The Story Of Rama by raji sivam
About me
I am a retired school teacher. Though, writing stories for kids, had been there in my mind for a long time, it materialised only now. Here I am writing Hindu mythological stories.
About the Book
The story of Rama is a compressed version of our epic Ramayana .I had made it as simple as possible for the kids. Read and enjoy.
Copy right : Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Cover image : www.commons.wikkimedia.org
Contents
Chapter 1—Rama fulfills Father’s wish.
Chapter 2---Rama in Forest.
Chapter 3---Ravana kidnaps Sita.
Chapter 4---Hanuman in Lanka.
Chapter 5---Final Battle.
.
Chapter 1
Rama Fulfills His Father’s Wish.
Image—www.sonusmile.wen9.com
Ayodhya , was ruled by a king called , Dasaratha. During his rule, people lived happily in the country. Kousalya, Kaikeyi and Sumithra were his queens.
He had four sons, Rama , Lakshmana , Bharatha and Shatrughna. All the four brothers were affectionate towards each other .
Rama and his brothers respected their parents a lot. The brothers , were good in archery too. In many archery ordeals, the brothers came out victorious.
After some years.....Rama and his brothers got married. At a right time , Dasaratha decided to crown his eldest son Rama , as the King of Ayodhya.
But , his second queen Kaikeyi, had a different idea. She wanted Bharatha ( her son and younger to Rama) ,to be crowned as the King
So, Kaikeyi decided to make use of two boons now, which the king gave to her earlier . By the first boon, she asked the king to crown Bharatha(her son and younger brother of Rama) . By the second boon, Rama should be sent to forest for fourteen years.
The king , though sad had no other go, but to keep up his earlier promise. But he was confused a lot.
Rama came to know about the
queen's wishes and the king's confusion .
Immediately Rama rushed to his father and said, " Iam happy to leave the kingdom to my younger brother Bharatha . Let him be the king. I shall go to forest for fourteen years ."
Rama accompanied by his wife Sita and his younger brother Lakshmana, went to Aaranya (forest).
Chapter 2
Rama in the forest.
Rama accompanied by Sita and Lakshmana reached Aranya.
After sending Rama to the forest, king Dasaratha , stuck by grief died.Bharatha was not in Ayodhya , then.
When he came back to Ayodhya , he learnt what had happened. He was angry with his mother queen Kaikeyi.He went to Aranya ,to bring back Rama and make him the king of Ayodhya.
In the forest,on seeing Rama , he begged forgiveness for his mother’s act and he also asked, Rama to come back.
But Rama politely refused, saying that he had to keep up his word and asked him ,to go back and rule Ayodhya .
Though, Bharatha was not happy with this, he had to obey his elder brother. So, he decided to return to Ayodhya. He said to his brother Rama,” I shall go back and rule the kingdom, but only as your representative. Please give your PATHUKAS(sandals), so that I shall keep that on the throne and rule on your behalf.”For this, Rama agreed.
Image---www.columbia.edu
After sending Bharatha to Ayodhya, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana travelled southwards and reached the forest Panchavati. They built mud cottages and lived there.
One day a woman demon, Surpanaka saw them. On seeing Rama , she disguised herself ,into a beautiful woman and asked him to marry her. But, Rama refused ,saying he is already married to Sita.
Surpanaka then started to force, Lakshmana to marry her.He refused. But Surpanaka repeatedly insisted Lakshmana to marry her. At one point , Lakshmana lost his temper and cut off her nose.
The humiliated Surpanaka , went to Lanka and complained to her brother Ravana, the ten headed demon king.
Ravana ruled Lanka .(now SriLanka).
On seeing his sister’s anguish, the angry Ravana ,decided to kidnap Sita. For this he sought the help of his friend Mareecha.
Chapter 3
Ravana kidnaps Sita.
Image—google images
Ravana , the king of Lanka had ten heads. He is a demon king. When he asked for help, Mareecha readily agreed. Mareecha is a mayavi ( good at doing magical tricks).
He travelled towards Panchavati forest, where Rama ,Sita and Lakshmana were.
Image---google image
There Mareecha took the form of a golden deer . The golen deer
now, started playing in front of Sita,trying to catch Sita’s attention.
Attracted by the beauty of the deer, Sita looking towards
Rama, pleaded ,” I want to have this deer. Can you please get
that deer for me ? ”
In the beginning ,Rama sensing trouble, was reluctant to catch hold of that deer .Since Sita was insisting to own the deer,Rama
decided to get that deer for Sita. He asked Lakshmana , to stay back and take care of Sita.
While Lakshmana stayed behind, Rama started to chase the golden deer. The golden deer, ran here and there. This made Rama, go very far from Sita and Lakshmana.
After chasing the deer for a long while , Rama hit an arrow at the deer. Immediately, the deer fell down and died, but only after shouting “ Lakshmana! Lakshmana! ” imitating the voice of Rama.
On hearing Rama’s voice, Sita feared that Rama was in danger. So, she asked Lakshmana to go to the help of Rama. Lakshmana assured Sita that Rama could never be in danger.But as Sita continuously insisted Lakshmana to help Rama, Lakshmana had to oblige.
