Ramayana Told Through Paintings: Part One
by Series of chapters containing a brief narration of Ramayana, profusely illustrated with pictures.
On the banks of the Sarayu River stood the beautiful city of Ayodhya, capital of the ancient kingdom of Kosala. Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya, belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty, which was founded by Ikshvaku, the grandson of Surya or Sun.
Ayodhya; Source
Dasharatha had three wives—Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra—but no sons to succeed him, something that worried him no end. As advised by his Guru Vasishtha, Dasharatha performed a fire sacrifice or Yagna, and out of the sacrificial fire, a god appeared and gave a big bowl of sweet pudding or ‘payasam’ to Dashratha, directing him to give it to his wives.
In a somewhat quirky distribution of this ‘payasam’, the eldest queen Kausalya gets a major portion, where as Kaikeyi and Sumitra get the remaining, though Sumitra happens to get two shares of the apportioned ‘payasam’. The result is Kausalya gets Rama, Kaikeyi gets Bharata, and twins named Lakshmana and Shatrughna are born to Sumitra.
Three sons born to queens of Dasharatha after Yagna, Note Rama’s blue complexion; Source
In the kingdom of Mithila, King Janaka prepares to conduct a Yagna too. As a part of the ritual, he ploughs the land, and finds a casket with a girl child whom he names Sita.
Thai painting, Janaka finds Sita while ploughing the fields; Source
Dasharatha’s children grow sufficiently trained in archery under the guidance of Guru Vasishtha. From the childhood, Rama and Lakshmana are inseparable.
One day, Sage Vishwamitra comes to Ayodhya and asks Dasharatha to send Rama and Lakshmana to help him perform yagnas without fear of being disturbed by demoness Tataka and her sons Subahu and Maricha. The demons or the asuras often defiled the rituals, and tormented the Rishis.
Viswamitra’s request; Source
Dasharatha is unwilling to send his 16-year old sons ; instead, he is prepared to send his entire army in Vishwamitra’s aid. Vishwamitra is adamantly insistent that only the royal children will do. Fearing the sage’s ire, Dasharatha sends Rama and Lakshmana to accompany Vishwamitra to Dandakaranya forest.
Rama and Lakshmana kill Tataka and Subahu and hurl Mareecha into the sea, and drive away the swarm of demons. Maricha plays an important role in abducting Rama’s wife Sita later.
Vishwamitra and other sages receive invitation from Janaka requesting attendance for a yagna at Mithila. Vishwamitra takes the royal children along to Mithila, stopping at various Ashrams (hermitages) along the way. They cross the river Ganges, and Vishamitra tells them about the descent of Ganges from the heaven for the salvation of the sons of King Sagar, his ancestor, as a result of severe penance done by King Bhageerata, King Sagar’s great grandson.
They also come across the deserted hermitage of Sage Gautama. Vishwamitra narrates the story of how Indra, the king of gods or devas, has an amorous jaunt with Gautama’s wife Ahalya in the disguise of her husband. Gautama curses them both. He turns Ahalya into a stone for the tacit support she gives to Indra. Ahalya repents, and Gautama declares her virtue would be restored when Rama steps on her in the future.
When Rama steps into the Ashram, Ahalya is returned to her earlier virtuous life, and reunited with Sage Gautama.
Finally, they reached Mithila. King Janaka has also announced Sita’s ‘Swayamvaram’ – a process of self selection of groom by the bride. The condition, however, is that Sita would marry one who can lift the bow Lord Shiva has gifted to Janaka.
Sita is considered the incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi, the eternal consort of Lord Vishnu. The moment their eyes meet, Sita and Rama fall in love with each other instantly.
Although there are many strong contenders to win the hand of Sita, none of the kings can lift the bow. On Sage Viswamitra’s directive, Rama seeks the sage’s blessings and effortlessly picks up the colossal bow to string it and the bow snaps in two with a thunderous sound.
Rama Breaks Shiva’s bow; Source
Sita joyfully garlands Rama.
Drawing by Radhikita; Source
Janaka sends word to Dasharatha, and a wedding procession proceeds from Ayodhya and lands in Mithila. After the wedding Rama takes Sita to Ayodhya.
Thai painting, Rama weds Sita; Source
Continue reading: Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24
Liked it
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Post CommentCassle Tang
On July 18, 2011 at 1:01 pm
I should tell you that you are a very competent and diligent writer. I could see your great efforts in making this writing. It’s so beautiful and fully illustrated. Excellent work! There are lots of things about Ramayana I never knew before, so thanks for sharing.
vijayanths
On July 18, 2011 at 1:13 pm
great writing.
isloooboy
On July 18, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Amazing and informative
Divyam Yadav
On July 18, 2011 at 1:48 pm
oh…….i was not knoeing this……..
mona rastogi
On July 18, 2011 at 1:53 pm
great post
neopisiva
On July 18, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I found interesting the part of Valmiki and his meditation for the sins. Really well written, hope it brings you lots of views.
The Quail 1957
On July 18, 2011 at 2:46 pm
This is the excellence in excellent which I have often mentioned here on Triond! You keep up the great work! High Quality articles such as this one will be around for along time to come! Great job!
Jimmy Shilaho
On July 18, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Lovely stuff, there are very few books that rival the beauty of the Ramayana.
Jimmy Shilaho
On July 18, 2011 at 2:57 pm
I loved the pictures as well.
foxpete88
On July 18, 2011 at 3:19 pm
great, thanks for share.
pattiann
On July 18, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Very informative. I enjoyed reading it. Let us hope there are MANY more parts to go with part one.
The Silver Phoenix
On July 18, 2011 at 9:12 pm
simply awesome and mind-blowing. looking forward to part 2.
Raj the Tora
On July 19, 2011 at 4:19 am
lovely way to retell the epic! You remind me of my granny who use to tell these stories in my childhood days. How badly I miss those times!!!
sensation
On July 19, 2011 at 5:22 am
The well documented text of this great epic and the equally relevant photos made the article quite interesting.Great work.
kanivel
On July 20, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Quite imformative post. Though I know most of this, I still find it interesting enough to read again.
Meg Smith
On July 25, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Good story about pirate Ratnakara.
R K Vajpeyi
On July 29, 2011 at 8:43 am
Cool! Ramayana through pictures – A lovely idea.
nag81
On August 9, 2011 at 8:15 am
nice and great work
dablu
On August 17, 2011 at 9:15 am
Its enriching knowledge to read your posts. Thanx.
toomanysounds
On August 18, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Very interesting, great work!
K.Balaji
On September 20, 2011 at 4:06 am
It is an amazing effort on your part to have told this Great Epic in a very nice manner with a lot of pictures. I was searching for some Ramayana paintings to use in my preparing a video for a song and I happened to visit your page. Very much impressed. Can I seek your permission to make use of some pictures from here ? Please let me have your reply by mail to my id ’saransang@gmail.com’, for which act of kindness I will be very much obliged.
Thank you so much,
With Regards,
K.Balaji