Om. raamaayana:

In vedavaanjmaya raamaayana is one itihaasa. It is understood as the story of raama and seetaa who lived in tretata yuga, the time of which is under research for correct assessment and publication.   It is of seven kaandas. There are 24000 shlokas and 500 sargas. This is called aadikaavyam. vaalmeeki raamaayana originally in samskruta, is translated to more than 108 languages worldwide.

vaalmeeki raamaayana is the first samskrutakaavyam which was the famous work of maharshi vaalmeeki. Hence, he is known as aadi kavi.

कूजन्तं रामरामेति मधुरं मधुराक्षरम् ।

               आरूह्य कविताशाखां वन्दे वाल्मीकि कोकिलम् ।

koojantam raamaraameti madhuram madhraaksharam |

aaroohya kavitaashaakhaam vande vaalmeeki kokilam ||

vaalmeeki is the kokilaa(cuckoo) which is sitting on the branch of the tree named poetry, cooing sweetly, the sweet name raama raama. I bow to that cuckoo by name vaalmeeki. The name raama itself is sweet. raamaayana is sweeter than that.

vaalmeeki used to live on the banks of river tamasaa.  praachetasa is his other name “vedah praachetasaad aaseet saakshaadraamaayanaatmaanaa”.

As per the story from adhyaatmaa raamaayanaa, vaalmeeki was known as ratnaakara and grew up among kiraatas and used to live as robber in the forests. Once sapta rushis met him and changed his mind towards tapas by giving taaraka mantra as “raama”. By chanting this ratnaakara went into deep meditation and tapas. As time passed over many years, the anthills grew over him. Time passed, sapta rushis arrived again and awakened him from the anthills. Anthills in samskrutam is valmeekam. Hence, he came to be known as vaalmeeki.

naarada

Once deva rushi naarada met him and briefed him the extraordinary qualities of raama and briefly narrated the story starting from birth of raama till killing raavana and pattabhishekam on return from 14 years of exile, under severe conditions of practicing dharma.

Later vaalmeeki happened to see a weeping female krouncha bird for her spouse, which was killed by a hunter and vaalmeeki delivered this shloka spontaneously.

 मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीस्समाः।

यत्  क्रौन्चमिथुनादेकमवधीः काममोहितम् ।।

maa nishaada pratishtaam tvamagamah shaashvateessamaah |

yat kraunchamithunaadekamaadheeh kaamamohitam ||

aho kiraata! You killed one of the krauncha birds engaged in deep love and so you earned eternal defame.

brahmaa

Later the brahmaadeva visited vaalmeeki and put confidence in him by confirming the above shloka which was spontaneously recited by him is with correct chandas and encouraged him to write the story of raama.

1.baalakaanda:

King dasharatha,from soorya dynasty, was blessed with four sons raama, bharata, lakshmana and shatrughna with the amsha of vishnu, by performing ashvamedha and putrakaameshti yaaga under the  guidance of raajaguru vasishtha and rushi rushyashrunga, the pious muni and the husband of shaanta. shaanta was the daughter of dasharatha who was adopted and brought up by dasharatha’s friend romapaada.

At the age of under16years, brahmarushi vishwaamitra brought raama and lakshmanaa for yaaga rakshana and blessed them with powerful astras.

He invoked raama for taking up dharma rakshana with the following shloka.

कौशल्या सुप्रजा राम पूर्वा सन्ध्या प्रवर्तते ।

                उत्तिष्ठ नरशार्दूल कर्तव्यं दैवमाह्निकम् ।।

Kausalyaa suprajaa raama poorvaa sandhyaa pravartatE |

uttiSHTHa nara shaardoola kartavyaM daivamaahnikam ||

The blessed son of kausalya, the raama, the narashaardoola/lion among men, wake up to establish dharma, as the sandhyaa rays are raising on the east.