With great reluctance , he went in search of Rama, but only after drawing a line in front of Sita ,and asking her not to cross that line whatsoever happens.
( Even now, if we have to limit ourselves in any act, we say “ don’t cross over the Lakshmanreka “)
The ten headed demon king Ravana , disguised himself as a sage ,appeared before Sita, seeking alms.When Sita, crossed the Lakshmanreka to give alms, Ravana caught hold of her to kidnap. Sita, screamed……cried…….and cried in a loud voice. But no one was there to help her.
It was easy for Ravana to carry Sita, in his Pushpak Vimana( aeroplane of those days) . He headed towards Lanka.
Image---google image
Seeing Sita crying and screaming, Jatayu. King of eagles fought with Ravana to save Sita. No……he could not save her.In the ordeal, Ravana ,wounded Jatayu and proceeded to Lanka with Sita.
Chapter 4
Hanuman in La
www.sonusmilewen9.com
When Rama and Lakshmana, came back to the cottage they found Sita missing.They started searching for Sita everywhere,but could not find her anywhere.They were disgusted and did not know what to do.
They were wandering in the forest searching for Sita. They kept calling “ Sita……Sita “.
Alas! No reply came.
As they were wandering in search of Sita, they came across the wounded “Jatayu “, who was on his death bed. He told Rama about Sita, being kidnapped to Lanka ,by the demon king Ravana.
After conveying this message Jatayu breathed his last. Now Rama and Lakshmana started heading towards Lanka.On their way, they met Sugriva vanara king(monkey king) and Hanuman (Vanara).
Rama offered help to Sugriva , to regain his kingdom back from Vali.
Rama asked Hanuman’s help in searching Sita. Hanuman readily agreed to this. Rama’s godliness, made Hanuman a great devotee of Him.
Rama embraced Hanuman and gave him his ring to be shown to Sita . Hanuman is known for his great strength and confidence. He flew over the ocean crossing many obstacles and reached Lanka.
On reaching Lanka, he searched for Sita and found her, sitting sadly, under a tree in “Ashoka Vana “guarded by demons. Hanuman sat upon the tree and waited for the demons to sleep. Then he started singing ‘hymns’ in praise of Rama and jumped down in front of Sita.
He then showed the ring given by Rama. The much anxious, Sita was relieved a little.But when Hanuman offered to carry her back to Rama, she refused,but said, “ Let Rama fight with Ravana and win. Then let him take me back “. She also gave her own ring to be given to Rama.
Hanuman then on his way back, destroyed many palaces, gardens, uprooted trees,properties in lanka.But ,ultimately he allowed himself , to be captured by Ravana’s soldiers and brought in front of Ravana.
There Hanuman asked Ravana to send back Sita to Rama and also to beg forgiveness .At this Ravana was enraged and ordered that Hanuman’s tail be set on fire.
Hanuman’s tail was bundled with oil dipped clothes
And set on fire. Hanuman freed himself and started jumping from one place to another, one building to another, gardens, palace with fire lit on tail. This burnt down so much of Lanka.
After doing much damage,he went and dipped his tail in the sea to put off the fire and started his way back to see Rama.
Google image
After dipping his tail in the sea to put off the fire,Hanuman travelled back and bowed before Rama.He gave Sita’s ring to Rama and told what happened there. Rama, Lakshmana,Hanuman and Sugriva discussed about the future course of action to free Sita.They then decided to wage a war with the Lanka king Ravana.
First they have to cross the ocean.
Google image
To cross the ocean,Hanuman with the other vanaras built a bridge called Sethu Bandhan.( Satellite images of this bridge is available in the internet.)
Rama and Lakshmana with the vanaras(monkeys) crossed this bridge and reached Lanka. There they fought with all their might against Ravana. Ravana’s brother ,Vibeeshana who was not happy with Ravana’s actions , took sides with Rama and helped Rama in the war.
Once,during this lengthy battle, Lakshmana lost his consciousness .Hanuman flew to Sanjeevini hills and got the life saving herb for Lakshmana.After Lakshmana’s recovery the battle continued.Finally the war ended. Rama killed Ravana and took back Sita.
Rama handed over Lanka to Vibeeshana and crowned him as the king of Lanka.
By this time 14 long years were over and it was time for Rama, Sita and Lakshmana to return to Ayodhya. As soon as they reached Ayodhya , Bharatha handed over the kingdom to Rama.
On an auspicious day Pattabishekam(crowning ceremony) for Rama took place. Rama and Sita were crowned as king and queen of Ayodhya.And Hanuman, great devotee of Rama decided to stay back with Rama. Everyone lived happily in Ayodhya.
Hanuman being a chiranjeevi(one who has no death) loves to hear the praises of Rama.It is believed that wherever Ramayana is told or in a Ramayana discourse,Hanuman ( in an invisible form) comes there and sits in the audience to hear Ramayana.It gives him immense pleasure to hear Rama being praised.
Whoever tells Ramyana ,hears Ramyana, is sure to get the blessings of not only Rama and Sita but also of Hanuman.
So are we.
images courtesy----google,animated hindu gods website