The Book of RAM Read online

  DEVDUTT PATTANAIK

  THE BOOK OF RAM

  Illustrations by the author

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Contents

  Foreword

  Ramayana’s Protagonist

  Dashratha’s Son

  Vishwamitra’s Student

  Sita’s Husband

  Lakshman’s Brother

  Hanuman’s Master

  Ravana’s Enemy

  Ayodhya’s King

  Vishnu’s Incarnation

  Valmiki’s Inspiration

  Hindutva’s Icon

  A Prayer to Ram

  Bibliography

  Follow Penguin

  Copyright

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  THE BOOK OF RAM

  Devdutt Pattanaik is a medical doctor by education, a leadership consultant by profession and a mythologist by passion. He has written and lectured extensively on the nature of sacred stories, symbols and rituals and their relevance in modern times. His books with Penguin India include The Book of Ram, Myth=Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology, The Pregnant King, Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata, Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana, and the Devlok series of stories for children. Devdutt’s unconventional approach and engaging style are evident in his lectures, books and articles. To know more visit www.devdutt.com.

  By the same author

  Myth=Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology

  The Pregnant King

  Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

  Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana

  Shikhandi and Other Tales They Don’t Tell You

  Foreword

  Any discussion of Ram today is dominated either by academic analysis or political debate. The former thrives on portraying Ram as a patriarchal poet’s fantasy. The latter either asserts Ram or rejects Ram, transforming him into a potent political lever either way. In the din of these discourses of power, the discourse of love is lost. One forgets that for hundreds of years, for millions of people, across history and geography, Ram’s name and Ram’s story has been a window to the divine.

  Ram’s name, the Ram-nam, is repeatedly chanted to tide over a crisis, for the name, Ram, when reversed becomes Mara, which means ‘die’. Ram is the opposite of Mara. Ram is life—with all its demands and desires and destinies. Ram’s calm repose in the face of all adversity, so evident in the Ramayana, 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 the Ramayana have their own twists and turns, their own symbolic outpouring, each one valid in their respective contexts.

  I write this book celebrating the Ram of the common man, the power of his name, the many retellings of his tale, drawing attention to the several layers of metaphors and meanings in the rituals and narratives, bringing forth my own creative insight, well aware that:

  Within infinite myths lies the Eternal Truth

  Who sees it all?

  Varuna has but a thousand eyes

  Indra, a hundred

  And I, only two

  Devdutt Pattanaik

  1

  Ramayana’s Protagonist

  O beloved son of Kaushalya,

  Dawn is about to break,

  O lion amongst men,

  Be pleased to open your eyes.

  And perform the duties of the day

  —From Venkatesa Suprabhatam

  by Prathi Vadhi Bhayangaram Annangaracharyar

  An upright hero

  The Ramayana, one of the most revered texts in Hinduism, tells the story of a prince called Ram.

  Dashratha, 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 amongst his three queens. In time the queens gave birth to four sons. Ram was the eldest, born of the chief queen, Kaushalya, Bharata was the second, born to Dashratha’s favourite queen, Kaikeyi and Lakshman and Shatrughna were the twin sons of the third queen, Sumitra.

  Ram completed his early education under the tutelage of Rishi Vasishtha. He was then asked to defend Rishi Vishwamitra’s hermitage from attacks by the demons known as Rakshasas. Accordingly, Ram killed many Rakshasas in the time that he spent under Rishi Vishwamitra’s care including a female Rakshasa called Tadaka. Pleased with his actions, Vishwamitra taught him many potent magical chants that transformed ordinary arrows into potent missiles.

  Vishwamitra then took Ram to Mithila, capital of the kingdom of Videha. On the way, they came to the hermitage of Gautam, who had cursed his wife Ahalya to turn into stone because she had been unfaithful to him. Ram placed his foot on the stone that was Ahalya and she was instantly released from the curse, such was the purity of Ram’s character.

