Ramayana Summary- Brif Introduction
Ramayana is the story of the life of Lord Ram. It is the one of the greatest mythological tales of Hinduism. Religious peoples of Hinduism, believe that the story is based on the real events that happened thousands of years ago, while atheists believe it to be only a mythological tale. However, despite this nobody can deny that Ramayana is an epic tale with the story of the win of the truth.
Lord Ram is considered as the 7th avatar of lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu incarnated as Lord Ram in this world to free earth from all evil doers. Whenever earth is filled with evil doers Lord Vishnu incarnated here to free mother earth from them. Lord Ram was born on Treta Yug, as the eldest son of king Dashrath and queen Kaushalya Vati.
Birth of Lord Ram
King Dashrath was childless despite having three queens. He was getting older day by day, but there was no one after him to succeed his kingdom. Then the Kul guru of Ayodhya (kingdom of Dashrath), suggested the king to perform Putrakameshti Yagya. Then the king with the help of Rishyasringa muni performed the Yagya. As, the boon of this Yagya lord Ram and his four brothers were born. The events of Ramayana, started even before the birth of Lord Ram, however the core part of Ramayana starts and ends with him.
The four brothers
Lord Ram was born to queen Kaushalya, Bharat to queen Kekai, the twins Laksman and Satrughan to queen Sumitra. Ramayana is the love between these four brothers. It is believed that the other three brothers are also the energy of Lord Vishnu. Laksman was incarnation of Sesh Naag, Bharat of Sankha of Lord Vishnu and Shatrughan was of Sudarshan chakra. Since, they also were the part of Lord Ram, they had an extraordinary affection towards Lord Ram.
Tadaka, Marich and Subahu
The three daemons Tadaka, Marich and Subahu terrorized the forest where rishi Vishwamitra preformed holy ceremony. To defeat them the rishi went to Ayodhya to take Ram and Laksman. With great reluctance the king let them go with the sage. The sage taught the princes the art of mystic and godly weapons. With the weapons the princes killed the demon and pleased Vishwaamitra.
Ram, Sita marriage
Ramayana took another turn with the entry of mother Sita. At Janakpur, the kingdom of King Janak a Shoy Ambar was taking place. The proposition was that whoever lifts and uses the great Shiva Dhanush will wed Sita. The sage took the princes to only watch the ceremony. However, when no one was able to do so, Lord Ram stood up and completed the challenge. By this, Lord Ram married mother Sita. Also, the three brothers of Ram married the three sisters of Sita.
The exile
The tragic part of Ramayana, begun with the exile of Lord Ram for 14 years in the forest. Kekai with the influence of Manthara, wished for the king to exile Lord Ram while Bharat will become the king. Laksman and Sita also decided to aid Ram in this journey. In this period Bharat and Shatrughan were at their uncle’s house. With great reluctance the king let his, two beloved son and daughter in law go.
Death of the King
King Dashrath was not able to bear to be away from his beloved Ram. He died shortly after the events of exile. After this, Bharat was called to Ayodhya. Bharat upon arriving came to know of the events of exile. He firstly rejected the throne, then was incredibly angry at his mother and Manthara. Bharat went to forest to tell Lord Ram about the death of their father and begged him to return in his throne.
Ram ordered Bharat to go to Ayodhya and let him follow the last order of his Bharat. Bharat took the shoes of Lord Ram to place it in the throne. He told that Ayodhya will always be of Lord Ram, but while the Lord completes his duty Bharat will take care of the kingdom but not as the King but as the humble servant of Lord Ram.
Surpankha
Surpankha was the seed of the war in Ramayana. The brothers and mother Sita were leaving a peaceful life at Panchavati. Surpankha, was enchanted with the beauty of Lord Ram. She proposed him for marriage disguised as a beautiful woman. Lord Ram declined saying that he will only love his wife and will never look at other women. In rage and rejection, she tried to kill mother Sita and it the heat of the moment sliced the nose of Surpankha. Surpankha ran to Lanka and pleaded revenge to her brother Ravan.
Ravan
Ravan was the main antagonist of Ramayana. He was the son of sage Visravas and was exceptional. He was perfect in everything knowledge, power, mystic arts. He obtained many boons from Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva. He is also called the greatest devotee of Lord shiva. He was born with the name Dashanan but later was given the name Ravan. He was the king of Lanka and the one who had defeated all the worlds, Swargaloka, Prith Vilok and Patalloka.
When Surpankha told Ravan about the beautiful wife of Ram. He decided to take his revenge by abducting the wife of Ram.
Abduction of Sita
Marich turned to golden deer and went to Panchavati. Sita was enchanted by its beauty and told Lord to get it for her. Lord Ram went to catch the deer. However, the deer after reaching far away cried in the voice of Ram for help. After hearing this Sita ordered Laksman to go after him. He created Laksman Rekha around the house and went to find his brother. Ravan disguised him as the sage and went to ask vishya. He tricked Sita to come out of the Rekha and then abducted her.
Meeting with the monkey king Sugreeva
In Ramayana when Lord ram went to look for his wife, he found Sugreeva and Hanuman. Sugreeva and Ram oath to become friends for lifetime and vowed to help each other. With this Ram killed Bali the twin brother of Sugreeva who had done wrong to him. Then in return Sugreeva helped him to find mother Sita. He dispatched all his army across the globe to find mother Sita.
