Ramayana

Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 8 "Unity in Diversity, or 'Many in the One'"; Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"

Meaning

The Ramayana is a long Sanskrit poem, traditionally said to be written by the sage Valmiki, that tells the story of Rama, prince of Ayodhya, his exile, the kidnapping of his wife Sita by Ravana of Lanka, and her rescue.

• It matters because historians use it, like the Mahabharata, to see the ideas people held about family, marriage, kingship and varna (the four-fold social order of Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra).
• It is still retold across India and Asia. It is one of Asia's two great epics, together with the Mahabharata [4].

Explanation

What the text is and who it is credited to

• Tradition calls Valmiki the adikavi, which means "the first poet". It calls the Ramayana the adikavya, "the first poem".

• The Mahabharata is called itihasa ("thus it was"), so it claims to be history. The Ramayana is mainly honoured as poetry.

• It has about 24,000 verses, arranged in seven kandas (books), from the Bala Kanda (Rama's childhood) to the Uttara Kanda (the later events).

• It is much shorter than the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata grew to about 100,000 verses and is called the longest poem ever composed [2].

• The main storyline:

• Rama is the eldest son of King Dasharatha.
• His stepmother Kaikeyi demands that Rama be sent into exile for 14 years and that her son Bharata become king.
• Sita and Lakshmana go into the forest with Rama.
• Ravana kidnaps Sita. Rama, helped by Hanuman and the vanaras, defeats Ravana.
• Rama comes back and rules Ayodhya. This rule is the ideal of Ramarajya.

How the text grew: layers, not a single moment

• Most textbooks give the Ramayana roughly the same long period of composition as the Mahabharata, about c. 500 BCE to 400 CE. The dates are approximate.
• The text was built up in layers. The historian's method for the Mahabharata works here too:
• Many scholars think the core story is in Books 2–6. In these books Rama acts mostly as a human hero-king.
• Books 1 and 7 are usually seen as later additions. They present Rama as a form (avatar) of the god Vishnu.

• This is like the Mahabharata, where Krishna came to be identified with Vishnu in a later phase (c. 200 BCE–200 CE).

• Simple language means a wide audience. The epic Sanskrit of the Ramayana is easier than Vedic Sanskrit. Ordinary people could listen to it, not only priests. This links to the general point about epic language in the study note.

What it tells us about society: kinship, varna, women

• Kinship and succession. The story turns on primogeniture (the eldest son inherits the throne).
• Kaikeyi's demand breaks this rule, and that is why it is a crisis.
• Bharata refuses to take the throne. He rules only in Rama's name and places Rama's sandals on the throne.

• The text uses this to praise loyalty between brothers and obedience to the father.

• Ideal women. Sita is shown as the model wife. She is loyal, follows her husband into exile, and is tested by fire (agni pariksha) to prove her purity.

• These episodes show what elites wanted women to be. They do not show what every woman actually did.

• Varna. The Uttara Kanda tells the story of Shambuka, a Shudra who practises tapas (hard religious discipline meant only for higher varnas) and is killed by Rama.

• Because this book is probably a later layer, the episode tells us about later Brahmanical views on varna. It does not describe the society of the core story.

• The lesson for exams is the same as with Draupadi's polyandry in the Mahabharata: creative literature does not mirror society literally. A historian must ask which layer a passage belongs to and who wrote it.

Results: a living, many-voiced epic

• The Ramayana never stayed fixed. It spread through regional versions, sculpture, painting and performance. It is one of the two great epics studied for how widely it spread across Asia [4].
• Major retellings:
• Kamban's Tamil Ramavataram (Kamba Ramayanam), probably c. 12th century.
• Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi, 16th century, which is central to north Indian bhakti (devotion to a personal god).

• Versions in Southeast Asia, such as the Ramakien of Thailand.

• These retellings change the story, the stress and the values. They show that there was never one single "Ramayana".

Time, place and evidence

• Period: composed over several centuries, roughly c. 500 BCE–400 CE. These are approximate dates for a layered text, not one fixed date.
• Places in the story: Ayodhya (in the Kosala region of the Ganga plain), the forests of central and southern India, and Lanka.
• Key figures: Valmiki (traditional author), Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Dasharatha, Kaikeyi, Hanuman, Ravana.
• How we know:
• The Sanskrit text itself, with older and newer layers that can be told apart.
• Later regional retellings (Kamban, Tulsidas) and versions abroad.

• Sculpture, painting and performance traditions [4].

• A word of caution: as with the Mahabharata, there is no inscription or independent record that proves the events happened. The epic is a source for ideas and values, not a dated chronicle.

Don't confuse with

• Mahabharata: credited to Vyasa, seen as a compiler [3]; about 100,000 verses, the longest poem [2]; called itihasa; contains the Bhagavad Gita. The Ramayana is credited to Valmiki, has about 24,000 verses and is called the adikavya.
• Ramcharitmanas: a 16th-century Awadhi retelling by Tulsidas. It is not Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana.
• Kamba Ramayanam: a Tamil retelling by Kamban. It is a separate poem with its own stresses, not a translation of Valmiki.
• Itihasa vs kavya: the Mahabharata is classed as itihasa ("thus it was"). The Ramayana is classed as adikavya ("the first poem").

Prelims Hooks

• Valmiki, the adikavi (first poet), is the traditional author of the Sanskrit Ramayana, the adikavya (first poem).
• The Ramayana has about 24,000 verses in seven kandas. Books 1 (Bala) and 7 (Uttara) are generally seen as later additions.
• Trap: the longest poem is the Mahabharata (about 100,000 verses) [2], not the Ramayana.
• Retelling–language pairs: Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Awadhi; Kamban, Ramavataram, Tamil; Ramakien, Thailand.
• The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are recognised as Asia's two great epics [4].
• Like the Mahabharata, its composition is usually placed roughly between c. 500 BCE and 400 CE.

Mains Points

• The epic as a layered source. The Ramayana grew over centuries. In the later books Rama becomes an avatar of Vishnu, and passages such as the Shambuka episode reflect stricter Brahmanical views on varna. Any social fact taken from the text must be tied to a layer. This is the same method historians use for the Mahabharata, and it suits GS-I questions on how to use literary sources.
• Normative ideals of family and gender. Primogeniture, obedience to the father, loyalty between brothers, and Sita as the ideal wife (including the agni pariksha) show the kinship and gender norms the composers promoted. Pair this with the Manusmriti to argue that prescriptive texts record what elites wanted, not necessarily what society did.
• Unity in diversity through retellings. Valmiki, Kamban, Tulsidas, folk performances and Southeast Asian versions show one story taking many local forms [4]. This is a strong example for answers on India's cultural unity and diversity and on its cultural links with Southeast Asia.

Related concepts

• Composition of the Mahabharata
• Sutas
• Vyasa
• Narrative and didactic sections
• Itihasa
• Bhagavad Gita
• Hastinapura
• Draupadi's marriage
• Mahashweta Devi

Read more

• Handling texts: the Mahabharata as a dynamic source