  At Mithila, Ram participated in the swayamvar being held by Janaka, the king of Videha. The young prince broke the mighty bow of Shiva that was in the king’s custody and by this display of strength, won the hand of Janaka’s daughter, Sita, in marriage. Sita was no ordinary woman. She had been ploughed out of the earth by Janaka who had then raised her as his own daughter.

  On Ram’s return to Ayodhya, Dashratha decided it was time to pass on the crown to Ram and retire from worldly life.

  Unfortunately, on the eve of Ram’s coronation, the maid, Manthara, poisoned Kaikeyi’s mind against the coronation. Thus influenced, Kaikeyi demanded that her husband grant her the two boons he had promised her years ago when she had saved his life in battle. As her first boon, she wanted her son, Bharata, to be crowned king and for the second, she wanted Ram to live as a hermit in the forest for fourteen years.

  Bound by his word, Dashratha sent for Ram and informed him of the situation. Without any remorse or regret, to the amazement of all, Ram removed his royal robes and left the city of Ayodhya dressed in clothes of bark, as hermits are supposed to, armed only with his bow.

  Despite protests, Ram’s wife, Sita, and his brother, Lakshman, followed him to the forest; Sita, because she refused to leave her husband’s side and Lakshman, because he could not bear to be parted from his brother. Watching the three leave the city, overwhelmed by the calamity befalling his household, Dashratha died of a broken heart.

  Much to Kaikeyi’s disappointment, her son, Bharata, refused to take a kingdom obtained through such trickery. He decided to live as a hermit too, outside the city gates in the village of Nandigram and serve as Ram’s regent until Ram’s return. He placed Ram’s footwear on the throne to proclaim Ram’s undisputed kingship.

  In the forest, Ram, Lakshman and Sita endured the vagaries of nature stoically. Wandering from place to place, through dense forests and over high hills, they never stopped at any one place for too long. Sometimes they took shelter in caves and at others they built themselves little huts using leaves and twigs. Often they fought demons who harassed them and encountered sages such as Atri and Agastya who showered them with gifts and wise words. So passed thirteen years.

  In the fourteenth year of exile, a woman called Surpanakha saw Ram in the forest. Smitten by his beauty, she openly expressed her desire to be his lover. Ram politely refused on grounds that he already had a wife. Lakshman also turned her down as his only desire in life was to serve his brother and his sister-in-law.

  Surpanakha blamed Sita for this rejection and tried to kill her. Lakshman rushed to Sita’s rescue. Raising his sword he cut Surpanakha’s nose and drove her away.

  Surpanakha, who was in fact a female Rakshasa ran to her brother, Ravana, who was the ten-headed king of the Rakshasas. When the demon-king saw his sister’s mutilated face, he was furious. He swore to teach Ram a lesson by abducting Sita and forcing her to be
part of his vast harem.

  At Ravana’s behest, a shape-shifting demon called Maricha took the form of a golden deer and enchanted Sita who begged Ram to catch it for her. Ram pursued the deer and was drawn deep into the woods. When struck by Ram’s arrows, Maricha shouted for help mimicking Ram’s voice so perfectly that a frightened Sita ordered Lakshman to rush to Ram’s rescue.

  With no one around to protect Sita, Ravana approached her in the guise of a sage and asked for some food. Sita stretched out her hand and offered whatever she had in the house, taking care not to cross the line marked out by Lakshman around the hut; so long as she stayed within the line, Lakshman had said, she would be under Ram’s protection and hence safe.

  Ravana, however, displayed mock fury at the way the food was being offered to a sage, forcing Sita to step out. Ravana immediately revealed his true identity, grabbed Sita, leapt on to his flying chariot and made his way across the sky to his island-kingdom of Lanka.

  The two brothers returned to an empty hut after killing Maricha. Nearby was the vulture called Jatayu who had been mortally wounded while trying to stop Ravana’s chariot. Before dying, Jatayu informed Ram that Ravana had carried Sita somewhere to the south. On learning of his beloved’s fate, Ram was overwhelmed by grief.