After successful completion of yaaga rakshana at siddhaashrama, killing raakshasi taatakaa and her son subaahu and throwing her another son maareecha, to a far of ocean in the south, raama and lakshamana following rushi vishwaamitra reached mithila. Enroute released ahalyaa from her curse, given by her husband, rushi gautama for she became pawn in the plot of indra to test the tapashshakti of gautama.

raama was welcomed by king janaka, and his raaja purohit rushi sataananda, who described past history of vishwaamitra (who become brahmarushi by great penances, after strong dual with brahmarushi vashishtha). As a pre-condition for swayamvara of devi seetaa, born from bhoomi and blessed to king janaka during his bhoomi yajna / ploughing, and who was brought up by king janaka, raama broke the shiva dhanus, a legendary bow with which bhagavaan shiva killed raakshasas and later presented to ancestors of king janaka.

raamabharatalakshmanashatrughnas, all four brothers were married to four daughters of janaka and his brother kushadhwaja namely seetaa, maandavee, oormilaa, shrutakeerti, respectively with the permission of king dasharatha and reached back to ayodhya. Enroute raama subdued the great sage parashuraama and obtained vishnu dhanus from Him.

2.ayodhyaa kaanda:

12 years passed away after marriages of shree raama and his brothers. dasharatha desired to make raama, his first son, as yuvaraaja. But due to ill plot of mantharaa the old daasi of kaikeyee the third queen of dasharatha, had to accept to present boons once promised to kaikeyee in the past and forced to accept to send raama for vanavaasa for 14 years as tapasvi and to coronate bharata as yuvaraaja. At this juncture bharata along with shatrughna was away from ayodhyaa at their maternal grandfather, the king of kaikeyaa kingdom.

To protect father dasharatha under satyavaakya paripaalana niyama- pitruvachana-paripaalana, raama left immediately to forests along with seetaa and lakshmana. Enroute met old friend guha, the kiraata raajaa, left sumantra the senior mantri and soota/charioteer, along with ratham and then crossed ganga river wearing clothes made of jute and with tied up hair locks as muneesvara, as suitable to vanavaasa.

guha accompanied him up to rushi bharadwaja aashramam and returned. bharadwaaja invited him with poorna kumbha, cow and kandamoolaas. After taking blessings from rushi bharadwaaja, and as advised by him raama reached chitrakoota along with seetaa and lakshmana and started living there happily by building a beautiful parnashaalaa.

At ayodhyaa dasharatha left to svargam because he could not bear the separation of shree raamachandra(and because of curse of the father of one tapashvi, shravanakumar, whom dasharatha killed accidentally by applying shabdabedhi astra during his routine hunting exercise, when he was young).

bharata who was brought to ayodhya, declined to become yuvarajaa and proceeded to forests to bring back raama and make him king, after completing pitru kaaryas for his father Dasharatha. bharata reached aashrama with the help of guha and rushi bharadwaaja enroute and requested raama to come back and occupy the throne. raama tried to convince bharata to rule the kingdom and finally succeeded to send him back with his paadukas as nyaasam to rule kingdom on his behalf and in the process raama advised him various raajadharmas and assured bharata that he will come back after 14 years of exile and take over the kingdom.

bharata returned with paadukas of raama to ayodhyaa and started ruling the country on behalf of raama’s paadukas but staying outside ayodhyaa at nandigram village and living like a mendicant.

raama left chitrakoota and reached rushi atri aashrama. pativrata/pious anasooyaa wife of maharshi atri presented divya aabharanas, vastras etc to seetaa and advised various principles of stree dharmas. seetaa shared her marriage events with sati anasooya.

3.aranyakaanda:

seetaaraamalakshmanas from atri mahrshi aashrama, entered dandakaaranya and they were received by various munipungavas.

raakshasa viraadha when captured seetaa, was killed by raama and lakshmana and thus was relieved, the gandharva, from the curse he had.

raama along with seetaa and lakshmana lived around ten years in the company of various rushis in vindhyaaranya and then went to the dandakaaranya and protected the rushis from the misdeeds of raakshasas. In the process raama visited aashrama of rushi sharabhanga, and rushi suteekshna and brother of rushi agastya and then rushi agastya and his well learned wife lopaamudraa. During this journey they met old jataayu the lord of birds and son of aruna, the elder brother of garuda. On the advice of rushi agastya raama went to panchavati, on the banks of river godaavari and started living there.

