Hi, I'm Mike Rugnetta. This is Crash Course Mythology and
today we continue our discussion of heroes and
heroism. This time we are looking at a hero king.
Rama, whose story is told in one of the core texts
of the Hindu tradition. That's right we're discussing a living
religious tradition, Thoth and I would like to
remind you that we'll be focusing on the narrative and cultural
aspects of Rama's story rather than its religious meaning
or potential historical truth. Also, a quick
note on pronunciation. There aren't any Sanskrit
scholars around Crash Course HQ, so we're going to do our best
but I can guarantee that I'm not going to be perfect.
We've put the sources we used for pronunciations in the doobleedoo
if you're curious how we arrived at any of what I'm
attempting to say. Thank you in advance for all of your
kind and helpful comments. So, who is this
Rama anyway? Rama is an avatar of the God Vishnu.
He's brave, philosophical, and really
good at archery, and also blue which is very classy. OH!
Very fashionable, Thoth
The story of the hero King Rama comes from an epic
poem known as the RAMAYANA. Like many other stories
of antiquity, this one started as an oral tradition
and was only written down later so there are a number
of different versions. Today we're mostly
referencing the version recorded by the Poet Valmiki
between 400 and 200 B.C.E. when the story was already at least 300
years old. We'll talk about the
significance of this myth to the Hindu tradition but not all
versions of Rama's story are Hindu
He shows up in Buddhist mythology too. It's also worth noting
that there's some debate over how well this story represents
Hindu culture, values, and principles generally
We're not going to do the same hero's journey blow by blow
as we did with Gilgamesh but you definitely find plenty of those
archetypal seeds. SPOILER ALERT, there's
at least 5 instances of supernatural aid, some of it
from monkeys and we are going to come back to Campbell later
to ask "Who really is the hero
of the RAMAYANA?" Keep that question in mind . Our version of the
RAMAYANA is a truncated version from thury and definies
introduction to mythologies textbook. We start our story
right at the beginning, from Rama's birth. His family
is really important, and there are lots of them.
So, it actually might not hurt to take notes. You got a pen? No? It's OK, I'll wait.
Okay, ready? Let's do this.
Rama is born the son of the Dasartha, the king of Kosala.
He has an auspicious birth. The first of four sons,
after a long period of kingly
infertility. And the king has three principle wives:
Kausalya, Rama's mama, Kaikeyi, who
gives birth to Rama's brother
Bharata, and Sumitra who has twins, Lakshmana
and Satrughna. All four princes are
very princely. Smart, polite, they look real sharp in fancy dress,
but Rama is clearly the princeliest. One day
day the sage of the Vishvamitra comes looking for help dealing
with the Rakshasas a group of demons, who were just
genuinely bad news. Rama, who was old enough to do
something about it, pledges to help Vishvamitra.
He and his brother Lakshmana, assist Vishvamitra in an important
sacrifice first, though. Earning top marks for both
piety and general heroic character. Afterwards,
Vishvamitra takes Rama and Lakshmana to a neighboring
kingdom, where they meet beautiful princess Sita.
Her father, the king, had promised Sita's hand
in marriage, to any man who can who can string
Shiva's bow, and no! that is not
a euphemism. Shiva has an incredible,
divine, massive,
bow, for arrows. So,
here's where Rama really distinguishes himself. He not only
strings the bow, he draws it with so much
force, that it breaks apart in his hands.
The king is satisfied, Rama and Sita are married.
Twelve years later, Dasartha decides to give up his
throne, and names Rama as successor.
In a moment of familial, political intrigue, tho.
Manthara, the maid servant to queen Kaikeyi,
convinces her that her son Bharata, Rama's
younger brother would be a better king.
Kaikeyi goes to Dasartha, and
begs him to fulfill the promise he made years before.
Dasartha resists at first, but is stuck
between his commitment. He makes Bharata king,
and banishes Rama to the forest, for
fourteen years. Rama, Sita and
Lakshmana, the loyal brother, head out together
in exile. The trio go to the Dandaka forest, where
over the next ten years, they adventure like,
woah! The defeat a demon named Viradha,
they visit a hermitage, they receive a magical bow, and
quiver with infinite arrows from the sage Agasthya Rama.
