Entrancing Excerpts From The Ramayana

 Rama Navami - This auspicious date marks the birth of lord Rama, the 7th avatar of Vishnu. He was born to King Dasharath and his first wife Queen Kaushalya.

So, on this occasion, I have for you small excerpts that I found quite interesting in the Ramayana

Ram and family

   

  

• Kaikeyi loved Ram more than her own son Bharat, but it was only when she got possessed by Manthara's(her childhood maid) words did she want Ram to go to exile for 14 years. In fact, as soon as Dasharath died(which was just a few days after Ram left), she realized her mistake and requested Ram to come back. But still Ram refused to do so in order to keep up his father's promise.

• On the first day of their exile, as Lakshman struggled to keep awake at night for guard as his elder brother and sister-in-law slept, the goddess of sleep - Nidradevi visited him and made him a Gudakesh - a person who defeated sleep by taking away his sleep for all the 14 years. This was the main reason that Lakshman could kill Meghnad(Ravan's son) who had the boon that he could only be killed by a Gudakesh. She then gave all of his sleep to Urmila - his wife. She slept for all 14 years until Ram, Sita and Lakshman returned from exile.

• Just like how Sita abandoned her body after being absorbed into mother Earth(which was yet another test of her purity which she passed successfully), Ram too abandoned his life in the Sarayu river(that is after teaching Luv and Kush about the statecraft and handing over the kingdom to them). After this incident, Hanuman tore open his chest to show the Ayodhya residents that Ram and Sita lived in him and everyone else too.

Sita and family

• Sita as a young child had lifted the Pinaka - Shiva's bow which was being safeguarded in Mithila. Since Janak wanted Sita's life partner to be equivalent to her, he organised a swayamvar(where the bride can choose her own groom) whose winner would be the person to lift the Pinaka.

• In her teenage, Sita overheard 2 birds - Tota and Manya talking about Prince Ram and his skills in Guru Vasisht's ashram. Fascinated, she caged them and asked them to narrate everything to her. After a few days, they both asked for leave as they wanted their kids to be born in the freedom of the forest. But Sita got attracted to the stories so much that she agreed to leave only Manya. Since she was away from her husband Tota, Manya grew her chicks with great difficulty. Seeing her suffer, Tota cursed Sita that she too would stay away from her husband when she would be pregnant. This became the reason behind Luv and Kush growing in Valmiki's ashram with their mother.

• Sita had one own sister - Urmila and 2 cousins - Mandavi and Shrutkirti and Ram had 3 half brothers Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrugan. Thus, Bharat, Lakshman and Shatrugan got married to Mandavi, Urmila and Shrutkirti.

Raavan and family

• Kumbhakarna was not evil. In fact, he requested Raavan not to fight with Ram and only fought on his side for fulfilling the duty of brotherhood. He sleeps all these years as a mere result of Indra's jealousy. Click here to know more.

• Raavan was a very accomplished veena player. In reality, even his personal flags had paintings of the veena. 

• When Raavan lay wounded on the battlefield, Ram instructed Lakshman to learn statecraft and several life lessons from Raavan as he was one of the most learned scholars ever to live on Earth.

• Raavan had a very traumatic childhood where he was treated servant-like by his half brother Kubera. This was the main reason for the man he was after usurping the kingdom of Lanka from Kubera.

        • Mandodari(Raavan's wife) and Sulochana(Raavan's first daughter-in-law) tried their best to convince Sita to flee from Lanka as soon as she was captivated, but she refused to do so as she wanted to leave with respect after Ram defeated Raavan.