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Ramayana

Epic written by Valmiki

The Ramayana or Rāmāyaṇa (/rɑːˈmɑːjənə/; Sanskrit: रामायणम्, Rāmāyaṇam, pronounced [rɑːˈmɑːjəɳəm]) is one of the great Hindu epics. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu literature (smṛti), considered to be itihāasa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of Hinduism, the other being the Mahabharata. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife, and the ideal king. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven books (kāṇḍas) and 500 cantos (sargas), and tells the story of Rama (an avatar of the Hindu supreme-god Vishnu), whose wife Sita is abducted by Ravana, the king of Lanka (current day Sri Lanka). Thematically, the Ramayana explores human values and the concept of dharma.

Enthusiasm has great strength. There is no greater strength than enthusiasm. There is nothing which is not attainable in this world for the enthusiastic.

Quotes

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Sanskrit Ramayana of Valmiki

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  • मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमश्शाश्वतीस्समा: ।
    यत्क्रौञ्चमिथुनादेकमवधी: काममोहितम् ।।
    • You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity
      For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting
      • Book 1, Chapter 2, shloka 15
        • Variant translation:
          For endless years to come, O Hunter, never shall thy soul find peace,
          Since for love itself thou wouldst not from thy cruel slaying cease.


  • यदाचरति कल्याणि शुभं वा यदि वाऽशुभम्।
    तदेव लभते भद्रे कर्ता कर्मजमात्मनः।।
    • O, blessed lady! O gracious one! A doer reaps surely the fruit of his own deeds corresponding to the nature of work either good or bad, of that which he does!
      • Book 2, Chapter 63, shloka 6


  • अत्येति रजनी या तु सा न प्रतिनिवर्तते
    • The night that has passed, does not return.
      • Book 2, Chapter 105, shloka 19


  • सत्यवादी हि लोकेऽस्मिन्परमं गच्छति क्षयम्
    • The one who speaks truth obtains the highest position in this world.
      • Book 2, Chapter 109, shloka 11


  • उद्विजन्ते यथा सर्पान्नरादनृतवादिनः
    • People fear of a person, who speaks untruth, as one fears a snake.
      • Book 2, Chapter 109, shloka 12


  • धर्मादर्थः प्रभवति धर्मात्प्रभवते सुखम्।
    धर्मेण लभते सर्वं धर्मसारमिदं जगत्।।
    • Prosperity arises from Dharma. Happiness emerges from Dharma. Everything is obtained by means of Dharma, for the world has Dharma as its essence.
      • Book 3, Chapter 9, shloka 30


  • न चिरं पापकर्माणः क्रूरा लोकजुगुप्सिताः।
    ऐश्वर्यं प्राप्य तिष्ठन्ति शीर्णमूला इव द्रुमाः।।
    • Cruel people, who are despised by the world for their sinful deeds, will not be prosperous for long just like trees with decayed roots.
      • Book 3, Chapter 29, shloka 7


  • सुलभाः पुरुषा राजन्सततं प्रियवादिनः।
    अप्रियस्य तु पथ्यस्य वक्ता श्रोता च दुर्लभः।।
    • O King, abundant are yes-men, always pleasant spoken,
      Rare are the speakers and listeners of the unpleasant but medicinal
      • Book 3, Chapter 37, shloka 2
      • Also found in Book 6, Chapter 16, shloka 21


  • उत्साहो बलवानार्य नस्त्युत्साहात् परं बलं।
    सोत्साहस्यहि लोकेषु न किञ्चिदपि दुर्लभं ॥
    • Enthusiasm has great strength. There is no greater strength than enthusiasm. There is nothing which is not attainable in this world for the enthusiastic.
      • Book 4, Chapter 1, shloka 121


