The Ramayana (रामायणम्, Rāmāyaṇam), also known as Valmiki Ramayana, as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Mahabharata. The epic narrates the life of Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who is a prince of Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana; the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of Lanka, that resulted in war; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned king amidst jubilation and celebration.
Quotes
Bālakānda
- 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.- Chapter 2, shloka 15 (tr. William Buck)
- Tr. Romesh C. Dutt:
- 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.
- For endless years to come, O Hunter, never shall thy soul find peace,
Ayodhyākānda
- 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!
- Chapter 63, shloka 6 (tr. Sri K. M. K. Murthy)
- अत्येति रजनी या तु सा न प्रतिनिवर्तते
- The night that has passed, does not return.
- Chapter 105, shloka 19 (tr. Sri K. M. K. Murthy)
- सत्यवादी हि लोकेऽस्मिन्परमं गच्छति क्षयम्
- The one who speaks truth obtains the highest position in this world.
- Chapter 109, shloka 11 (tr. Sri K. M. K. Murthy)
- उद्विजन्ते यथा सर्पान्नरादनृतवादिनः
- People fear of a person, who speaks untruth, as one fears a snake.
- Chapter 109, shloka 12 (tr. Sri K. M. K. Murthy)
Āranya Kānda
- धर्मादर्थः प्रभवति धर्मात्प्रभवते सुखम्।
धर्मेण लभते सर्वं धर्मसारमिदं जगत्।। - Interest springs from righteousness; and happiness also results therefrom. One attains everything through righteousness—in this world the only substantial thing.
- Chapter 9, shloka 30 (tr. Manmatha N. Dutt)
- न चिरं पापकर्माणः क्रूरा लोकजुगुप्सिताः।
ऐश्वर्यं प्राप्य तिष्ठन्ति शीर्णमूला इव द्रुमाः।। - Like unto trees whose roots have been reduced, cruel persons, execrated of men, who perpetrate iniquitous acts, do not exist long.
- Chapter 29, shloka 7 (tr. Manmatha N. Dutt)
- सुलभाः पुरुषा राजन्सततं प्रियवादिनः।
अप्रियस्य तु पथ्यस्य वक्ता श्रोता च दुर्लभः।। - O king, the speaker of soft words is common, but the speaker and the listner of unwelcome though beneficial words are rarities.
- Chapter 37, shloka 2
Kishkindhā Kānda
- न विषादे मनः कार्यम् विषादो दोषवत्तरः |
विषादो हन्ति पुरुषम् बालम् क्रुद्ध इव उरगः || - We should not indulge in grief. Grief is injurious.— Grief destroys a person even as a wrathful serpent doth a boy.
- Chapter 64, shloka 9 (tr. Manmatha N. Dutt)
Sundara Kānda
- She was lovely like an indistinct lunar disc, like a streak of gold covered with dust, like a golden reed broken by the wind, like a scar left by an arrow!
- Chapter 5, shloka 26 (tr. Makhan Lal Sen)
- The husband enhances the beauty of a woman more than her ornaments.
- Chapter 16, shloka 26 (tr. Makhan Lal Sen)
Yuddhakānda
Uttarakānda
Unsorted
- 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
- Prosperity arises from Dharma. Happiness emerges from Dharma. Everything is obtained by means of Dharma, for the world has Dharma as its essence.
- 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
- Cruel people, who are despised by the world for their sinful deeds, will not be prosperous for long just like trees with decayed roots.
- 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
- O King, abundant are yes-men, always pleasant spoken,
- 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
- Enthusiasm has great strength. There is no greater strength than enthusiasm. There is nothing which is not attainable in this world for the enthusiastic.
- 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
- 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.
Quotes about the Ramayana
F
- No ancient story, not even Homer's Iliad or Odyssey, has remained as popular through the course of time. The story of Rama appears as old as civilization and has a fresh appeal for every generation.
- David Frawley in: The Oracle of Rama , Lotus Press, 1 November 2000, P. 16
G
- The general spirit of India was most vividly reflected in the Ramayana.
- Mahatma Gandhi, as quoted in Meenakshi Jain, Rama and Ayodhya (2013): cited in "Ayodhya: Resurrecting the Lost World", Organiser Weekly (13 August 2013)
L
- 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.
- Lal, B. B. (2008). Rāma, his historicity, mandir, and setu: Evidence of literature, archaeology, and other sciences. New Delhi: Aryan Books International. p.8
V
- 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. Also in Edmond Lepelletier, Paul Verlaine : Sa Vie — Son Œuvre. Société du Mercure de France, 1907 (ch IV, p. 93-129).
- 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.
W
- 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
See also
External links
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