Ramayan/Ramayana

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G2G
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Ramayan/Ramayana

Unread post by G2G »

An updated version of the Indian epoc "The Ramayana" - "Ramayan" for those who would like to watch (it's in Hindi) - T(ruster? I don't think you're here, but the Ramayana is most definitely not a part of the ancient Rig Vedas.)

http://broadband.bigflix.com/bigflicks/ ... anIntl.jsp

The link below (okay, I know it's wiki but full of info)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana

""*** The Story

Rama (right) seated on the shoulders of Hanuman, battles the demon-king Ravana.Valmiki's Ramayana, the oldest version of Ramayana, is the basis of the various versions of the Ramayana that are relevant in different cultures. The text survives in numerous complete and partial manuscripts, the oldest surviving of which is dated from the eleventh century AD.[7] The current text of Valmiki Ramayana has come down to us in two regional versions from the north and the south of India. Valmiki Ramayana has been traditionally divided into seven books, dealing with the life of Rama from his birth to his death.

The story is about Rama, a prince in the city of Ayodhya - the capital of Kosala kingdom, belonging to Suryavansh (the Sun dynasty) - sometimes referred to as Raghuvansh (Raghu dynasty, named after Raghu, one of his illustrious forefathers). The story starts just before his birth and ends after his death when his two sons ascend to power.

The story operates at multiple levels: at one level, it describes the society at that time: vast empires, the life of a prince destined to become the next king, the rivalry between mothers and stepmothers, the bond of affection and loyalty between brothers, contests to win the hands of a princess, etc. At a second level, it describes how an ethical human being and a leader of men conducts himself at all times, facing situations with equanimity, rising to occasions to lead his people independent of his own personal tragedies and limitations, cultivating affection and respect of his people. At yet another level, it is a story of the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, incarnating as a human this time, combating evil, restoring justice in the land, fully aware of his divinity and yet resorting to using his superhuman powers only when absolutely necessary.

The story is as follows: Dasaratha, the king of Kosala, has been childless for a long time, and is anxious to produce an heir. He performs a ritual (Puthrakameshti Yagna) for the gods to bless him with progeny. The gods present him with a bowl of divine nectar. His three queens partake of this, and in due course four princes - Rama, Lakshmana and Shatrughna (twins), and Bharata - are born to them. Rama, being the eldest, is naturally being groomed as the future king. All the brothers are close-knit, with Lakshmana forming the closest bond with Rama. Together, they are schooled in archery. Vishwaamitra, one of the legendary seven sages of Hindu mythology, trains them in the art of firing missile-arrows imbued with power by secret chants that can cause them to shower fire or water on enemies, and even follow them through the seven worlds until they are killed.


The route Ram Followed in his exile in Terta YugaVishwamitra leads Rama and Lakshmana to Mithila, the capital city of the kingdom of Videha ruled by king Janaka. Janaka's daughter Sita (also called Janaki, Vaidehi, Mythili) is to wed, and the king is holding a contest to select the best prince for his daughter. Rama wins the contest and returns home to Ayodhya with his new bride.

The time comes for Dasaratha to coronate Rama as the next king. Kaikeyi, the third and youngest of Dasaratha's queens, reminds her husband of his promise to her a long time ago that he would grant her any two wishes she had. This happened on an occasion when Dasaratha was wounded in his chariot on the battlefield, and Kaikeyi saved his life by taking over the reins and driving the chariot to safety. Kaikeyi demands that her son Bharata be the next king, and that Rama is banished to the forest (see: vanvas) for fourteen years, in order to prevent him from damaging Bharata's rule. The king, unable to refuse these wishes agrees. The coronation preparations are halted and Rama told to prepare to leave for the forest. At first, Rama wants to go to the forest alone, but Sita and Lakshmana will have none of it and convince Rama that, for them, "Ayodhya is wherever Rama is".

The king descends into despair when the three leave for the forest, and dies soon afterwards. All this while, Bharata and Shatrughna have been away from the kingdom. They are summoned upon their father's death, and when they arrive, are told what has happened. Bharata is aghast at his mother's greed (ostensibly for his good), and promises that he will restore Rama as king. He travels to the forest to convince Rama to return to Ayodhya. Rama refuses on the grounds that he must obey his father's command but allows Bharata to take Rama's sandals back to Ayodhya so that Bharata can symbolically enthrone Rama's sandals and rule as regent for Rama.