At prasravana mountain, shoorphanakhaa met them and tried to misbehave with seetaa due to kaamam/desire on raama and lakshmana and jealousy on seetaa. lakshmana cut the nose and ears of shoorphanakha to control her misbehavior.

shoorphanakha instigated her brothers khara and dooshana living in dandakaaranya, to fight with raama.

raama leaving seetaa under the care of lakshamana, fought with khara, dooshana and their 14000 raakshasas, alone and killed them in no time.

Hearing the news of death of khara and dooshana in the hands of raama from his sister, shoorphanaka, raavana went to maareecha and sought his advice for abducting seetaa to punish raama.  maareecha advised not to pick up enmity with raama, as raama is highly powerful and follower of strict dharma. “raamo vigrahavaan dharmah”.

Then shoorphanaka went to raavana and praised the beauty of seetaa and instigated him to marry seetaa. raavana again approached maareecha and ordered him to separate raama and lakshmana from seetaa, to enable him, to abduct her without fight with raama.

Threatened by raavana for death in his hands maareecha chose to obey his orders and went in disguise of golden deer, to panchavati. Enthused by the special appearance of golden deer seetaa wished and requested raama to present her with that golden deer either alive or dead.

raama, leaving seetaa under the care of lakshmana, proceeded to fetch golden deer. Unable to catch maareecha in disguise of golden deer, raama killed maareecha. While dying maareecha cried ‘haa lakshmana, he seete’ in the voice of raama.

Hearing the raama’s voice of maareecha, seetaa, anticipated trouble to raama, forced lakshmana to leave her and go in support of raama. Unable to convince seetaa that raama cannot get any harm, lakshmana left in search of raama.

Taking this time as advantage raavana abducted seetaa by force and proceeded southwards towards his lanka. seetaa blaming raavana with harsh words, tried to get away from him. Unable to get away from cluches of raavana, seetaa cried for help.

On the way jataayu hearing cries from sky and seeing raavana with seetaa, sought to fight with raavana and got hurt by raavana and fell on the earth almost dead.

seetaa seeing 5 vaanaras on a mountain top dropped her ornaments tied in a piece of her saari thinking that it may help raama to find her. Those were collected by the vaanaras, and they heard the crying of seetaa for help of raama.

raavana reached lanka with seetaa and failing to win over her acceptance to live with him he kept her at ashoka vanam under the supervision of raakshasa women and gave deadline of 12 months to seetaa either to accept him or die. He also sent a team of 8 spies to find out movements of raama in the forest and inform him.

raama and lakshamana returned to parna shaalaa and could not find seetaa. raama with full of grief consoled by lakshmana started searching for seetaa.

They met the dying jataayu and came to know the abduction of seetaa by raavana and his fight with him. After completion of last rites for dead jataayu, they proceeded in search of seetaa.

On the way in krounchaaranya they faced a demoness by name ayomukhee who desired to marry lakshmana. Unable to convince her, lakshmana punished her by cutting important parts of her body.

There after they both proceeded to another dense forest called kabandha vanam and caught by a mountain like raakshasa having head and face in the stomach itself and known by name kabandha. They cut the hands of raakshasa and burnt him in a pit. Then kabandha told his story that he was a devata from svarga and due to his misdeeds, he was cursed by a rushi and living there. Now his curse is redeemed, and he is eligible to go back to svarga.

kabandha while leaving he advised that sugreeva living on rushyamooka parvata can help raama in searching for seetaa. kabandha also advised to meet on the way shabari at maatanga maharshi aashrama near pampa sarovar and then showed the way for rushyamooka.

Then raama and lakshmana met shabari and shabari proceeded to svarga after meeting raama. Then they proceeded towards rushyamooka parvata to meet sugreeva, the vaanara King who has taken birth with the blessing of soorya deva.

