RAM & RAVAN

FEATURING THE ENIGMA OF RAM

and RAM SETU TO LANKA

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 Dr.UdayDokras
Consultant - Vaastu /Astrology / Vedic Architecture

B.Sc., B.A. (Managerial Economics), LL.B., Nagpur University, India

Certificat enDroit, Queen’s University. Ontario, Canada,Ph.D. Stockholm University, Sweden,
Consultant, India/Bangkok/ Australia
Astrological Consultation & Advice
udaydokras@gmail.com- +91 7767990011 ( India)
8 Times 1000 BOOKS & 2500
#1in the world RESEARCH PAPERS-
inAcademia.edu./Researchgate
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January, 2025.

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 I

RAVANA

REASON for thr BIRTH of RamDrUdayDokras

Ravana the King of LANKA was the reason for the birth of Lord Ram and the
vishnu Avatar of Ram as a human. Who was this ASURA? What made him so
powerful? That the Gods could not kill him and sent Lord Ram as an
ASSASSIN. The continuation of my Paper ( and BOOK)

Rama (or Ramacandra) is the seventh avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. His
adventures include the slaying of the demon king Ravana which is
recounted in the VanaParva of the Mahabharata and in the Ramayana, the
oldest Sanskrit epic, written sometime in the 5th century BCE but with
some later additions.

Lord Rama, considered by many Hindus to be based on an historical figure, is

perhaps the most virtuous hero from Hindu mythology and he, along with
his wife Sita, are a picture of purity and marital devotion. Further, the
adventures of Rama illustrate above all the importance and rewards of
fulfilling one's pious duty or dharma.

Rama's Family

Rama's father is King Dasaratha, a prince of the solar race, and his mother is
Queen Kausalya. Rama was born at the end of the Second Age or Treta-
yuga and he came into the world specifically at the bidding of the gods to
deal with the fearsome multi-headed demon Ravana, the king of Lanka
(modern Sri Lanka). The great god Vishnu answered the gods' call and
appeared in a sacrificial fire made by Dasaratha. The pious king was
presented with a pot of nectar, and he gave half of it to Kausalya who
produced half-divine Rama as a consequence. Rama had three half-brothers
– Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna - all with some, albeit lesser, divine
qualities. Rama's favourite brother and great companion was Laksmana, son

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of Sumitra, while his loyal servant was the monkey warrior Hanuman (or
Hanumat).

Rama Meets Sita

Rama's first adventure occurred when the sage Visvamitra asked for help in
fighting a demon or raksasa. Rama and Laksmana, leaving their childhood
home at Ayodhya capital of the northern kingdom of Koshala, followed
Visvamitra to his home and there killed Taraka, a terrible female demon. In
gratitude Rama was given divine weapons, and he set off for more
adventures, ending up in Mithila. There Janaka the king of Videha hosted our
hero, and he met the king's beautiful daughter Sita (also called Janaki or
Maithili). The king had promised the princess in marriage to anyone who
could manage to bend a huge bow which had once been the weapon of the
great god Shiva. Rama, with his divine strength, did more than just bend the
bow but broke it in half and so won the hand of Sita, his first and most
revered wife.

'RAMA, THE BEST OF UPHOLDERS OF DHARMA, THE MASTER OF THE

WORLD' RAMAYANA

Rama's Exile

Rama's succession to the throne of Ayodhya was made difficult by his

mother's hunchback slave Manthara. Jealous of Rama, she soured the
opinion of Kaikeyi, Dasaratha's second wife, and convinced her to persuade
her husband to instead make Bharata heir to the throne. On top of this slight
Rama was exiled from the kingdom for fourteen years. So, accompanied by
Sita and his ever faithful companion Laksmana, Rama went to live in the far
south in Citrakuta, deep in the Dandaka forest. Meanwhile, Dasaratha died,
but Bharata, seeing the injustice of Rama's treatment, decided not to
become king but instead to search for and return Rama to his rightful home
and birthright. When the two brothers met once again, Rama obstinately
refused to return to Ayodhya until he had fulfilled his father's wishes and
served out his fourteen years of exile. After much discussion, Bharata agreed
to act as regent until that time, and to prove to his subjects Rama's decision,
he took his brother's shoes as a symbol of Rama's royal status.

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Rama, Sita, &Laksmana-Raja Ravi Press (Public Domain)

Rama &Ravana Clash

Rama did not stay still in the remainder of his exile but visited many sages.
Eventually, he ended up at Pancavati along the river Godavari, an area
plagued by demons. One in particular, Surpanakha, the sister of Ravana, fell
in love with Rama, and when her advances were resisted, she attacked Sita
in revenge. Laksmana was the first to react and cut off the ears and nose of
Surpanakha. Not best pleased with this treatment, the enraged demoness
gathered an army of demons to attack the trio. In an epic battle Rama
defeated them all; however, Surpanakha was not finished with the matter
and she persuaded Ravana that Sita was a girl worth fighting for.
Accordingly, the demon king sought out Rama's home, and while Rama was
distracted in the hunt for a deer (who was actually Ravana's magician
Maricha in disguise), abducted Sita, taking her back to Lanka in his
aerial chariot to be kept captive in his beautiful Ashoka garden.

Rama followed in hot pursuit but met several troublesome distractions along
the way. The first was the headless monster Kabandha. Killing the creature,
its departing soul proved more helpful and advised Rama that before

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confronting Ravana, our hero should enlist the help of Sugriva, king of the
monkeys. Finding on their arrival at Sugriva's capital Kiskindha that the king
had lost his throne to his brother Balin, Rama helped restore Sugriva to
power. A grateful Sugriva gave Rama use of an army and enlisted the help of
Hanuman, who besides being an able general was the son of the wind and
able to leap huge distances and take any form he wished. It was he who
magically transported Rama and his force to Lanka, crossing the rock bridge
built by the skilled general Nala, son of Visvakarma, which became known as
Rama's Bridge.

A series of titanic battles between Rama's forces and the demons followed,
but eventually Ravana was slain, Lanka fell to Rama's army, and our hero
was reunited with his wife. Rama was not entirely convinced that his wife
had remained loyal to him during her abduction, but Sita determined to
prove her honour by a test of fire, indeed the divine fire of Agni, no less.
Escaping the flames unscathed, Rama realized he had misjudged Sita, and
the couple headed back for Ayodhya where Rama reclaimed his throne and
began a golden era of government.

According to the Uttara Kanda the story continues with Rama still harbouring
suspicions about his wife's virtue during her captivity with Ravana. Rama
thus exiles Sita to live with the sage Valmiki, and it is there that she bears
him twin sons, Kusa and Lava. Eventually the sons return to Ayodhya where
Rama recognizes his offspring and, in a fit of remorse, recalls the wronged
Sita. In the Ramayana everyone lives happily ever after at this point, but in
the Uttara Kanda the tale is not quite finished. Still proclaiming her
innocence, Sita now swears her virtue on the earth itself which then
promptly swallows her by opening beneath her feet. Rama, now even more
distraught, vows to follow his wife to heaven, but Time appears to him in the
guise of an ascetic and calls for him to remain and fulfil his duty on earth.
Nevertheless, Rama wades into the river Sarayu and from there is welcomed
into heaven by Brahma.

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Ravana the Demon King-Henryart (Public Domain)

Worship & Representation in Art

Rama remains a figure of worship across India and South-east Asia but
especially in Oude and Bihar. He has, for example, a magnificent temple at
Ramesvaram, notable for its 17th century CE columned corridor. In addition,
the Ramanandis are the largest and perhaps strictest Vaishnava monastic
order. Rama is also considered by some Buddhists to be an avatar
of Buddha, and sculptures of the hero sometimes appears on the exterior
of Buddhist temples.

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In art Rama is always youthful and typically has green or blue skin, holds a
bow and arrows, and wears a yellow robe. He is most often seen with Sita,
Laksmana, and Hanuman – collectively known as Rama's family or Rama
Parivara. Episodes from the Ramayana are especially popular in
Hindu sculpture, wall paintings, and art in general, most of all forest scenes
with Rama hunting the deer and the epic battle with Ravana.

Ravana’s Mechanical Flying Peacock

Ravana’s forces of land, sea and air—c. 2009 relief mural at the Sanmira
Hotel, Unawatuna, Sri Lanka
In this essay, Justin Henry, a 2017-18 CAORC NEH Senior Research
Fellow, discusses the origins and implications of Ravana's flying
machine, a popular figure in Sri Lankan versions of the Ramayana
epic. All photos are courtesy of the author.