  Determined to rescue Sita, Ram and Lakshman made their way south. They passed the terrifying forests of Dandaka, crossed the Vindhya mountains and eventually reached Kishkindha, the land of monkeys, where they met Sugriva, a monkey who had been driven into exile by his brother, Vali, king of monkeys, following a misunderstanding.

  Ram and Sugriva came to an agreement: if Ram helped overpower Vali, Sugriva would help rescue Sita. On Ram’s advice, Sugriva challenged Vali to a duel. Sugriva was no match for his much stronger brother and would surely have been killed had Ram not raised his bow and shot Vali from behind the bushes while the two brothers were fighting. A dying Vali accused Ram of being unfair to which Ram retorted that those who live by the law of the jungle must allow themselves to be killed by the law of the jungle.

  After becoming king, Sugriva asked all the monkeys of Kishkindha to go in every direction in search of Sita. After a long search, the strongest and wisest of all the monkeys, whose name was Hanuman, learnt from another vulture called Sampati that Ravana’s kingdom, Lanka, stood in the middle of the vast ocean that stretched beyond the southern horizon. Hanuman increased his size and leapt across the sea, surviving many dangers along the way, and made his way into the island of demons. There he found Sita sitting forlorn in a palace orchard, under the Ashoka tree, rejecting Ravana’s amorous advances, totally convinced that her husband would eventually come to her rescue.

  As soon as she was alone, Hanuman approached Sita, identified himself, gave her Ram’s ring as proof of his identity and assured her that Ram was truly on his way. Overjoyed, Sita blessed Hanuman and gave him her hairpin as proof of her discovery.

  Hanuman then let himself be caught by Ravana’s guards. Identifying himself as Ram’s messenger, he warned Ravana with dire consequences if he did not let Sita go. Ravana laughed and ordered his guards to set Hanuman’s tail on fire. No sooner was his tail set alight than Hanuman jumped free and ran amok in Lanka setting buildings on fire. He then leapt across the sea, returned to Kishkindha and revealed Sita’s exact whereabouts to Ram.

  Hanuman helped Ram raise a vast army of monkeys, bears and vultures. Together they built a bridge across the sea to Lanka.

  As the bridge was being constructed, Ram got help from an unexpected quarter: Vibhishana, Ravana’s younger brother, decided to join forces with Ram after being evicted from Lanka for publicly declaring that Ravana was morally wrong to keep a married woman in his palace against her will.

  At long last, the bridge was built and Ram found himself on the shores of Lanka with his army behind him separated from Sita by the formidable walls of Ravana’s citadel.

  All attempts for a peaceful resolution were rejected by Ravana who felt it beneath his dignity to even consider proposals made by a man with a monkey army. War was finally declared. On one side stood Ram, Lakshman, Vibhishana, Sugriva, Hanuman and other denizens of the forest. On the other stood Ravana and his demon hordes. The monkeys fought with sticks and stones and the demons with weapons and magic. The battle was long and fierce with terrible casualties on both sides.

  Lakshman was hit by a lethal arrow shot by Ravana’s son, Indrajit, and would have died had Hanuman not flown north and brought back the mountain of magical herbs. Hanuman also rescued the two brothers from the sorcerer, Mahiravana.

  Eventually the battle turned in Ram’s favour. Ravana lost many of his sons including Indrajit. He even lost his brother, Kumbhakarna, a giant, who had been roused from his long slumber and sent to battle.

  Finally, Ravana came face to face with Ram. A long duel ensued with the two showering powerful missiles at each other. Ram soon realized that Ravana had the power to replace his heads and Ram’s efforts to overpower and kill him would be futile if he did not unlock the secret of the demon-king’s apparent invincibility. Vibhishana then revealed to Ram that Ravana’s life rested within his navel and he thus could not be slain by beheading. Ram immediately released a deadly arrow that punctured Ravana’s navel and killed him instantly. As Ravana fell, the monkeys cheered. A victorious Ram declared Vibhishana king of Lanka.

