Namastey—I bow to the divine in you!
Ramayana—literally, the journey of Rama—is an ancient Indian Hindu epic whose protagonist is Shri Ramachandra (henceforth Rama) and antagonist being Ravana.
Written by Valmiki, it narrates the story of a prince who was born into royal Ikshwaku dynasty, grown up and married the girl, left the palace along with his brother and wife to keep his father’s promise to his step-mother unbroken, killed the danava named Ravana who abducted his wife during the exile.
It is divided into seven kandas—Balkanda, Ayodhyakanda, Aranyakanda, Kishkindhakanda, Sundarkanda, Lankakanda, and Uttarakanda. Uttarakanda, it is popularly believed, was added later. These seven kandas or chapters have an approximate 24 thousand shlokas in total which makes it a detailed narration.
In this blogpost, we are going to talk about the Ramayana and its hero in great details. We will try to give answers of some questions in this.
How Lord Ram reached China?
In an astounding way. However, that’s not literally.
During recent Indo-China conflict, Shri Rama reached to the Republic of China. He has acquired the special place in this conflict.
We are going to tell you how. Read on.
On 14th June of 2020, People’s Liberation Army, the official army of the People’s Republic of China (henceforth China), tried to encroach Indian territories at the Galwan Valley which was resulted into clash followed by the death of 20 Indian soldiers and several Chinese soldiers.
Though China didn’t confirm the number of died soldiers on its side but, according to the US intelligence agencies, at least 35 Chinese soldiers were killed. China was trying to encroach the Indian territories prior to two months when the whole world was fighting against the pandemic caused by Coronavirus, a virus that originated in China.
The matter between two nations accelerated since the events of 14th June. Thereafter Indian government took stringent actions against Chinese companies and investment along with banning Chinese apps.
Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, is a small country resisting Chinese invasion. Thus, it shared a common bond (with India) of resisting against China. Its major news publication, Taiwan News, published a cartoon with caption ‘We Conquer, We Kill’ on 17th June 2020 which went viral in India. The cartoon depicted Rama killing Dragon with bow and arrow. That showed the triumph of India over China in the conflict.
We Conquer We Kill Image is here:
As someone commented on Twitter, ‘Indian Rama Takes On Chinese Dragon’ and another ‘India’S Rama Takes On Chinese Dragon’. Some commentators showed hope for ‘Milk-Tea alliance’ wherein Milk represented Taiwan and Tea India. Soon, there were talks about ditching One China policy. All the comments are suitable on this India Rama China Dragon condition.
We Conquer We Kill means in Hindi: Hum jitate hain, hum maarte hain.
Ultimately, in a very interesting way, Lord Rama reached the Republic of China (means Taiwan). Isn’t that amazing?
Now, let’s come to another topic:
Did Lord Rama Exist?
After reading the Ramayana, or after listening its tales, or after watching movies based on it, many people simply ask: Did Lord Rama exist?
They ask whether Rama was a fact or a fiction. They are curious to know when was Lord Rama born and when was he died.
Let’s tell you the answer: yes, he did indeed exist.
Ramayana literally means the journey of Shri Rama as we have told you previously. It mentions various precise locations where he lived or went during his exile. How can these details be accurate when he didn’t exist!
If that’s not enough then some question its veracity and ask for the exact chronology
Nilesh Nilkantha Oak, an amazing researcher has done his brilliant research on the chronology of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. His work on the chronology of the Ramayana is explained in details in his book The Historic Rama.
According to Oak, Shri Rama was bron on 29th November 12240 BCE which is Chaitra Shukla Navami as per the Indic calendar. On 4th December 12224 BCE, Rishi Vishwamitra arrived in Dashratha’s court.
Later on, the marriage of Mata Sita with Rama, as per The Historic Rama, happened on 4th or 5th day of January of year 12223 BCE. In the same year, the book states, on 21st December, Rama left for Vanavasa with his beloved wife and brother. In the forest, according to this book, during Rama’s exile, Bharata, the son of Kaikeyi, met on 10th April 12222 BCE.
Let’s take a leap of 12 years in dating: On 22nd September 12210 BCE, Rama killed the Vali in the fight with his brother, as Oak found out in his book. At this time, Sita was already kidnapped by Ravana. After this time, Sugriva became the king of Kishkindha; Rama reminded him of his promise to find Sita; he gathered army and sent his vanaras in all the directions; Hanumana went to Lanka and found Sita there; he burnt Lanka and came back.
Hanuma’s arrival from Lanka was on 30th August 12209 BCE, states Oak.
Thereafter, according to the Ramayana, Rama built the bridge on the Indian Ocean and reached to Lanka where war happened. According to Oak, the first day of the great war between Rama and Ravana was 25th December 12209 BCE. He also states that Rama killed Ravana on 7th January 12208 BCE and Rama’s coronation took place on 13th January 12208 BCE at Ayodhya, the capital of Kosaldesa.
A quick info-graphic on it is given below:
If one looks at this rigorous research, then s/he can’t deny the existence of Shri Rama.
What is the name of LORD RAMA BOW?
When one hears the holy name of Rama, bow and arrows come in front of his eyes immediately.
In our entire life we all have seen Shri Rama holding bow and arrow in paintings, images, idols, statues and movies. It is the prominent feature of his character. The bow is to Rama what the flute is to Shri Krishna. Even Ravana, the antagonist of the Ramayana, was killed by Rama using bow and arrow.
So, naturally, the curiosity about the bow comes natural in our mind. One prominent one is: What is the name of Rama’s bow?
Hold on, we are going to tell an interesting story behind that in this piece.
The bow hold by Shri Rama is not an ordinary bow.
Designed by Vishwakarma, the cosmic architect according to Hinduism, it was originally carried by Lord Vishnu who later passed it to Parshurama, a son of Rishi Jamdagni and Renuka. The Hindu scriptures tell us that the bow had magical powers which can be beneficial during any war.
Parshurama used the bow and the arrows along with his Parshu, the axe. When he met Shri Rama, according to Ramayana, Parshurama gifted his bow to Rama while departing.
First sloka of Sarga 77 of Balkanda depicts that event,
“On the departure of Rama of Jamadagni, that most glorious Rama of Dasharatha is quietened at heart, and he gave away that longbow of Vishnu into the hand of inimitable Rain-god [Varuna].”
Thus, the bow of Rama was important and a central object of the Ramayana. Back to the original question: what was the name of that bow?
The name of that bow is Sharanga.
The bow Rama broke during the swayamwar of Sita Mata was Pinaka and the bow Arjuna used while the great war of Mahabharata was Gaandiv.
We hope that we have answered many questions of yours in our subsequent blogposts. The Ramayana School is an initiative to take age-old wisdoms of the Ramayana through new-age methods. We are active on various social media platforms; follow us on Twitter; like us on FB; connect with us on Instagram.
Jai Shri Rama—Hail Shri Rama!