Last February while traveling along Sri Lanka’s southern coast, not far
outside of Galle I revisited the museum at the former home of Martin
Wickramasinghe (1890-1976)—the poet and novelist whose enduringly

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popular works inspired by his own rural village upbringing approximate him
as something of the “Mark Twain” of the island nation.
In addition to offering a walkthrough of Wickramasinghe’s house and garden,
the museum bills itself as a showcase of “traditional Sri Lankan heritage,”
featuring everything from a carriage house displaying an assortment of
horse and ox-drawn buggies and ploughs, to a gallery explaining the various
masks and costumes used in Sinhala stage dramas, to an exhibition on the
work of archaeologist Gill Juleff, who reconstructed an ingenious method of
harnessing monsoon winds to superheat iron smelting kilns in the island’s
southern mountains (possibly the source of the steel used to manufacture
the coveted “Damascus swords” of the middle ages).

In a case just beyond the museum’s entrance hulked a striking, life-sized,

painted wooden figure that I did not remember from my first visit over a
decade ago—a ten-headed statue of Ravana, the demon-king of the
Ramayana. The epic in brief—a story central to Hindu religious life for
centuries—tells the saga of Rama, a north Indian prince, and his bride, Sita.
In exile from their kingdom, Sita is captured by Ravana and held captive in
Lanka, island fortress of the rakshasa demons. Rama manufactures a stone
bridge to Lanka with the assistance of his monkey allies, slays Ravana, and
rescues Sita before returning to Ayodhya to reclaim the throne.

Sinhala palm-leaf manuscript of the “Tale of Ravana” (18th century)

My curiosity piqued, I inquired from our tour guide when, why and how it was
that this villain of Indian legend came to find a place in Martin

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Wickramasinghe’s home. He explained that the museum had acquired the
piece in 1983 from a festival chariot used by a Hindu temple in Jaffna.
“Ravana was a great king of Sri Lanka 8000 years ago,” he went on
earnestly. “And, you know, he had an airplane powered by a mercury vortex
engine. We had such technology in those days.”
This was not the last that I would hear of Ravana’s flying machine and its
“mercury vortex” propulsion during my four months as a CAORC fellow in Sri
Lanka this spring. Once I realized what the image was, the more I began to
see Ravana atop his dandu-monara (or “wooden peacock” in Sinhala)
everywhere I looked. For years a statue of airborne Ravana stood outside of
the international airport at Katunayake. Drawings of Ravana and his
technological marvel appear in Sinhala newspapers, on the covers of
paperbacks found in bookshops throughout the capital city of Colombo, and
even now in textbooks designed for secondary-school history courses. In the
mountain town of Ella—today a major tourist-hub, believed to have once
been the lair of the demon-king—amidst the dandu-monarabillboards,
Ravana themed hotels and cocktail menus, for $20 you can take a spin on
the “Flying Ravana” zipline. This April Sri Lanka sent its first research
satellite into low orbit around the earth, the “Ravana One.”

It is true that Sri Lanka lays claim to an impressive heritage of engineering

marvels: the intricate, state-maintained irrigation system of the ancient
kingdom of Anuradhapura; the stupas (reliquaries) of the island’s major
Buddhist schools of the first millennium (with the JetavanaAramaya standing
for centuries as the third tallest structure in the world, after the pyramids of
Khufu and Khafra at Giza); the 5th century plateau-top palace complex at
Sigiriya, “Lion Rock,” complete with elaborate bathing pools and fountains.

Ravana aboard his flying peacock (DevramVihara, Pannapitiya)

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What then do we make of Ravana’s flying peacock? Or, as the question is
often put bluntly to me when I describe my research, is it true, or is it a
myth?
My current book project explores the development of uniquely Sri Lankan
versions of the Ramayana story from the 14th century onwards, focusing on
the domestication of Ravana by both Tamil Hindus and Sinhala Buddhists,
who often make him out to be much more of a “good guy” than he is
understood to be by Indians. I attempt to account for the process by which
Ravana was transformed from a demon of Sanskrit lore to a historical,
human king of Sri Lanka, including his appearance in the 21st century as a
cultural hero among some Sinhala Buddhists, many of whom now trace their
ancestry to Ravana’s “Yakkha” (demon) tribe.
I argue that the “Sinhala Ravana” phenomenon represents a fully articulated
palingenetic myth, or wholesale re-writing of a national origin story, forged
within the triumphal mood following the Sri Lankan government’s victory
over the separatist Libertation Tigers of Tamil Elam one decade ago, and
enabled by the speed of travel of ideas and images in our current digital age.

As it turns out, Ravana’s flying peacock represents a near perfect metonym

for my overall thesis: that, while 21st century Ravana is popularly
understood to be an indigenous king of the island (and even by some
accounts the progenitor of Indic [or even world] civilization), his sui generis
Sri Lankan representation is in fact the product of centuries of synthesis of
regional literature and folklore, embellished in recent years by the global
“alternative media” multiverse freely accessible through the internet.

“All Aboard the

Dandumonara,” Ellement Hiking Bar & Restaurant, Ella
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In the original Sanskrit version of the Ramayana, Ravana does indeed
possess an aerial vehicle with which he abducts Princess Sita, though we are
given no indication of the specifics of its mechanics, nor any suggestion that
it resembles a bird (or peacock) in design. Indeed, vimanas or “flying
castles” are a staple narrative convention in a variety of South Asian Hindu,
Buddhist and Jain texts dating back in some cases more than 2000 years.
There is however in Sri Lanka a tradition of poetry and folklore—until
recently unconnected with Ravana—involving flying wooden peacocks,
usually associated with stories in which a carpenter’s son assists a prince in
building a mechanical bird, with the prince then using the contraption to
travel to a distant kingdom and seduce a princess.

Even Martin Wickramasinghe himself wrote a short children’s book based on

one such traditional folk story, the DandumonaraKathava. In these tales the
design of the peacock is given some visual contour: its wings flap to produce
lift, powered by the operator “peddling” (padinavā) from his cockpit seat,
with three ropes (attached to ailerons?) controlling direction and pitch. While
the Sinhala name for this device (the “wooden peacock,” dandu-monara) is
unique, the basic story motif and concept of the bird-machine is found
throughout India in various regional literature and oral traditions. The dandu-
monaraappears to be in fact one token of a broader literary genre
concerning mechanical contrivances—including human and animal automata
—found in such famed Sanskrit texts as the Pañcatantra (an ancient
collection of folktales) and the Kathasaritsagara (“Ocean of the Streams of
Stories”).

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1921 cover illustration of U.D. Johannes Appuhami’s poem, “The Story of the
Wooden Peacock,” based on a traditional Sinhala folktale.
Scholars have recently noted the coalescence in the 10th century of a pan-
regional interest in stories concerning “fountain houses” and “mechanical
gardens” complete with robotic fish, birds and other animals, apparently
developing out of literary exchange between the Fatamid, Byzantine,
Abbasid, north and central Indian empires of the time. This trade in “wonders
and marvels” would have involved translation between Latin, Greek, Arabic
and Sanskrit. In India the genre was related to a technical treatise by the
poet-king Bhoja (fl. 1025), the SamaranganaSutradhara, which includes a
chapter on machines blurring the lines between the magical and the
technical in its descriptions of elaborate plumming, automatically refilling oil
lamps, motorized menageries, robotic soldiers, and alchemically enabled
combustion engines. The text includes some specific instructions on the
construction of flying machines:
laghudārumayammahāvihaṅgaṃ dṛḍhasuśliṣṭatanuṃ vidhāyatasya
udarerasayantramādadhītajvalanādhāramadho’ syacātipūrṇam
tāruḍhapuruṣastasyapakṣadvandvoccālaprojjhitenaanilena
suptasvāntaḥ pāradasyāsyaśaktyā citraṃ kurvannambareyātidūram

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Having built a great bird made of light wood, with a fine, tightly knit outer
covering, and placing within its belly a mercury mechanism (rasa-yantram)
functioning as a receptacle for a blazing fire,
Through the power of that mercury (pāradasyaśaktyā) and the force of the
air released from the wings [of the bird] flapping in unison, a man mounted
atop it may travel a great distance through the sky, painting pictures [amid
the clouds], his mind altogether serene.
–Bhoja’sSamaranganaSutradhara, chapter 31, verses 95 and 96
No one can deny that Bhoja offers here a fantastic—perhaps even
technologically prescient—scene, leaving us to imagine not only a Da Vinci-
esque avian simulacrum, but also fiery jet engines, and either an intricate
form of contrail sky-writing, or a more romantic (if less physically plausible)
sport of cloud-croche.

