Chapter 17

The Ramayana
 What Is the Ramayana?
• A compilation and integration of stories
about the ancient hero Rama, formed into
a unified work of art.
• There are many versions.
– Most popular in India today is one by Tulsidas
(1543–1623).
– We also present a popular summary of the
version written by the poet Valmiki around
150 B.C.E.
The Theology of the Ramayana
• The Aryans settled in the valley of the Indus River in the northwest
of today’s India around 1500 B.C.E.
• The Aryans wrote four books of sacred hymns, in their Sanskrit
language, called the Vedas.
• Vedic religion was based on offering sacrifice to the gods in the
hope of obtaining earthly power and wealth rather than rewards in
an afterlife.
• In the mid-fifth century B.C.E., the influential preacher Gautama
Buddha simplified the focus of religion by advocating mastery of
oneself, virtuous conduct, a search for wisdom, and compassion for
all as the means of achieving eternal satisfaction (nirvana). Humans
could therefore become like gods through virtuous acts.
• Buddha’s teachings were so popular that they caused the Vedic
religion to be modified, incorporating an emphasis on the four
principles that individuals need to guide their lives (dharma, artha,
karma, and moksa).
 Background for the Ramayana
• In this epic, the protagonist Rama acts in
accordance with the four principles of
moderation and dedication that should
guide humans in all activities. They are
• dharma – righteousness and duty
• artha – material prosperity
• kama – legitimate sex and other pleasures
• moksa – liberation of the soul
 Background, 2 – Dharma
• Has both secular and religious connotations.
• Addresses correct behavior in all facets of life,
including morality, duty, custom, law, virtue, and
established order.
• Is based on the principle that each person has a
specific role in life, related to his or her place in
society.
• Requires a particular behavior in all aspects of
daily existence.
 Background, 3 – Varnas
• Indian society was divided into four segments, or
varnas, according to social class. The result of
this division was that by custom and by law,
specific types of people did specific work:
– The highest level was devoted to learning and
priesthood.
– The second, to ruling and winning battles.
– The third group consisted of traders, artisans, and
farmers.
– The lowest group had to do the most unpopular jobs.
 Gods of the Ramayana
• Agni – the god of fire from Vedic times.
• Indra – the chief god from Vedic times.
• Shiva – god of destruction; emerged in
Vedic times, but became central in the
later Hindu tradition.
• Vishnu – a minor Vedic god, but the most
important and supreme Hindu god.
 Other Religious Elements
of the Ramayana
• The four sons of Dasaratha are incarnations of
the god Vishnu, who had chosen them to help in
conquering the Rakshasas.
• Rakshasas, or titans, are negative forces led by
Ravana and can transform themselves into
various shapes and conjure up magical
deceptions.
• Sages live a rigorous religious life apart from the
activity of the city and provide crucial advice and
protection to Rama and his family.
 Plot of the Ramayana, Book 1
• Dasaratha, of the Ikshwaku dynasty, rules the kingdom of Kosala,
with Ayodhya as the capital.
• Dasaratha has four sons: Rama, the eldest, born of Queen
Kausalya, and Bharata, born of Kaikeyi. Lakshmana and Satrughna,
the twins, are Sumitra’s sons. Rama and Lakshmana are especially
close to each other, as are Bharata and Satrughna.
• Lakshmana and Rama go to Vishwamitra to fight titans.
• Rama meets Sita on this trip. Her father Janaka has offered her in
marriage to anyone who could string the great bow of Shiva.
• All the brothers marry: Rama marries Sita; Lakshmana weds
Janaka’s daughter Urmila; Janaka’s brother’s daughters, Mandavi
and Srutakirti, marry Bharata and Satrughna.
 Plot of the Ramayana, Book 2
• King Dasaratha wants to crown Rama as the heir.
• Manthara, the favorite maid of Queen Kaikeyi, convinces her to act
in favor of her son Bharata.
• Kaikeyi asks, in repayment of an old favor, that Bharata should be
appointed heir-apparent and Rama should be banished to the forest
for fourteen years.
• Sita and Lakshmana, after protracted arguments, obtain Rama’s
consent to accompany him to the forest.
• After Dasaratha’s death, the sage Bharadwaja directs Bharata to
Rama’s abode, and Bharata pleads for his brother to return. Rama
promises to accept the kingdom after his return from the fourteen-
year exile, but not before.
• Rama goes off into the Dandaka forest.
 Plot of the Ramayana, Book 3
• Rama and Lakshmana vanquish the demon Viradha.
