The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1972

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapter 9-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 3-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 Summary: “Two Promises Revived”

Dasaratha notices that he is aging and determines that he must retire soon. He makes an announcement, inviting all officers, sages, allies, relatives, and kings who can attend quickly and conveniently to an assembly. Dasaratha decides against inviting Aswapathi, father of his third wife, Kaikeyi, and grandfather of Bharatha, her son. He tells the assembly about his decision to retire and to hand the kingdom over to his son Rama. Dasaratha describes Rama’s leadership potential in terms of both his compassion and his courage; to Dasaratha, Rama is an ideal king for Ayodhya because he can protect the citizens from all hostile beings, “human or subhuman or superhuman” (34). The assembly gives the king their support, and they are so enthusiastic, Dasaratha asks them if they have been “bearing” with him all of these years. One man assures the king that their enthusiasm demonstrates only their love for Rama, nothing else. Dasaratha accepts the explanation and announces that the coronation will take place the following day.

Rama receives the news with grace, and Dasaratha gives him advice. After the meeting, Rama returns to his palace, but a messenger soon arrives with a summons to return to his father. Dasaratha has experienced worrying premonitions and desires to crown Rama “without any delay” (36). Rama observes his father’s agitated state and agrees to begin his preparations for the ceremony that evening. He assures his father that Sita will also be ready. When Dasaratha reveals to Rama that Rama is to be crowned while Bharatha is away at his grandfather’s palace, Rama is surprised at his father’s “deviousness” but says nothing.

The translator explains that Dasaratha’s suspicion is legitimate and tells the story of Bharatha’s mother, Kaikeyi. In Kaikeyi’s rooms at the palace, her servant Kooni learns that Rama is to be crowned king, and she decides to interfere with the celebrations. Kaikeyi dismisses Kooni’s warnings that Kaikeyi will soon lose her status, but Kooni insists that Kaikeyi’s enchanting youth and beauty will not last and that her standing is to be compromised by Rama’s coronation. As Kooni’s wailings become more dramatic, Kaikeyi describes Rama’s worthiness and her pride in his accomplishment. Kooni carries on, revealing to Kaikeyi that Dasaratha has promised to make Kaikeyi’s son the heir to the throne. She warns Kaikeyi that Rama may “change overnight” and that she may lose her position as queen. Kooni tells Kaikeyi that her only option is to remember the two promises Dasaratha had given her when she saved his life on a battlefield.

Later, Dasaratha looks for Kaikeyi, only to learn that she is in the kopa gruha, the room where one can rest when angry or in a bad mood. Dasaratha finds her in a disheveled state, apologizing for his delay in speaking to her and telling her he has news for her. Kaikeyi laments her condition, claiming she will soon be dressed in rags and desiring poison so she can kill herself. Dasaratha promises her “whatever” she desires but refuses to swear by Rama, and Kaikeyi reminds him of his promise to fulfill two promises to her when she saved his life at the expense of her own life force. Dasaratha is nervous, and Kaikeyi asks her two promises: that Rama will be banished for 14 years and that Bharatha will be crowned in his stead. Dasaratha calls her a “demon,” and they argue. Dasaratha spends the night on the couch in the kopa gruha, and his wife stays on the floor. No one interrupts the king and his wife, and his chief minister grows panicked at the king’s absence during such an important time.

The following day, at the coronation, Rama is dressed in simple robes. The sound of music and mantras fills the assembly hall. The king’s absence begins to worry the chief minister as the auspicious time for the coronation is nearing. Sumanthra, the chief minister, finds the king in the kopa gruha, and the king’s forlorn appearance shocks him. Dasaratha explains that he is “trapped by a demon” (44). When Rama appears at the door, he expects a blessing from his stepmother, Kaikeyi, but instead, she tells him that he will not be crowned king today and that he has a duty to help his father fulfill a promise by living in the forest for 14 years. Rama agrees, but he is unhappy that his father did not command him to this role. Kaikeyi interferes with Rama’s attempts to communicate with Dasaratha, insisting that the king will be pleased with Rama for his obedience. Kaikeyi also interferes with Rama’s attempt to send for Bharatha. Rama leaves the room in search of his mother, Kausalya, as his father remains “speechless.”

