Summary of the Ramayana
Rama was the
eldest son of Dasaratha, a king of the Solar race, who reigned at Ayodhya.
Dasaratha was in fact childless, but by performing the Putrakameshti Yaga
(in the hope that he would obtain offspring), he so pleased the gods that he
received the promise of four sons. At
that time the gods were terribly alarmed at the exploits of Ravana, the wicked
rakshasa (demon) king of Lanka. Ravana
had obtained extraordinary powers through his severe penance and devotion to
Brahma. In their terror, the gods appealed to Vishnu for deliverance,
and he agreed to become manifest in the world with Dasaratha as his human
father.
Agni, the
fire god, appeared out of the sacrificial fire to give Dasaratha a pot of
payasam (sweetened rice) for his wives to eat.
Dasaratha divided the payasam among his three wives, Kausalya, Kaikeyi
and Sumitra. As a result, Kausalya
brought forth Rama, Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata, and Sumitra bore twin sons,
Lakshmana and Satrugna. The
brothers were all very fond of each other, but Lakshmana was particularly
devoted to Rama.
The four
brothers grew up together at Ayodhya. When
they were still very young, sage Viswamtra sought the aid of Rama to protect his
sacrifices from desecration by the rakshasas (demons).
Dasaratha was most unwilling to agree, since Rama was so young, but he
finally consented.
Rama
and Lakshmana went to Viswamitra’s hermitage, and on the way there Rama killed
the demoness Tataka. Viswamitra
then took Rama to Mithila, to the court of Janaka, king of Videha. The king had a beautiful daughter named Sita, whom he offered
in marriage to anyone who could bend the bow that had once belonged to Shiva.
Rama not only bent the bow, but broke it.
Thus he won the hand of Sita, who became his devoted wife.
Parasurama,
the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, was a mighty Brahmin who had exterminated the
warrior caste of Kshatriyas. He was
a devotee of Shiva, and was most offended at the breaking of Shiva’s bow.
He challenged Rama to bend his own big bow, which had been made for
Vishnu. Both of these mighty bows
had been made by the divine craftsman, Viswakarma.
(Viswakarma was also the heavenly architect in Bharata Muni’s story).
Rama accepted the challenge and bent the bow with ease.
As soon as he touched Vishnu’s bow, strength and power flowed into him.
At the same time the godly virtue departed from Parasurama, who then
realized that Rama was in fact Vishnu in his next incarnation.
Preparations
were made at Ayodhya for the coronation of Rama as successor to Dasaratha.
But Kaikeyi, Dasaratha’s second wife, who was his favorite, took
advantage of two boons granted to her earlier by Dasaratha.
She persuaded him to consent to install her son Bharata as king and to
send Rama into exile for fourteen years. Rama
departed with Sita and Lakshmana to live in the forest of Dandaka.
Dasaratha died of sorrow from parting with Rama.
Bharata was called upon to ascend the throne but refused out of loyalty
to Rama. Instead, he set out to the
forest to bring Rama back. When the
brothers met there was a long argument. Rama
insisted on completing the fourteen-year sentence of exile that had been passed
on him by his father. So Bharata
returned to Ayodhya and acted as his brother’s vice-regent.
After
many years of nomadic life, moving from one hermitage to another, Rama took up
his abode at Panchavati on the banks of the Godavari River.
This district was infested by rakshasas. Surpanakha, sister of Ravana (the demon king), saw Rama and
fell in love with him. He repelled
her advances. In her fury,
Surpanakha attacked Sita. This so
enraged Lakshmana that he cut off the demoness’s nose and breasts.
Surpanakha, in her agony, appealed to Khara, Ravana’s cousin who ruled
the area. A battle ensued.
Khara was killed in battle by Rama, and when Ravana discovered what had
happened, he vowed to take revenge.
Ravana
decided to abduct Sita as a reprisal for Surpanakha’s disfigurement.
He persuaded his uncle, Maricha, to help him.
They traveled to Rama’s abode in a vimana (aerial car).
Maricha, disguised as a golden deer, lured Rama from his forest home. Ravana, disguised as a sanyasi (holy man), approached Sita,
who received him hospitably. Suddenly,
Ravana turned into his true self, seized Sita and took her off to Lanka.
Rama and
Lakshmana were distraught at the disappearance of Sita.
They learned from the dying Jatayu that the rakshasa king Ravana had
carried her off to Lanka. They were
wondering how to find her when they came upon Hanuman, who advised them to seek
the help of Sugriva, with whom they became allied. Rama would kill Sugriva’s elder brother, Bali, the
king of the monkeys - as punishment for his mistreatment of Sugriva.
In return, Sugriva agreed to find Sita and to help Rama fight Ravana.
In fulfillment of their agreement, Rama killed Bali and Sugriva became
king of Kishkindha.
Rama was
aided by Sugriva and his armies as well as by Hanuman, Sugriva’s minister.
Hanuman’s extraordinary powers of jumping and flying enabled him to proceed to
Lanka and discover Sita. By
superhuman efforts, Sugriva’s forces were transported to Lanka.
After many fierce battles, the city of Lanka was captured, Ravana was
killed and Sita was rescued.
By this
time, the stipulated fourteen-year period of exile had ended. Rama returned to Ayodhya, and was welcomed by Bharata and his
subjects. Rama and Sita were
crowned king and queen.
This happy
state of affairs did not last long. Scandalmongers
began to say that Rama should not have taken back Sita as his wife because she
had been touched by the evil Ravana, a rakshasa.
Rama had no doubts about his wife’s behavior.
But he felt there should be no suspicion about her.
So he banished her to a forest. In
due course Sita gave birth to twin sons, Kusa and Lava.
The children knew that the land they lived in was ruled by Rama, but they
were not told that he was their father.
One day Rama
decided to perform a great sacrifice called Aswamedha.
The king who performed this sacrifice initially had to conquer all the
other kings. To ensure this, a
horse, with a challenge fixed to its brow and attended by a guardian, was
allowed to wander throughout the length and breadth of the country.
Any ruler who challenged the supremacy of the king by capturing the horse
must be fought and defeated.
As they were
playing in the forest, Sita’s sons Usa and Lava saw a horse wandering about.
Not knowing what it was, they caught it and wanted to take it to their
mother. Satrughna, Rama’s younger
brother who was in charge of the horse, demanded the boys return it.
They refused. A fight
ensued, in which Satrughna was defeated. He
was ashamed to be beaten by two boys, and returned to report the matter to Rama.
Rama,
hearing of the mishap, knew the boys were his sons.
As he could not fight them, he summoned Hanuman and dispatched him to
recover the horse. Knowing that the
children were Rama’s sons, Hanuman pretended to fight them fiercely.
After a time he allowed himself to be captured and taken to Sita, who was
astounded to see the powerful Hanuman in such a plight.
She insisted that the boys release him.
Hanuman returned to Rama with the horse.
Rama
repented of his unjust treatment of his wife.
He asked Sita to return to Ayodhya with her sons, provided she was
prepared to declare her chastity in public.
Shocked at this humiliating demand, Sita prayed to her mother, Bhumidevi,
to save her from such a disgrace. Mother
Earth opened up and took Sita into her bosom.
