Early Hindu Scripture: The Ramayana of Valmiki

Valmiki (ultham30@blogspot.com)

The "First Poet" and the "Inaugural Poem" of Indian Religious Culture

The Ramayana of Valmiki concerns a man named Valmiki who witnesses a hunter kill a male bird and, horrified at the brutality and coldness of the act, then curses the hunter. Valmiki later reflects on the curse and discovered that he had composed a ‘sloka’: an unrhymed couplet, “which fully expressed his compassionate grief for the slaughtered bird” (1170). This sloka became the means by which he could compose a narrative about Rama and Sita “whose twin sons, Lava and Kusa—by a twist of events—were then being raised in his ashram" (1170). The text relates that in so doing, Valmiki's "life and character are fully integrated with the heroic world he creates and the tale he chooses to narrate." In the rendition of the epic poem featured in our text, we observe what has become since Valmiki’s time, his reputation as ‘first poet’ of Indian Hindu culture, and his Ramayana is considered "the inaugural poem."

Background on Indian Caste System and Hinduism

Indian Caste System:

Priests, Brahmanas

Warriors: Ksatriyas

Traders: Vaisyas

Average Citizens: Sudras

The caste system was kept in place through the practice of arranged marriage: bride and groom were traditionally from the same caste, but not ‘the same clan’ (1170). Each caste followed a set of laws and behavioral codes (dharma) set forth by the gods and spelled out in scripture. Hinduism enforced social order in two distinct texts: the “ritual texts” or Vedas, and the “philosophical texts,” the Upanisads. The individual supplicant achieved salvation by achieving karma "by propitiating the gods and following dharma precisely. But moral laws and codes of conduct are always complex and subtle, and hence easy to violate; numerous rituals are therefore necessary to keep the gods happy, maintaining the moral and social orders, and make up for ethical lapses" (1171).

Hinduism includes a pantheon of numerous gods, but the most significant to the Ramayana is the Brahma: a ‘paternalistic’ (fatherly) god of creation:

Siva, “an angry and retributive god who engenders cycles of creation and destruction":

Visnu, considered a kind god that maintains the “moral balance of the universe” (1171).

The gods and their human interactions: "Much of the flux and dynamism of the universe is due to the perpetual struggle for supremacy between Siva and Visnu. Siva intervenes in the human world directly, in his multifaceted anthropomorphic form; Visnu, in contrast, 'comes down on earth' in a series of distinct avatars or incarnations, living temporarily among mortal creatures each time for the purpose of destroying a particular source of evil" (1170). The Ramayana tells the story of Lord Visnu's seventh human incarnation as Rama, when he descends to earth to conquer Ravana's 'reign of terror on earth and beyond' (1174).

The Ramayana as Traditional Oral Text 

Much like oral tradition, Valmiki is thought to have composed the Ramayana in 550 B.C.E., but the orally-transmitted text had been altered and modified over the following centuries. The Ramayana is divided into seven books or kandas, which are further divided into chapters or sargas that feature “between twenty and fifty couplets”. The “first and last books” of the scripture present “Rama as an avatar of Visnu” and “provide a multilayered narrative frame for the five books in the middle” (1172).

Background to Text Selections

Because of the lengthy nature of the poem, the Ramayana is excerpted selectively in our text, beginning with book 2. Therefore some background to the narrative is necessary for orientation. Book 1 opens as "Bala," or "childhood," which features Ravana, "the brilliant and highly accomplished king of Lanka (what is now Sri Lanka) who "has become invincible, demonic, and evil. Lord Visnu therefore has to descend to earth in a human form and destroy him." Visnu takes the form (avatar) of the human Rama, "the eldest son of Dasaratha, king of Kosala, and his principal queen, Kausalya." The text informs us that Kosala has two other wives by whom he has sons, Rhama's half-brothers, Kaikeyi is the mother of Bharata"..."Sumitra has twins Laksmana and Satrughna. All four boys are trained as warriors and future rulers; Rama and Laksmana, inseparable since childhood, become the pupils of the sage Visvamitra." The young men travel with the sage to Videha, where Rama "wins a suitor's contest for Sita, the foster-daughter of that republic's king but actually a child of the goddess Earth" (1172).

Book 2, where our selection begins, where Dasaratha names Rama as heir to the kingship of Kosala, and the announcement is well-received. However, there is 'intrigue' in which Bharata should be named heir to the kingship, and his half-brother be exiled for a period of fourteen years. A struggle for power emerges as one of the chief themes of Ramayana, as we are given "a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the characters involved in the struggle for power" (1172). According to the editors of our text, the chapters excerpted from the Ramayana focus on Rama, Sita, and Laksmana and their mutual fourteen-year exile. The tale takes on the aspect of a 'fairy tale.' In Book 3, Aranya ("The Forest), the three characters venture further in to the forest, where they encounter "animals, ascetics, and demons" (1172). The trio must learn to survive in the treacherous environment of Pancavati, until Rama and Laksmana unintentionally trigger a conflict with the god, Surpanakha and her brother, Ravana, the "demonic king of Lanka." To avenge this affront, Ravana decides to kidnap Sita, an event that becomes the turning point in the narrative, as Rama 'virtually goes mad with grief' in the absence of his beloved Sita (1172-3).

Characters:
Rama: Prince and heir apparent to the throne of Kosala

Dasathra: The King of Kosala

Kausalya: Principal of the king’s wives, Rama’s Mother

Kaikeyi: One of the king’s wives and mother of Bharata

Sumitra: Dasathra’s third wife and mother of Laksmana and Satrughna

Sita: Rama’s Wife (princess and daughter of the goddess, Earth)

                            thevedicway.org

Terms:

Ascetic: a person who practices self-discipline and abstention

Dharma: A principle of cosmic order; “virtue, righteousness and duty, esp. social and caste duty in accord with the cosmic order”

Equanimous: Unaffected by praise

Beatitude: Supreme blessing

Primogeniture: The right of succession to a throne or estate by the first son.