How does ramayana teach dharma

Rama and Lakshman destroy the rakshasas evil creatures who disturb the sages in their meditations. One day a rakshasa princess tries to seduce Rama, and Lakshmana wounds her and drives her away. She returns to her brother Ravana, the ten-headed ruler of Lanka Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon , and tells her brother who has a weakness for beautiful women about lovely Sita.

Ravana devises a plan to abduct Sita. He sends a magical golden deer which Sita desires. Rama and Lakshman go off to hunt the deer, first drawing a protective circle around Sita and warning her she will be safe as long as she does not step outside the circle.

As they go off, Ravana who can change his shape appears as a holy man begging alms. The moment Sita steps outside the circle to give him food, Ravana grabs her and carries her off the his kingdom in Lanka. A band of monkeys offer to help him find Sita. Ravana has carried Sita to his palace in Lanka, but he cannot force her to be his wife so he puts her in a grove and alternately sweet-talks her and threatens her in an attempt to get her to agree to marry him.

Sita will not even look at him but thinks only of her beloved Rama. Hanuman, the general of the monkey band can fly since his father is the wind, and Hanuman flies to Lanka and, finding Sita in the grove, comforts her and tells her Rama will soon come and save her. With his tail burning, Hanuman hops from house-top to house-top, setting Lanka afire. He then flies back to Rama to tell him where Sita is.

A might battle ensues. Rama kills several of Ravana's brothers and then Rama confronts ten-headed Ravana. Ravana is known for his wisdom as well as for his weakness for women which may explain why he is pictured as very brainy. Rama finally kills Ravana. Rama frees Sita. After Sita proves here purity, they return to Ayodhya and Rama becomes king. His rule, Ram-rajya, is an ideal time when everyone does his or her dharma and "fathers never have to light the funeral pyres for their sons.

This lesson focuses on how the Ramayana teaches Indians to perform their dharma. Encourage students to pick out examples of characters in the epic who were faithful to their dharma and those who violated their dharma. The rising tide Decoding Army's calamity aid for civil governments As the quizzing world enters the Reverberate phase Did quarries trigger Kannur landslides?

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A belief cemented through the centuries, it has gained firmer credence in recent times, as the jubilation over the foundation stone of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya recently showed. Rather, he was a far nuanced, at times troubled, character, torn by his desire to do right by his dharma as well as by his subjects.

It is this ambiguity in Rama, engendered by the shifting sands of the meaning and purpose of dharma , that scholar and translator Arshia Sattar explores in her new book, Maryada: Searching For Dharma In The Ramayana.

In Maryada , the focus is squarely on dharma as a moral compass for individuals. At the helm of dharma is Rama himself, the maryada purushottama he who defines the limits of dharma , and is the dharma , especially in the textual traditions that follow Valmiki.

For the latter, though, dharma is not an immutable principle that governs all creatures equally. Its injunctions shift with the context in which it is invoked. Dharma , as the Mahabharata puts it, is sukshma , so subtle that it is almost elusive. Reading the epic is as much an exercise in learning to ask the right questions as to find fresh meanings between the lines, as her analysis indicates.

Ravana and Soorpanaka overstep the boundaries of their dharma and therefore never achieve salvation of their souls and perish by the hands of one who does uphold his dharma, Rama. Decisions made by Rama serve as the driving force for the plot of Ramayana. These decisions are influenced by his dharma or means of right conduct. In the beginning of the story, Kaikeyi asks King Dasaratha for two boons, to position her son Bharata as the next king of Ayodya and to send Rama away for fourteen years to live in the forest.

When Rama hears of this, he agrees to the condition and serving his duty as son to his parents and adhering to his dharma. Upon hearing that Rama will be sent away, Sita chooses to follow him. King Dasaratha has one duty as a king in this early stage of the plot. It is indecent for him to take back a word of honor he has given to his wife that he will satisfy any wish that she may ask for and grants her wish.

Hanuman has accepted to live a life of solely serving Rama, and he remains steadfast on his dharma till the end, accepting to save Sita from the evil hands of Ravana. There are many instances in the Ramayana where conflicts arise over principles. Rama seems to act adharmically in two situations, one while in the quest of saving his wife from Ravana, kills Vali.