Rama, the protagonist of the ancient Indian epic
Ramayana
and the beloved son of King Dasharatha of
Ayodhya,
was about to be formally declared as the crown prince when destiny
intervened and he was forced to spend fourteen years in exile or forced
Vanavas. Rama was loved not only by his parents Dasharatha and
Kaushalya, but also by his two step mothers Kaikeyi and Sumitra. He was the
eldest of the four sons of Dasharatha, the other three being Lakshmana and
Shatrughana (sons of Sumitra), and Bharata (son of Kaikeyi). His younger
brothers loved and revered him and the people of Ayodhya doted on him and
were happy to have him as the king in waiting. But that was not to be.
Kaikeyi, Rama's step mother was initially as happy as the rest of the royal
household at the prospect of Rama being made the crown prince. However, her
mind was poisoned by Manthara, a scheming hunch-backed maid, who convinced
her that her fortunes will go down the hill and Bharata will be exiled or
killed once Rama became the king. Having convinced Kaikeyi, Manthara
reminded her of the two boons that Dasharatha had given her long back for
saving his life and asked her to use them to force her husband to send Rama
to the forest for fourteen years and declare
Bharata
as the crown prince of Ayodhya.
When a now brainwashed Kaikeyi asked Dasharatha for her two boons and told
him what her demands were, Dasharatha pleaded with her to ask for anything
else she wanted, but not be as cruel on his son Rama as to send him to the
forests for such a long time. But Kaikeyi was adamant and reiterated her
demands upon which Dasharatha became ill and fainted. When he came to, he
reluctantly sent for Rama and told him about the two boons Kaikeyi had asked
for. Rama graciously accepted them and asked his father, with his
characteristic calmness, not to worry so much about so little a problem.
And thus Kaikeyi was one of the central female antagonists of the epic
Ramayana who was responsible for laying the ground for the future turn of
events. Though she later regretted her stubbornness and greed, the chain of
events was now irreversible.
Rama Leaves for the Vanavas
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VANAVAS OF RAMA, SITA AND LAKSHMANA
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Rama bid
farewell to his parents and step mothers, his brother Lakshmana, and his
wife Sita. However, both Lakshmana who was a devoted younger brother and
Sita, Rama's faithful consort, were determined to accompany him to the
forest and finally Rama had to give in and agree to take them along.
Bharata, along with Shatrughana, was at the time visiting his maternal
grandfather, the king of Kaikeya and was not informed of the developments.
As was the custom, all three of them changed into hermits' clothing made of
plain saffron colored cloth and left the palace in a chariot driven by
Sumantra, Dasharatha's chief counselor. The people of the kingdom were
shocked and saddened seeing their favorite prince going to the forest and
followed them as far as the bank of the river Tamasa. After spending the
night there, Rama and his companions got up at dawn and left the place
leaving the as yet fast asleep citizens behind.
Sumantra drove the chariot through the day till they reached the river
Ganges where they all decided to halt for the night. This is where they met
Guha,
the hunter chieftain, who requested
Rama,
Lakshmana and Sita to stay as his guests for the
Vanavas
period and enjoy the riches of his kingdom. However, Rama was committed to
his promise to Dasharatha that he would spend the next fourteen years in
forests and live a hermit's life and as such, he politely declined the
invitation and thanked Guha profusely for his friendship and for being so
generous.
The next morning, after extracting a promise from Sumantra that he would
look after Dasharatha, Rama and his companions took leave of both him and
Guha.
Rama and the Kewat (Boatman)
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KEWAT FERRIES RAMA, SITA AND LAKSHMANA ACROSS
THE RIVER VAITARANI
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Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita now needed to cross the river Ganges for
continuing their journey and so, they approached a kewat (Boatman) to ferry
them across the river. The kewat promptly replied that he would ferry them
only if Rama allowed him to wash his feet with water as his feet had magic
dust that converted anything they touched to a woman (in reference to the
Ahilya
episode). Rama understood his intentions, and smilingly agreed. Kewat washed
Rama's feet with extreme devotion and then invited them on the boat. When
they reached the opposite bank,
Sita
tried to pay Kewat with her ring, as they had no money but kewat refused to
accept fare and said that people belonging to the same profession do not
charge each other.