At his mother’s palace, Rama explains that his father has changed his mind. Kausalya is distraught at the thought of a 14-year separation from her son, but Rama insists that her “place” is next to the king. When Kausalya finds the king in his chamber, he appears nearly dead, yet Kaikeyi appears “unperturbed.” She wails, overwhelmed, and the noise reaches the assembly hall, where the guests wonder why the atmosphere has changed so profoundly. Sage Vasishtha goes to the king’s chamber to understand what has happened, but Kaikeyi tells Sage Vasishtha that nothing of significance has occurred and that Rama has “surrendered his right to the throne in favor of Bharatha” (47). When the sage pleads with Kaikeyi to help the king, she grows impatient, insisting the king made her a promise and ignoring the pain she is causing by exiling Rama. Dasaratha feels death is near, but the sage reassures him, promising that Rama will not go.

When the news of Rama’s exile breaks, all the guests in the assembly hall weep, flowers wilt, and all the animals in the kingdom mourn the pain of Rama’s absence. They all blame Kaikeyi and the king’s “infatuation” with her. Rama’s brother Lakshmana threatens death to anyone who stands in the way of Rama’s coronation, and Rama confronts Lakshmana as he prepares to leave for the forest. Rama tries to calm his brother by speaking to him of fate, and Lakshmana, grieving the loss of his most beloved family member, resigns himself and realizes that his rage is futile. As Rama bids farewell to Lakshmana’s mother, Sumithra, one of Kaikeyi’s servants arrives with clothing for Rama made of tree bark. Lakshmana and Sita order, receive, and don the same clothing, and they decide to accompany Rama into exile.

As Rama, his brother, and his wife prepare to leave, a crowd outside the palace laments the sight of them in their tree bark clothing. The appearance of Sage Vasishtha temporarily encourages the crowd, but the look on his face is dejected. Rama says goodbye to everyone, sending a message to his father through the sage, and a chariot appears to transport Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita to the forest. The crowd follows, so the chariot travels slowly, and at nightfall, everyone who has accompanied the chariot sleeps on the banks of the Sarayu River. At this time, the three exiles leave quietly so as not to wake their loyal followers, and Rama tells Sumanthra, the king’s chief minister, of his plan.

Back at the palace, Dasaratha rests, longing for his son. Sumanthra appears at his bedside and tells the king that Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita have left the crowd and crossed the river. Dasaratha is overwhelmed by the news and dies. Messengers are dispatched to locate Bharatha, who is happy to receive some word from his father. As he and his brother Sathrugna approach Ayodhya, Bharatha notices a change in the atmosphere of the city, where the music has ceased. Upon arriving to the king’s palace, Bharatha searches for his father, and his mother, Kaikeyi, tells him that Dasaratha has died. His mother’s coldness and the news of Rama’s exile deepen Bharatha’s grief and confusion, and he lashes out at Kaikeyi, calling her a “serpent.” He seeks comfort from Rama’s mother, Kausalya, but she is unsure of his role in the situation and suspects him. Bharatha’s outpourings of grief persuade her to believe he is innocent, but he is enraged by her doubt. Bharatha’s rage intensifies when he learns that he cannot tend his father’s funeral pyre because his father had disowned him and his mother, and he blames his mother for everything.

After mourning his father for five days, Bharatha refuses to become king. He tells the ministers he will search for Rama to beg him to return. Bharatha dons a garment made of tree bark, and all the citizens of Ayodhya follow him into the forest. When Lakshmana, “who had set himself as Rama’s bodyguard” (59), sees Bharatha and his followers, he believes Bharatha has gathered an army. Bharatha tells Rama of the death of their father before begging Rama to return home and be crowned king. The two brothers argue over to whom the kingdom belongs, neither brother desiring the role of king; in fact, both brothers insist that the other has the true right to the crown. When Bharatha announces that he will “renounce everything” and join Rama in the forest for 14 years, the gods order Bharatha to take the crown. Bharatha finally agrees, but he takes Rama’s sandals, announcing that he will place them on the throne to represent Rama and rule Ayodhya as a regent on behalf of Rama.

Chapter 4 Summary: “Encounters in Exile”

Rama goes deeper into the forests to avoid being found, leaving behind a beautiful cottage Lakshmana has built for the three exiles. He meets Jatayu, “the Great Eagle” (62), on a rock and learns that Jatayu was a friend of Dasaratha. Rama tells Jatayu of his father’s death, causing the eagle to despair and desire death; Jatayu agrees to live until the end of Rama’s exile, and he escorts the three to the banks of the Godavari River. The beauty of the natural landscape reminds Rama of his wife, Sita.

