Significance and relevance of Ramayanam Recital (Ramayana Parayanam ) - 1st in the series. Om Sri Ramaya Namah! Om Sri Ramaya Namah! Om Sri Ramaya Namah! In all these Ramayanams the main story definitely remains the same but there could be minor deviations or changes in the course of the story. We, all of us, are very familiar with the story but just to refresh and for immediate reference and for clarity of this study let us briefly restate it here. Eons and eons ago the island of Lanka was inhabited by very strong and powerful dynasty of Rakshasas (Demons). Ravana was their king and leader. He was the son of the famous seer Visravasu and Kaikesi. His original name was Dasagreeva (one who has ten necks). Ravana was the name provided to him later on by Lord Mahadeva and he was thereafter popularly known by that name. Ravana had two brothers called Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana and a sister called Soorpanaka. Ravana with sever austerity received blessings from Brahmadeva enormous strength, long life, and that he cannot be defeated or killed by devas/gods, danavas/asuras/demons, etc. As he considered men and monkeys too week and very powerless to stand against him he did not ask Brahmadeva to bless him to have victory over them. His brothers also did severe austerity and were granted the wishes asked by them. Kumbhakarna, tricked by devas/gods with the help of goddess Saraswathydevi, had a slip of his tongue while asking for the boon and thus asked for Nidrasana (bed for sleeping) instead of Indrasana (the throne/seat of Indra or the position as the king of devas). Also there are other versions like Nidratwam instead of Indratwam or Nidratwam instead of Nirdevatwam all with same meaning. Vibhishana wished to be a steadfast devotee of Lord Sri Maha Vishnu and was duly granted by Brahma and also long life. Now Ravana with his newly acquired power, strength and vitality defeated devas/gods, asuras/demons and all others those who dared to challenge him. He also disturbed the austerities of innocent saints, Rishis and other holy men and stopped any sacrificial worship. He even asked everyone to worship only him not Lord Maha Vishnu or Brahmadeva or Mahadeva. Brahmadeva along with all gods and Mahadeva went to Milky Ocean and worshipped Lord Sri Maha Vishnu and requested to incarnate in human form and kill Ravana and his followers as Brahmadeva himself had granted him the boon to the effect that he can be defeated and or killed only by man. So now Lord Sri Maha Vishnu incarnated in the form of a man as Sri Rama, the son of King Dasaratha and Kausalya. Sri Rama had three other brothers named Bharatha, Lakshmana and Shatrughna. Kaikeyi was the mother of Bharatha and Sumithra the mother of Laksmana and Shatrughna. Sri Rama married Sita Devi, incarnation of goddess Maha Lakshmi, daughter of great emperor Janaka of Mithila by breaking the Thriambaka Bow of Lord Mahadeva. Bharatha wedded Sruthakirthi , Lakshmana wedded Urmila and Shatrughna wedded Mandavi. For twelve years all newly wedded couples lived in the palace of Ayodhya like the king of heaven, Lord Devendra, in Amaravathi, the palace of heaven. Dasaratha now decided to crown Sri Rama as the young prince of Ayodhya. He had the full support from all his precepts, ministers and all the citizens. Kaikeyi was able to block it by demanding the wishes/boons granted by Dasaratha as a reward to her for savings his life during the fight he had with the asuras/demons. Kaikeyi demanded that her son Bharatha to be crowned as young prince and Sri Rama to be sent in exile for fourteen years. Dasaratha acceded to demands of Kaikeyi in order to keep up his promise. Sri Rama went to wilderness with his father’s exile order. Sita Devi and Lakshmana also accompanied him to the forest. Sri Rama killed many Rakshasas and protected Rishis/Saints during thirteen years in wilderness. Then one day Sita Devi was enticed by Maricha in the form of a golden deer. Sita demanded Sri Rama to get it for her to be kept as pet. Sri Rama has to ultimately kill Maricha and due to his false cry like Oh Lakshmana Oh Site save me save me Sita forced Lakshmana to go and save Sri Rama. And while both Sri Rama and Lakshmana were away Ravana disguised as a Sanyasi/Rishi approached Sita Devi but finally he disclosed to her that he was none other than Ravana and the purpose of his