FACTS ABOUT RAMAYAN

                      FACTS ABOUT RAMAYANA

Title

The Ramayana ("Journey of Rama")

Type of text

Itihasa (history)

Who wrote it and when

The poet Valmiki first composed it around 300 BCE and much has been added over the years.

Setting of the story

c. 1500 BCE

Length

Long - about the length of the entire Christian Bible. It consists of 24,000 couplets in seven books.

Original language

Sanskrit

Versions and translations

1. Hindi version called the Rama Charita Manasa by Tulsi Das (16th century)
2. Tamil version by Kampan
3. Bengali version by Krttibas

What it's about

A virtuous king named Rama is banished to the forest, where he has many adventures, then he rescues his wife Sita from the evil king of Sri Lanka with the help of his friends.

Who's in it

Rama - 7th incarnation of Vishnu and virtuous king of Ayodhya
Sita - incarnation of Lakshmi
Ravana - evil king of Sri Lanka
Hanuman - monkey-general and devotee of Rama
Sugriva - king of the monkeys
Lakshman - Rama's devoted half-brother

Outline

1. Bal Kanda - Rama's boyhood
2. Ayodhya Kanda - Rama's life in Ayodhya until his banishment
3. Aranya - Rama's life in the forest and his abduction by Ravana
4. Kishkinda - Rama's stay at Kishkinda, the capital of his monkey ally Sugriva
5. Sundara - Rama's journey to Sri Lanka
6. Yuddha (or Lanka) - Rama's battle with Ravana, the recovery of Sita and their return to Ayodhya
7. Uttara - Rama's life as king in Ayodhya, the birth of his two sons, Sita's test of innocence and return to her mother, and Rama's demise.

Role in Hinduism

The Ramayana is extremely popular. India nearly shut down when a dramatized series of the Ramayana appeared on television in the 1980s. Recitation of the Ramayana earns great merit. Rama and Sita are seen as the ideal married couple. In North India, the Ramayana is acted out in the annual pageant Ram-Lila. It was a favourite subject of Rajasthani and Pahari painters of the 17th and 18th centuries. Gandhi called it the greatest book in the world. Tulsi Das, medieval author of the Hindi translation, said, "Whenever I remember Rama's name, the desert of my heart blooms lush and green."

Fun fact

According to legend, the poet who wrote the Ramayana was originally a thief. One day he tried to rob a sadhu, who of course owned nothing. The sadhu gave him a mantra: "Mara" (evil). Valmiki liked it and kept repeating it, and he gradually became a better person. Then he realized that when he was saying "mara mara mara" he was also saying "rama rama rama." He then wrote the Ramayana in honor of the god who had changed his life.