We have no physical record of Bhoja’s wondrous inventions ever having been

actually constructed. He gives a few details concerning their hardware
(copper piping, elementary hydraulics) though no full schematics. While the
“wooden peacock” and other automata appear in a few medieval Sri Lankan
Sinhala and Pali works, the specific theme of the “mercury vortex engine”
seems to have come to the attention of modern Ravana enthusiasts through
online versions of DileepKanjilal’s short 1985 book, Vimana in Ancient India,
also a locus classicus in American “ancient aliens,” “alternative history,” and
other dubiously credentialed academic circles. (Kanjilal did himself read the
SamaranganaSutradhara, though his interpretation remains painfully
positivist in its outlook.)

What then is my answer to the “truth or myth” question when it comes to

Ravana’s airplane? While the demon-king has come for many to embody a
mono-ethnic narrative concerning the original people of Sri Lanka, there is
the potential for Ravana—both as a non- (or pre-) ethnic literary character,
and as a subject of historical study—to function as a signifier of a shared
heritage (Sinhala and Tamil, Buddhist and Hindu) of the people of the island.
To answer the “true or myth,” “real or fake” question in the binary fashion in
which it is posed is to capitulate to a form of literalism which distracts from
the more interesting possibility of treating Ravana as product of the
stratigraphy of regional and global literary influences that have shaped his
image in the 21st century. My answer therefore is to embrace the mystery of
Ravana—admitting, as is true, that I still do not understand him fully—while
inviting my interlocutor down with me into Ravana’s subterranean Lankan
kingdom, to see what other treasures and clues he may have left behind.

According to folk tales, DhaduMonaraya was the legendary pre-historic

aircraft of King Ravana of Sri Lanka. It was used by king Rawana to travel
among countries under his command. But no archeological evidence has

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been found anywhere in Sri Lanka to prove the existence of such an aircraft.
The Department of Archeology of Sri Lanka has rejected this story as a mere
fiction since there is no archeological evidence or credible historical records
to prove it.
According to the Sinhalese legend the Lakegala Rock is thought to mark the
location of the Lankapura Kingdom and King Ravana’s capital.
It is also said that Ravana met Princess Sita, the queen of Rama, beside this
rock. Most Meemure villagers believe that Lakegala is the place where King
Ravana flew his aeroplane DhaduMonara, which he used to
capture Sita from India.
Further it is believed that there are two cities in Sri Lanka called "Wariyapola,
which are believed to be the Airports that used for "Dandumonara" landing
and take off. In Sinhala "wa" means"air "and "riya"means "craft " and "pola"
means "place". Therefore, "wa+riya+pola" =Wariyapola. The place used for
the craft which flies by means of air.
Ramayana Places In Sri Lanka You Can Visit

W
e all know the importance of Ramayana in India and almost everybody is
aware of the events which took place in Lanka
between Ram and Ravan. The Lanka of Ramayana is present Sri Lanka and
you can find much evidence and proven proof in Sri Lanka where
Ramayana’s events occurred.There are more than 50 places in Sri Lanka
which are mentioned in Ramayana and related to its character. We are

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sharing 10 Ramayana related places in Sri Lanka which are connected to the
Ramayana with strong folklore and proofs.

Amman Temple located in SeethaEliya or NuwaraEliya, where Sita was

held captive by Ravana, according to legend Sita bathed in the river next to
the temple. Footprints of Lord Hanuman can be seen on the rock next to
the river. Some footprints are said to be small while others too big which tells
us about the power Lord Hanuman had to transform himself into any size.

2. SitaKotuwa

SitaKotuwa is one of the main places to visit while having a Ramayana Tour
in SriLanka, it was this place where Sita was held captive after kidnapping
by Ravana. The place is surrounded by a waterfall and beautiful stream and
the place was named ‘SithaKotuwa’ or ‘Sitha fort’ as Sita stayed here.

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According to the legend, Lord Rama after winning war with Ravana started
his journey back to Ayodhya. But he killed Ravana and acquired
BrahmanaHatyaDosham for killing a Brahman. So Lord Rama at
Munneswaram prayed to Lord Siva for a solution it was then Lord Shiv
advised him to install four Shivling to get rid of the Dosha. So Lord Rama
install Manavari, Thirukoneswaram, Thiruketheeswaram, and
Rameshwaramshivling and prayed them.

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4. Ram Sethu

Mannar is an island in the northwestern part of Sri Lanka and one

can visit Adam’s Bridge or Rama Sethu in Talaimannar which is also
one of the essential parts of Ramayana. Ram Sethu is a legendary
bridge built by Rama with the help of his army to reach Lanka.
5. PushpakaVimana

King Ravana brings Sita Devi in a PushpakVimana which is widely known

in Sri Lanka as the “DanduMonaraYanthranaya,” or Large Peacock
Machine in Sinhala, This is also called Gavagala.

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6. Sanjeevani Mountain Dolukanda

So
urce: source: https://www.trawell.in
Dolukanda is another famous place in Sri Lanka with a strong link to
Ramayana. According to legend, Lord Hanuman was asked by Rama to fetch
herbs to save Lakshman who was wounded during the war, and Hanuman
unable to identify the herb and brought the whole Sanjeevani Mountain.
while flying the mountain fell on five places in Lanka named as Dolukanda,
Rumassala, Ritigala, Thalladi, and Kachchativu.
Suggested Read: Shri Rama Navami

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7. Hanuman Temple in Ramboda

Source: Source: https://www.ramayanatours.com

Lord Hanuman is often called Anjaneyar by Tamils, as his mother’s name is
Anjan. On the hills of Ramboda Lord Hanuman is built where Lord Hanuman
is believed to have searched for Sita. The place is also known for Ramboda
Falls, there is also a lake nearby known as ‘Sita Tear Pond‘ it was said that
Sita Devi tear fell here.

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5. PushpakaVimana

King Ravana brings Sita Devi in a PushpakVimana which is widely known

in Sri Lanka as the “DanduMonaraYanthranaya,” or Large Peacock
Machine in Sinhala, This is also called Gavagala.

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7. Hanuman Temple in Ramboda

Source: Source: https://www.ramayanatours.com

Lord Hanuman is often called Anjaneyar by Tamils, as his mother’s name is
Anjan. On the hills of Ramboda Lord Hanuman is built where Lord Hanuman
is believed to have searched for Sita. The place is also known for Ramboda
Falls, there is also a lake nearby known as ‘Sita Tear Pond‘ it was said that
Sita Devi tear fell here.
8. Ravana Temple & Caves

Source: Source: https://www.visitella.com

Situated near Ella, Ravana Temple & Caves were build to connect various
locations of Ravanaempire, they were a secret passage which serves as
quick means of transport through the hills. Existing tunnel mouths are also
situated at Ishtripura in Welimada, Senapitiya in Halagala, Ramboda,
Labookelle, Wariyapola in Matale, and SeethaKotuwa in Hasalaka. The
Ravana Ella Falls and the Ravana Ella Cave are located close to the
Wellawaya and the valley is called Ella Gap.
Suggested Read: Gods of Hinduism

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9. Divurumpola

S
ource: Source: https://tripstarsrilankatours.com
Divurumpola is a place where Sita did ‘Agni Pariksha‘ to prove her
innocence. When Sita plunges into the fire, Agni the lord of fire prevented
any harm to Sita proving her innocence.
10. Sigiriya

Sigiriya, also known as Lion Rock, according to legend Sigiriya is one of the
places where Ravana kept Sita captive in Sri Lanka.