  • न विषादे मनः कार्यम् विषादो दोषवत्तरः |
    विषादो हन्ति पुरुषम् बालम् क्रुद्ध इव उरगः ||
    • One should not let one’s mind to be overcome by melancholy. Melancholy or moroseness is a very bad thing. It destroys a man just as an angered serpent kills a child.
      • Book 4, Chapter 64, shloka 9

Quotes about Ramayana

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While some religious texts may remain static over time, the Ramayana epic has been retold in a variety of ways over the centuries and across South Asia.
-Paula Richman
  • I finished the translation of the Ramayana which has taken me four years. I wrote it all in couplets and brought it to the Emperor (Akbar).
    • Badauni, quoted in Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, his historicity, mandir, and setu: Evidence of literature, archaeology, and other sciences. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. p.6
  • They not only want to ban what is objectionable and hurting to followers of some religions : they also want to ban what is sacred or at least valuable and uplifting to members of another religion. A great many secularists have blamed the Ramayana and Mahabharata TV serials for the "rise of Hindu communalism" and for the Ram hysteria. Of course, Ram was never that far away from the ordinary Hindu's consciousness, that the TV serials could have made much of a difference. Through Tulsidas' Hindi Ramayana, the common people in North India are thoroughly familiar with Ram, Sita and Hanuman, and they don't need TV serials to remind them. For the urban elites, it may have been a reminder of the culture they are in danger of forgetting. But for those secularists who have been completely alienated from their culture, these TV serials were anathema, and so, of course, they wanted them to be banned... But I think it is time the secularists come out and admit that a ban on Hindu TV serials is dear to them not because of the law and order situation, but because of the fact that these serials remind Hindus of Hindu culture.
    • Elst, Koenraad (1991). Ayodhya and after: Issues before Hindu society.
  • The general spirit of India was most vividly reflected in the Ramayana.
    • Mahatma Gandhi. Quoted in ‘Rama and Ayodhya’ written by Meenakshi Jain. Quoted from [1]
  • References to the story of Rama occur in the earliest part of the Sangama literature of Tamil Nadu, dating back to a period almost as old as the Ramayana of Valmiki. [... a theme from the Ramayana] forms the subject-matter of a terracotta representation from Kausambi, ascribable to the 2nd-1st century BCE.
    • Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, his historicity, mandir, and setu: Evidence of literature, archaeology, and other sciences. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. p.8
  • In the Buddhist literature there are the Jatakas, three of which deal with the story of Rama... The most noteworthy of these is the one called Dasaratha Jataka... The carry-over of these Jataka stories to China only serves to emphasize how popular was the Rama story even with the Buddhists.
    • Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, his historicity, mandir, and setu: Evidence of literature, archaeology, and other sciences. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. p.8-9
  • Well, what is the Ramayana? The conquest of the savage aborigines of Southern India by the Aryans! Indeed! Ramachandra is a civilised Aryan king and with whom, is he fighting? With King Ravana of Lanka. Just read the Ramayana., and you will find that Ravana was rather more and not less civilised than Ramachandra. The civilisation of Lanka was rather higher, and surely not lower, than that of Ayodhya. And then, when were these Vanaras (monkeys) and other Southern Indians conquered? They were all, on the other hand, Ramachandra's friends and allies. Say which kingdoms of Vali and Guhaka were annexed by Ramachandra?
    • Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works
  • “Since more than 2000 years the poem of Rama has remained alive in India, and it continues to live in all strata and classes of folk. High and low, princes and peasants, landlords and artisans, princesses and shepherdesses, are well versed with the characters and stories of the great epic.”
    • (A History of Indian Literature, by Moriz Winternitz, volume 1, p. 455) quoted in Kishore, Kunal (2016). Ayodhyā revisited. ch. 12
  • By Indra! how beautiful this is and how much better than the Bible, the Gospel and all the words of the Fathers of the Church.
    • Paul Verlaine. (quoted in: India and World Civilization - By D. P. Singhal Pan Macmillan Limited. 1993 part II p. 241). [2]

See also

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Wikipedia
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Books 1-6 in Sanskrit with English translation

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