Rama
Indian mythology · hero · righteousness, kingship
Prince of Ayodhya and seventh avatar of Vishnu, hero of the Ramayana. Exiled for fourteen years, he rescues his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Held up as the ideal of dharma, the perfect son, husband, and king.
Stories
Hanuman's Leap to Lanka
Searching for the abducted Sita, Hanuman leaps across the ocean to Lanka, finds her captive in Ravana's grove, allows himself to be caught, and escapes by burning the city with his flaming tail.
The Abduction of Sita
Ravana sends a golden deer to lure Rama away from the forest hermitage, then carries Sita off to Lanka in his flying chariot. The dying vulture Jatayu, who fought to stop him, tells Rama what happened, setting the war in motion.
Rama's Exile
On the eve of Rama's coronation, Manthara's whispers turn Kaikeyi's love to fear, and two old boons undo a kingdom: her son crowned, Rama banished fourteen years. Rama accepts without bitterness, Sita and Lakshmana follow him into the forest, and Dasharatha dies of grief.
Bharata's Sandals
Returning to find his mother's crime and his father dead, Bharata refuses the stolen throne and marches to the forest to bring Rama home. Rama will not break his father's word; Bharata carries back his brother's sandals, sets them on the throne, and rules fourteen years as their regent.
The Building of the Bridge
The ocean itself yields to Rama's resolve: with Sugriva's armies, Angada's vanguard, and Jambavan's counsel, the vanaras hurl stones that float, and a causeway grows across the strait to Lanka. Vibhishana, cast out for honest counsel, crosses to Rama's side and is promised the crown.
The Fall of Ravana
Kumbhakarna has fallen telling his brother he was wrong; Indrajit has fallen to Lakshmana. Ravana himself takes the field, and Rama, aiming at last for the heart rather than the ten heads that regrow, ends the war. Mandodari laments a husband greater than his own choice; Vibhishana lights the pyre.
Sita's Ordeal by Fire
Freed from captivity, Sita is met not with welcome but with doubt before the assembled army. She asks Lakshmana to build the pyre himself and walks into it; Agni, god of the fire that consumes everything false, lifts her out untouched and returns her to Rama as the proof she should never have owed.
Lava, Kusha, and the Song of Rama
Banished on a rumor while carrying the king's children, Sita raises twin sons in Valmiki's hermitage. Years later two boys sing a long poem before the court of Ayodhya: the Ramayana itself, learned from its author. Rama recognizes his sons in his own story; Sita, asked to prove herself once more, returns instead to the earth that bore her.
Ahalya's Release
Indra comes to Ahalya wearing her husband's form, and Gautama's curse falls on them both: shame without end for the god, stone stillness for the woman. Ages later Vishvamitra leads young Rama to the silent hermitage, and at the touch of his foot Ahalya rises, released and restored.