Lord Hanuman was the one who discovered her kept in Lanka against her will. He infiltrated Lanka in his miniature from and met mother Sita. He told her that Lord Ram will come with his army to rescue her from her captivity.
Lord hanuman was captured afterward at his own will. Ravan ordered to burn the tail of Hanuman. Then Lord Hanuman set the whole Lanka on fire with his burned tail and returned to Lord Ram.
Vivishana
According to Ramayana, Vivishana is the younger brother of Ravana. Despite being from the Asur’s Vivishana was gentle, righteous, and supported right. Despite being Ravana’s brother he was not fond of his ways. When Ravan wanted to kill Hanuman, he was the one who suggested that death was not fit for the messenger. However, when Hanuman burnt down Lanka, they blame Vivishana for his suggestion to let him live. In anger Ravan disowned and banished Vivishana. Then Vivishana went to Lord Ram to surrender himself, and Lord Ram opened him with open arms.
The sea Bridge
Lord Ram in Ramayana made a big bridge if sea, to take his army across the sea. Sea was in between of Lord ram’s army and Lanka. It was impossible to take such huge army across the sea. The sea god helped Lord Ram to build the bridge in the ocean that took the army across the sea.
Last warning for peace
Lord Ram sent prince Aangat (Son of Bali), to warn Ravan for the last time to surrender Sita and beg for forgiveness or he will be killed. Ramayana tells how greatly Lord Ram tried to avoid the war but Ravana’s arrogance led to it. Ravan rejected the Lord’s offer and choose war.
The war
The war revolves on Lord Ram, Hanuman and Ravana-Triangular relationship. The war described in Ramayana lasted for 12 days according to Valmiki Ramayana. In the war countless died from both sides. Many cosmic, mystic weapons were used in the battle. Both sides fought with great bravery, skill, and everything they got for the leader they believed in.
From the side of Lord Ran and truth were Laksman, Hanuman, Sugreev, Jambavan, Naal, Neel. Other were also there but they were the strongest of all and killed most of the warriors from Ravans side.
From the Ravans side were Meghnath (Indrajeet), Kumbhkarna, Aatika, Prahasta and many more. They were all the warrior who were extremely capable, protected by the boons and even feared by the gods. However, one stood above all Meghnath. He was the ultimate warrior created by Ravan. When he was born Ravan ordered all the planets to be in the exact spot that he ordered. This was done to have the ultimate son, and to an extend he succeed. Ramayana, tells that Ravan had completed faith in his eldest son and was immensely proud to have him.
According to Ramayana, Meghnath was hardest to kill during the war. He was the one who mortally wounded Laksman with his shakti. Lord Hanuman travelled thousand miles in single night to bring Sanjivini to save Laksman.
To kill Meghnath in a fair fight was almost impossible so with the help of Vivishana, he was attacked where he was conducting Yagya of his Kuladevi. A great battle took place and he was eventually killed by Laksman.
All the warriors from Ravan’s side were killed in the battle, he was the only one left. He battled Lord Ram at last. Lord Ram continuously cut down the head of Ravan, but due to his boons a new head sprouted repeatedly. According to Ramayana, it was Vivishana who told Lord Ram the trick to kill Ravan was to attack him on his stomach. Then only Ravan was killed.
The End of war
In Ramayana, the war ended with the death of Ravana. The war took too many lives on both sides. Many warriors died while fighting the war or injured.Vivishana was crowned as the king of Lanka. Then after the war Lord Ram freed mother Sita from Lanka.
Return to Ayodhya
After the events of war, the time of the exile of Lord Ram also had ended. Lord Ram after saying farewell and thanking, the Vanar army returned to Ayodhya with his wife and brother. The people of Ayodhya were eagerly waiting for the return of their king. They welcomed their king with boundless joy and happiness. Then lord Ram sat on his throne and started to look the nation as the king. Peace and prosperity were as peak during the time.
Exile of Sita
According to Ramayana, Lord Ram when visiting the nation overheard a potter, talking that it was illicit of a king to accept the wife abducted by another man. Then Lord Ram exiled mother Sita from the nation.
Birth of Luv and Kush
After Sita was exiled from Ayodhya, sage Valmiki gave her space in his Aashram. She was pregnant at the time of exile. It was there she gave birth to the twins Luv and Kush.
The sons of Ram and Sita were brave and were as strong as Lord Ram. As the days passed Luv and Kush started to grow.
Ramayana
There was a function in Ayodhya where, anyone who can say the story of Lord Ram (Ramayana), in the court would have in rewarded. The brothers went to the court and recited complete Ramayana, and claimed they were his sons. The people wanted mother Sita herself come to the court and claim that they were the sons of her and Lord Ram.
Sita returns to earth
Sita comes to the court and claims that they are indeed their sons. After proving, this she called the mother earth to take her in as she did not want to live there anymore. Then the earth shattered and mother Sita went inside the earth. Lord Ram was very sad that mother Sita was not present at earth. However, he accepted the fate and continued to complete his duty towards the nation and his family.
Ram returns to Vaikuntha
The purpose for which Lord Ram came to this earth was complete, Dharma was restored. Now, he needed to return to Vaikuntha, the residence of Lord Vishnu where Sita now reached the form of Mahalaxmi was waiting. Then Lord Ram bid farewell to all, gave the responsibilities of the kingdom and people to his sons. According to Ramayana, Lord Ram then walked into Sarayu river and gained the form of Lord Vishnu and went to Baikuntha.