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Adam's Bridge, also known as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu,[b] is a chain
of natural limestone shoals, between Pamban Island, also known as
Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India,
and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka. Geological
evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection between India
and Sri Lanka.[2]

NASA satellite photo: India on top, Sri Lanka at the bottom

The feature is 48 km (30 mi) long and separates the Gulf of

Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the regions are
dry, and the sea in the area rarely exceeds 1 metre (3 ft) in depth, thus
hindering navigation.[2] It was reportedly passable on foot until the 15th
century when storms deepened the channel. Ramanathaswamy
Temple records say that Adam's Bridge was entirely above sea level until it
broke in a cyclone in 1480.[3][4]

Historical mentions and etymology

The ancient Indian Sanskrit epic Ramayana (7th century BCE to 3rd century
CE) written by Valmiki mentions a bridge[5] constructed by god Rama through
his Vanara (ape-men) army to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from
the Rakshasa king, Ravana.[5][6] The location of the Lanka of the Ramayana
has been widely interpreted as being present-day Sri Lanka making this
stretch of land Nala's or Rama's bridge. Analysis of several of the older
Ramayana versions by scholars for evidence of historicity have led to the
identification of Lankapura no further south than the Godavari River. These
are based on geographical, botanical, and folkloristic evidences as no
archaeological evidence has been found.[7][8] Scholars differ on the possible
geography of the Ramayana but several suggestions since the work of H.D.
Sankalia locate the Lanka of the epic somewhere in the eastern part of
present-day Madhya Pradesh.[9]

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The western world first encountered it in IbnKhordadbeh's Book of Roads and
Kingdoms (c. 850), in which he refers to it as Set Bandhai or Bridge of the
Sea.[10] Some early Islamic sources refer to a mountain in Sri Lanka
as Adam's Peak (where the biblical Adam supposedly fell to earth). The
sources describe Adam as crossing from Sri Lanka to India via the bridge
after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden,[11] leading to the name
of Adam's Bridge.[12] Alberuni (c. 1030) was probably the first to describe it in
such a manner.[10] A British cartographer in 1804 prepared the earliest map
that calls this area by the name Adam's bridge.[5]

Historical map of Adam's Bridge and environs, before the cyclone of 1964

Location
The bridge starts as a chain of shoals from the Dhanushkodi tip of
India's Pamban Island. It ends at Sri Lanka's Mannar Island. Pamban Island is
accessed from the Indian mainland by the 2-km-long Pamban Bridge. Mannar
Island is connected to mainland Sri Lanka by a causeway.

29
Landsat 7 image of Adam's Bridge/ Landsat 5 image of Adam's Bridge
Considerable diversity of opinion and confusion exist about the nature and
origin of this structure. In the 19th century, two significant theories were
prominent in explaining the structure. One considered it to be formed by the
process of accretion and rising of the land. At the same time, the other
surmised that it was established by the breaking away of Sri Lanka from the
Indian mainland.[13] The friable calcareous ridges later broke into large
rectangular blocks, which perhaps gave rise to the belief that the causeway
is an artificial construction.[14]
According to V. Ram Mohan of the Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster
Studies of the University of Madras, "reconstruction of the geological
evolution of the island chain is a challenging task and has to be carried out
based on circumstantial evidence".The lack of comprehensive field studies
explains many of the uncertainties regarding the nature and origin of Adam's
Bridge. It mostly consists of a series of parallel ledges of sandstone and
conglomerates that are hard at the surface and grow coarse and soft as they
descend to sandy banks.
Studies have variously described the structure as a chain of shoals, coral
reefs, a ridge formed in the region owing to thinning of the earth's crust, a
double tombolo,[17] a sand spit, or barrier islands. One account mentions that
this landform was formerly the world's largest tombolo. The tombolo split
into a chain of shoals by a slight rise in mean sea level a few thousand years
ago. The tombolo model affirms a constant sediment source and a high uni-
directional or bi-directional (monsoonal) longshore current.
The Marine and Water Resources Group of the Space Applications
Centre (SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) concludes
that Adam's Bridge comprises 103 small patch reefs. The SAC study, based
on satellite remote sensing data but without actual field verification, finds
the reefs lying in a linear pattern. The feature consists of the reef crest
(flattened, emergent, especially during low tides, or nearly emergent
segment of a reef), sand cays (accumulations of loose coral sands and beach

30
rock) and intermittent deep channels. Other studies variously designate the
coral reefs as ribbon and atoll reefs.
The geological process that gave rise to this structure has been attributed in
one study to crustal down warping, block faulting, and mantle plume activity.
[20]
In contrast, another theory attributes it to continuous sand deposition and
the natural process of sedimentation, leading to the formation of a chain of
barrier islands related to rising sea levels.[19] Another theory affirms the
origin and linearity of the bridge to the old shoreline (implying that the two
landmasses of India and Sri Lanka were once connected) from which
shoreline coral reefs developed.
Another study attributes the origin of the structure to longshore
drifting currents which moved in an anticlockwise direction in the north and
clockwise direction in the south of Rameswaram and Talaimannar. The sand
could have been dumped in a linear pattern along the current shadow zone
between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar with the later accumulation of corals
over these linear sand bodies. [21] In a diametrically opposing view, another
group of geologists propose a crustal thinning theory, block faulting and a
ridge formed in the region owing to thinning and asserts that development of
this ridge augmented the coral growth in the area and in turn coral cover
acted as a 'sand trapper'.
One study tentatively concludes that there is insufficient evidence to indicate
eustatic emergence and that the raised reef in southern India probably
results from a local uplift.[22] Other studies also conclude that, during periods
of lowered sea level over the last 100,000 years, Adam's Bridge has provided
an intermittent land connection between India and Sri Lanka. According to
famous ornithologists Sidney Dillon Ripley and Bruce Beehler, this supports
the vicariance model for speciation in some birds of the Indian Subcontinent.
[23]

Age

The studies under "Project Rameswaram" of the Geological Survey of

India (GSI), which included dating of corals, indicate Rameswaram Island
evolved beginning 125,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of samples in this
study suggests the domain between Rameswaram and Talaimannar may
have been exposed sometime between 7,000 and 18,000 years
ago. Thermoluminescence dating by GSI concludes that the dunes between
Dhanushkodi and Adam's Bridge started forming about 500–600 years ago.
[19]

Another study suggests that the appearance of the reefs and other evidence
indicate their recency, and a coral sample gives a radiocarbon age of
4,020±160 years BP. A team from Centre for Remote Sensing
(CRS), Bharathidasan University, led by S.M. Ramasamy dated the beaches
of the Adam's Bridge structure to approximately 3,500 years, [24] concluding
that the land/beaches between Ramanathapuram and Pamban were formed

31
due to the longshore drifting currents. About 3,500 years ago, the currents
moved in an anticlockwise direction in the north and in the clockwise
direction in the south of Rameswaram and Talaimannar. In the same study,
carbon dating of some ancient beaches between Thiruthuraipoondi and
Kodiyakarai shows the Thiruthuraipoondi beach dates back to 6,000 years
and Kodiyakarai around 1,100 years ago.

Pearl fishing in the Gulf of Mannar, c. 1926

Due to shallow waters, Adam's Bridge presents a formidable hindrance to

navigation through the Palk Strait. Though trade across the India–Sri Lanka
divide has been active since at least the first millennium BC, it was limited to
small boats and dinghies. Larger ocean-going vessels from the west have
had to navigate around Sri Lanka to reach India's eastern coast. [26] Eminent
British geographer Major James Rennell, who surveyed the region as a young
officer in the late 18th century, suggested that a "navigable passage could
be maintained by dredging the strait of Ramisseram [sic]". However, little
notice was given to his proposal, perhaps because it came from "so young
and unknown an officer", and the idea was only revived 60 years later.
In 1823, Sir Arthur Cotton (then an Ensign), was assigned to survey
the Pamban channel, which separates the Indian mainland from the island of
Rameswaram and forms the first link of Adam's Bridge. Geological evidence
indicates that a land connection bridged this in the past, and
some Ramanathaswamy Temple records suggest that violent storms broke
the link in 1480. Cotton suggested that the channel could be dredged to
enable passage of ships, but nothing was done until 1828, when Major Sim
directed the blasting and removal of some rocks.
A more detailed marine survey of Adam's Bridge was undertaken in 1837 by
Lieutenants F. T. Powell, Ethersey, Grieve, and Christopher, along with
draughtsman Felix Jones, and operations to dredge the channel were
recommenced the next year.[27][29] However, these and subsequent efforts in
the 19th century did not succeed in keeping the passage navigable for any
vessels except those with a light draft.[2]
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

32
Opposition parties demanded implementation of the Sethusamudram canal
project using one of the five alternative alignments considered earlier by the
Government, without damaging the structure of Adam's Bridge.