4.kishkindhakaanda:

Near pampa sarovar raama and lakshmana met hanumaan and sugreeva. raama made friendship with sugreeva in presence of agni. vaali the elder brother of sugreeva who developed enmity due to some misunderstanding between them, took the wife of sugreeva in unjust manner and took oath to kill sugreeva. sugreeva took shelter at rushyamooka mountain where, vaali could not enter.  raama killed vaali when both sugreeva and vaali were in dual fight and thus punished vaali for his adharma.

Then sugreeva became the king. After some time sugreeva sent vaanaras to all four corners of the world in search of seetaa. hanumaan along with the angada the son of vaali and yuva raaja of sugreeva, alongwith many vaanaras, left to south in search of seetaa after taking the ring from raama as token of meeting raama. They searched up to southern tip of bhaarat but could not find seetaa. Finally, enroute they met the taapasi svayamprabha and sampaati brother of jataayu. After hearing jataayu’s death through angada and hanuman, sampati told his story and said that his son supaarshvaa had seen raavana taking seetaa towards lanka and advised to reach lanka crossing the ocean. After due encouragement from angada and jaambavanta, hanuman reached mahendra mountain to leap towards lanka.

5.sundarakaanda:

hanumman leaped towards lanka in south. Rejecting mainaakaa’s request to rest on him hanumaan proceeded towards lanka. He passed the test of devatas about his competency to handle issues at lanka, by escaping the plot designed by devatas through surasa. hanuman also killed the simhika enroute and reached lanka.

At the gate of lanka he subdued lankini and entered lanka. after searching whole city and raavana’s palace and pushpaka vimaana, hanumaan reached ashoka vana where seetaa was kept as captive. There after witnessing the ravana’s blabbering with seetaa, hanumaan won the confidence of seetaa by reciting the story of raama and showing the token of raama, his ring to her.

hanuman picked up fight and killed many raakshasas namely jambumaali, 7sons of raavana’s ministers and 5 heads of raavana’s army, including younger son of raavana akshakumara, in the process of trying to reach raavana. Finally, he was caught by brahmaastra used by raavana’s elder son indrajit, reached raavana’s court. There in the court after the worldly dual with raavana, hanuman’s tail was set to fire by raavana’s order. hanuman with that fire burnt whole lanka. agni and vaayu helped him in the process.

After assuring seetaa that he will return shortly with raama, lakshmana, sugreeva and vaanara senaa to lanka to kill raavana, hanumaan left lanka and reached vaanara sena, who were anxiously waiting for his return.

All reached sugreeva and raama was appraised of the safe presence of seetaa at lanka and hanumaan handed over the choodaamani given by seetaa as a token of his meeting with seetaa.

6.yuddhakaanda:

Raama,Lakshmana, sugreeva, hanumaan, angada, and jaambavanta, along with whole ocean of vaanarasena reached the ocean. raavana’s younger brother vibheeshana took shelter under raama when he was banished by raavana.

raama at the advice of saagara and others built the raamasetu with the help of vaanara the nala, who was born with the blessings of vishvakarma.

raama crossed the ocean along with vaanarasena. raama fought with raavana and his army with the help of lakshmana, hanumaan, sugreeva, jaambavanta, angada, vibheeshana and other many vaanara veeras.

lakshmana, was hit by Indrajit.  lakshmana was unconscious and almost killed by indrajit. Then hanumaan brought the sanjeevani mountain containing all divya aushadhis from himaalayaas, overnight, and brought life back to lakshmana before sunrise. Later lakshmana killed indrajit. raama killed kumbhakarna, the younger brother of raavana and then finally killed raavana.

vibheeshana was made king of lanka. seetaa joined raama after proving herself her piousness by coming out unhurt through agni/ fire, safely.

raama along with seetaa, lakshmana, hanumaan and whole vaanara team reached ayodhya by pushpaka vimaana on completion of 14 years of exile and took over the throne and established raamaraajya with the help of his brothers bharata lakshmana and shatrughna. raama ruled the kingdom for a period of 11000 years.

