Ramayana

"Meditate with deep respect upon the teacher, upon elephant-headed Ganesha who removes obstacles, upon Lord Shiva, the ruler of the universe and his consort Mother Uma, and upon Sita, Rama, Lakshmana, and Hanuman. This is the way to the oracle."

"Ram's calm repose in the face of all adversity, so evident in the Ramayan, has made him worthy of veneration, adoration and worship. Ram's story has reached the masses not through erudite Sanskrit texts but through theatre song and dance performed in local languages. All of these retellings of Ramayan have their own turns and twists, their own symbolic outpouring, each one valid in their respective contexts."

"The Ramayan, one of the most revered texts in Hinduism, tells the story of a prince called Ram. Dashrath, king of Ayodhya, had three wives but no children. So he conducted a yagna and invoked the gods who gave him a magic potion that was divided among his three queens. In time the queens gave birth to four sons. Ram was the eldest, born of the chief queen, Kaushalya, Bharat was the second born to Dasharath’s favourite queen Kaikeyi. Lakshman and Shatrughna were the twin sons of the third queen Sumitra."

"The twentieth century saw Ram on celluloid with films like Bharat Milap (1942), Ram Rajya (1943 film) andSati Sulochana (1961). Ramanand Sagar's television serial Ramayan, with Arun Govil starring as Ram, made history in the late 1980s."

"The Ramayan also happens to be part of the Mahabharata, dated between 300 BCE and 300 CE, where it is called the Ramopakhyan. When the Pandavas bemoaned their thirteen years of forest exile, Rishi Markandeya retorted by telling them how Ram suffered for fourteen years and while the Pandavas deserved their punishment for gambling away their kingdom, Ram did not deserve his fate – he was simply obesing his father."

"The Ramayana is an epic poem of love and beauty and tells the story of the princely hero, Rama, who fights a battle to bring back his kidnapped wife, Sita, from the demon king of Lanka (Ceylon)."

"Valmiki's Sanskrit poem Is filled with lyrical descriptions of Nature. Rama and Lakshmana are tricked into leaving Sita unprotected in the forest and when they return they find her vanished. She has been kidnapped by Ravana. Rama, in his despair, runs madly from thicket to thicket calling Sita's name. In each ray of sunlight, in each golden flower, he thinks he recognizes her yellow robe."

"Sweet Kadambara, have you seen my fair one? Speak, Basil, you must know, for her limbs are like your graceful branches. Sweet Tila, fairest of all, where is she who loved your flowers? Gentle deer, has she played with you? Is your moon-faced friend hiding behind some tree? Have pity. Speak to me. Where are her soft limbs, her moon bright face, her shapely neck, her red lips..."

"Later, wandering in the forest, Rama and Lakshmana come to the grove by the Pampa Lake. It is Spring and Rama and Laskhmana bathe in the crystal waters of the Pampa ablaze with white and red lotus buds. The trees are proudly crowned with flowers along the banks and long creepers fall from them laden with blossoms. Screaming parrots make shrill music and Rama feels his whole being filled with languorous desire for Sita."

"Somewhere under alien skies it must be Spring too, and my imprisoned love mourns for me. My spirit knows she can never live without me. Every gentle breeze that stirs the blossoms on the trees fans the fury of my desire. Where are you, Sita, my fawn-eyed love?"

"One of the dramatic episodes in the Ramayana is the abduction by Ravana, the demon-king of Ceylon, of Sita, wife of Rama exiled in the forest. Rama is lured into the forest in pursuit of a deer (a demon in disguise), and his brother Lakshmana, guarding Sita, is tricked into leaving her. Ravana then appears, sweeps Sita off in his aerial chariot. A great vulture, Jatayu, tries to rescue her and though mortally wounded lives long enough to tell Rama of Sita's abduction."

"Ravana woke to a new day to the strains of music as the solemn hymn of praise to the dawn was sung. The thought of Sita came to his heart, he could not control the passion that absorbed his soul. Laying aside his bow and arrow, he put on a spotless white robe embroidered with flowers and gold and entered the Asoka grove impatient to see her. A sudden fear and trembling took hold of Sita when she saw Ravana in his pride; she folded her arms' over her breasts trying to screen their beauty from his bold and amorous glances. She lay prone like a severed branch on the earth, her thoughts flying to Rama to give her courage."

