The Ramayana Family Role
The Ramayana
Hindus are extremely respectful and prideful people with many strong core beliefs. These beliefs have been passed down through the ages in The Ramayana. Throughout this epic poem, Rama, his family, and many others exemplify what it means to be Hindu. Rama is considered to be a perfect Hindu and follows all aspects of Hinduism flawlessly. This includes following duty, honor, responsibilities based on a person’s place in society, and most important to Rama, family. In the epic The Ramayana, family is portrayed as the most important aspect to the Hindu belief. The importance of family is shown early in the epic when King Dasaratha begs of Viswamithra to not take Rama away from his family, or at least to wait till he’s older. Viswamithra wants to take him on a journey to perform a yagna, or a journey to conquer the five-fold evils. The king’s love for his son Rama was most likely the strongest of all relationships, greater even than that of husband and wife. Rama’s father assumed the role of a teacher his son and gave all his good aspects of learning to him while growing up. Since this father and son bond was so strong, the king had great difficulty in handing Rama and his brothers over to the sage and was said to have “the look of one delivering hostages into the hand of an enemy.”(Narayan, 10) On Rama’s journey, Rama met a beautiful princess who eventually became his wife, though only after proving her worthiness by completing the task of rebowing Vishnu’s bow. When King Dasaratha heard of this he swelled with pride and couldn’t have been more proud of Rama and his brothers. After marrying, Rama’s father treats him as his equal and even as a friend. Over time, Dasaratha grows old, and with the utmost trust and pride in his son Rama, decides to pass on his throne to him. However, one of Dasaratha’s wives forces the king to banish Rama from the city for fourteen years because of a past predicament. Dasaratha is tremendously heartbroken. The king
Hindus are extremely respectful and prideful people with many strong core beliefs. These beliefs have been passed down through the ages in The Ramayana. Throughout this epic poem, Rama, his family, and many others exemplify what it means to be Hindu. Rama is considered to be a perfect Hindu and follows all aspects of Hinduism flawlessly. This includes following duty, honor, responsibilities based on a person’s place in society, and most important to Rama, family. In the epic The Ramayana, family is portrayed as the most important aspect to the Hindu belief. The importance of family is shown early in the epic when King Dasaratha begs of Viswamithra to not take Rama away from his family, or at least to wait till he’s older. Viswamithra wants to take him on a journey to perform a yagna, or a journey to conquer the five-fold evils. The king’s love for his son Rama was most likely the strongest of all relationships, greater even than that of husband and wife. Rama’s father assumed the role of a teacher his son and gave all his good aspects of learning to him while growing up. Since this father and son bond was so strong, the king had great difficulty in handing Rama and his brothers over to the sage and was said to have “the look of one delivering hostages into the hand of an enemy.”(Narayan, 10) On Rama’s journey, Rama met a beautiful princess who eventually became his wife, though only after proving her worthiness by completing the task of rebowing Vishnu’s bow. When King Dasaratha heard of this he swelled with pride and couldn’t have been more proud of Rama and his brothers. After marrying, Rama’s father treats him as his equal and even as a friend. Over time, Dasaratha grows old, and with the utmost trust and pride in his son Rama, decides to pass on his throne to him. However, one of Dasaratha’s wives forces the king to banish Rama from the city for fourteen years because of a past predicament. Dasaratha is tremendously heartbroken. The king