The famous sooryaa stotram ‘aadityahrudayam’ is from yuddhakaanda of raamaayana. Preached by agastya maharshi, raama gave oblations to soorya deva with this stotram and then proceeded to kill raavana with brahmaastra.

7.uttarakaanda:

Time paased. Hearing unpleasant tone from some corners of the kingdom about acceptance of seetaa after she stayed in lanka away from raama, raama left her in forests, even though she was pregnant at that time. Though it is hard to accept but raama’s importance towards dharma of a king to honor the feelings of his subjects, took priority at this stage.

seetaa gave birth to lava and kusha at vaalmeeki aashrama. lava & kusha learnt raamaayana written by vaalmeeki and sung in the streets of ayodhya and in the presence of raama, during the functions of ashvamedha performed by raama keeping golden statue of seetaa as his consort.

lava and kusha faced raama in a dual by capturing the yaagaashva sent by raama, as part of his ashva medha yaaga. Timely presence of seetaa made the fight to an end. seetaa handed over lava and kusha to raama and took shelter under bhoodevi.

raama later handed over the kingdom to next generation children lead by lava and kusha, then left his body in sarayu river along with brothers and devoted people of ayodhya.

The above is brief account of raamaayana story.

But when it is read in different angles it exhibits great literary skills of vaalmeeki and the various principles of mahaakaavya. raamaayana can be investigated various angles of science, management, raajaneeti, geography of bhaarat and most prominently the sanaatanadharma. raama was best practitioner of dharma. raamo vigrahavaan dharmah. 

karuna rasam is taken as prime in this itihaasa.

At every step one finds “upamaa alankaara” in raamaayana.

Description of Nature , human values and feelings, the rules and regulations for good governance, the importance of truth and putting it in practice by raama, the devotion towards husband by seetaa, the brotherly affection exhibited by even at the cost complete raaja vaibhavam by bharata, the respect towards implementation of dharma and his love towards brother and his seva exhibited by lakshmana, the devotion and bhakti exhibited by hanumaan, and every character in raamaayana lived for dharma including raavana for his raakshasa dharma. One should understand that raavana was not killed because he was raakshasa but because of his unethical behavior of grabbing others property by force, which lead him to his defame and end.

vaalmeeki raamaayana gives an account of leadership qualities required for a kshatriya and the ruler and various principles of dharma was explained in detail at every stage of the kaavyam.

vaalmeeki raamaayana is the base for many ongoing granthas thereafter. It has been written and rewritten in various countries, in many different languages, taking vaalmeeki raamaayana as basis.

A sample study of raamaayana on various perspectives is given for baala kaanda here under as an example. For other kaandas, it is to be done.

Harih om

From vaalmeeki raamaayana published by geetaa press ghorakhpur.

1. 1. Leadership qualities of raama.: baala kaanda sarga-1 shlokas 2 to 4; 8 to 18: These are benchmarks to be a good ruler and leader.
2. raamaraajyam: baalakaanda sarga-1 shlokas 90 to 100 are the benchmark for a country to be considered as happy and prosperous.
3. History and Statistical details: raamaayana was written by vaalmeeki maharshi. To vaalmeeki maharshi, naarada maharshi gave brief history of raama from his birth to pattabhishekam. Later brahmadeva met vaalmeeki and advised him to write raamaayana in the chandas of the shloka first uttered by vaalmeeki, and by the blessings of brahmadeva. (shlokah15 of sarga 2 of baalakaanda). brahmaa also blessed vaalmeeki with the knowledge of understanding the complete story of raamaayana including the intricate issues which naarada specifically not mentioned to him. Sarga 2 of baalakaannda shlokah:32 to 38.

brahmaa addressed vaalmeeki brahmaanottamaa in shloka 31 of sarga2 of baalakaanda.

vaalmeeki wrote the raamaayana in equal number of letters in each shloka. Sarga2 shloka42 of baalakaanda.

vaalmeeki wrote the raamaayana initially in 24000 shlokas, 500 sargas and 6 kaandas. Later he wrote uttara kaanda the seventh one. shloka 2 sarga 4, baalakaanda.

vaalmeeki initially taught raamaayana to sons of raama the lava & kusha with the names of “raamaayana, seetaa charitam, and paulastya vadha.” shloka 7 of sarga 4 of baalakaanda.

