Itihāsa / The two epics / Rāmāyaṇa

Rāmāyaṇa (रामायण)

Vālmīki's poem of Rāma, prince of Ayodhyā. The received text has seven kāṇḍas (काण्ड). The first six tell one arc, from the birth to the return and the consecration. The seventh tells what happened after the return. Readers have long heard that last book as later in voice than the six. This page keeps all seven, and says so. It does not sit the poem line by line. The companion that teaches non-duality in Rāma's frame is the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha, which is a different composition.

The walk is the chronicle. Fifty sittings, from the crane to the Sarayū. Uttara is included, and marked as later in voice. One line is recited there, the verse the tradition hears as the first. The rest is the story.

The seven kāṇḍas

• Bāla (बाल). Daśaratha's sons are born. Viśvāmitra takes Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa. Tāṭakā. Ahalyā is released when Rāma comes: one telling has her as stone, another as hidden, and this page does not choose. The bow breaks at Mithilā. Sītā's marriage follows. Paraśurāma meets them on the road home.
• Ayodhyā (अयोध्या). Kaikeyī asks the two boons. Rāma goes to the forest. Daśaratha dies. Bharata refuses the throne and takes the sandals back to rule in Rāma's name.
• Araṇya (अरण्य). The forest years. Śūrpaṇakhā. The golden deer. Sītā is taken. Jaṭāyu spends himself trying to stop the carrying-off, and tells Rāma who took her before he dies.
• Kiṣkindhā (किष्किन्धा). Rāma meets Sugrīva. Vālin dies. The rains hold the search. Hanumān is sent south.
• Sundara (सुन्दर). Hanumān crosses the water, finds Sītā in the grove, and on the way out the city of Laṅkā is set alight. The book is his journey, not the war.
• Yuddha (युद्ध). Some lists call this the Laṅkā-kāṇḍa. The bridge is built. The war is fought. Rāvaṇa falls. Sītā returns. Rāma is consecrated in Ayodhyā. This page says the war happened. It does not describe the killing.
• Uttara (उत्तर). After the return. A second public test of Sītā, and the earth takes her back. The twins Lava and Kuśa sing the poem. Rāma leaves the world. The earlier books do not all speak in this book's voice. The shelf keeps it as the seventh of the received poem, and does not pretend it was always read as one piece with the first six.

नेपालीमा

वाल्मीकिको रामायण अयोध्याका राजकुमार रामको कविता हो। प्राप्त पाठमा सात काण्ड छन्। पहिला छओटाले जन्मदेखि फर्केर राज्याभिषेकसम्मको एउटै कथा सुनाउँछन्। सातौँले फर्केपछिको कुरा सुनाउँछ। धेरै पाठकले त्यो अन्तिम पुस्तकलाई अघिल्ला छओटाभन्दा पछिको स्वरमा सुन्छन्। यो पृष्ठले सातै राख्छ, र त्यो कुरा भन्छ। कविता एक एक श्लोक गरी राखिएको छैन। रामको चौखटभित्रै अद्वैत सिकाउने साथी रचना योगवासिष्ठ हो, जुन अर्कै रचना हो।

बालमा दशरथका छोराहरूको जन्म, विश्वामित्र, अहिल्या, धनुष र विवाह आउँछन्। अयोध्यामा वनवास, दशरथको मृत्यु र भरतले राजपाट नलिएको कुरा आउँछ। अरण्यमा सीताको हरण र जटायु छन्। किष्किन्धामा वालि र सुग्रीव छन्, अनि हनुमानलाई दक्षिणतिर पठाइन्छ। सुन्दरमा हनुमानको यात्रा हो, युद्ध होइन। युद्धमा पुल बनाइन्छ, युद्ध हुन्छ, रावणको पतन हुन्छ, र राज्याभिषेक हुन्छ। यो पृष्ठले युद्ध भयो भन्छ, तर कसरी मारिए भनेर लेख्दैन। उत्तरमा सीताको दोस्रो परीक्षा, पृथ्वीले उनलाई फर्काएर लैजानु, लवकुश र रामको प्रस्थान आउँछन्।

Where it sits

The Bhāgavata tells Rāma's story again, briefly, in the ninth skandha. That is a purāṇa's telling, not this poem. The Rāma Gītā is the close of the Adhyātma Rāmāyaṇa, a later book in which Rāma teaches Lakṣmaṇa. The household page for the wedding day at Janakpur is Vivāha Pañcamī. The household page for his birth is Rāma Navamī.