"Valmiki's Ramayana has Ravana as the villain, but in South India and the Jain versions, Ravana is the great tragic figure for his love for Sita carries with it his own death; he catches our imagination and the idea that his passion bears its inevitable disaster follows the spirit of Greek tragedy."

"The first non-Indian version of the Ramayana was produced in Chinese and dates from about the fifth century. In Tibet, Nepal and Chinese Turkestan local versions appear to be well known from about 700 A.D. In Cambodia an inscription dated 600 A.D. tells that a sage presented the Ramayana to a temple and made arrangements for its recitation. We know that in the tenth century a Sanskrit scholar expounded both epics at the Cambodian court."

"The Ramayana has a special place in India and South Asia because of the purity of Rama and Sita and their love symbolizing fidelity. The ideal of chivalry in the epic corresponds to that of Europe in the Middle Ages, for Rama is the protector of the oppressed, of widows and orphans; he is the perfect knight valiant in face of danger, protective and tender to all women while loving Sita alone."

"Many scholars have frequently found comparisons between Homer's Iliad and the Ramayana for they share the basic plot of a husband who goes forth to battle to rescue a kidnapped wife; and the story of Jatayu, the vulture, whose brother burnt his wings on going too near the sun recalls the Greek myth of Icarus. Many other characters in the, Greek and Indian epics have points in common: w:Agamemnon|Agamemnon and the [[monkey king Sugriva, Hector and Indrajit, the son of Ravana who abducted Sita, Nestor and Hanuman. Other details recall the Bible: Hanuman and Joshua both order the sun to stop in its course; and Hanuman, like Jonah, enters the mouth of a sea monster."

"The three colossal figures dwarfing the ordinary mortals at their feet are pasteboard effigies of the principal demons of the Ramayana ten-headed Ravana flanked by Meghdana and Khumbhakarna. They figure in the celebration of the Indian festival of Dusserah. After celebrations dedicated to the Goddess Durga who helped Rama against Ravana, giant effigies, erected in a northern Indian cities, meet a fiery fate when flaming arrows shot by Rama ignite explosives packed inside them."

"...at Rajim in Raipur district, which is recorded in the Rajim stone inscription da ted AD 1145. It states that king Jagapala (of the Kalachuris of Ratnapur) has "caused this beautiful temple to be constructed for manifesting the splendour of Rama"."

"A third documented Rama temple was constructed by Malayasimha, a feudatory of the Kalachuris of Tripuri in AD 1193. An inscription on the temple stated, : He (i.e. Malayasimha) erected a marvellous row of mansions touching the sky for gods and brahmanas, through fear of obstruction from which , as it were the sun's chariot goes obliquely with speed. Having performed fierce and painful penance, the Siddhas go to high heaven, (while) those who worship at the temple of Rama (built) by him generally go to the abode of Vishnu."

"मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमश्शाश्वतीस्समा: । यत्क्रौञ्चमिथुनादेकमवधी: काममोहितम् ।।"

"You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting."

"यदाचरति कल्याणि शुभं वा यदि वाऽशुभम्। तदेव लभते भद्रे कर्ता कर्मजमात्मनः।।"

"O, blessed lady! O gracious one! A doer reaps surely the fruit of his own deeds corresponding to the nature of work either good or bad, of that which he does!"

"The night that has passed, does not return."

"सत्यवादी हि लोकेऽस्मिन्परमं गच्छति क्षयम्"

"The one who speaks truth obtains the highest position in this world."

"उद्विजन्ते यथा सर्पान्नरादनृतवादिनः"

"People fear of a person, who speaks untruth, as one fears a snake."

"धर्मादर्थः प्रभवति धर्मात्प्रभवते सुखम्। धर्मेण लभते सर्वं धर्मसारमिदं जगत्।।"

"Interest springs from righteousness; and happiness also results therefrom. One attains everything through righteousness—in this world the only substantial thing."

"न चिरं पापकर्माणः क्रूरा लोकजुगुप्सिताः। ऐश्वर्यं प्राप्य तिष्ठन्ति शीर्णमूला इव द्रुमाः।।"

"Like unto trees whose roots have been reduced, cruel persons, execrated of men, who perpetrate iniquitous acts, do not exist long."