When Rama did not understand the meaning of his words,
kewat
explained that while he ferried people from one bank of the river to the
other, Rama, the avatar of Lord Vishnu, ferried people from one side of the
ocean which is this world to the other side called moksha or liberation from
the cycle of birth or death. He requested Rama to ferry him across this
world when his time came instead of paying him now. Rama was very pleased
with kewat and blessed him.
Bharata's Return to Ayodhya
Sumantra returned to Ayodhya with a heavy heart only to find Dasharatha on
his death bed. Seeing Sumantra alone, Dasharatha finally accepted the truth
that his beloved son was not going to be around for a long time and the
realization broke his heart and he died the same night. Bharata, oblivious
of all that had transpired in his absence from Ayodhya, was sent for with
the message that his presence was immediately required in the city.
On reaching the city, he was shocked to see it silent and lifeless. When he
entered the king's palace, he found it empty and rushed to his mother to
find out what tragedy had befallen the place. Kaikeyi informed Bharata of
his father's demise. Bharata was inconsolable and wanted to know the reason
behind his sudden ill health and death. A visibly pale and shaken Kaikeyi
related the events of the past few days to him, and asked for his
forgiveness as she had done the scheming for his benefit. But Bharata, who
loved and respected his elder brother, was outraged and then ashamed that
all this had happened because of him. He blamed himself and his mother for
his father's death and brother's misfortune and refused to forgive his
mother. He berated her and refused to have anything more to do with her and
went straight to meet his step mother Kaushalya.
Kaushalya and Sumitra were faint from all the crying but welcomed Bharata
and requested him to take both of them to Rama in the forest and wished him
good luck as the future king. Bharata, ashamed of his mother's deeds,
apologized to both of them on her behalf and asked them not to forget that
he loved Rama as much as they did and would never dream of ruling the
kingdom while Rama was living the difficult life of a hermit in the forest.
He promised to bring Rama back to
Ayodhya
and left for the forest soon after.
Bharata Meets Rama
After completing the last rites for his father Dasharatha, Bharata, along
with Dasharatha's queens, left Ayodhya with his army in search of Rama.
After travelling for many days, they reached the forests of Chitrakoot, a
beautiful and holy place where Rama was living with Sita and Lakshmana on
the advice of sages Bhargava and Valmiki. On seeing Rama, Bharata could
contain himself no longer and fell to his feet tearfully. Rama embraced him
and consoled him and asked him why he had come to the forest leaving their
father alone? A sobbing Bharata gave the tragic news to his brothers that
their father was no more and had died calling out to Rama. Rama, who loved
his father very much, was shocked to hear this and fainted. When he gained
consciousness, all of them went to the banks of the river Mandakini to offer
prayers to their departed father.
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BHARAT AND SHATRUGHNA REQUESTING RAMA, SITA AND
LAKSHMANA FOR RETURN TO AYODHYA
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Bharata
requested his brother many times to return to Ayodhya with him and
take his rightful place at the throne, but Rama asked him to rule the
kingdom as he had promised his father to spend fourteen years in the forest
and he did not want to disobey him.
On hearing this, Bharata humbly requested Rama to give him his sandals so he
could place them on the throne and run the kingdom in Rama's name as his
deputy. Rama gracefully agreed to it and Bharata went back to Ayodhya after
taking his brother's blessings.
The Surpanakha Episode
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RAMAYANA KATHAKALI PAPER MACHE MASK : SURPANAKHA
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The beautiful Chitrakoot no longer held any significance for Rama, now that
he had met Bharata and heard the news of Dasharatha's demise. The trio spent
the next few years wandering through the great forest without settling down
anywhere permanently. They visited a number of sages and other holy men
during this time and sage Agastya advised Rama to set up home at Panchavati,
on the banks of the river Godavari. On reaching Panchavati, all of them were
taken with the beauty and serenity of the place and Lakshmana erected a
small, yet elegant hut where they all lived peacefully.
