Ramayana And Sanskrit Essay Research Paper The

Ramayana And Sanskrit Essay, Research Paper

The Ramayana

Dashartha, King of Ayodhya, has three wives and four sons of which Rama is the eldest. Rama s brothers are named Bharata, and the twins Lakshman and Shatrughna. Rama and Bharata are both blue skinned, perhaps indicating they were dark skinned or even originally south Indian deities.

There is a sage that takes the boys out to train them in archery, and Rama proves his excellence by hitting an apple that was hanging on a string. In a neighboring city, the ruler s daughter is named Sita. When it was time for Sita to choose her bridegroom, at a ceremony called a swayamvara, the princes were asked to string a giant bow. No one can even lift the bow, but as Rama bends it, he not only strings it, but he breaks it in two. Sita chooses Rama as her husband by putting a garland around his neck while the rest of the suitors watch.

King Disharatha, Rama s father, decides that it is time for him to retire to the forest to seek moksha, and to give the thrown to Rama. Everyone seems to be pleased by this because everyone loves Rama. This plan fulfills the rules of dharma because the eldest son should rule, and if the son can take over his father s responsibilities, the father must spend his last years in search for moksha. However, the king s second wife, and Rama s stepmother, is not pleased at all. She wants her son Bharata to rule. And because of an oath that Dasharatha had made to her years ago, she gets the king to agree to banish Rama for fourteen years and to crown Bharata, even though the king begs her not to make such requests. Broken hearted, the king can not face Rama with the news, and sends Kaikeyi to tell him. Rama, being always obedient, is content with his banishment. Sita convinces him that she belongs by his side, and his brother Lakshman also begs to accompany them. So Rama, Sita and Lakshman all set out for the forest. Bharata, the new king, is very upset by this. He goes to Rama s forest retreat and begs him to return to rule, but Rama refuses. Bharata takes Rama s sandals back to the throne, and places them there, where he will place the fruits of his labor each and every day.

Years pass by, and the three are very content in the forest. Rama and Lakshman destroy the rakshasas who disturb the sages in their meditations. One day, a rakshasa princess tries to seduce Rama, but Lakshman wounds her and drives her away. She returns to her brother, Ravana, the then-headed ruler of Lanka, and tells her brother, who has a weakness for lovely women, about Sita. Ravana devises a plan to kidnap Sita. He sends a magical golden dear, which Sita desires. Rama and Lakshman go off to hunt the dear, and make a circle for Sita to stand in to be safe and protected. Ravana, who can change his appearance, changes into a holy man begging for food. And as soon as Sita steps out of the circle, Ravana grabs her and takes her to his palace in Lanka.

Rama is broken hearted when he finds Sita missing. However, a band of monkeys offer to assist him in finding Sita. At Ravana s palace, since he con not force her to marry him, he places he in a grove, and alternately sweet-talks her and threatens her in an attempt to get her to agree to marry him. Sita refuses to even look at him, and only thinks about her beloved Rama. Hanuman, the general of the band of monkeys, flies to the palace, finds Sita, and comforts her by telling her that Rama will soon be arriving to save her. Ravana s men capture Hanuman and her orders the to wrap his tail in cloth and set it on fire. They do so, and Hanuman hops from house to house setting Lanka on fire. Then Hanuman flies back to Rama to tell him where Sita is.

Rama, Lakshman, and the monkey army build a causeway to Lanka, and a battle takes place. Rama kills several of Ravana s brothers and then Rama confronts the ten-headed Ravana. Rama ultimately kills Ravana and frees Sita. And after Sita proves her purity, the return to Ayodhya, and Rama becomes king.

Vedic and Classical Sanskrit

The Sanskrit language and literature was developed in India. Most scholars believe that Sanskrit is divide into two historical periods, Vedic Sanskrit and classical Sanskrit. Vedic Sanskrit refers to the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of Hinduism. This period lasted roughly 15 hundred to 3 hundred BC Classical Sanskrit, 5 hundred BC to 1000 AD has not been credited with new creations as the great literature of the Vedic period.

The Sanskrit language belongs to the Indo European language family, which include English, French etc. The Sanskrit language was derived from the early Indo European tongue of the Iranians, when after invading India the language developed into Vedic Sanskrit. This then became the language of the Indian upper class. But from about 500 BC regional dialects began to replace this spoken language.

He Indian grammarian Panani seeing the decline of Sanskrit as a spoken tongue created a standard form of the language, which became classical Sanskrit. Also written Sanskrit had been developed and introduced at this time.

It is a highly structured language as for example five mouth positions are recognized:

· Kanta: in the throat

· Talu: soft palate at the back of the mouth

· Murdha: cerebral position (roof of the mouth)

· Danta: the dental position

· Osthau the labial positio

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