Ramayana
The True Story Of Prince Ram
In Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, Lord Vishnu also tells Shiva-
Solar Dynasty
Brahma came out of Vishnu's navel. Brahma's son was Marichi's son Kashyapa, Kashyapa's son Surya, Surya's son Vaivasvata Manu, Manu's son Ikshvaku, Ikskhvakku's son Kakutstha, Kakutstha's son Raghu, Raghu's son Aja, Aja's son Dasharatha, Dasharatha's sons were Rama, Bharataa, Lakshmana and Shatrughna. Since Rama was descended from Kakutstha and Raghu, he was also called Kakutstha and Raghava. Since his father's name was Dasharatha, he was also called Dasharathi. Rama's story belongs to the solar line (surya vansha), since one of his ancestors was Surya.
Vishnu himself wished to destroy Ravana and the other Rakshasas (demons).
There are local tales which tells that Ravana was a form of Vishnu himself and is that is why he was a great devotee of Rudra and that only an avatar of Vishnu can kill him.
The sage Vishvamitra came to Dasharatha and pleaded for Rama's help in defeating the Rakshasas who were disturbing his yajanas. Rama killed these demons and Vishvamitra was so pleased that he taught Rama the use of all divine weapons. Rama broke a bow of Shiva while he was trying to attaching the string to it, that had been in the possession of the king of Mithila, Janaka.
This was the task that had been appointed for marrying Sita, Janaka's daughter.
But Parasurama treated Dasaratha and others as though they were non-existent and told Rama that Visvakarma made two identical bows and gave them to Siva and Vishnu and Rama has broken the former. Parasurama said if Rama could string the bow of Vishnu then only he will accept the greatness of Rama.Rama took it up and strung it and placed an arrow asking Parasurama whether his power of locomotion or the fruit of his penance should become the target of his arrow . He said that since Parasurama is the grandson of the sister of Visvamithra he did not want to harm him.
Rama married Sita, Lakshmana married urmila, Bharataa married Mandavi and Shatrughna married Shrutakirti. On the way back to Ayodhya, Rama also beat Parashurama in a duel. Dasharatha resolved that Rama should be made yuvaraja, that is, the heir apparent to the kingdom.
But Kaikeyi had a servant named Manthara who plotted otherwise. When he was young, Rama had pulled at Manthara's feet and ever since that day, Manthara had not been kindly towards Rama. She reminded Kaikeyi of the two; boons that had been promised to her by King Dasharatha. Years ago, the gods had been fighting with the demon Shambara and had asked Dasharatha for his help. In fighting with Shambara, Dasharatha had been injured. He had been nursed back to health by Kaikeyi. Dasharatha had promised two boons to Kaikeyi as a reward and Manthara's suggestion was that Kaikeyi should now ask for these two boons. By the first
boon Rama would be banished to the forest for fourteen years and by the second boon Bharataa would become yuvaraja.
{According to Ramayana, Rama, the seventh incarnation of God Vishnu, is believed to have prayed to Shiva here to absolve any sins that he might have committed during his war against the demon king Ravana in Sri Lanka. To worship Shiva, Rama wanted to have the largest lingam. He directed Hanuman, the monkey lietunant in his army to bring the lingam from Himalayas. Since it took longer to bring the lingam, Sita (the wife of Rama) built a small lingam, which is believed to be the lingam in the sanctum.}
Kaikeyi listened to Manthara. At Manthara's instance, she asked for these two boons. Dasharatha was very angry, but Rama insisted that he would indeed go to the forest for fourteen years. Rama, Lakshmana and Sita first went to the banks of the river Tamasa. From there they went to the kingdom of Guha, the king of the hunters (nishadas). They crossed the river Jahnavi and arrived in Prayaga, where the sage Bharadvaja had his hermitage. Their final destination was the mountain range of Chitrakuta, on the banks of the river Mandakini.
