Ramayana
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The Rāmāyaṇa (Devanāgarī: रामायण) is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the Hindu sage (maharishi) Valmiki and an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). It was the original story on which other versions were based such as the Thai Ramakien, the Lao Phra Lak Phra Lam and the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama.
The name Rāmāyaṇa is a tatpurusha compound of Rāma and ayana "going, advancing", translating to "Rāma's Journey".[1] The Rāmāyaṇa consists of 24,000 verses[2] in seven books, and 500 cantos (kāṇḍas)[3] and tells the story of Rāma, whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon (Rākshasa) king of Lanka, Rāvana. Thematically, the epic explores themes of human existence and the concept of dharma.[4]
Verses in Rāmāyana are written in thirty two syllable meter called anustubh and the epic was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and Indian life and culture, primarily through its establishment of the śloka meter. But, like its epic cousin the Mahābhārata, the Rāmāyana is not just an ordinary story. It contains the teachings of the very ancient Hindu sages and presents them through allegory in narrative and the interspersion of the philosophical and the devotional. The characters of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Hanumān and Rāvana (the villain of the piece) are all fundamental to the cultural consciousness of India.
One of the most important literary works on ancient India, the Ramayana has had a profound impact on art and culture in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The story of Rama has inspired great amounts of latter-day literature in various languages, notable among which are the works of the fifteenth century Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha, known as the Krittivasi Ramayan; the sixteenth century Hindi poet Tulsidas, Tamil poet Kambar of the 13th century, Molla ramayanam in Telugu and the 14th century Kannada poet Narahari Kavi`s Torave Ramayan. The Ramayana became popular in Southeast Asia during the 8th century and was represented in literature, temple architecture, dance and theater.
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[edit] Authorship
Traditionally, Ramayana is ascribed to a single author, Vālmiki. Textual scholar Robert P. Goldman concludes that, in the face of unanimous Indian tradition and the uniform character of much of the work, there is no reason to believe that a man named Valmiki did not write the main portion of the Ramayana. However, the work as it is now known is believed to have many interpolations of a much later date than the original kernel of the work. [5] The Ramayana was a "growth of centuries, but the main story is the creation of one mind."[6]
[edit] Dating
According to literary scholarship, the main body of the Ramayana first appeared as an oral composition somewhere around 1500 BC. Cultural evidence (the presence of sati in the Mahabharata but not in the main body of the Ramayana) suggests that the Ramayana predates the Mahabharata [7] Traditionally the epic belongs to the Treta Yuga, one of the four eons (yuga) of Hindu chronology, and is dated as far back as 880,000 years in the past.[8] Rama is said to have been born in the Treta Yuga to King Daśaratha in ikshvaku vansh (clan) [9]
[edit] Structure of Valmiki's Ramayana
Valmiki's Ramayana, the oldest version of Ramayana, is the basis of all the various versions of the Ramayana that are relevant in the various cultures. The text survives in numerous complete and partial manuscripts, the oldest surviving of which is dated from the eleventh century AD.[10] The current text of Valmiki Ramayana has come down to us in two regional versions from the north and the south of India. Valmiki Ramayana has been traditionally divided into seven books, dealing with the life of Rama from his birth to his death.
- Bala Kanda – Book of the Childhood
- Ayodhya Kanda – Book of Ayodhya
- Aranya Kanda – Book of the Forest
- Kishkindha Kanda – Book of Kishkindha
- Sundara Kanda – Book of Auspiciousness
- Yuddha Kanda – Book of the War
- Uttara Kanda – Book of the North
There have been speculations on whether the first and the last chapters of Valmiki's Ramayan were written by the original author. Many experts are of the opinion that they are integral parts of the book in spite of the many differences in style and some contradictions in content between these two chapters and the rest of the book.[11][12] These two chapters contain most of the interpolations found in the Ramayana, such as the miraculous birth of Rama and his divine nature as well as the numerous legends surrounding Ravana. It is also inferred that the story of Rama's beheading shudra Shambuka as well as the one relating to Shravana kumara were not written by Valmiki.
