Ramayana Summary:
Every person in India knows the epic tale of Ramayana. It is one of the oldest tales to exist across the world (the other one is Mahabharata). The tale of Ramayana revolves around the kingdom of Kosala. As per the depiction, the tale describes the win over evil by the good. The entire tale is described in Sanskrit which one of the oldest languages to exist across the world. The entire tale described in the form of a poem has 24,000 verses and is known as the Adi Kavya. Adi means original and Kavya stands for the poem. The depiction of the tale is so interesting that even today when told to a young kid, the flavor of the events makes them listen with complete concentration.
As the tale unfolds, king Dasharatha had four sons namely Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughan. Amongst all four sons, the ideal son is Rama. He is stated to become the prince to take the throne from Dasharatha and rule the Kingdom of Ayodhya. When Rama reaches a suitable age, he marries Sita from the nearby Kingdom. Kaikeyi, the wife of Dasharatha, wants Bharata to be crowned as the next prince instead of Rama.
Dasharatha is completely devastated but has no choice other than to make Bharata as the next King. Rama is commanded to be exiled in the forest for 14 years which is termed as Vanavasa. Sita, being his wife joins him to the forest. Lakshmana also follows Rama to the forest. Rama and Lakshmana are quite close, and their brother relationship is something that is spoken about even today. While living in the forest, Surpanakha, a female rakshasa gets attracted to Rama which makes her want to kill Sita. While attempting to do so, Lakshman attacks the Surpanakha who gets severely injured in the process. She then gets back to her brother Khara, asking him to avenge for injuring her. Upon hearing the cry from her sister, Khara forms his army and sets to avenge Rama in the forest. The entire army is devastated and destroyed leaving only a lone survivor in the battle between the two. Khara also dies in the battle.
The lone survivor of the battle then flees to the kingdom called Lanka. He begs Surphanaka’s brother Ravana, the King of Lanka to avenge Rama for the losses caused by them in the war. Ravana, wanting to see the warriors travels across the sea into the forest to observe Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana. Upon seeing Sita, her enormous beauty attracts him towards her. He is so famished by the beauty that Ravana wanted to take Sita to his kingdom. He then thinks of a plan to distract both Rama and Lakshmana to abduct Sita to his kingdom. The plan to distract both Rama and Lakshmana becomes successful, allowing him to abduct Sita to his kingdom Lanka.
Once Rama and Lakshmana find out that Sita has gone missing, they search for her in the entire forest. During the search for Sita, Rama and Lakshmana come across the troops of monkeys also called Vanara Sena. King Hanuman asks his soldiers to search for the princess of Rama across the forest. While searching for the princess, it is known that Sita was kidnapped by the king Ravana, who resided in the island of Lanka. Hanuman with his ability to fly in the air goes in search of Sita to rescue her. He finds Sita safe and secure in the land of Lanka. He speaks with Sita and tells about Rama and Lakshmana. He also pledges her that, Rama and Lakshmana will come to rescue her from the Land of Lanka.
While on his way back from Lanka, the soldiers capture Hanuman and take him into custody. He is presented in front of king Ravana who decides to set the tail of Hanuman with fire. Hanuman, having godly abilities, grows his tail to immense length and sets the entire kingdom of Lanka with fire. It leads to huge losses to king Ravana.
In the meantime, Rama and Lakshmana along with the troops of monkeys march through the sea to Lanka by creating a bridge. Upon reaching the island of Lanka, Rama and Lakshmana along with the troops of monkeys wage a war against Ravana. The mega war lasted for several years and Rama was successful in defeating Ravana thereby bringing back Sita to Ayodhya kingdom. Rama is then successfully crowned as king by Bharata.
Who wrote Ramayana?
Ramayana was written by Valmiki around 300 BCE. The entire verses were written in Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages across the world. Over the years, Ramayana was transcribed into other languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam. It is termed as Ramacharit Manas in Hindi composed by Tulsidas. Ramavataram in Tamil is written by the famous poet Kamban in the 12th Century CE. Over time, several new forms of stories written by poets across different parts of India became famous with the soul form following the verses written by Valmiki.
Ramayana characters
The main Ramayana characters were Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Ravana, and Hanuman. Each of these individuals played a very important role in the paving path for the amazing story of Ramayana.
Lessons from Ramayana
It is very important to treat everyone equally to lead a prosperous life. Lessons from Ramayana are really a lot:
- When faced with great adversity, standing right in front and facing it courageously defines the true strength of the individual.
- A leader always motivates his subordinates to achieve the universal goal.
- Standing for moral values and not taking decisions based on the sole judgment defines the true nature of an individual.
- A leader always consults with his subordinates for various opinions to make the right decision.
One can learn a lot of lessons from the tale of Ramayana. It is one of the best tales that one can tell his children making them responsible individuals of the future.
