The Ramayana is an ancient Hindu text written by Valmiki between 500 and 100 BC. It tells the story of Prince Rama’s attempts to rescue his kidnapped wife, Sita, from the evil king Ravana. The story illustrates the concept of dharma and is considered a religious text. Rama is revered as a paragon of Hindu virtue and is celebrated with a festival called Rama Navani. The original text is extremely long, but adaptations have been made, including a popular Indian television series called Ramayan.
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit story considered one of the major texts of the Hindu religion. It is believed to have been written between 500 and 100 BC and is attributed to a revered Hindu sage, Valmiki. The Ramayana is the story of Prince Rama, whose wife, Sita, is kidnapped by an evil ten-headed king, Ravana.
The main plot of the Ramayana involves the life of Prince Rama and his attempts to recover his kidnapped wife. Rama is the favorite son of a king, but is the victim of an evil plot by one of the king’s wives and is forced to go into exile for fourteen years. His wife, Sita, and his brother, Lakshmana, go into exile with him.
Sita is kidnapped through the tricks of Ravana, a king who wishes to have her as his wife. Ravana tempts Rama away from their home by having a beautiful golden deer dress up as a demon. Rama gets enchanted and hunts the deer, leaving Lakshmana to take care of Sita. Ravana convinces Lakshmana with the illusion that Rama is in dire straits. Despite the added protection of Jatayu, a huge vulture loyal to Rama, Ravana steals Sita and returns to his kingdom of Lanka.
After Sita’s abduction, Rama wages a terrible war against Lanka. Hanuman, a monkey general and friend of Rama, destroys the city and locates Sita, but she will not come with him, insisting that she will offend Rama’s honor if he does not save her himself. Rama rescues Sita, and then controversially forces her to survive her ordeal by fire to prove that she has not been dishonored by Ravana.
The story illustrates a central Hindu concept, that of dharma. Dharma states that every human being has a divine or righteous path ahead of them, and their job in life is to fulfill the dharma. Those who betray him, as Ravana does in the Ramayana by separating Sita and Rama, are doomed to death and punishment. Rama and Sita are both regarded as paragons of Hindu virtue, as neither considers betraying their dharma throughout the epic.
Rama is considered by some to be an incarnation of the god Vishnu and is revered by some Hindus. The journey he takes across India is used as a pilgrimage by devotees. Rama’s birthday and marriage day is celebrated on the ninth day of the Hindu lunar calendar with a festival called Rama Navani. The festival is usually celebrated with plays and stories read from the Ramayana.
The Ramayana is not considered a mere allegory but serves as a religious text similar to the Christian Bible or the Jewish Torah. Reading a few key passages is believed to protect and bless the audience. Rama’s strict adherence to dharma makes him the prime example of proper Hindu behavior, just as stories from the life of Jesus make him a role model for Christians.
The Ramayana is extremely long and involves many sub-plots and additional stories. In its original form, it consists of seven books comprising 24,000 verses and 500 epic poems or songs. Being such a long story, adaptations of the play have historically been problematic. However, several Indian television series have tried to produce screen versions of the Ramayana. One of them, Ramayan ran from 1987 to 1988 in India and proved to be extremely popular, giving a comprehensive look at the whole story.
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