[edit] Characters
- Rama is the hero of this epic tale. He is portrayed as an incarnation of the god Vishnu. He is the eldest and the favorite son of the King of Ayodhya, Dasharatha. He is a popular prince loved by one and all. He is the epitome of virtue. Dasaratha, forced by one of his wives Kaikeyi commands Rama to relinquish his right to the throne for fourteen years and go into exile by his father. While in exile, Rama kills the demon king Ravana using an arrow.
- Sita is the beloved wife of Rama and the daughter of king Janaka. Sita is also known as Janaki. She is the incarnation of Goddess Laxmi (Lord Vishnu's wife). Sita is the epitome of womanly purity and virtue. She follows her husband into exile and there gets abducted by Ravana. She is imprisoned in the island of Lanka by Ravan. Rama rescues her by defeating the demon king Ravana.
- Hanuman is a vanara belonging to the kingdom of Kishkindha. He is portrayed as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He worships Rama and helps find Sita by going to the kingdom of Lanka crossing the great ocean.
- Lakshmana, the younger brother of Rama, who chose to go into exile with him. He spends his time protecting Sita and Rama. He is deceived by the demon Marichi into believing that Rama was in trouble while Sita is abducted by Ravana.
- Ravana, a rakshasa, is the king of Lanka. He received a boon from Brahma that he cannot be killed by either gods, demons or by spirits, after performing a severe penance for ten thousand years. He has ten heads and twenty arms, the former of which he began to cut off and throw into the sacrificial fire until Lord Brahma appeared to him. After getting his reward from Brahma, Ravana begins to lay waste the earth and disturbs the deeds of good Rishis. Vishnu incarnates as the human Rama to defeat him, thus circumventing the boon given by Brahma.
- Dasharatha is the king of Ayodhya and the father of Rama. He has three queens, Kousalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi, and three other sons; Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna. Kaikeyi, Dasharatha's favourite queen forces him to make his son Bharata heir apparent and send Rama into exile. Dashratha dies heartbroken after Rama goes into exile.
- Bharata is the second son of Dasharatha. When he learns that his mother Kaikeyi had forced Rama into exile and caused Dasharatha to die broken hearted, he storms out of the palace and goes in search of Rama. When Rama refuses to return from his exile to assume the throne, Bharata obtains Rama's sandals and places them on the throne as a gesture that Rama is the true king. Bharata then rules Ayodhya as a representative of Rama for the next fourteen years.
- Vishvamitra is the sage who takes Rama into the forest in order to defeat the demons destroying his Yagna ceremonies. On the way back he takes Rama into Mithila where Rama and Sita meet each other for the first time and Rama participates in her swayamvara.
[edit] Theological Significance
Rama, the hero of Ramayana, is a popular deity worshiped in the Hindu religion. Each year, many devout pilgrims trace his journey through India, halting at each of the holy sites along the way. The poem is not seen as just a literary monument, it serves as an integral part of Hinduism, and is held in such reverence that the mere reading or hearing of it, or certain passages of it, is believed by the Hindus to free them from sin and shower blessings upon the reader or listener. According to Hindu tradition, Rama is an incarnation (Avatar), of the god Vishnu. The main purpose of this incarnation is to demonstrate the righteous path (dharma) for all living creatures on Earth.
[edit] Contemporary versions
The TV serial by Ramanand Sagar contains a vast, near comprehensive collection of stories drawn from many different retellings of the Ramayana. A plot summary is found on the Ramayan (TV series) article.
Other contemporary versions of the Ramayana include Sri Ramayana Darshanam by Dr. K. V. Puttappa (Kuvempu) in Kannada and Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu by Viswanatha Satyanarayana in Telugu, both of which have been awarded the Jnanpith Award. A prose version called Geet Ramayan (Geet = song) in Marathi by G.D. (Gajanan Digambar) Madgulkar (also known as Ga Di Madgulkar or GaDiMA) was rendered in Music by Sudhir Phadke and is considered to be a masterpiece of Marathi literature. The popular Indian author R. K. Narayan wrote a shortened prose interpretation of the epic, and another modern Indian author, Ashok Banker, has so far written a series of six English language novels based on the Ramayana. In September 2006, the first issue of Ramayan 3392 A.D. was published by Virgin Comics, featuring the Ramayana as reinvisioned by author Deepak Chopra and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.
