5 Reasons why Everyone Should Read Ramayana
Ramayana is a great Indian Epic poem, which along with Mahabharata forms the Hindu Itihasa. Although considered a Hindu religious text, this is a great story everyone should read including the people who have no association with Hinduism. In this article I will go over five reasons in the order of increasing importance on why everyone should read Ramayana.
1. It is an entertaining story: This reason is mostly targeted towards people who are not from Indian background. In India of course everybody knows that Ramayana is an entertaining story. But for people not from India, generally speaking, think that Ramayana being a religious text might be boring, but that is not the case. Without even considering the religious significance of this story, the story in itself can be an entertaining novel to read. Especially with numerous retellings now available, you can read it just as any other mythological novel such as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.
2. It gives you an essence of how life used to be in ancient India: Historians trace back the origin of the text of Ramayana from 7th to 4th century BCE. Considering the fact that a text has survived for such a long time, clearly shows that there is something valuable that this story offers because of which it has survived for such a long time. Moreover the story provides you a window to look at the life in ancient India. What the life of people used to be like in those days, what were their priorities and how they used to think. The story also gives you a glimpse of the values on which the Indian culture is based.
3. Knowledge on the details of Ramayana is a sign of a learned person: Even in the modern times, Ramayana is a foundational text on the Indian culture. The mention of the excerpts of this story often comes up in intellectual discussions on our cultures. After reading Ramayana you will be more familiar with the details of this story and will be more able to contextualize the mention of the excerpts of this story in an intellectual discussion. This will help you in appreciating your culture more and also make you appear more learned.
4. Teaches you ideal behavior: Ramayana is a great reference guide to everyone’s dharma. It teaches men how to be an ideal son, husband, father, brother, friend and a king and women on how to be an ideal daughter, wife, mother, sister and queen. These examples are provided not just by the protagonists but also by antagonists. As an example the Dharma of an ideal brother is portrayed not just through Laxman and Bharat, but also through the behavior of Kumbhkaran towards his brother Ravana. Ramayana also shows you how to not behave through the example of Ravana, Indrajeet and Bali.
Some raise concerns on the behavior of Ram towards Sita after they arrive back in Ayodhya. It is a valid point and I need a full video to address this refutation. In the next video I will address this concern.
5. It helps you in coping with life’s challenges calmly: Although this is never mentioned but Ramayana is a tragedy. It’s leading couple Ram and Sita never get to enjoy life together. Life for both of them was unfair and difficult. Imagine that you are just about to become the crown prince and instead you are forced to spend 14 years in forest. Your dear father dies due to separation from your. Your wife is abducted by a demon and you have to fight a powerful demon army to get back your wife. When you get your wife back, people start raising doubts about her purity and to fulfill your duty as a King you have to live away from your dear wife. Similarly for Sita, she had to go through the horror of abduction by a demon, then undergo fire ordeal to prove her purity and even after completing that ordeal people still doubt her. She had to live away from her dear husband and raise Luv and Kush alone. When Ram and Sita finally meet through Luv and Kush and Ram wants to bring her back, she knows the futility of their situation, and she has to walk away from Ram and embrace the earth. That is one tough life and yet both Ram and Sita go through all of this calmly. This sets up an example for all of us to bear the challenges of life calmly and realize that every life is full of challenges and there is no escaping it for anyone.
Ramayana have had a deep impression on Mahatma Gandhi who mentioned that it informed him with the spirit of purity, pity and piety. Gandhi used to say that the name of Ram used to give him strength during darkest hours of his life. If such a great man found inspiration in Ramayana, we all can also learn a lot from this great poem that our forefathers has passed on to us.
