ramayana the epic - story of rama sita - summary of valmiki ramayan

 ramayana valmiki
The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic, composed some time in the 5th century BCE, about the exile and then return of Rama, prince of Ayodhya. It was composed in Sanskrit by the sage Valmiki, who taught it to Rama's sons, the twins Lava and Kush. At about 24000 verses, it is a rather long poem and, by tradition, is known as the Adi Kavya (adi = original, first; kavya = poem). While the basic story is about palace politics and battles with demon tribes, the narrative is interspersed with philosophy, ethics, and notes on duty. While in that other Indian epic, the Mahabharata, the characters are presented with all their human follies and failings, the Ramayana leans more towards an ideal state of things: Rama is the ideal son and king, Sita the ideal wife, Hanuman the ideal devotee, Lakshman and Bharat the ideal brothers, and even Ravana, the demon villian, is not entirely despicable.
 ramayana story
RAMA IS BORN
Dasharath, king of Ayodhya, had no children. So he arranged a Putra-kameshti sacrifice (putra = son, kameshti = that which is desired). At the sacrifice, Agni (god of fire) arose from the flames and handed the king a golden vase brimming with nectar. "Give this to your queens", said the god and disappeared. The king had three wives. To the eldest, the king gave half of the nectar; the second queen got a portion that remained when the queen had drunk her half. To the youngest queen, the king gave the remaining half of the nectar and again, the second queen got the portion that remained. In time, the queens gave birth to sons: to the eldest was born Rama, to the youngest was born Bharat, and to the second queen were born the twins Lakshman and Shatrughna.

 ramayana quotes
RAMA MARRIES SITA
When the princes had grown up some, the sage Vishwamitra arrived at Dasharath's court and asked that Rama and Lakshman be "lent" to him to help him rid his hermitage of the demons that were plaguing the ashram dwellers by defiling their sacrifices with blood and bones, and by killing them off. After the two princes successfully rid the ashram of the demons, the sage took them to the neighbouring kingdom of Mithila to show them the swayamvar festivities of the Mithila princess, Sita, born of the earth. The king of that country had adopted Sita as his daughter and, after Sita had grown up, had declared that he would give her in marriage to anyone who could string the Great Bow of Shiva. No one could. Several kings, princes, and commoners had tried and failed.

The swayamvar had been in progress for several months now and the bow still remained unstrung. It was to this place that the sage Vishwamitra brought the two princes of Ayodhya. Rama and Lakshamn entered the assembly hall where the bow was displayed in all its glory. Rama walked over, picked up the bow, strung it, and plucked the bowstring with such a twang that two things happened simultaneously: the twang was heard for miles around, and the force of it broke the bow into two with so great a sound that the king and his courtiers came running from their chambers to see what the commotion was about. When the confusion had settled, Rama was married to Sita. His three brothers were married to a sister and cousins of Sita, and there were many festivities and much rejoicing in the two kingdoms.
 story of ramayana
RAMA IS EXILED
Some time later, Dasharath decided he had grown too old to rule and declared he would abdicate in favour of Rama, the eldest born and the crown prince. This is when his youngest queen invoked an old promise that Dasharath had made to her: she demanded that Rama be exiled for 14 years and that her own son, Bharat, be crowned king. Dasharath refused but Rama decided to honour his father's old promise and left for the forests. He was accompanied by Sita and by Lakshman, both of whom could not be dissuaded from following him. In grief at the injustice of it all and at Rama's departure, Dasharath died within two days.

Bharat was not in Ayodhya when these events happened; he, and the fourth prince Shatrughna, were away holidaying at Bharat's maternal grandfather's country. They were summoned to Ayodhya in haste and, when Bharat learnt what had happened, he was furious. He shouted at his mother, refused to ascend the throne, and gathered the townsfolk around him to proceed to the forest and bring Rama back.

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