One day Surpanakha, sister of the Rakshasa King Ravana of
Lanka
was passing by and saw the handsome prince Rama. She fell in love with him
and transforming herself into a beautiful woman through her magical powers,
she proposed marriage to him. Rama, in jest, pointer her in the direction of
Lakshmana who was equally good looking and asked her to marry him instead as
he himself was already married to Sita and she had accompanied him to the
forest. Surpanakha now approached Lakshmana and proposed to him who had
understood Rama's intention and told Surpanakha that he did not wish to
marry her either. Thus humiliated, she again went back to Rama, and this
time attacked Sita as she was the reason behind Rama's refusal of her
proposal. Seeing this, Lakshmana jumped in between and cut off her nose. A
bleeding Surpanakha ran away swearing revenge. Later, she sent her brothers,
demons Khara and Dooshana, along with an army of fourteen thousand demons to
kill Rama. However, the brave Rama asked Lakshmana to protect Sita and
killed the brothers and their huge army single handedly with his bow and
arrows.
An agitated
Surpanakha
now went to her brother Ravana and told her how Lakshmana had cut off her
nose while she was trying to bring the beautiful Sita to marry Ravana and
how Rama had killed Khara and Dooshana and the demon army. The incident
enraged Ravana so much that he vowed to take revenge and hatched a plan to
abduct Sita.
Surpanakha played a pivotal role in the epic by causing the abduction of
Sita by Ravana, which ultimately led to the great war in Lanka and the death
of the demon king.
Sita's Abduction
Ravana sought the
help of his uncle Maricha, a demon who had been defeated twice earlier by
Rama, in his plan for kidnapping Sita from Panchvati. Initially, Maricha
refused as he was sure it meant certain death, but when Ravana threatened to
kill him then and there, he agreed thinking it was better to die at the
hands of Rama than Ravana.
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SITA REQUESTS RAMA TO FETCH THE ILLUSORY GOLDEN
DEER
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As per their plan, Maricha turned himself into a golden deer and started
running around Rama's hut. When Sita saw the beautiful deer, she was
enchanted by it and asked Rama to get the deer for her to keep as a pet.
While Rama agreed to go after it on Sita's pleading, Lakshmana was convinced
it was a ruse by demons and tried to stop Rama from following the deer.
However, Rama said that while this was probably the case, if the deer turned
out to be a demon, he would kill him and just asked Lakshmana to protect
Sita at any cost while he was away.
The deer led Rama into deep forest, and unable to capture it, Rama shot an
arrow to kill him. Seeing the end near, Maricha returns to his original form
and calls out to Lakshmana and Sita for help in Rama's voice. While Rama,
understanding the ploy, started walking back towards his hut, Sita requested
Lakshmana to go and help Rama. Lakshmana tried to calm Sita down by telling
her that Rama was invincible, Sita was not convinced and on the verge of
hysteria. Seeing this, Lakshmana drew a line around the cottage chanting
mantras and asked Sita to promise him to stay within that Lakshmana Rekha.
He told her that as long as she stayed within it, nobody will be able to
harm her or come near her crossing the rekha. Thus stipulating, Lakshmana
went looking for Rama, still with misgivings about leaving her alone and
disobeying his brother.
Ravana, who was waiting exactly for this moment, turned himself into an
ascetic and came asking for Sita's hospitality. Initially, Sita was
reluctant to offer him food, but when Ravana berated her for not showing
respect to an ascetic, she was forced to step out of the protective
Lakshmana Rekha to offer him food. The moment she did that, Ravana came back
to his original form and forcibly carried her over to his divine aircraft,
the Pushpakvimana, and flew towards Lanka.
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JATAYU BATTLES WITH RAVANA TO RESCUE SITA
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On Ravana's way back to Lanka, the vulture king Jatayu tried to rescue Sita
and fought valiantly with him but Ravana soon overpowered him and cut his
wings making him fall down.