"सुलभाः पुरुषा राजन्सततं प्रियवादिनः। अप्रियस्य तु पथ्यस्य वक्ता श्रोता च दुर्लभः।।"

"O king, the speaker of soft words is common, but the speaker and the listner of unwelcome though beneficial words are rarities."

"न विषादे मनः कार्यम् विषादो दोषवत्तरः | विषादो हन्ति पुरुषम् बालम् क्रुद्ध इव उरगः ||"

"We should not indulge in grief. Grief is injurious.— Grief destroys a person even as a wrathful serpent doth a boy."

"She was lovely like an indistinct lunar disc, like a streak of gold covered with dust, like a golden reed broken by the wind, like a scar left by an arrow!"

"The husband enhances the beauty of a woman more than her ornaments."

"उत्साहो बलवानार्य नस्त्युत्साहात् परं बलं। सोत्साहस्यहि लोकेषु न किञ्चिदपि दुर्लभं ॥"

"No ancient story, not even Homer's Iliad or Odyssey, has remained as popular through the course of time. The story of Rama appears as old as civilization and has a fresh appeal for every generation."

"The general spirit of India was most vividly reflected in the Ramayana."

"References to the story of Rama occur in the earliest part of the Sangama literature of Tamil Nadu, dating back to a period almost as old as the Ramayana of Valmiki."

"The year 1863 will remain cherished and blessed. It was the first time I could read India’s great sacred poem, the divine Ramayana.... This great stream of poetry carries away the bitter leaven left behind by time and purifies us. Whoever has his heart dried up, let him drench it in the Ramayana. Whoever has lost and wept, let him find in it a soothing softness and Nature’s compassion. Whoever has done too much, willed too much, let him drink a long draught of life and youth from this deep chalice.... Everything is narrow in the Occident. Greece is small — I stifle. Judea is dry — I pant. Let me look a little towards lofty Asia, towards the deep Orient. There I find my immense poem, vast as India’s seas, blessed and made golden by the sun, a book of divine harmony in which nothing jars. There reigns a lovable peace, and even in the midst of battle, an infinite softness, an unbounded fraternity extending to all that lives, a bottomless and shoreless ocean of love, piety, clemency. I have found what I was looking for: the bible of kindness. Great poem, receive me!… Let me plunge into it! It is the sea of milk."

"By Indra! how beautiful this is and how much better than the Bible, the Gospel and all the words of the Fathers of the Church!"

"Well, what is the Ramayana? The conquest of the savage aborigines of Southern India by the Aryans! Indeed! Ramachandra is a civilised Aryan king and with whom, is he fighting? With King Ravana of Lanka. Just read the Ramayana, and you will find that Ravana was rather more and not less civilised than Ramachandra. The civilisation of Lanka was rather higher, and surely not lower, than that of Ayodhya."

"Since more than 2000 years the poem of Rama has remained alive in India, and it continues to live in all strata and classes of folk. High and low, princes and peasants, landlords and artisans, princesses and shepherdesses, are well versed with the characters and stories of the great epic."

"Lord Hanuman escorted me into the inner palace, where I gazed on Lord Rama in human form. Hanuman approached the Lord, on whose left side Lakshmana was present. I saw that Hanuman, while chanting the Lord’s praises, sometimes rotated the royal fly-whisk over him sometimes stood before him and recited spontaneous hymns, sometimes held a white umbrella over him, and sometimes massaged his feet. And sometimes he did all these things at once."

"Instruct me, my lord, with regard to him who is the passionless, all-pervading, omnipresent god. Be not wroth at my ignorance, but take steps to remove it. In the wood, though I was too awe-stricken to tell you, I beheld the majesty of Rama, yet my mind was so dull that I did not understand, and I reaped a just reward."

"... to whom Gauri's lord is dear as life. He who loves not Shiva's lotus feet can never dream of pleasing Rama; a guileless love for Shiva's feet is the surest sign of faith in Rama. For who is so faithful to Rama as Shiva, who for no fault thus left his wife Sati and made a vow, the pledge of unswerving fidelity? And whom does Rama hold more dear than Shiva?"

"Then Shiva, after bowing to the Brahmans, took his seat, remembering in his heart his own lord, Rama. Then the sages sent for Uma, who was brought in by her handmaids, richly adorned. All the gods beholding her beauty were enraptured."