  It was time for Ram and Sita to be reunited. When Sita, released from her prison, approached Ram, he demanded that she prove to the world that she had been a faithful wife during her stay in Ravana’s palace. Sita, startled by even the suggestion of infidelity, walked through fire. Protected by the power of her chastity, Sita emerged from the fire unscathed.

  At the end of this ordeal, Ram, Lakshman and Sita returned home to Ayodhya on Ravana’s flying chariot accompanied by Hanuman who accepted Ram as his lord and master. The fourteen years of exile were at an end.

  The residents of Ayodhya, including Bharata, rejoiced when they saw Ram. Great celebrations followed the coronation of Ram which was attended not only by sages and gods but also by monkeys and demons. The joy was doubled when Sita declared a few months later that she was pregnant.

  Not long after this happy occasion, Ram heard that his subjects gossiped about Sita’s stay in Ravana’s palace; they did not want a woman of soiled reputation as their queen. A heartbroken Ram ordered Lakshman to take Sita to the forest and leave her there. Lakshman obeyed with great reluctance. Abandoned for no fault of hers, Sita took shelter in the hermitage of the poet-sage Valmiki where she gave birth to twins, Luv and Kush, and raised them on her own.

  Despite his personal loss, Ram ruled his kingdom diligently. His reign was so perfect that the rains came on time and no accidents ever took place. Everything was predictable and rhythmic. There was peace and prosperity in every direction.

  Years later, Ram was advised to conduct the Ashwamedha yagna so that Ram’s rule could spread around the world. The royal horse would be allowed to travel freely across the world; all the lands it traversed unchallenged would come under Ram’s suzerainty. But to perform this ambitious ritual, it was necessary for the patron to have a wife. With Sita gone, the people of Ayodhya asked Ram to marry again. Ram refused to do so. He had abandoned the queen his people did not want but not his wife. So he had a golden effigy of Sita made, which was placed by his side when he conducted the ritual.

  The royal horse was let loose. Following it was Ram’s army led by Lakshman and Hanuman. When the horse entered Valmiki’s hermitage, Sita’s sons caught hold of it and refused to let it go, thereby challenging Ram’s authority. A great battle followed in which the two young boys were able to defeat Lakshman, Hanuman and all of Ram’s soldiers without much effort. Finally Ram himself challenged the two boys to a fight. Tragedy was averted when Sita intervened and introduced her sons to her husband.

  It was clear that Sita’s children defeated Ram’s army because righteousness rested with Sita and not with the kingdom of Ayodhya that had rejected her. Ram begged Sita to pr
ove her chastity once more, this time before his subjects, so that the stain on her reputation was wiped off forever and she could take her rightful place beside him as queen.

  Sita, tired of her character being questioned repeatedly, begged the earth to take her into its folds if she had truly been a faithful wife. Instantly the earth split open and Sita disappeared under the ground. The people of Ayodhya now had their proof but it came at the price of Ram losing his wife.

  Unable to live on earth without his beloved, Ram decided to renounce his mortal body. Passing on the crown of his forefathers to his children, he walked into the Sarayu river and never rose again.

  A few authors project Ram as an ordinary man who did extraordinary things, triumphing in life against all odds to become a hero first and then a god. But for his devotees he is the most perfect earthly manifestation of God to be worshipped for one’s salvation.

  Every year, the day of Ram’s birth is celebrated in spring (Ram Navami) while the day of his triumph and his coronation are celebrated in autumn (Dusshera and Diwali). In temples, he is the only deity to be enshrined as a king. When times are difficult, one is advised to read his tale because his uprightness in the face of all adversities offers hope and peace to all.

  2

  Dashratha’s Son

  Then he appeared

  The merciful one

  The benefactor of the weak

  And Kaushalya was blessed

  The mother beamed

  Sages were unable to describe his beauty

  Bewitching eyes

  Dark skin

  Four armed

  With a garland of flowers

  And large eyes, reflecting the beauty of the oceans

  With folded hands we pray