Diwali – Ramayana in a Nutshell

Every Indian has heard of the story of Lord Ram at some point in time. Ramayana is the most famous mythological tale of all. This revered book incorporates the story of Lord Rama and his return from his fourteen-years-long exile, which led to the celebration of Diwali in the Indian Subcontinent.

Ramayana

Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic that was written by Sage Valmiki. It is dated around 500 BCE to 100 BCE. There are other local adaptations of the tale, and different states have their own version of the story. But the Ramayana written by Sage Valmiki is the most popular of all.

The story is about Lord Rama, who was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was born on earth to teach humans the job of an ideal man. He was born in a human form and did not have any supernatural powers. But, his life is still considered as an inspiration by the Hindus as an ideal man’s way of life.

Rama’s Exile

The epic story starts with King Dashratha; the ruler of Ayodhya. He had three wives Koshalya, Sumitra, and Kekai. Among the three wives, Kekai was the youngest. But she resented his other two wives and the children from other wives. Dashratha was blessed with four sons from all three wives. The sons had a lot of love for one another.

The eldest of these sons was Rama. He married a beautiful princess Sita who was the daughter of King Janak. King Dashratha once gave a Vachan (promise) to his third wife Kekai when she saved him on the battlefield that he will fulfill her one wish whenever she will ask. When Dashratha announced Rama as the new crown prince of the city, Kekai asked Dashratha to send Rama to exile and announce her son Bharata to be the new Emperor of the Kingdom.

Rama was a virtuous prince. The people of Ayodhya loved Rama. The people of Ayodhya considered Rama to be their ruler in their hearts as Rama was kind, virtuous, and a good human. Bound by the promise made to Kekai, Dashratha declared Bharata as the new Emperor, sending his son Ram to exile for fourteen years.

Death of the King Dashratha

Sita, who was the epitome of womanly purity and virtue couldn’t let her husband go for exile without her company. She left the city of Ayodhya also. Lakshmana, who was the younger brother of Rama, was also completely loyal to his brother. He also chose to go with Rama and Sita for exile.

Dashratha was devastated as he has no other choice than to send Rama to the forest. As Rama prepares to leave Sita and Lakshmana follows him to his journey. King Dashratha died soon after their departure.

Ram, Sita, and Lakshmana start dwelling in the forest. They lived in a small house made out of the mud. Sita who was a princess had to cook food, clean the house, and all other chores of the home which she never did before. On the other hand, Rama and Lakshmana roamed around the forest to collect wood, food, and other necessities.

The Enchanted Demoness Shurpanakha

One day Surpanakha, a demoness who was enamored of Rama, visits the three dwellers and tries to seduce Rama into marrying him. Rama rejects the offer of Surapanakha and asks her to marry Lakshmana instead because he was already married to Sita.

Surpanakha saw Sita, jealous of her beauty and she wanted to kill Sita. As she attacked Sita, Lakshmana came into rescue and in the process wounded Surphanaka by injuring her nose. Shurphanaka was the beloved sister of King Ravana who was a powerful king of Sri Lanka. After listening to the story of Shurpanakha her brother Ravana was infuriated and wanted to avenge her.

Abduction of Sita by Ravana

Ravana has also heard about the beauty of Sita. He disguised himself as a poor Brahmana begger and approached at the door of Sita for food. Sita was alone at that time. Taking advantage of the situation Ravana kidnaps her and takes her to Sri Lanka to make her his wife.

Ravana had supernatural powers and had a chariot that could fly. He forcefully took Sita in his chariot. Jatayu, a divine bird, saw this from a distance and tried to help Sita. In the process of helping her, Jatayu attacked Ravana with his wings to which Ravana clipped off his wings. His brother Sampati who was a demi-God also flew to help his brother Jatayu but couldn’t reach in time. Ravana took Sita away. Sita prayed for Jatayu’s last rights while departing.