In
Lanka,
Ravana proposed marriage to Sita but she being eternally faithful and
devoted to Rama, refused. When everything from request to intimidation
failed, Ravana gave Sita one year to think about his proposal at the end of
which he would kill her if she still refused to marry him. In the mean time
he kept her captive in his garden Ashoka Vatika surrounded by female demon
guards.
While Ravana was a demon, he was also a learned man and a devotee of
Lord
Shiva. He needs to be given credit for not forcing his will on Sita,
and instead allowing Sita a whole year in which to change his mind and
accept him willingly. Of course, his misdeeds of abducting a woman and
offering marriage to a married woman were later responsible for his death at
the hands of Rama.
Rama's Sorrow
As soon as Rama met Lakshmana, he asked him why he had left Sita
unprotected. Lakshmana narrated the incident to him but Rama was
apprehensive. They soon reached their home only to see no sign of Sita
anywhere. An inconsolable Rama ran around looking for Sita everywhere and
called out to every tree, bird and beast asking for Sita's whereabouts. When
he was too exhausted to walk further; he sat on a rock and told Lakshmana
that he would die in the forest where his beloved Sita had died. Lakshmana
tried to console him and soon they resumed their search finally meeting
Jatayu who informed him that Sita was abducted by the rakshasa king Ravana
and taken to Lanka. Thus saying;
Jatayu
apologized for not being able to do more to save Sita and passed away.
Rama Meets the Monster Kabandha
The two brothers had no idea now how to look for Ravana and they continued
their wandering in the forest. All of a sudden, they heard a terrible noise
and saw a huge head less and legless monster coming towards them. He just
had a big hair-covered trunk with one eye in the middle of his chest and an
ugly mouth beneath it. With his two long arms, he tried to grab the two
princes but they were alert and promptly cut off her hands. The injured
monster cried in pain and asked them who they were in a human voice. A
surprised Lakshmana introduced himself and Rama and told him that they were
searching for Sita.
The monster replied that his name was Kabandha and he was cursed to become a
monster and requested them to burn his body to ashes once he died to release
him from the curse. Saying this, he fainted and died and Rama and Lakshmana
did as requested by him. From his ashes rose a celestial being that bowed
and thanked the two brothers and told them to go west and make friends with
Sugriva,
living at Rishyamukha Mountains, and seek his help in rescuing Sita. He also
suggested that they meet Shabari, an old devotee of Rama, in her hermitage.
Rama Visits Shabari
Shabari's hermitage was located on the banks of Lake Pampa. Shabari had
served the sage Matanga for a long time and when left for his heavenly
abode, he asked Shabari to stay at his hermitage and wait for Rama's visit
which would open the doorway of heaven for her. A devoted Shabari waited all
alone for two years. When Rama and Lakshmana finally arrived at the
hermitage, she was ecstatic and washed their feet. She offered them the
berries she had collected the other day as she had nothing else to offer,
but in her zeal, she tasted each berry herself first to make sure they were
sweet. When she realized that she was offering Rama half eaten fruit, she
was ashamed, but Rama ate them and told her that it was her love and
devotion that mattered and not her situation in the world or what she
offered. Shabari then sought permission from Rama to depart the world and
passed away in a dazzling brightness.
Rama: A Character Sketch
Ramayana, or the story of Rama, depicts its protagonist as an obedient son,
a faithful husband, and a loving brother. Rama agreed to spend his youth
wandering in forests to honor his father's words, his love for his brothers
inspired unquestioning devotion in them and his love for his wife Sita made
him cry in anguish at her abduction and wish for death.
Rama, from an early age, believed in living life according to Dharma. No
adversity could shake his resolve in the laws of Dharma and many a times, he
had to give in to the demands of his loved ones because of it. Rama would
never have agreed to take Sita to the forest had she not reminded him of a
wife's duty to be with her husband at all times, good and bad. This is the
reason why Rama is considered a hero worthy of being worshipped by one and
all.