The Government of India constituted nine committees before independence,

and five committees since then, to suggest alignments for a Sethusamudram
canal project. Most of them suggested land-based passages across
Rameswaramisland, and none recommended alignment across Adam's
Bridge. The Sethusamudram project committee in 1956 also strongly
recommended to the Union government to use land passages instead of
cutting Adam's Bridge because of the several advantages of land passage.
In 2005, the Government of India approved a multi-million
dollar Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. This project aims to create a
ship channel across the Palk Strait by dredging the shallow ocean floor
near Dhanushkodi. The channel is expected to cut over 400 km (nearly 30
hours of shipping time) off the voyage around the island of Sri Lanka. This
proposed channel's current alignment requires dredging through Adam's
Bridge.
Indian political parties including the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), All India
Anna DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK), RashtriyaJanata
Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) and some Hindu organisations oppose
dredging through the shoal on religious grounds. The contention is that
Adam's Bridge is identified popularly as the causeway described in
the Ramayana. The political parties and organizations suggest alternate
alignment for the channel that avoids damage to Adam's Bridge.The then

33
state and central governments opposed such changes, with the Union
Shipping Minister T. R Baalu, who belongs to
the DravidaMunnetraKazhagam and a strong supporter of the project
maintaining that the current proposal was economically viable and
environmentally sustainable and that there were no other alternatives.
Opposition to dredging through this causeway also stems from concerns over
its impact on the area's ecology and marine wealth, potential loss
of thorium deposits in the area and increased risk of damage due
to tsunamis.[37] Some organisations oppose this project on economic and
environmental grounds and claim that proper scientific studies were not
conducted before undertaking this project.

A 19th-century painting depicting a scene from Ramayana, wherein monkeys

are shown building a bridge to Lanka.

Indian culture and religion include legends that the structure is of

supernatural origin. According to the Hindu epic, Ramayana, Ravana, the
demon king of Lanka (Sri Lanka) kidnapped Rama's wife Sita and took her to
Lankapura, doing this for revenge against Rama and his
brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of Ravana's
sister, Shurpanakha. Shurpanakha had threatened to kill and eat Sita if Rama
did not agree to leave her and marry Shurpanakha instead. To rescue Sita,
Rama needed to cross to Lanka. Brahma created an army
of vanaras (intelligent warrior monkeys) to aid Rama. Led by Nila and under
the engineering direction of Nala, the vanaras constructed a bridge to Lanka
in five days. The bridge is also called NalaSetu, the bridge of Nala. [39] Rama
crossed the sea on this bridge and pursued Ravana for many days. He fired
hundreds of golden arrows which became serpents that cut off Ravana's
heads, but ultimately had to use the divine arrow of Brahma (which had the
power of the gods in it and cannot miss its target) to slay Ravana.
None of the early Ramayana versions provide geographical identifications
that directly suggest that Lankapura was Sri Lanka. Versions of the
Ramayana reached Sri Lanka in the sixth century but identifications of Sri
Lanka with the land of Ravana are first noted in an 8th-century inscription
from southern India. The idea that Sri Lanka was the Lankapura of the

34
Ramayana is thought to have been promoted in the tenth century by Chola
rulers seeking to invade the island and the identification of Sri Lanka as
Ravana's land was supported by rulers of the Aryacakravarti dynasty who
considered themselves guardians of the bridge. The idea of Rama Setu as a
sacred symbol to be appropriated for political purposes strengthened in the
aftermath of protests against the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

Controversy over origin

Religious beliefs that the geological structure was constructed by Rama have
caused some controversy as believers reject the natural provenance of
Adam's Bridge. Some of the more transient structures such as the beaches
having ages that are within hundreds or thousands of years (see the above
section on age) has provided fodder for speculation. For example, S.M.
Ramasamy stated, "as the carbon dating of the beaches roughly matches the
dates of Ramayana, its link to the epic needs to be explored". Some have
gone even further; S. Badrinarayanan, a former director of the Geological
Survey of India, a publication of the National Remote Sensing Agency, a
spokesman for the Indian government in a 2008 court case, [47] the Madras
High Court, and an episode from the Science Channel series What on Earth?
[49]
have all either explicitly or implicitly claimed that the ancient Hindu myth
of Lord Ram building the structure could be literally true, contrary to the
scientific facts of the matter.
In the What on Earth? episode, those claiming that Adam's Bridge was
constructed based their arguments on vague speculation, false implications,
and the point that – as with many geological formations – not every detail of
its formation has been incontrovertibly settled. [50] Indian Geologist C. P.
Rajendran described the ensuing media controversy as an "abhorrent"
example of the "post-truth era, where debates are largely focused on
appeals to emotions rather than factual realities.

35
36
Other scientists in India and elsewhere have consistently rejected a
supernatural explanation for the existence of the structure.NASA said that its
satellite photos had been egregiously misinterpreted to make this point: "The
images reproduced on the websites may well be ours, but their interpretation
is certainly not ours. [...] Remote sensing images or photographs from orbit
cannot provide direct information about the origin or age of a chain of
islands, and certainly, cannot determine whether humans were involved in
producing any of the patterns seen."

37
A report from the Archaeological Survey of India found no evidence for the
structure being anything but a natural formation. [19] The Archaeological
Survey of India and the government of India informed the Supreme Court of
India in a 2007 affidavit that there was no historical proof of the bridge being
built by Rama. In 2017 the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)
announced that it would conduct a pilot study into the origins of the
structure, but then, in April 2018, the ICHR announced that it would not
conduct or fund any further study to determine whether the Adam’s Bridge
was a human-made or a natural structure, stating "It is not the work of
historians to carry out excavations and work like that. For that, there are apt
agencies such as the Archaeological Survey of India.

In 2007, the Sri Lankan Tourism Development Authority sought to promote

religious tourism from Hindu pilgrims in India by including the phenomenon
as one of the points on its "Ramayana Trail", celebrating the legend of Prince
Rama. Some Sri Lankan historians have condemned the undertaking as "a
gross distortion of Sri Lankan history".
The debate about whether the Palk Strait is natural or a man-made bridge is
going on from years. Many discussions have led to some interesting things
that make us astonished about Ram Setu. Ram Setu or Rama's Bridge is a
causeway that is created across the sea connecting Pamban Island in Tamil
Nadu to Mannar Island in Sri Lanka. Scientific studies have determined that
the Palk Strait is a natural bridge formed by limestone shoals.
However, the Hindu religious theories believe that it is the bridge
constructed by Lord Rama and his Vanara (monkey) army as mentioned in
the epic Ramayana. Surprisingly, this causeway is visible from an aerial view
even to this day. The whole issue of Ram Setu is mysterious and that makes
us to talk about it even more! 1. Is it Man-Made According to Hindu

38
mythology, it was built by Lord Rama with the help Vanara(monkey) army.
He had to construct this bridge to reach Sri Lanka as his wife Sita was
kidnapped and was imprisoned there. Surprisingly, the time of
Ramyana( 5000 BCE) and the carbon analysis of the bridge sync properly.
Photo Courtesy:
Is it Man-Made ?We can confirm a mythology only through the historical
evidence. Some believe Ram Setu is the only archaeological and historical
evidence of Ramayana. The detailing of the construction in the epic can be
related to some scientific theories. However, it is hard to believe everything
through a mythological perspective. Photo Courtesy:
AbhimanyuArulmiguPorkodiamman Temple Hosts 'YeriThiruvizha' Every Year
2. Walkable Bridge It is said that Rama's bridge was above the sea level.
Even some historical records suggest that it was walkable till the 15th
century. Even theestimated depth is around 3 - 30 ft in the area of this
causeway. Photo Courtesy: PlaneMad Best Summer Vacations In Tamil Nadu.
What's With So Many Names! Ram Setu is also called as Adam's Bridge,
NalaSetu and Setu Banda. Ram Setu as it was built by Rama and his army. It
is said NalaSetu because it was Nala who was the architect (designed) the
bridge in Ramayana. The name Adam's Bridge comes from some ancient
Islamic texts referring to the Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka (Adam is suppose to
fallen in this part of earth).

The Reefs of Palk Strait Scientific studies reveal that it is a linear sequence of
coral reefs or the limestone reefs. According to science, it is a naturally
formed causeway which connects the Pambam Island to Mannar Island.
Photo Courtesy: Nataraja~commonswiki Round About For Ships!
Eventhough, the Adam's Bridge is inside the water the ships cannot sail on it.
The water here is shallow with the level of depth varying at certain points.
Hence, ships from India have to take another round about route to reach Sri
Lanka. Photo Courtesy: Ajay Goyal 6. Mysterious & Surprising The studies of
Oceanography suggests that the bridge is 7000 years old. Interestingly, the
carbon dating of beaches near Dhanushkodi and Mannar Island sync with the
date of Ramayana.

