India  The Ramayana

​

This epic was written by Valmiki, shortly after the Mahabharata, and tells of the birth of Rama, his conquest of the hand of Princess Sita and their marriage. The eldest son of the king, Rama should have succeeded his father on the throne of Ayodhya. However, one of the king's spouses demands that he, in compliance with a longstanding promise, name as his heir the son that they had together and exile Rama into the forest throughout fourteen years. In order to avoid his father having to break his word, Rama departs with his spouse Sita and another brother, Laksmana. One day, out in the forest, Sita spots a deer and asks Rama to capture it for her. However, the deer proves to be a minister of Ravana, who took this form in order to separate Rama and Laksmana from Sita, and enabling his king the opportunity to approach her. In fact, Ravana, a ten-headed giant and king of Langka (current Sri Lanka), takes the form of a hermit begging alms and kidnaps Sita. Garuda, the mythical bird attempts to save her but without sucess; mortally wounded, the bird is only able to reveal to Rama the name of he who now holds his wife captive.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

Rama manages to gain the aid of Sugriva, the king of the monkeys, by letting him to prevail over his half-brother who had stolen his throne and, in exchange, getting him to loan him the army commanded by the monkey Hanuman. Hanuman is thus dispatched to Sita, who has resisted the advances of Ravana, to tell ther of the arrival of Rama. Hanuman is made prisoner but takes the form of a giant and sets fire to the capital of Langka prior to fleeing.

​

Rama and the monkey army cross the sea in order to attack the kingdom of Langka. Vibisana, brother of Ravana, criticised him for having kidnapped the spouse of another and, on seeing that his counsels have not been heard, allies himself with Rama. Throughout the war that pits the monkeys against the raksasa, the monsters of Ravana, the best known episodes are those in which Laksmana is wounded by a magic arrow and saved by Hanuman, who sets off in search of a plant able to cure him; the death of Indrajit, the son of Ravana; the intervention of Kumbakarna, the giant brother of Ravana, who considers that he getting but who defends him out of loyalty to the kingdom and who is finally slain by Rama; and the finale in which Rama slays Ravana after a long and intense battle; the triumphal return of Rama, with Sita at his side on his horse, to take the throne that is returned to them by his brother who had only accepted serving as regent until Rama returned.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with Krishna, Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu, which explains the devotion he receives from Hindus. Vishnu, protector of the universe, only takes form when evil throws order in the world into jeopardy; here, evil is represented by Ravana, who had been granted the power of never to be killed by either a god or an animal. Rama is, therefore, a human hero, who ignores being the reincarnation of a god in order to be able to slay him and defeat evil.

​

The Ramayana represents a demarcation between good and evil that proves more effective but less subtle than the Mahabharata. Furthermore, characters such as the monkeys and the monsters place the tale in a fantastic world in which man as we now know him had yet to make an appearance.

​

In these two works, certain characters correspond to specific types of mentality or conduct and also frequently portray determined social classes whilst otehrs, more individualised, represent models to be followed, for example, the monkey Hunuman is the model for loyalty and devotion, Rama provides the role model for the exemplary king, Ravana for unbridled passion, Arjuna for beauty and refinement, Bima for uncontrollable violence, and Yudhistira for wisdom.

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gods are not all powerful: they may be placed in jeopardy by the asura demons; they are vulnerable to human sentiments and experience greed. Krishna, the incarnation of the god Vishnu, makes recourse to actions that would not seem highly recommendable: he orders the killing of an elephant that carries the same name of the son of Drona, in order to oblige Yudhistira, who never lies, to make Drona believe that his son has perished in the knowledge that, out of despair, the father will let himself to be killed. When Arjuna refuses to kill from behind, he challenges him to hit a hair with one of his arrows and placing the hair in such a way that the arrow then flies on to hit his enemy in the back.

​

The kings and the warriors, the Ksatryas caste, above all else, respect their own code of honour and keeping whatever the promises made and always putting such issues ahead of their own personal sentiments. In the Ramayana, Vibisana, brother of Ravana, forms an alliance with Rama because his brother is engages in evil; on the contrary, Kumbakarna, another brother of Ravana, defends him but does so on the justification of defending his country whilst disapproving of his brother's actual conduct. In the Mahabharata, Bisma turns down marriage because of a promise made to his father and step-mother; Kama fights alongside the Korava, aware that they are not right but out of loyalty from having been made a knight by them.

​

The Brahmans and the learned, even when hermits, are not immune to passions. Drona, master of arms and also Brahman, is a cunning character; at the end, his son ends up slaying the women and children in order to extract revenge for his father.

​