In Panchvati, Lakshmana builds another beautiful home. Here, Rama muses on the purpose of his exile: to destroy the asuras, or demons, that cause suffering to individuals in search of spiritual peace. One day, outside his cottage, Rama encounters the sister of the demonic Ravana, “overlord of three worlds” (64). He admires her beauty, as the demon, named Soorpanaka, has taken on the appearance of a lovely young woman and calls herself Kamavalli. Though she is beautiful, Rama is suspicious of her as she asks him for help and defies the standards of her “breeding” by implying that she seeks to marry Rama. Though Rama scorns her shamelessness, he also feels pity for her, and so he makes excuses for his inability to marry her. Kamavalli tries to persuade Rama by telling him that he will be protected from her demonic brothers and that he will receive “honors and wealth and overlordship of several worlds” if they marry (66). Sita appears outside the cottage, and Kamavalli sees Sita’s beauty and believes Sita to be a woman of the forest who has attached herself to Rama. Kamavalli tries to warn Rama of Sita’s deception, and Rama laughs at her efforts and takes Sita into the cottage, spurning Kamavalli.

The following day, Kamavalli sees Rama leave the cottage. She waits until Sita leaves the cottage to pick flowers and stalks Sita, unaware of Lakshmana’s presence. As Kamavalli puts her hands on Sita, Lakshmana intervenes, mutilating Kamavalli and lopping off her breasts but sparing her life. Kamavalli appears to Rama later in the day, bloody and distraught, and Lakshmana explains to Rama that Kamavalli had threatened Sita. Kamavalli tries one more time to persuade Rama to marry her, and Rama sees that he needs to tell her that his “mission in life” is to destroy the entire class of asuras (71). Kamavalli reframes Rama’s threat to her existence, calling herself an ideal “ally” and suggesting that she marry Lakshmana instead. The brothers threaten to destroy her, and she finally leaves.

Soorpanaka leaves Panchvati and goes to the court of her stepbrother Kara to tell him that two sons of Dasaratha have hurt her and that they intend to destroy the asuras; they are accompanied by a beautiful woman. Kara sees her mutilated state and declares that Rama and Lakshmana must die and that “all human beings shall be stamped out” (72). Soorpanaka and an army later approach Rama’s cottage, but Rama and Lakshmana kill all the chiefs of the army. More demons come, led by Kara himself, with the same outcome. Soorpanaka flees to Lanka to tell her brother Ravana about the disaster that has befallen their clan.

Chapter 5 Summary: “The Grand Tormentor”

In Lanka, Soorpanaka arrives at the palace of Ravana. He demands to know who has mutilated her, and Soorpanaka tells the story without admitting the depth of her passionate feelings toward Rama. She tells Ravana that Rama has a woman who should rightfully belong to Ravana, and Soorpanaka’s descriptions of Sita cause Ravana to fall “madly in love with her image” (75). Soorpanaka is certain that once Rama and Sita are separated, he will “naturally” begin to love. Soorpanaka. Ravana becomes lovesick, obsessed by the thought of Sita. He shouts at the late winter season in frustration, causing the weather to change to summer and then to rain; as Ravana’s moods change, the climate also changes, until he banishes seasons altogether.

Ravana rages at the moon and the sun, and nighttime ceases to exist. Everyone in Lanka is confused, even the birds, until Ravana orders the sun to leave and the moon to take its place. The tides in the sea go quiet, and everyone suffers in the darkness. A vision of Sita appears to Ravana, but when he asks Soorpanaka about the vision, she can only see Rama. Soorpanaka persuades Ravana that he will be saved from his obsession only if he takes Sita from Rama. He agrees and prepares to travel, seeking help first from his uncle Mareecha.

When Mareecha hears Ravana’s intentions, he tries to discourage Ravana from attacking Rama. Mareecha’s attempts to kill Rama in the past failed, leading Mareecha to give up violence. Mareecha also tells Ravana that coveting another man’s wife is “immoral,” but Ravana insists that Sita should be his. Mareecha predicts that Ravana’s actions will be the end of their clan. As Ravana grows angrier, Mareecha tries to soothe him and reluctantly agrees to take the form of a bejeweled “golden deer” to draw Sita away from Rama.