Ambitious SetuSamudram Project SetuSamudram Project is a proposed

bridge to build over the Palk Strait. The idea is to have a short-cut route from
Pamban Island to Mannar Island in Sri Lanka. Religious Uproar
AgainstSetuSamudram Project Hindus believe that Ram Setu is a holy site
and hence no other man-made bridge should be constructed over it. As seen
from science perspective, this might destroy the natural reefs which has
existed in the sea from a long time.

39
 Interesting Floating Stones Ramayana mentions that the Setu Banda was
constructed with floating stones. Surprisingly, such floating stones are
scattered across Rameswaram even to this day. Scientific theories suggest
that some volcanic rocks do float in water. This might explain the linear
formation of rocks which form this bridge. Photo Courtesy: Neechalkaran 10.
Man Versus Natural To think about it as man-made is rather interesting.
Looking at its depth, it is possible that Ram Setu was once above the sea
level. It is also possible that the rise of sea level over the years has
submerged this causeway. In nature's perspective, it is rather exciting to see
such a long formation of reefs which have existed for so many years.

40
41
Floating stones like described in the Ramayana

42
43
Supreme Court agrees to hear Subramanian Swamy’s plea on Ram Setu
BJP leader has sought national heritage monument status for
structure
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on March 9 a plea
by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to declare Ram Setu a national
heritage monument.
In a mentioning made before Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Mr.
Swamy said the case was pending for a long time and concerned an
important issue.
The CJI acknowledged Mr. Swamy's sense of urgency and asked
whether the government had filed its response. Mr. Swamy said it
had filed affidavits in the past.
The case had been similarly mentioned by Mr. Swamy in April last
year before the then CJI Justice S.A. Bobde.
Justice Bobde, who was due to retire in a few days, had said the case
could be taken up in due course of time by his successor and present
CJI Justice Ramana.
On January 23, 2020, the court similarly said it would consider the
plea after three months.
Ram Setu, also known as Adam's Bridge, is a chain of limestone
shoals between Pamban Island orRameswaram Island, off the south-

44
eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and Mannar Island, off the north-
western coast of Sri Lanka.
The BJP leader had earlier raised the issue of declaring Ram Setu as a
national monument in his PIL plea against the controversial
Sethusamudram Ship Channel project, initiated by the UPA-I
government. The matter reached the Supreme Court, which in 2007
stayed the work for the project on Ram Setu.
The Centre had later said that it considered the "socio-economic
disadvantages" of the project and was willing to explore another
route to the shipping channel project without damaging Ram Setu.
"The Government of India intends to explore an alternative to the
earlier alignment of Sethusamudram Ship Channel project without
affecting/damaging Adam's Bridge/Ram Setu in the interests of the
nation," the affidavit filed by the Ministry had said.
The Sethusamudram shipping channel project has been facing
protests from some political parties, environmentalists and certain
Hindu religious groups.
Under the project, a 83 km-long deep water channel was to be
created, linking Mannar with Palk Strait, by extensive dredging and
removal of limestone shoals.

Japanese Hanuman

1. Did Rama really exist?

45
Is Rama Historical? While divinity is a matter of faith, Historicity is a matter
of existence. In the last 100 years giant strides have been made in
understanding History using modern scientific rules. So let us look at the
Ram Setu with a fresh scientific prospective and try to differentiate between
myth and reality…
2. The description of Ram Setu in Ramayana

The building of Rama's bridge is described in the chapter titled ‘Yuddha

Kanda’ of the Ramayana, but the description is rather vague. When Rama
wants to use an arrow to dry up the ocean, the ocean god says: O, excellent
man! This one, named Nala, a glorious person, is the son of Vishvakarma;
who was given a boon by his father and is equal to Visvakarma. Let this
greatly energetic monkey build a bridge across me. I can hold that bridge.
3. Description of the bridge

From here and there the monkeys brought Palmyra trees, pomegranate
shrubs, coconut and Vibhitaka, Karira, Bakula and neem trees. The huge
bodied monkeys with mighty strength uprooted elephant-sized rocks and
mountains and transported them by mechanical contrivances. The water,
raised up due to sudden throwing of mountains in the sea. The rocks
befalling on all sides perturbed the ocean. Some others drew up strings a
hundred Yojanas long (to keep the rocks in a straight line.)
4. Neel and Nala’s role

Nala on his part initiated a monumental bridge in the middle of the ocean.
Some monkeys were holding poles for measuring the bridge and some
others collected the material. Reeds and logs resembling clouds and
mountains, brought by hundreds of monkeys, lead by the command of Rama,
fastened some parts of the bridge. On the first day, fourteen Yojanas of
bridge were constructed by the monkeys speedily. In the same manner, on
the second day twenty Yojanas of bridge were constructed.
5. The description isn’t enough

The passage isn't explicit about the role of the trees, but it provides some
indication; it says that the logs "fastened some parts of the bridge". This is
all just speculation. TulsiDas'Ramcharitmanas provide more detail about Nila
and Nala getting a curse that would make anything they throw into the water
float, but such specificity isn't there in the original Ramayan's account of the
building of the bridge.
6. Incredible facts about Rama Setu

46
Rama Setu took 5 days to build by 10 Million Vanaras (Monkeys) under the
supervision of Architects Neel and Nala. Age and Structure Rama Setu is 1.7
Million Years Old. It is believed that RAMA Setu is made of a chain of
limestone shoals. It is 30 Km Long and 3 Km Wide. It Starts from
Dhanushkodi tip of India’s Pamban Island and ends at Sri Lanka’s Mannar
Island. Sea in these areas is very shallow.
7. Mystery of Floating Stones

In Ramayan it is mentioned that the bridge was built by Stones and these
stone starts Floating on water by touch of Nala& Neel. Some such stones
were scattered at Rameswaram during the Tsunami ,these stones still float
on water. Many Geologist says RAMA Setu is built by natural process but
failed to Provide enough proofs. Apart from Ramayana there are several
facts which say Rama Setu is Man-made Structure.
8. Facts that prove it is Man Made

The places mentioned in Ramayan exactly matches to the current location of

the bridge. Temple records say that Rama’s Bridge was completely above
sea level until it broke in a cyclone in AD 1480. Ram Setu was walkable till
1480 AD. NASA Says what had been captured by satellite is naturally
occurring chain of sandbanks.
9. Ram Setu is not God’s miracle

Battle between Science & Spirituality is running over a decade. Science relies
on logics , facts & proofs whereas Spirituality is largely related to belief.
According to Hindu belief Ram Setu was built by Lord Rama to cross the sea.
Stones used to make the bridge floated on water because Rama was written
on stones. But there is a complete scientific explanation why stones floated
on water & why now Ram Setu is under water.
10. A scientific possibility

If air is trapped within a shell of silica it would look like a stone but would
actually be very light and would thus float. Another example is Ice. When put
into glass having liquid, ice floats on liquid & after some time it sinks.
Another prime example is of “Pumice” stone.
11. About Pumice stone

Pumice is one such stone that floats on water. Pumice is the name given to
the hardened foam of lava when it comes out of a volcano. The inside of a
volcano has very high pressure, and can be as hot as 1600 degree Celsius.

47
When the lava comes out of the volcano, it meets the cool air (and
sometimes sea water), which is around 25 degree Celsius.
12. Two things happen immediately

Air and water that were mixed in the lava bubble out, as the pressure falls.
The huge difference in temperature gives the lava a ‘cold shock’, so it
freezes almost immediately. So the bubbles get trapped in the freezing
stone, giving it a very spongy appearance. In some kinds of pumice, the
bubbles can make upto 90% of the volume.
13. Dense stones do not float on water

But because pumice is full of air bubbles, it is less dense than water. So in
the beginning it will float. But in time, water will enter the bubbles driving
out the air. Slowly, the pumice sinks. This also explains why the Ram Setu is
under water today. Pumice doesn’t float forever. However, this theory is not
100 per cent correct. Read on to know how some scientists dismiss the
Pumice stone theory….
14. Strange floating stones of Rameshwaram

Some floating stones are found on the coastal regions of Rameshwaram.