The musical attributes of raamaayana are given in shlokas: 8 and 9 of sarga 4 of baala kaanda.

First time raamaayana was sung in the vaalmeeki aashramam by lava-kushas in the presence of all rushis of vaalmeeki aashramam and vaalmeeki and seetaa maataa. Later in the streets of ayodhyaa. Then in the presence of raama in his antahpuram, the royal palace of raama, during that time, ashvamedha yajnaa was being done by raama.

4.Details of ayodhyaa nagaram: baalakaanda, 5^th sarga: built by manu, the son of soorya deva; on the banks of sarayu river and was known to be in kosala desham at the time of dasharatha. shloka6.

Its length used to be 12 yojanas and width 3 yojanas. shloka7.

It was with well-developed wide raaja maargas, well maintained and with widespread greenery, trees, and flower plants, etc.,

It had palatial buildings reaching sky. Culture and arts and were flourishing. The city was explained in 23 shlokas. It is on par with any modern city in all respects with infrastructure development, safety with learned and disciplined citizens.

5. Qualities of King dasharatha and people of kosala kingdom: dasharatha’s rule of kosala kingdom is detailed in 28 Shlokas of 6^th sarga of baalakaanda. The qualities of great King dasharatha were well detailed from shlokas 1 to 5 of sarga 6. The qualities and condition of people is well explained in the remaining 23 shlokas. These are benchmarks for good qualities to be for a head of a state.
6. Qualities of Ministers of dasharatha: dasharatha had 8 ministers, their duties and their qualities were explained in sarga 7 of baala kaanda in 22 shlokas. They are benchmarks for administrators of any country.
7. Management concepts in arranging ashvamedha yajna project: Well, detailed in sargas 8, 12, 13and 14 of baalakaanda. Total 141 shlokas. Some shlokas are repeated, even then there are 100plus shlokas.

8.Astrological aspects in raamaayana and leads for time of raamaayana: sarga18 of baala kaanda. shlokas 8 to15. 20eth shloka. naamakaranam was done on 11^th day. Observing graha sthiti at the time of birth was there during the raamaayana time indicating knowledge of jyotish shaastra.

9. Sub Stories in baalakaanda:
10. Story of rushya shrunga
11. Story of pavitraashrama, anga desha.
12. Story of malada and karoosha deshas.
13. Story of taatakaa.
14. Story of divyaastras
15. Story of siddaashrama.
16. Story of kushanaabha and his daughters
17. Story of bramadatta
18. The birth story of vishvaamitra
19. Story of gangaa and paarvatee.
20. Birth story of kumaara swamy.
21. Story of sagara.
22. Story of bhageeratha and gangaa avatarana.
23. ksheera saagara mathanam.
24. sapta maruttava’s story.
25. 16. ahalyaa shaapa and vimukti
26. Story of vishwaamitra and becoming bramarushi by severe penances, after fight with vasishtha.
27. trishanaku story.
28. Story of shunassephu.
29. vishwaamitra tapobhangam by menakaa and rambhaa.

21.vishwaamitra becoming brahmarushi.

22. Story of shiva dhanus.
23. ikshvaaku vamsha charitra means raama’s poorva vamshacharitra,
24. janaka’s vamsha charitra.
25. Story of parashuraama and vishnu dhanus.

REFERENCE For the Above TEXT are 1. shreemadraamaayana Published by Geetaa Press Ghorakpur and 2. samskruta saahitya charitra by Achaarya A. Ramulu, samskrut Professor and HOD; OU, both in Telugu. ***

The following points will be covered during the 5 sessions.

1.The base story of raamaayana 2. The character coverage of some important personalities in raamaayana