to the delight of King Dasharatha himself.
The story revolves mainly around the roles of Brahmans (Priests and Teachers) and Kshatriyas (the warriors, kings, and soldiers) and how they relate together regarding each and everyone’s duties in the society. When young Rama was sixteen years of age Sage Vishwamithra came to his father king Dasharatha to allow Rama to help him in the fight against Rakshsas (demons) who were interfering with his Vedic rituals. He specifically asked Dasharatha for Rama to help him fight two demons Maareecha and Subaahu who were very powerful. Rama’s father was hesitant at first to let his 16 year old son to go to war against demons and it took the intervention of Vasishtha to make him change his mind. King Dasharatha then allowed Rama to be accompanied by his younger brother Lakshmana to help Vishwamithra through his travels.
Before they started these travels Vishwamithra conveyed a secret charm to these two princes called “Bala Atibala Vidya” meant to keep them vigorous and full of vitality. Through this journey Rama was able to kill the demons Takata under the orders of Vishwamithra. They moved until they reached a place where Vishwamirtha was to carry out a sacred ritual. The two young warriors would then guard the ritual plece for a period of six days and six nights. On the sixth night the demons Maareecha and Subaahu came to interfere with the ritual process but Rama was there to help banishing Maareecha and killing Subaahu in the process. The ritual would then continue without any problems and was completed successfully.
Rama, Sita and Lakshmana in exile
After everything had gone according to plan, Sage Vishwamithra went to the kingdom of Mithila seeking to attend a ritual and also to have a look at the auspicious bow of Shiva that had been at king Janaka’s palace for ages and was actually being worshipped. However before they could reach the kingdom of Mithila, they decided to visit hermitage of Sage Gautama. Vishwamithra told Rama and Lakshmana about the story of Ahalya the wife to Gautama and what befell her. According to this tale by Vishwamirtha, Indra was smitten by Ahalya’s beauty so he and sought after her leading to a union between them. She agreed to Indra’s advances but was caught by Gautama unawares leading to a curse to both of them. Gautama had cursed Ahalya by relegating her to a quiet and to a lonely life not to be seen or heard from. It was only after Rama entered the hermitage that she was freed from the curse thus enabling her to move to her divine form.
When they entered Janaka’s court they found out a celebration of finding Sita’s suitor. All suitors are given a bow to pull however none of them is able to do it. Rama tries his luck on Sita and when he is handed the bow he does not only pull it but breaks it into to. The king Janaka is impressed by his actions and allows him to marry her daughter Sita. The king’s daughter (Sita) is also very happy that she is actualy going to be married by Rama who he had fallen in love with.
This story mainly revolves around Rama and Vishwamirtha and how they interact. Rama is a dedicated Kshatriya who is willing to enter into war to protect Sage Vishwamirtha from any danger. Sage Vishwamirtha on the other hand is a Brahman who is dedicated to his work and seeks to eliminate demons that are interfering with his rituals by the help of Rama and his brother. This book is a zone of contention between these two factions. We find out that Vishwamnirtha directed Rama to kill the demon thataka, however he argued that he does not like killing women. This made Vishwamirtha to teach Rama to look at her from inner nature and should not only rely on her outer nature to make a decision. In the end he agreed with Vishwamirtha and killed the demon thataka.
Rama fighting with the demons
The war between Rama and Ravana
After this teaching from Vishwamirtha, Rama was able to tell the difference between gods (devas0 and demons (asuras) until the end. The book brings together discussion regarding Brahmins and Kshatriyas and how they lived their lives. Rama is a warrior who helps during war to defeat demons that wanted to attack Vishwamirtha during his rituals. Vishwamirtha also is a dedicated priest and teacher who perform his duties as is required trying to help humans.
In the end this books shows Kshatriyas to be more dominant that Brahmins thus making Kshatriyas more important to the society than Brahmins. The work of Brahmins might be to teach and preach to the people by carrying out rituals but it is the work of Kshatriyas that stands out. As a young warrior Rama is able to defeat several demons that were interfering with Vishwamirtha’s work. As young as he is he helps in the slaying of several bad demons that affected the lives of people during that time.
Works Cited
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