These stones are similar to any other stone and possess the same features,
physical and chemical composition like the stone you may find in your
locality. Seeing these stones from a far distance, you may feel that this stone
is made of corals but on physical examination, it is found that this is not a
coral stone...and neither is it a pumice stone!
15. Debunking the Pumice stone theory

There is no volcano near Rameshwaram nor is there any evidence which

claims the existence of volcano in the areas surrounding Rameshwaram over
the last few millions of years. Also, floating stones of Rameshwarm are not
light weighted like pumice rocks and doesn’t have the chemical composition
similar to pumice rocks.
16. There is no exception

It might be possible that this is some special kind of heavy pumice rocks
found only at Rameshwaram but if this would have been the case, then it
would have been confirmed by Indian archeologists. According to visitors,
some of the stones do look like pumice but are extremely heavy to be called
as pumice. Also, color of the pumice rocks is white or creamish in color but
there are many black floating stones in Rameshwaram.
17. NASA images of Ram Setu

48
This bridge made of floating stones can still be seen between India and Sri
Lanka from Rameshwaram, the place where Lord ram prayed to lord Shiva
and started the construction of the bridge. Since this story is very old and
unproven, many historians, scientists and archaeologists deny accepting this
bridge to be built by lord Rama but at the same time they are unable to
explain the concept of floating stones found in Rameshwaram.
18. It’s not Ram Setu but corals?

Scientist has been claiming far and wide that the stones of ram setu are
actually coral formation. Nasa scientists even release the photo where they
claims the Ram setu underwater bridge to be coral formation. Take a look at
the image release by their space shuttle.
19. No, there is definitely a bridge out there!

There is nothing like floating coral because coral is calcium carbonate, and
its chemical composition is too dense to float on water. Geologist claims that
after years of formation of layers on ocean bed, coral stones are formed
within the layer, but when they were asked why these stones were formed
only in Rameshwaram and nowhere else there were no answers. Also, coral
stones don’t occur naturally in the sea, they occur only on hard surface.
20. Unknown science behind floating stones

Until the scientists come up with a convincible theory maybe we can

consider Rama Setu as an engineering masterpiece. The technology once
existed to make stones float on water and the architect like Nala and Neela
were too advanced in building a bridge from India to Sri Lanka within 5 days
with the help of dedicated work force of million Vanaras.
Edit : Ram never built Rama Sethu or the Adams Bridge and the chain of
small islets between India and Sri Lanka is the result of a natural geographic
process. And if NASA is to be believed, it has found similar sand bars in other
parts of the world too.
In reply to a mail sent by a Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP)
official, NASA replied, Our office supports only astronaut photography of the
Earth. The chain of small islets connecting India and Sri Lanka are real
geographical features that have been mapped for centuries. Chains of
islands form a variety of natural geological processes and their occurrence is
not evidence of any human activity.
In an email to NASA, the SSCP official had written, Here in India, a burning
question is going on whether this bridge is man-made or not. He had
mentioned three theories being floated to explain the phenomenon. Besides
the mythological version that it was part of the bridge constructed by
Hanuman to enable Ram to travel to Lanka to fight Ravan, one theory goes

49
that the area is covered by shallow water and the sediments underneath
appear like a narrow bridge. The third group says the bridge is a peak of a
large mountain that has submerged.
Sethusamudram project, the 167-km channel to link the Gulf of Mannar and
the Bay of Bengal through the Palk Bay, would bring enormous economic
benefits to the country. Shipping companies also stood to gain from the
project, SSCP MD and chairman of Tuticorin Port Trust NK Raghupathy said.
The new channel through Rameswaram, scheduled to be completed in
November 2008, will provide a navigable sea route around the Indian
peninsula and the distance between Cape Comorin and Chennai would be
reduced to 402 nautical miles from the present
Source : www.speakingtree.in

Giant Hanuman uses his tail as bridge for Rama's army (Thai Ramayana
mural)
Hanuman uses his tail as a bridge for Rama's army, as seen on a mural at
the Emerald Buddha Temple. On the way to Lanka to rescue Sita, Rama's
army cannot cross a wide river. Hanuman, who is able to change his form,
enlarges himself enough that his tail can serve as a bridge for Rama's army.
In this image, a huge Hanuman lies crouched on his stomach on the bluff at
right with his tail extended and wrapped around rocks on the bluff at left.
Hanuman's open-mouthed face looks back over his right shoulder to watch
the tiny figures crawling along his tail. Rama's soldiers straddle the "tail
bridge" and carefully cross the river from the left side over Hanuman's tail.
Rama and his brother Laksman oversee their soldiers' safe crossing from a
lookout on the left side. White clouds, a rocky island, and the open water are
visible in the background.

50
 II
Ravana’s Mechanical Flying Peacock and the RAM SETU

51
Dr UdayDokras

Ravana’s forces of land, sea and air—c. 2009 relief mural at the Sanmira Hotel, Unawatuna, Sri
Lanka
In this essay, Justin Henry, a 2017-18 CAORC NEH Senior Research Fellow, discusses the
origins and implications of Ravana's flying machine, a popular figure in Sri Lankan versions
of the Ramayana epic. All photos are courtesy of the author.

Last February while traveling along Sri Lanka’s southern coast, not far outside of Galle I
revisited the museum at the former home of Martin Wickramasinghe (1890-1976)—the poet and
novelist whose enduringly popular works inspired by his own rural village upbringing
approximate him as something of the “Mark Twain” of the island nation.
In addition to offering a walkthrough of Wickramasinghe’s house and garden, the museum bills
itself as a showcase of “traditional Sri Lankan heritage,” featuring everything from a carriage
house displaying an assortment of horse and ox-drawn buggies and ploughs, to a gallery
explaining the various masks and costumes used in Sinhala stage dramas, to an exhibition on the
work of archaeologist Gill Juleff, who reconstructed an ingenious method of harnessing
monsoon winds to superheat iron smelting kilns in the island’s southern mountains (possibly the
source of the steel used to manufacture the coveted “Damascus swords” of the middle ages).

In a case just beyond the museum’s entrance hulked a striking, life-sized, painted wooden figure
that I did not remember from my first visit over a decade ago—a ten-headed statue of Ravana,
the demon-king of the Ramayana. The epic in brief—a story central to Hindu religious life for
centuries—tells the saga of Rama, a north Indian prince, and his bride, Sita. In exile from their
kingdom, Sita is captured by Ravana and held captive in Lanka, island fortress of the rakshasa
demons. Rama manufactures a stone bridge to Lanka with the assistance of his monkey allies,
slays Ravana, and rescues Sita before returning to Ayodhya to reclaim the throne.

52
Sinhala palm-leaf manuscript of the “Tale of Ravana” (18th century)
My curiosity piqued, I inquired from our tour guide when, why and how it was that this villain of
Indian legend came to find a place in Martin Wickramasinghe’s home. He explained that the
museum had acquired the piece in 1983 from a festival chariot used by a Hindu temple in Jaffna.
“Ravana was a great king of Sri Lanka 8000 years ago,” he went on earnestly. “And, you know,
he had an airplane powered by a mercury vortex engine. We had such technology in those days.”
This was not the last that I would hear of Ravana’s flying machine and its “mercury vortex”
propulsion during my four months as a CAORC fellow in Sri Lanka this spring. Once I realized
what the image was, the more I began to see Ravana atop his dandu-monara (or “wooden
peacock” in Sinhala) everywhere I looked. For years a statue of airborne Ravana stood outside of
the international airport at Katunayake. Drawings of Ravana and his technological marvel appear
in Sinhala newspapers, on the covers of paperbacks found in bookshops throughout the capital
city of Colombo, and even now in textbooks designed for secondary-school history courses. In
the mountain town of Ella—today a major tourist-hub, believed to have once been the lair of the
demon-king—amidst the dandu-monarabillboards, Ravana themed hotels and cocktail menus,
for $20 you can take a spin on the “Flying Ravana” zipline. This April Sri Lanka sent its first
research satellite into low orbit around the earth, the “Ravana One.”

It is true that Sri Lanka lays claim to an impressive heritage of engineering marvels: the intricate,
state-maintained irrigation system of the ancient kingdom of Anuradhapura; the stupas
(reliquaries) of the island’s major Buddhist schools of the first millennium (with the
JetavanaAramaya standing for centuries as the third tallest structure in the world, after the
pyramids of Khufu and Khafra at Giza); the 5th century plateau-top palace complex at Sigiriya,
“Lion Rock,” complete with elaborate bathing pools and fountains.

