Lesson 5: The Ramayana
The Ramayana narrates the tale of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya who was an incarnation of Vishnu. Vishnu took this incarnation to annihilate the Demon race that was obstructing the establishment of religious practices. The original epic was written by Sage Valmiki. Rama is said to be the ideal man.
Introduction
The Ramayana is one of the two major epics of Hindu Mythology. It narrates the tale of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya who was an incarnation of Vishnu. Vishnu took this incarnation to annihilate the Demon race that was obstructing the establishment of religious practices. The original epic was written by Sage Valmiki and covers the period from his birth to his return to heaven after accomplishing his mission. Most other versions cover the period up to his coronation only. The prescribed text is based on the Ramayana written by Kamban in Tamil, a south Indian language.
We will assume that the text has been read and straight away begin discussion of some salient points. Lineage is very important in Hindu Mythology and we shall trace Rama’s descent from the Sun demi-God. We shall study some different versions of the Ramayana and see how mythology is a live subject. Earlier we have seen how destiny is important in Hindu mythology. Now we shall see how it affects some of the characters in the Ramayana. We shall discuss two events involving Rama and Sita. These incidents apparently cast a blot on Rama’s impeccable character. We shall see how a broader interpretation of the events removes the blot. Then we shall look at some of the female characters in the Ramayana and draw conclusions about the status of women in that society. Finally we shall see how the Ramayana fits with Campbell’s model of mythological tales.
We shall use ‘The Indian Epics Retold’ and ‘Hindu Myths’ as texts. In addition there is a wealth of material on Hindu mythology on the Internet. We will make full use of this.
Optional Exercises
1a. There are two summaries of The Ramayana on this site. These are based on the Ramayana by Valmiki. Read the summaries to refresh your memory.
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/maxpages/spec...
1b. There is a map on this site of modern India, which shows the route taken by Rama during his exile.
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/maxpages/spec...