Meeting With Sampati

Getting the news about her wife, Rama travels across the land in search of his wife. He was accompanied by his brother Lakshman. But they were not able to find her. When the two warriors reached down south, they met Sampati, the brother of Jatayu. Sampati recognized Lord Rama and told her about Sita. Rama got to know that the evil king Ravana took his wife, Sita across the ocean.

They again started their journey to save Sita. After walking miles, they come across mighty warriors who were Vanaras (monkey-men). The Vanaras pleaded Rama to help them along with Sughriv, and in return, they will help Rama find his wife, Sita.

Vanara King Bali

Bali ruled the kingdom of Kishkindha, and he was the king of Vanaras, One day a demon Mayavi challenged Bali to fight against him, Bali accepted the challenge and waged war against the demon in this case, when he sallied forward, the devil fled in dread into a deep cave.

Vali entered the cave in the quest for the evil presence, advising Sugriva to hold up outside. At this point when Vali didn’t return for days, and after hearing painful yells in the cave and seeing blood overflowing from its mouth, Sugriva inferred that his sibling had been slaughtered. With overwhelming sadness, Sugriva rolled a stone to seal the cave’s opening and came back to Kishkindha and accepted authority over the Kishkindha.

Bali, be that as it may, eventually won in his battle with the demon and got back. Seeing Sugriva going about asking, he reasoned that his sibling had double-crossed him. Even though Sugriva modestly gave explanations for himself, Vali would not believe it. Thus, Sugriva was excluded from the realm.

Vali forcefully took Sugriva’s better half Rumā, and the siblings turned out to be severe enemies. Sugriva then proceeds to live on Rishyamukha mountain as it is the central spot on earth that Vali can’t step on. Vali was recently cursed by Sage Matang and consequently can’t lay a foot on this land piece. Doing so would cause his demise.

Rama Kills Bali

According to the promise Rama had to help Sugriva. Together, Sugriva and Rama went to search out Bali. While Rama remained back, Sugriva yelled for a test and challenged him to fight. The siblings surged at one another, battling with trees and stones, with clenched hands, nails, and teeth. They were evenly matched and indistinct to the eyewitness until Sugriva’s aid Hanuman ventured forward and set a garland of blossoms around Sugriva’s neck.

It was then that Rama emerged with his bow and drove an arrow through Bali’s heart. After Vali’s demise, Sugriva recovered the Kishkindha, reclaimed his significant other, Rumā. Tara became empress and her child by Vali, Angada, became crown prince. Sugriva agreed to send his army with Rama to fight the battle with Ravana.

Going To Lanka

Among that group, there was one mighty Vanara named Hanuman. He was cursed that he will forget all his powers but only remember them when he works towards the right cause. Helping Rama was a great cause which made Hanuman remember all his superpowers. Hanuman flew to Sri Lanka to find and inform Sita that her husband and his Lord Rama had collected an army of Vanaras and would soon reach Sri Lanka to take her back.

Meanwhile, Rama reaches the southern border of the land where he is faced with another challenge of building a bridge over the sea that connects India with Lanka. The Vanara build the bridge with the stones found nearby. The army of mighty warriors crosses the ocean. Rama with the army reaches Lanka, and wages war against the demon king Ravana.

Slaying the Lankapati Ravana

Ravana, who was a mighty demon, got the boon of immortality and couldn’t die unless someone shot him with an arrow over his stomach. Vibhishana, who was the brother of Ravana, knew that his brother’s action was wrong and he had warned his brother before that Rama was a great warrior and Ravana would have to face the consequences. Ravana didn’t listen to his brother and raised an army to wreak havoc, but all his warriors died one by one, and at last, it was Ravana against Rama.

Dussehra And Diwali

Rama and Ravana had a very long fight until Vibhishana helped Rama figure out the way for Ravana’s death. Rama killed Ravana and made Vibhishana the king of Lanka. This day in India is celebrated as Dussehra, and the day Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya is celebrated as Diwali all over the country. People light Diyas and wear festive clothes and burst crackers to celebrate the return of their beloved King Rama along with his wife, Sita, and Lakshmana.