The Ramayana has been adapted on screen as well, in a television series from the 1980s of the same name by producer Ramanand Sagar, which was based primarily off of the Ramcharitmanas and Valmiki Ramayana. In the late 90s, Sanjay Khan made a series called Jai Hanuman. This series not only recounted the stories of the birth, childhood and later life of Hanuman but also chronicled in detail the life of the various other characters in the Ramayana like Rama, Ravana, Sita, Meghanada, Mandodari, Dasharatha, Janaka, Bali and Sugreeva etc as well as some lesser known characters. This serial was based on various sources including Valmiki Ramayana, Ramacharitmanas, Krittivas Ramayana, Ananda Ramayana, Adhyatma Ramayana, Paumacariyam etc. A Japanese animated film called Rama - The Prince of Light was also released in the early 1990s.
[edit] See also
- Shri Ramayan Ad Dharm Granth
- Mahabharata
- Epic Poetry
- Phra Lak Phra Lam
- Ramakien
- Rama's Bridge
- Ramayan 3392 A.D.
- Valmiki
- Vashisht
[edit] References
- Milner Rabb, Kate, National Epics, 1896 - See eText Project Gutenburg
- Raghunathan, N. (Trans), Srimad Valmiki Ramayanam, Vighneswara Publishing House, Madras (1981)
- A different Song - Article from "The Hindu" August 12, 2005 - [1]
- Dr. Gauri Mahulikar Effect Of Ramayana On Various Cultures And Civilisations, Ramayan Institute
- Goldman, Robert P., The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India Princeton University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-691-01485-X
- Arya, Ravi Prakash (ed.). Ramayana of Valmiki: Sanskrit Text and English Translation. (English translation according to M. N. Dutt, introduction by Dr. Ramashraya Sharma, 4-volume set) Parimal Publications: Delhi, 1998 ISBN 81-7110-156-9
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Note that the cerebral ṇ is due to infection by the word-initial r, see sandhi
- ^ About 480,002 words, or a quarter of the length of the full text of the Mahābhārata, or about four times the length of the Iliad.
- ^ Romesh Dutt, "Epilogue by the Translator", Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, London, J.M. Dent 2nd ed., (1902) p. 183. Dutt cites Ramayana, Book VII, "Uttra-Kinda".
- ^ Brockington, John (2003), “The Sanskrit Epics”, in Flood, Gavin, Blackwell companion to Hinduism, Blackwell Publishing, pp. 116-128, ISBN 0-631-21535-2
- ^ Goldman, Robert P., The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India pp. 31
- ^ Romesh Dutt, "Epilogue", Ramayana (1902) as cited, p. 181.
- ^ Goldman, Robert P., The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India pp. 23
- ^ das, Krishna Dharma., The Ramayana pp. 1
- ^ Indian Wisdom Or Examples of the Religious, Philosophical, And Ethical Doctrines of the Hindus, by Monier Williams, Published 2006
- ^ Robert P. Goldman, The Ramayan of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India, pp 5
- ^ Raghunathan, N. (trans.), Srimad Valmiki Ramayana
- ^ Arya, R. P. (ed.), Ramayan of Valmiki
[edit] External links
- Original text (Sanskrit)
- रामायण (Devanagari version on Wikisource)
- Ramayana (Devanagari and IAST romanization)
- Translations (English)
- Download complete Ramayan of Valmiki translated in English by Ralph T. H. Griffith 1874 in PDF format with footnotes, Table of content and Index
- Valmiki Ramayana translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith (1870-1874)
- Abridged Ramayana and Mahabharata by R.C. Dutt (1899)
- Site with Valmiki Ramayana Text with Meaning (Sanskrit)/(English)
- Valmiki Ramayana
- Ramacharita manas (Tulsidas' Ramayana) (Hindi)/(English)
- Ramayana in vernacular languages
- Research articles
- The storyboard of the Ramayana - discusses adaptations in other nations
- Ramayana and Mahabharata in Indonesia - discusses the Indonesian versions
- Articles
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