Meanwhile, back home in Ayodhaya, King Dasharatha who could not bear to be parted from Rama, died. Bharataa and Shatrughna had gone on a visit to their uncle's house and were recalled. But Bharataa refused to be king. He went to the forest to try and persuade Rama to return, but Rama insisted that he would not return before the fourteen years were over. So Bharataa brought back Rama's sandals. He placed these sandals on the throne as a token of Rama's kingship. And he began to rule the kingdom in Rama's name from Nandigram, rather than from Ayodhya.
Rama, Lakshmana and Sita then went to the forest that is known as the Dandaka forest, Dandakaranya. This forest was on the banks of the river Godavari and there was a beautiful lgrove inside the forest known as Panchavati. They built a hut there and resolved to live there.
There was a Rakshasa woman named Shurpanakha. She happened to come to the place where Rama Lakshmana and Sita had built their hut. Shurpanakha liked Rama so much that she wanted to marry Rama and eat up Lakshmana and Sita. But Lakshmana cut off Shurpanakha's nose and ears with his sword.
Shurpanakha fled to brother Khara and demanded revenge. Khara and fourteen thousand other demons (Rakshasas) attacked Rama, but they were all killed by Rama. Shurpanakha then went to her other brother Ravana, the king of Lanka.
Ravana asked the rakshasa Maricha to adopt the form of a golden deer and roam around in front of Rama's hut. Sita was so charmed by the deer that she asked Rama to capture it for her. Rama was long in returning and Lakshmana went to look for him. Taking advantage of Rama and Lakshmana's absence, Ravana kidnapped Sita. Jatayu, the king of the birds, did try to stop Ravana, but he met his death at Ravana's hands.
Rama and Lakshmana were greatly distressed to find Sita missing and they looked for her everywhere. Rama made friends with the monkey Sugriva. He killed Sugriva's brother Bali and made Sugriva the king of monkeys. The monkeys were sent off in all the four directions to for Sita.
The monkeys who had gone towards the south learnt that Sita was in Lanka, across the ocean. One of these monkeys was Hanuman. Hanuman leapt over the ocean and arrived in Lanka. He discovered the lonesome Sita in a grove of ashoka trees, the ashokavana. Hanuman introduced himself and assured Sita that he would soon be back with Rama. Hanuman caused some general
havoc in Lanka and was captured by Meghnada or Indrajit, Ravana's son. Ravana ordered that Hanuman's tail should be set on fire. But Hanuman used his burning tail to set fire to all the houses of Lanka.
He then returned to Rama with the news that Sita had been found.
Rama, Lakshmana and the army of monkeys arrived at the shores of the ocean. There they built a bridge over the ocean so that they could cross over into Lanka.
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| NASA’s satellite has photographed an underwater man-made bridge |
There was a terrible war in which Rama killed the giant Kumbhakarna, Ravana's brother. Lakshmana killed Indrajit. Rama killed Ravana with a powerful divine weapon, the Brahmastra.
The fourteen years were by now over and Rama, Lakshmana and Sita returned to Ayodhya. There, Rama was crowned king and he treated his subjects as his own sons. He punished the wicked and followed the path of dharma. During Rama's rule there was no shortage of foodgrains anywhere and the people were righteous. No one died an untimely death.
On Rama's instructions, Shatrughna killed the asura Lavana and built the city of Mathura in the place where Lavana's kingdom had been. Bharataa was sent by Rama to kill a wicked Gandharva, a singer of heaven named Shailusha, who lived on the banks of the river Indus with his sons. Bharataa killed them and built two cities there, Takshashila and Pushkaravati. In Takshashila Bharataa established his son Ataksha as king and in Pushkaravati he made his son pushkara the king. Rama and Sita had two sons named Kusha and Lava. Rama ruled for eleven thousand years before he died.
This is the story of the Ramayana as recounted in the Agni Purana. It was written by the sage Valmiki after he had heard the story from the sage Narada.