They even make friends with a celestial eagle named Jatayu.
who promises to watch over Sita,
whenever the two brothers go out hunting. Sadly,
the peace doesn't last. The Rashasa's learn of
Rama's exile in the Dandaka and send a fourteen
thousand-strong army after him.
Rama, armed with his magic bow,
defeats them all. In the face of such an upset, the demon
Ravana, who has ten heads, resolves
to get back at Rama. The weakness he can exploit?
Sita. Ravana orders the demon Maricha
to change into a beautiful golden deer,
and prance through the forest. When Sita sees it
she is entranced, so Rama and Lakshmana
go out to catch it. With Sita alone, Ravana
shows up disguised as a hermit. He proposes
marriage to Sita, who refuses.
Dadoy. Ravana then reveals his true
form and swipes her, carrying her off
in his flying chariot
all Sita can do as she struggles is drop bits of her jewellery
to a group of monkeys in the trees below
Hoping that Rama will figure out what has happened. Back in the forest
Rama kills the golden deer and returns to find
Sita gone. He and Lakshmana discover the wounded
Jatayu, who relates the whole story before...
expiring. Swearing to rescue Sita,
the two travel to seek out Ravana' lair. Their search
brings them to The Monkey Kingdom, where they meet
Sugriv, the Monkey King. At first
Sugriv mistrusts the two humans, but after
reassurance from his Chief councillor Hanuman, he decides to give them a
chance.
So Rama does what he does best. Boss
archery feats and Sugriv is so impressed that
they all become friends. The monkeys are happy to help Rama
rescue Sita but there's one problem: it's monsoon season
which makes travel very difficult. While he waits
Rama pines away for his missing wife
Finally, as the rains abate, Hanuman talks to Jatayu's
brother, the vulture Sampati and learns that Sita is being
held in Lanka, far across the sea
guarded by a group of titans and it just
so happens that Hanuman isn't any old monkey
but the Son of the Wind. So
he agrees to fly across the ocean and help
locate Sita. Hanuman arrives in Lanka only
to discover a grief stricken woman in ragged
clothes sitting beneath a tree in the Ashoka garden
It's Sita. He watches as Ravana enters
the garden and tries to convince her to marry him.
Sita rebuffs him yet again and he flies
into a rage, saying she has two months to change her
mind or he'll slice her up, cook her
and eat her.
This brings us to the Thought Bubble
After Ravana makes
his threat and leaves, Sita is stricken with grief
Her thoughts turn to suicide but at this exact
moment, Hanuman steps from his hiding
place. He tells Sita he brings Rama's good wishes
but Sita baulks. What If this is Ravana
in yet another disguise trying
to trick her
Hanuman proves who he is by presenting Rama's
signet ring
and offers Sita escape but Sita refuses
It's only proper that Rama be the one to rescue her
Hanuman flies back to Rama with this news
Rama is overjoyed to learn that his wife is safe
So, he leads a monkey army across the sea to Lanka
They battle Ravana's forces for several days
The struggle is dire. In the end it
all comes down to Rama's awesome archery expertise
He finally slays Ravana ending the skirmish
Sounds like a happy ending, right? Well,
not exactly
when Rama sees Sita, he says "I have
defeated my enemy annd avenged the insult to me.
This campaign was not undertaken wholly for
your sake; It was to uphold the honor
of my illustrious family. Your very sight
is now painful to me. For
no man of honor can take back a beautiful woman
who lived for a year in the house
of a titan. But Sita is undaunted. To
prove her faithfulness to Rama during captivity, she says
she will undergo a fire ordeal
She has Lakshmana raise a pire
and enters the flames
She is immediately taken up by the fire
god, unscathed, thus proving her purity
beyond the fire cast shadow of
Thank You! Thought Bubble.. Rama accepts Sita