The story details with the experiences of the trio in the forest, especially how the royals, used to soft living and multitudes of servants, train themselves to live frugally amongst nature and be self-sufficient. It also covers the interactions between them and the various hermits and sages living in the forest, some of who realize the divinity of Rama. Rama and Lakshmana frequently battle the forest demons that disturb the hermits' meditations.

Soorpanaka (One of the demons who had been defeated by them) decides to take revenge. She describes the beauty of Sita to her brother, Ravana, the demon king of Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka). Ravana decides that he must possess Sita, and has one of his brothers take the form of a deer to attract Sita's attention. Sita sends out Rama to capture the deer for her as a pet. The deer leads Rama far away from their cottage, and when Rama realizes that this is no ordinary deer, he kills it. The dying demon shouts Sita's and Lakshmana's names in Rama's voice, causing Sita to send Lakshmana out to help Rama. When the cottage is thus unguarded, Ravana sweeps in, kidnaps Sita and flies off to Lanka. When Rama sees Lakshmana approaching him, he at once realizes the trick. They both run back to the cottage to find it empty.


Places Related to Ramayana
The rest of the story is about how Rama and Lakshmana travel to Lanka to fight and kill the demon king and to get Sita back. They start out by travelling south (in the direction Ravana was seen to have flown with Sita), killing demons and helping hermits and sages along the way, until they reach Kishkinda, where Rama befriends Sugriva, the king of a troupe of monkeys. His belief that they're on the right track is reinforced when the monkeys show him a bundle of jewels that fell from the sky - Sita had removed her jewels and dropped them to earth while being carried away. Sugriva sends groups of monkeys in all four directions to scout out the location of Raavana. The group that travels south contains Hanumaan, Sugriva's minister. Being the son of the Wind God, Hanumaan is endowed with supernatural strength and powers. When the troupe reaches the southern tip of India and are at a loss as how they were to proceed, Hanumaan decides to leap across the sea to Lanka and continue the search there. He locates Sita imprisoned there, identifies himself, and assures her that help is coming. He also has skirmishes with the demon king's army and informs Ravana that his days are numbered.

Upon Hanumaan's return from Lanka, the entire monkey army and Rama and Lakshmana march to Lanka (building a bridge across the sea that Hanumaan leapt across), battle against Ravana's army for eighteen months and demolish the kingdom. Sita is restored to Rama. Rama commands Sita to walk through fire to prove that she had remained faithful to him during his absence, and Sita passes through the fire unscathed.

By this time the required period of exile of fourteen years has come to an end. Rama returns to Ayodhya and is crowned as king. He rules as a just king for several decades. He exiles Sita to the forest when he overhears a conversation casting doubts on her fidelity: "unlike Sita, my wife has never left my household". In the forest, Sita, now pregnant with Rama's twins, is taken care of by the sage Vaalmiki (another one of the seven legendary sages of Hindu mythology). (Many stories in Hindu mythology have some autobiographical segments, where the author features in the story.) Rama's twin sons Lava and Kusha are born and brought up in the sage's hermitage.

As emperor, Rama performs a horse sacrifice (Ashwamedha Yagna) to enlarge his empire. (The horse sacrifice is a ritual where an emperor sends out a horse accompanied by a huge army to various neighboring lands. Into whichever kingdom the horse wanders, the local king can allow the horse to wander - signalling that his kingdom may be annexed, or tie up the horse - indicating that he's ready to battle the emperor's army to prevent his kingdom from being annexed. The horse wanders into the forest where Rama's twin sons live and they tie the horse, not knowing its significance. When confronted by the accompanying army, they refuse to untie the horse and soundly defeat the army. (They had been trained in arms by the sage Vaalmiki since he knew that one day they would be kings.) Rama hears of this and guesses that two youths at a hermitage who can defeat an entire army can be no ordinary children, and goes to see them himself and meets his sons for the first time. He also meets Sita again.

Some time later, when the sons are grown up, Sita decides that her time on the earth is nearing its end, and ends her life by asking mother earth to open and swallow her. The sons go Ayodhya to live with their father until they inherit the kingdom.""

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Waw! Jzrk is just the model citizen! Methinks Judith read a version or two of the Ramayana, as well as her other readings, and certainly did "create" her own reality!

Have fun! :lol: :lol: :lol: ( I remember watching "The Mahabharat" on old VHS, copied from others, Sanskrit to Hindi with Enlish subtitles - all 22 tapes - three times - eeek. At least now I can understand Hindi/Urdu, thank the Divine (and my hard work). 8) 8)
"I never really understood religion - it just seemed a good excuse to give" - Ten Years After circa 1972
California Dreamin'
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Unread post by California Dreamin' »

I posted this a couple of months ago, but it seems to fit better in this thread:

"I recall that the name Ramayana is the name that Ramtha said was JZR's name when she was his "daughtern" back in the Lemurian days.

