SRI RAMA AVATAR

                                             

SASHI's VIEWS

Rama is born                                                                                                                                   Dasharath, king of Ayodhya, had no children. So he arranged a Putra-kameshti Yagna. At the Yagna, Agni (god of fire) arose from the flames and handed the king a golden vase brimming with nectar. "Give this to your queens", said the god and disappeared. The king  distributed among his three wives.  In time, the queens gave birth to sons: to the eldest was born Rama, to the youngest was born Bharat, and to the second queen were born the twins Lakshman and Shatrughna.

Rama marries Sita                                                                                                                           When the princes had grown up some, the sage Vishwamitra arrived at Dasharath's court and asked that Rama and Lakshman to help him, his hermitage is occupied by, they were plaguing the ashram dwellers by defiling his sacrifices with blood and bones, and by killing them.                                                                                        After the two princes successfully rid the ashram of the demons, the sage took them to the neighbouring kingdom of Mithila to show them the swayamvar festivities of the Mithila princess, Sita, born of the earth. The king of that country had adopted Sita as his daughter and, after Sita had grown up, had declared that he would give her in marriage to anyone who could string the Great Bow of Shiva. No one could. Several kings, princes, had tried and failed. Sage Vishwamitra brought the two princes of Ayodhya. Rama and Lakshamn entered the assembly hall where the bow was displayed in all its glory. Rama walked over, picked up the bow, strung it, and plucked the bowstring with such a twang that two things happened simultaneously .Rama was married to Sita. His three brothers were married to a sister's, cousins of Sita, and there were many festivities and much rejoicing in the two kingdoms.

Rama is exiled                                                                                                                              Dasharath decided  to coronate Rama, as King. This is when his youngest queen invoked an old promise that Dasharath had made to her: she demanded that Rama be exiled for 14 years and that her own son, Bharat, be crowned king. Dasharath refused but Rama decided to honour his father's old promise and left for the forests. He was accompanied by Sita and by Lakshman, both following him. In grief at the injustice of it all a nd at Rama's departure, Dasharath died within two days.                                                                                                     Bharat was not in Ayodhya when these events happened; he, and the fourth prince Shatrughna, were away at Bharat's maternal grandfather's country. They were summoned to Ayodhya in haste and, when Bharat learnt what had happened, he was furious. He shouted at his mother, refused to ascend the throne, and gathered  the townsfolk around him to proceed to the forest and to bring Rama back.                                                                                    Rama refused to return, stating his intention to serve his father's last wish by being an exile for the full 14 years. Bharat returned with Rama's sandals, placed them on the throne, and proceeded to rule the country in Rama's name. Meanwhile, Rama moved further south even deeper into the forests so that the people of Ayodhya would not find it easy to keep coming to his hut and begging him to return.

Ravana abducts Sita                                                                                                                He persuaded the demon Marich to disguise himself as a golden deer and wander near Rama's hut. When Sita saw the golden deer, she begged Rama to get it for her. When the brothers were out pursuing the deer, Ravana arrived, abducted Sita, placed her in his flying chariot, and flew through the skies to Lanka. When the princes, afte r having killed the golden deer and discovered it was a demon in disguise, returned to their hut, they found it empty and started to look for Sita.

Rama meets Hanuman                                                                                                           During their wanderings, the princes came upon a group of monkeys who showed them some ornaments of Sita's: the monkeys had seen a beautiful lady crying and dropping her ornaments from a chariot in the sky that was being driven southwards by a demon.                                                                                                                                     Among the monkeys was Hanuman, who ultimately located Sita's whereabouts to be in Ravana's kingdom in Lanka. Rama gained the help of the monkey chief Sugreeva, gathered a monkey army, marched southwards, built a bridge across the ocean and crossed over to Lanka. Rama, after an epic battle, was then able to kill Ravana and finally free Sita.