The Ramayana in brief

Ramayana - the story cont (pg 4)

The search

The monsoon arrives, months of rain follow, finally the rainy season ends and no monkey army arrives to help. Rama gets melancholy and impatient and finally sends Laxman to the city of Kiskinda to find out what had happened. Well, it seems that Sugreeva is enjoying his new status as King rather too much and because of massive self-indulgence (wine, women...) he had forgotten all about Rama and his promise to help him. Sugreeva is very remorseful, swears never to drink again and organises a huge army of his own people and his allies. This army is split into several search parties, which scour the land from North to South, from West to East; they look everywhere but Sita is not to be found. The search party which includes Hanuman and Angada (nephew of Sugreeva, son of Vali and his wife Tara) reach the South tip of the land; only the sea to be seen, no Sita in sight. Despairing of having failed Rama they are thinking of committing suicide, when a weird decrepit looking creature comes up to them. It is Sampathi, the brother of Jatayu the Great Eagle, who had burnt all of his feathers because he had once flown too high, too close to the sun. Sampathi knows that Ravana and Sita are over the sea in Lanka.

Hanuman's burning tail

Jambavan, a wise elder of the search party, in form of a bear convinces Hanuman that he can grow to any size he wishes (because of a curse, Hanuman wasn't aware of his capabilities before). Quickly Hanuman grows to gigantic proportions and gets over to Lanka with one step. There he witnesses how miserable Sita is, how she is threatened and teased by rakshasas (demons), and how Ravana unsuccessfully tries to persuade her to become his mistress. She is just about to hang herself in her misery when Hanuman shows himself to convey a message and a ring from Rama and to tell her that rescue is near. When he leaves her he becomes a giant again and destroys a fair bit of Lanka. He gets himself caught and tries to persuade Ravana in his court to give up and to hand over Sita voluntarily. Ravana in turn is furious; as punishment he soaks Hanumans tail in cotton and oil and sets it on fire, which is probably not so clever on his part because Hanuman promptly escapes with his burning tail and by wagging and swishing it around sets Ravana's capital alight.

Ravana's Council

© durgapuja ecards
Goddess Laxmi, who Sita is an incarnation of.

After Ravana's capital is rebuilt by Maya, a divine architect, a big council is held by Ravana, his army generals, his brothers and his son Indrajit. The decision is clear; it's all-out-war. Only Ravana's youngest brother, Vibishana, is opposed to this belligerent attitude; in vain he tries to convince the others that Sita really is a Goddess, that Rama really is God Vishnu. He goes off over the ocean to join Rama's camp and to supply them with information.

The bridge to Lanka

Rama asks the God of the Sea to part the ocean for him so that he and his army can go over to Lanka, but unfortunately it is not possible. Therefore a huge bridge is built; mud, rocks, pebbles, pieces of mountains, everything is used. Everybody, all animals and creatures help. On completion of this massive building project Rama, his friends, his allies and their armies march across the sea to Lanka.

Serpent darts and Ravana's first humiliation

A lot of fighting, a massive battle ensues, in which Ravana employs sorcerers and spies in monkey disguise. But in vain, it looks as if Ravana is going to lose. Indrajit, Ravana's son, hits Rama and Laxman with serpent darts resulting in them falling down unconscious. Sita is taken with a chariot up over the battlefield to observe for herself that her husband and his brother are dead. Luckily just in time Garuda, the sworn enemy of all serpents arrives; all the serpent darts flee and Rama and Laxman are alive again. After Ravana's commander-in-chief is killed in action, Ravana comes onto the battlefield in his chariot to fight Rama (who is sitting on Hanuman's shoulders) personally. He is pretty much humiliated; badly wounded, crown and chariot broken and to add insult to injury Rama sends him home to come back the next day with fresh weapons.

Help from the Gods

	© durgapuja ecards
	Shiva, the God of destruction.

Kumbakarna, a brother of Ravana, who is famous for his deep sleep and his phenomenal strength is destroyed in battle - after he has managed to gobble down a few thousand of Sugreeva's monkey soldiers. Ravana's son Indrajit - who can make himself invisible when fighting - is killed by Laxman. Understandably Ravana is upset by the death of son and brother and more than ever determined to destroy Rama once and for all. With ritual baths and prayers to God Shiva he prepares himself for the final battle. What he doesn't reckon with though, is the other Gods, who by this point are fairly sick of Ravana's megalomania and evilness, and actually want Rama to win. So they help Rama by sending down the special chariot of God Indra with the skilled charioteer Matali.

The final battle

More fighting, Rama kills the giant Mahodara; ominous signs appear, mountains shake, thunder rumbles, tears flow from horses eyes. In a last attempt to make Ravana give up, Rama destroys Ravana's army. But in vain; the final battle between good and evil, between Rama and Ravana starts. The air is filled with arrows - you would think that Ravana has a slight advantage here handling ten bows with his twenty arms simultaneously - but Rama manages to fend them all off. Then a lot of different asthras (divine weapons or arms with super natural powers) are employed by both opponents: "Maya" (illusion), "Gnana" (wisdom), "Thama" (darkness, rain, tornado), "Shivasthra", "Mantras", "Garuda", monstrous serpents, tridents with super destructive powers and many more. When Rama chops off Ravana's heads and arms with crescent shaped arrows they regrow as quickly as they are severed. In the end Rama uses the "Brahmasthra", a very special divine weapon, designed by Brahma, once used by Shiva to defeat the monster demon Tripura. With this "Brahmasthra" Rama aims at Ravana's heart, hits and Ravana dies.

The fire ordeal

Hanuman brings a jubilant Sita to the victorious Rama and - happy end? Not quite; Rama is cold to Sita and explains callously to her that he fulfilled his pledge to free her and to vindicate his honour but that he can't possibly take her back since she had stayed in a stranger's house. On hearing this Sita is desperate and orders Laxman to build and light a fire into which she throws herself. Luckily the Gods want a say in this matter as well; Agni, the God of Fire, rises out of the flames and hands Sita back to Rama. With this Sita's integrity and faithfulness is proven to the world and Rama accepts her back.

Happy End

The 14 years of exile are over. Hanuman is sent as a messenger to Ayodhya where he arrives just in time to prevent Bharata's self-immolation (since the 14 years are over, Bharata thinks Rama won't come back). Rama, Sita and their friends follow in the Pushpak Vimana, a kind of aeroplane driven by thought. In Ayodhya Rama's coronation and a big party take place where all of the guests, be it gods, helpers of the monkey race or what ever appear in human form. And so they all lived happily afterwards.

The sequel

As mentioned at the beginning, in the background section of this article, there are countless different versions of the Ramayana. Some of them include a sequel in which Sita is banished by Rama into the forest (after the return to Ayodhya) where she bears the boy twins Kusa and Lava. Kamban's and therefore R.K.Narayan's "Ramayana" don't include this sequel.