visit is to request Sita Devi to become his primary consort. Ravana abducted Sit Devi and kept her in the Asoka Garden in Lanka. On the way he mutilated Jatayu who tried to block Ravana from abducting Sita Devi the beloved consort of his votary Sri Rama Deva. Sri Rama and Lakshmana returned to their monastery at Panchavati to see that Sita Devi was missing. They went in search for Sita Devi. On the way they met, blessed and provided ultimate salvation to Jatayu, Kabandha and Sabari. And from the bits and pieces of information collected from them they met with Hanuman the primary minister of Sugreeva. Sri Rama and Sugreeva entered into a contract that Sri Rama will kill Bali, the elder brother of Sugreeva, who had abandoned and drove Sugreeva away from Kishkinda and in return Sugreeva agreed to help to search and find out Sita Devi. Both kept up their words. Sri Rama, Lakshmana, Sugreeva and billions and billions of monkeys and bears went to Lanka via Sethubanthan, the bridge constructed from southern tip of India to Lanka. They killed Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Indrajith and the entire asura/demon dynasty. Sri Rama crowned Vibhishana as king of Lanka. Sri Rama retrieved Sita Devi and went back to Ayodhya. Sri Rama was crowned as the king of Ayodhya by Bharatha and others. Then in Uttara Ramayana, the latter portion, we have the description of the origin of all Rakshasas/Asuras/Demons as being explained by the renowned sage Agasthya to Sri Rama and many other relevant and related stories, some of them are stated below, and philosophical explanations by Sri Rama to Kausalya and other mothers and Lakshmana and other brothers and to the assembly of sacred saints. Sri Rama and Sita Devi lived very happily for thousands of years as the great emperor and empress of Sun Dynasty. In due course Sita Devi had shown signs of being on her family way. And during the same time Sri Rama happened to hear that there are some scandals spread about him within some of the citizens that Sita Devi was unchaste or rather lost her chastity as she lived with Ravana under his full custody for about an year. And it was not proper on the part of Sri Rama to accept her back as his chaste wife. As Sri Rama wanted to be model for the citizens and need to be scandal free he abandoned Sita Devi to the forest. Sita Devi sought refuge at the monastery of Valmiki and delivered twins called Kusa and Lava. Valmiki wrote the story of Ramayana and taught it to Kusa and Lava. Kusa and Lava became true exponents of Ramayana. Sri Rama conducted many a sacrifices and kept golden idol of Sita Devi as his consort while conducting all those sacrificial performances maintaining his principles of monogamy. In one of such sacrifices Kusa and Lava very melodiously sang the Ramayana in the assembly and each and everyone assembled there reached the peak of satisfaction and happiness with sweet melodious story telling of Ramayana by those two unidentified Munikumaras/saint kids. Ultimately Sri Rama identified Kusa and Lava as his own sons. Sri Rama was willing to accept Sita Devi as his consort with a condition that she had to declare her chastity in front of the large public. Sita Devi was brought to the sacrificial hall by Valmiki. During the declaration Sita Devi asked her mother, Bhumi Devi (Mother Earth), for refuge. And Bhumi Devi duly disappeared with Sita Devi to the underground. Sri Rama entrusted eight kingdoms to the eight sons of the four brothers at two each. He has to abandon Lakshmana to keep up the commitment given to Yamadeva, the god of death or the god of time (Kalam), and Lakshmana went to his abode of Vaikunta. Sri Rama having fulfilled all what he had to do during this incarnation he decided to go back to his abode of Vaikunta. Bharatha, Shathrughna, Sugreeva, other Vanaras, the citizens of Ayodhya and all others wished and pleaded that they also be taken along with Sri Rama. Sri Rama accepted their plea and took all of them to heaven. Hanuman and Vibhishana stayed back as steadfast devotees of Sri Rama. Brahma Deva, Lord Mahadeva, Devendra and other celestial bodies were present to witness and worship and Sri Rama and others surrendered their mortal life and entered Heaven/Vaikunta. To be continued………..
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 17:43:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015