• The trio spend ten years in the Dandaka forest very
happily, going from hermitage to hermitage.
• They visit the sage Agastya, who gives Rama a celestial
bow, two inexhaustible quivers, and a sword.
• The celestial eagle Jatayu, a friend of Dasaratha,
promises to keep watch over Sita.
• Maricha, one of the demons whom Rama subdued in
Book 1, helps Ravana abduct Sita by turning into a
golden deer and drawing away Rama and Lakshmana.
• Ravana clips Jatayu’s wings and abducts Sita.
• Sita rejects Ravana’s entreaties.
• Rama and Lakshmana set out to look for Sita.
 Plot of the Ramayana, Book 4
• Vali, brother of Sugreeva, the Monkey king, drives him away from
the city, depriving him of his wife, too.
• Rama promises to kill Vali and, in return, Sugreeva promises to help
Rama in the search for Sita.
• Sugreeva becomes engrossed in a life of pleasure, and Rama
becomes quite desolate and melancholy.
• Rama sends Lakshmana to Sugreeva to remind him of his part of
the alliance, the search for Sita.
• Sugreeva sends out his forces, with Hanuman in the South. Rama
has great confidence in Hanuman, and gives him a ring to serve as
a token that Sita could recognize.
• Sampati, the elder brother of Jatayu, tells the monkeys that Sita,
surrounded by titan women guards, is in the city of Lanka in the
kingdom of Ravana.
• Hanuman undertakes the assignment of crossing the sea to Lanka
and returning.
 Plot of the Ramayana, Book 5
• Hanuman reaches the shores of Lanka city.
• In the Ashoka garden, he finds Sita, looking
emaciated and terribly grief stricken, dressed in
soiled clothes and without ornaments. He shows
her the signet ring that Rama gave to him for
identification, and offers to rescue her.
• Sita says that her lord should rescue her.
• Hanuman narrates his journey to Rama and
gives him a jewel Sita had given him as a token
of having met her.
 Plot of the Ramayana, Book 6
• Rama appreciates Hanuman’s exploits, but is despondent about the near
impossibility of a whole army being able to cross the sea.
• Sugreeva cheers Rama, and the army of monkeys sets out.
• Vibhishana, brother of Ravana, seeks asylum in Rama’s camp, and Kumbhakarna,
another brother of Ravana, agrees to fight for Ravana, though he disapproves of his
actions.
• The sea lord builds a passage in the sea for the whole army to cross the sea and
reach Lanka.
• Combat between Rama and Ravana is most fierce, but finally, by the use of the
Brahma arrow, Rama vanquishes Ravana.
• Rama has Vibhishana crowned king of Lanka.
• Hanuman brings Sita to Rama, but he tells her to depart, thinking she has been
defiled by Ravana.
• Sita undergoes the fire ordeal to prove her purity.
• On Rama’s request, Indra, the celestial chief, restores to life all the monkeys that
were killed in the war.
• Rama is crowned in Ayodhya. Dasaratha appears to bless Kaikeyi and Bharata,
whom he renounced earlier. Rama crowns Bharata as the heir-apparent.
 An Uncomfortable Part of the Ramayana:
Sita as a Phantom Figure
• After Sita is rescued, Rama subjects her to a trial by fire
to prove that she has not been touched by Ravana,
because his dharma requires him to shun his wife if she
has dishonored him.
• In more detailed translations of Rama stories, Sita is
often represented by an illusory figure – a double or
phantom figure.
• In these versions of the Ramayana, it is the illusory Sita
who sees the illusory deer.
• When Rama returns after his long exile, he forgets that
the Sita in Ravana’s power is illusory and orders her to
undergo the ordeal of fire because he believes she has
shamed him.
• However, because she is illusory, Sita’s double walks
into the fire and disappears, leaving the genuine Sita to
remain with Rama.
 Sita as a Phantom Figure, 2
• O’Flaherty suggests that the story may feature this
illusory Sita to justify Rama’s subjecting her to the fire
ordeal. In this view, he may have known it was not the
real Sita, or the presence of Sita’s double may help
mollify Rama’s (and the reader’s) uneasiness that Sita
has been with Ravana.
• Throughout the Ramayana, Sita conducts herself as the
dutiful Hindu wife who stands by her husband through all
adversity. In her devotion to dharma, Sita represents an
ideal.
• In contrast, Kaikeyi, Dasaratha’s wife and Bharata’s
mother, lets her desire for wealth and power (artha) blind
her to righteous living.