Supposedly JZR as Ramayana was a spirited girl who desperately wanted to be a warrior and ride a great steed and fight alongside the male warriors in battle, wielding a mighty sword.

Isn't it amazing how closely Ramayana's background mirrors that of Disney's heroine, MULAN? Mulan was a young girl/lady who desperately wanted to engage in battle alongside the men (I think it was to get revenge for the death of her father). She disguised herself as a male warrior, learned and fought alongside the men with her mighty sword."

This is what JZR claims is JZ-as-Ramayana's story. MULAN? Really! :roll: :roll:
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G2G
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Unread post by G2G »

Yes, sure does resemble it. Same with the female character "Eowyn," in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. She, too, went into battle against her uncle's orders and wound up killing the king wraith that "no man can kill." As a woman, she killed it.

YSo many years ago, before the www and internet were commonplace, and cultures not as open to the western world, Judith could more easily get away with the lifting of teachings from obscure books, exotic names, and the eastern religions and philosophies. I wonder what would occur if she had 'only just begun' in the here and now.

Yes, Judith is "indeed" a voracious reader. :wink:
"I never really understood religion - it just seemed a good excuse to give" - Ten Years After circa 1972
Whatchamacallit
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Unread post by Whatchamacallit »

G2G,

Years ago, in my early years of RSE, we went to see the Ramayana at a movie theater. It was a loooong movie ! Whew !! Many of us went to see it, as it was being talked about. Out there, word spreads fast. Of course, we were led to believe we were seeing Ramble's life history.

The epic was playing on television a few years ago, too. I just don't remember what station played it.
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G2G
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Unread post by G2G »

Whatcha: The Ramayana is very, very long, although not quite as long as The Mahabharat. lol. The Ramayana has been remade, updated with special effects, different actors, etc. It is playing weekly in India (but is in Hindi). I'm going to check and see if this newer version is out on DVD for NTSC.
I cannot imagine sitting and watching it all in one day!!! Kudos to you. So Rambles stole the real Ram's identity? Tsk tsk. :wink:
"I never really understood religion - it just seemed a good excuse to give" - Ten Years After circa 1972
Whatchamacallit
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Unread post by Whatchamacallit »

G2G,

I misspoke ! It WAS the Mahabarat that we saw ! I mean, it was LONG ! I am almost certain it was also done as a made-for-tv presentation. I think it was a series for a week, if I recall correctly. I don't have time right now, or I'd go see if I can google info about it, because I'm 99% sure.
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G2G
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Unread post by G2G »

We have "The Mahabharat" in DVD. They ought to update that, as well, with advanced special effects. The story is interesting, but some of those old-time "special effects" are just a little, well :!: I bought the books, which generally are very long and have Part I, Part II etc. and each book is huge! They're much more detailed than the 22 DVD's, if you can believe that. (there are some authors who have done "abbreviated" version in "all-in-one" books and are not in keeping with the 22 part movie (I can't believe you watched it, too!! lol). I should read them all again and see what else is "borrowed." It was very surprising for me to find the quote almost verbatim to JFK's, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" - in the detailed books of the Mahabharat. I'm fairly certain it's also in the movie, but if you don't understand Hindi, the subtitles are a little difficult to read (white on white? - not good!)

I still enjoy the part when Krishna recites the Gita. The actor (more eye candy - lol) had a very kind demeanor and face. Again, Krishna was the incarnation of "Vishnu," and "Ram" is the 7th incarnation of "Vishnu," whom I understand from another post here - jzrk stated was "Rambling Man's relative of sorts? lol! Also interesting is that Krishna is portrayed as a "blue body," as is Shiva, at least most of the time. In Shiva's case, it's due to his rubbing ashes all over his/her body (two-in-one but both Shiva/Parvati). I was told by many Krishna is portrayed as "blue" simply to denote he was of a darker shade.

But then! Rambles said there were once "blue" people! I just wonder what kind of life one would have, living so much of it "acting."
I found Glen's remark about jz's mom saying jz only picked cotton one afternoon and that was it, because jz was a "prima donna" - just a tad telliing.
:roll: :roll: :roll:
"I never really understood religion - it just seemed a good excuse to give" - Ten Years After circa 1972
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