Rama was the seventh avatara of Vishnu, Krishna was the eighth.
Pushpaka Vimana
In the Ramayana, the pushpaka ("flowery") vimana of Ravana is described as follows:
"The Pushpaka Vimana that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravana; that aerial and excellent Vimana going everywhere at will ... that chariot resembling a bright cloud in the sky ... and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent chariot at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere.'"
It is the first flying vimana mentioned in existing Hindu mythology texts (as distinct from the gods' flying horse-drawn chariots). Pushpaka was originally made by Vishwakarma for Brahma, the god of creation; later Brahma gave it to Kubera, the God of wealth; but it was later stolen, along with Lanka, by his half-brother, king Ravana.
Sri Lanka also has relics of the Ramayana. There are several caves, such as Rawana Ella Falls, where Rawana is believed to have hidden Seetha to prevent Rama from finding her. The Seetha Amman Temple at Nuwara Eliya is situated near the Asokavana where Rawana once kept her prisoner.
NASA’s satellite has photographed an underwater man-made bridge of shoals in the Palk Straits, connecting Dhanuskodi and Talaimannar. On his return from Sri Lanka, Rama worshiped Shiva at Rameshwaram, where Seetha prepared a Lingam out of sand. It is still one of the most sacred sites of Hinduism.
Rama aided by an army of vanaras (monkeys) reached the end of land and wanted to cross over to Lanka. Rama worships the god of the ocean, Varuna and requests him to make way. When Varuna does not appear before Rama, Rama starts shooting various weapons at the sea. A terrified Varuna pleads to Rama. Though he refuses to give way, he gives Rama a solution. He tells Rama that Nala and his brother Nila , the sons of Vishwakarma - the architect of the gods, is amongst his vanara army; Nala has the necessary expertise of an architect, owing to a boon from his divine father. Varuna suggests that Rama construct a bridge across the ocean to Lanka, under the supervision of Nala. Nala volunteers for the task and also comments that the arrogance of the Ocean (Varuna) was tamed by Rama with a threat when love had failed. The vanaras fell mighty trees, and collect logs of wood and giant boulders and cast them in the sea. With the help of the vanara army, Nala completes the 80 miles (130 km) (ten yojana) bridge in just five days. Rama and his army pass over it and reach Lanka, where they prepare to fight Ravana. The Stones used for the bridges are said to float on the water, now still we can experience this...those stones still float on water and hundreds of pilgrims flow to this place to see this phenomenon.
Manawela Falls
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Man made Wells and a Drip Ledged Room is located close to below the Manawela waterfalls close to Stripurakanda. The legend states that it is linked to the Stripurakanda cave and Sita walked through the cave for her daily bath. On the rock of the falls is a man made drip ledged space similar to a room. It is said that this drip ledged room was made for Sita change her clothes. Close to it lies number of man-made wells on the rock from which she bathed.
Lakegala
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Lakegala is a giant monolith-like projection at the eastern extremity of the Knuckles Mountain ranges with an almost at a 90 degree angle. On the other side there is a sudden drop of over 900 meters. Rawana had one of his abodes on its peak, and that his kingdom of Lankapura surrounded. It was also used as a device like a sundial to calculate time in his kingdom.
In ancient times this rock was known as Lanka Pabbata or Lankagiri. [Rock of Lanka]
In ancient times this rock was known as Lanka Pabbata or Lankagiri. [Rock of Lanka]
Molagoda Viharaya – Kandy
Rock inscription – PARUMUKA SURI PUTHAHA BIMANA DUTHAKAHA LENE SAGASA
Translation according to the inscription: - The cave owned by the pilot of an aeroplane son of Chieftain Suri was donated to Maha Sangha (In accordance with Ramayana)
Translation according to the inscription: - The cave owned by the pilot of an aeroplane son of Chieftain Suri was donated to Maha Sangha (In accordance with Ramayana)
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