The Great Epics

Ramayana  

Ramayana is the story of Sri Ramachandra (considered as the seventh incarnation of Vishnu), and his wife Sita.  Rama was the son of king Dasaratha and queen Kousalya of the kingdom of Ayodhya. He destroyed the demon king of Lanka called Ravana, who had abducted Sita. Rama was an ideal King. His reign was called the ‘Rama Rajya’, where righteousness, peace and prosperity,  were  the order of the day.

As a son, as a brother, as a husband and as a friend Rama is the perfect person.

There are two versions of the early work, the Adhyatma Ramayana by Vyasa,  which is a philosophical version and Valmiki Ramayana by sage Valmiki which is the popular version. Both are in the Sanskrit language.  The original has 24,000 couplets.

 Almost all Indian languages have their own versions.

Ramayana is celebrated through discourses, in dance and drama where-ever Hindus live. Ramayana ballet is performed in Indonesia with religious fervor, although Indonesia is a Moslem country.

  ‘Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare ’  
‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare’.

  Mahabharata

Probably the longest poem in the world, with 220,000 lines, divided into eighteen chapters (Parvas), narrated by Krishna Dwaipayana also known as Vyasa  with Lord Ganesha as the scribe.

  The Mahabharata is essentially a story about war and the collateral events, between royal cousins of a kingdom near Delhi, whose capital was ‘Hastinapura’. The royals were the five sons of King Pandu and known as Pandavas. (Dharamaraja, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva) and the,101 children of blind King ‘Dhritarastra’, known as Kauravas . (Duryodhana,  Dushyasana and 99 others).

  The Mahabharata is very fascinating in as much as it has Sri Krishna, (incarnation of lord Vishnu) as the divine force behind the Pandavas who had justice on their side. It is also fascinating, because of the larger than life characters whose life has all the elements of a Greek tragedy. The blind love of a father for his son who was wrong and vengeful, misplaced loyalty to the throne by a bunch of highly learned nobles, the silence of the family elders and priests when an attempt was made to disrobe the daughter-in-law of the family in open court, the wrath of this noble princess Draupadi, which eventually led to the destruction of the Kaurava clan. At the beginning of the war, that Lord Krishna had tried his best to prevent,  ‘Arjuna’   becomes dejected and does not want to fight his kith and kin. This is when, Krishna who was the chariator for Arjuna, reminds him of his duty (Karma) and convinces him to fight the holy war. This aspect is covered in the third and most important Hindu Epic- Bhagavadgita.  

Bhagavadgita

Gitopadesa

 Bhagavadgita, the song celestial of the Hindus, forms a part of the Bhishma Parva  of Mahabharata. The setting is the first day of the Mahabharata war,  when  the armies of the Pandavas and Kauravas were facing   each other in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, which is near  Delhi and known as Hastinapura in ancient times.

  When the war was about to begin, Arjuna the third brother among the Pandavas, who is also a great warrior and a master in archery, for whom Krishna himself was the chariator, gets dejected at the thought of killing his kith and kin, for the sake of a piece of the kingdom. Arjuna is almost ready to quit but Krishna gives him a discourse and convinces him that it was his Karmic duty to fight the holy war. And the Pandavas eventually win.

The Gita as it is popularly called, is the most influential book in Indian thought covering lessons in philosophy, ethics and religion, as also the most commented work in Hindu religion. It’s message of deliverance (Moksha) is the path of devotion (Bhakti)  as against the paths of Knowledge (Jnana) or Yoga which may not be within the reach of all. The most important message of the Gita is in the revelation,

 “ Karmanye vadhikarasye, maa phaleshu kadachana”, meaning,“ Do your duty regardless of consequences, giving up all desire for fruits”.

“Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare’.  
"Hare Rama,  Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.