In Panchvati, Sita spies the golden deer and desires it immediately. Rama promises Sita that she will have the deer, and when Lakshmana tries to warn Rama against allowing Sita to pursue the deer, Rama dismisses his concern. The three argue over the deer, so Rama leaves Sita under Lakshmana’s protection and goes to find the deer himself. As Rama realizes that the deer is a trick, Mareecha begins to scream for help, having taken the voice of Rama. Sita hears the voice of Rama and panics, insisting that Lakshmana help Rama, but Lakshmana knows that Rama is all-powerful and that the sound of his voice is a ruse. Sita’s panic causes her to mistrust Lakshmana, and she threatens to kill herself if he does not help Rama. Reluctantly, Lakshmana leaves Sita in the care of Jatayu the eagle and goes to find Rama. Ravana has been hiding all this time, and he emerges as soon as Sita is alone, taking the form of a hermit. Sita is unalarmed by the presence of a hermit, but Ravana shows his true self when she angers him with stories of Rama’s dominance over the asuras. He kidnaps Sita, who shouts for Lakshmana and faints, revives, and asks the nature surrounding her to tell Rama what has happened. Jatayu appears to rescue Sita, and he suggests to Ravana that Ravana let Sita go so that Ravana may run away before Rama appears. Ravana refuses, defending himself from Jatayu’s attack by cutting off his enormous wings and stabbing him in the throat. Ravana leaves his chariot behind, flying to Lanka with Sita on his shoulder. Rama and Lakshmana encounter Jatayu in the forest, wounded but alive, and Jatayu tells them what happened and reassures Rama, but he dies before he can tell Rama and Lakshmana in what direction Ravana and Sita traveled.

Chapters 3-5 Analysis

While family ties and filial duty are an important theme in the Ramayana, the strongest ties appear to exist between male members of a family and the weakest ties between husbands and wives. Kaikeyi’s betrayal of Dasaratha and Rama, and her selfishly motivated desire to send Rama away, lead directly to Dasaratha’s death; the link between these two events suggests that the ties between husband and wife are not only weak, but also vulnerable to the particular inconstancy of women. Kaikeyi’s disloyalty to Dasaratha foreshadows Rama’s suspicion of Sita once he has rescued her from Ravana’s clutches later in the epic; though Sita has done nothing, Rama treats her cruelly to test her love, just as Kaikeyi treats Rama’s father cruelly in these early chapters.

The theme of disruption and harmony takes on emotional depth in the description of Rama and Sita’s first encounter with each other. Because they are unaware of their true identities as Vishnu and Lakshmi, Rama and Sita do not understand why they are both so disturbed by their feelings for each other. Sita, whose identification with nature is apparent from her seemingly spontaneous birth in a field, cannot find solace in nature; her harmony has been so disturbed by the sight of Rama that nature chafes her rather than acting as a balm to her frayed nerves. Rama’s potential to disturb females and to stir deep desire within them is also evident in his effect on Soorpanaka, the demon sister of Ravana. Her determination to seduce Rama and to marry him leads directly to the main events of the epic, demonstrating that Rama’s physical and metaphysical attractiveness is the cause of the conflict that drives the narrative forward.

When Rama gracefully accepts his fate as an exile, he takes yet another journey into the next stage of his life, where he is sure to experience significant challenges to his virtue, his spiritual goals, and his family. The theme of journeys has literal and figurative significance for Rama; when he is in the forest, he travels toward a sense of fulfillment, having followed what he interprets to be his father’s wishes, and toward a more improved version of his nearly perfect self. During his encounter with Soorpanaka, for example, he realizes that his pity for her and his decision to be amused by her attempts to seduce him have been misplaced; she has somehow understood his kindness as encouragement. From this experience, Rama learns how to manage other encounters with her and with other demons, and he demonstrates this knowledge after Lakshmana mutilates Soorpanaka for her threats to Sita. Observing Soorpanaka in her mutilated state, Rama realizes that he must communicate with Soorpanaka as directly and minimally as possible, and he sends her away, advising her to be careful with her words, as he is now more careful with his own words.

Gods and humans are present in animal form in these chapters, foreshadowing the relationships Rama will forge with Hanuman, Sugreeva, and the rest of the monkey clan. Before the great eagle Jatayu does his best to defend Sita against her attackers, Mareecha makes an appearance as a golden deer and successfully tricks Sita, showing that not all animals are as trustworthy and loyal as the mighty Jatayu. These events also foreshadow the complex relationship between Rama, Lakshmana, and the monkeys who will join them in their journey to rescue Sita from Ravana. In the chapters to come, Lakshmana will question the trustworthiness of Sugreeva, the monkey ruler of Kiskinda, giving Rama the opportunity to describe his process of deciding whether to trust Sugreeva.