53
Ravana aboard his flying peacock (DevramVihara, Pannapitiya)

What then do we make of Ravana’s flying peacock? Or, as the question is often put bluntly to me
when I describe my research, is it true, or is it a myth?
My current book project explores the development of uniquely Sri Lankan versions of the
Ramayana story from the 14th century onwards, focusing on the domestication of Ravana by
both Tamil Hindus and Sinhala Buddhists, who often make him out to be much more of a “good
guy” than he is understood to be by Indians. I attempt to account for the process by which
Ravana was transformed from a demon of Sanskrit lore to a historical, human king of Sri Lanka,
including his appearance in the 21st century as a cultural hero among some Sinhala Buddhists,
many of whom now trace their ancestry to Ravana’s “Yakkha” (demon) tribe.
I argue that the “Sinhala Ravana” phenomenon represents a fully articulated palingenetic myth,
or wholesale re-writing of a national origin story, forged within the triumphal mood following
the Sri Lankan government’s victory over the separatist Libertation Tigers of Tamil Elam one
decade ago, and enabled by the speed of travel of ideas and images in our current digital age.

As it turns out, Ravana’s flying peacock represents a near perfect metonym for my overall thesis:
that, while 21st century Ravana is popularly understood to be an indigenous king of the island
(and even by some accounts the progenitor of Indic [or even world] civilization), his sui generis
Sri Lankan representation is in fact the product of centuries of synthesis of regional literature and
folklore, embellished in recent years by the global “alternative media” multiverse freely
accessible through the internet.

54
 “All Aboard the Dandumonara,”
Ellement Hiking Bar & Restaurant, Ella
In the original Sanskrit version of the Ramayana, Ravana does indeed possess an aerial vehicle
with which he abducts Princess Sita, though we are given no indication of the specifics of its
mechanics, nor any suggestion that it resembles a bird (or peacock) in design. Indeed, vimanas or
“flying castles” are a staple narrative convention in a variety of South Asian Hindu, Buddhist and
Jain texts dating back in some cases more than 2000 years.
There is however in Sri Lanka a tradition of poetry and folklore—until recently unconnected
with Ravana—involving flying wooden peacocks, usually associated with stories in which a
carpenter’s son assists a prince in building a mechanical bird, with the prince then using the
contraption to travel to a distant kingdom and seduce a princess.

Even Martin Wickramasinghe himself wrote a short children’s book based on one such
traditional folk story, the DandumonaraKathava. In these tales the design of the peacock is given
some visual contour: its wings flap to produce lift, powered by the operator “peddling”
(padinavā) from his cockpit seat, with three ropes (attached to ailerons?) controlling direction
and pitch. While the Sinhala name for this device (the “wooden peacock,” dandu-monara) is
unique, the basic story motif and concept of the bird-machine is found throughout India in
various regional literature and oral traditions. The dandu-monaraappears to be in fact one token
of a broader literary genre concerning mechanical contrivances—including human and animal
automata—found in such famed Sanskrit texts as the Pañcatantra (an ancient collection of
folktales) and the Kathasaritsagara (“Ocean of the Streams of Stories”).

55
1921 cover illustration of U.D. Johannes Appuhami’s poem, “The Story of the Wooden
Peacock,” based on a traditional Sinhala folktale.
Scholars have recently noted the coalescence in the 10th century of a pan-regional interest in
stories concerning “fountain houses” and “mechanical gardens” complete with robotic fish, birds
and other animals, apparently developing out of literary exchange between the Fatamid,
Byzantine, Abbasid, north and central Indian empires of the time. This trade in “wonders and
marvels” would have involved translation between Latin, Greek, Arabic and Sanskrit. In India
the genre was related to a technical treatise by the poet-king Bhoja (fl. 1025), the
SamaranganaSutradhara, which includes a chapter on machines blurring the lines between the
magical and the technical in its descriptions of elaborate plumming, automatically refilling oil
lamps, motorized menageries, robotic soldiers, and alchemically enabled combustion engines.
The text includes some specific instructions on the construction of flying machines:
laghudārumayammahāvihaṅgaṃ dṛḍhasuśliṣṭatanuṃ vidhāyatasya
udarerasayantramādadhītajvalanādhāramadho’ syacātipūrṇam
tāruḍhapuruṣastasyapakṣadvandvoccālaprojjhitenaanilena
suptasvāntaḥ pāradasyāsyaśaktyā citraṃ kurvannambareyātidūram

Having built a great bird made of light wood, with a fine, tightly knit outer covering, and placing
within its belly a mercury mechanism (rasa-yantram) functioning as a receptacle for a blazing
fire,

56
Through the power of that mercury (pāradasyaśaktyā) and the force of the air released from the
wings [of the bird] flapping in unison, a man mounted atop it may travel a great distance through
the sky, painting pictures [amid the clouds], his mind altogether serene.
–Bhoja’sSamaranganaSutradhara, chapter 31, verses 95 and 96
No one can deny that Bhoja offers here a fantastic—perhaps even technologically prescient—
scene, leaving us to imagine not only a Da Vinci-esque avian simulacrum, but also fiery jet
engines, and either an intricate form of contrail sky-writing, or a more romantic (if less
physically plausible) sport of cloud-croche.

We have no physical record of Bhoja’s wondrous inventions ever having been actually
constructed. He gives a few details concerning their hardware (copper piping, elementary
hydraulics) though no full schematics. While the “wooden peacock” and other automata appear
in a few medieval Sri Lankan Sinhala and Pali works, the specific theme of the “mercury vortex
engine” seems to have come to the attention of modern Ravana enthusiasts through online
versions of DileepKanjilal’s short 1985 book, Vimana in Ancient India, also a locus classicus in
American “ancient aliens,” “alternative history,” and other dubiously credentialed academic
circles. (Kanjilal did himself read the SamaranganaSutradhara, though his interpretation
remains painfully positivist in its outlook.)

What then is my answer to the “truth or myth” question when it comes to Ravana’s airplane?
While the demon-king has come for many to embody a mono-ethnic narrative concerning the
original people of Sri Lanka, there is the potential for Ravana—both as a non- (or pre-) ethnic
literary character, and as a subject of historical study—to function as a signifier of a shared
heritage (Sinhala and Tamil, Buddhist and Hindu) of the people of the island.
To answer the “true or myth,” “real or fake” question in the binary fashion in which it is posed is
to capitulate to a form of literalism which distracts from the more interesting possibility of
treating Ravana as product of the stratigraphy of regional and global literary influences that have
shaped his image in the 21st century. My answer therefore is to embrace the mystery of Ravana
—admitting, as is true, that I still do not understand him fully—while inviting my interlocutor
down with me into Ravana’s subterranean Lankan kingdom, to see what other treasures and
clues he may have left behind.

According to folk tales, DhaduMonaraya was the legendary pre-historic aircraft of

King Ravana of Sri Lanka. It was used by king Rawana to travel among countries under his
command. But no archeological evidence has been found anywhere in Sri Lanka to prove the
existence of such an aircraft. The Department of Archeology of Sri Lanka has rejected this story
as a mere fiction since there is no archeological evidence or credible historical records to prove
it.
According to the Sinhalese legend the Lakegala Rock is thought to mark the location of
the Lankapura Kingdom and King Ravana’s capital.
It is also said that Ravana met Princess Sita, the queen of Rama, beside this rock.
Most Meemure villagers believe that Lakegala is the place where King Ravana flew
his aeroplane DhaduMonara, which he used to capture Sita from India.
Further it is believed that there are two cities in Sri Lanka called "Wariyapola, which are
believed to be the Airports that used for "Dandumonara" landing and take off. In Sinhala "wa"

57
means"air "and "riya"means "craft " and "pola" means "place". Therefore, "wa+riya+pola"
=Wariyapola. The place used for the craft which flies by means of air.

Ramayana Places In Sri Lanka You Can Visit

We
all know the importance of Ramayana in India and almost everybody is aware of the events
which took place in Lanka between Ram and Ravan. The Lanka of Ramayana is present Sri
Lanka and you can find much evidence and proven proof in Sri Lanka where Ramayana’s events
occurred.There are more than 50 places in Sri Lanka which are mentioned in Ramayana and
related to its character. We are sharing 10 Ramayana related places in Sri Lanka which are
connected to the Ramayana with strong folklore and proofs.

58
Amman Temple located in SeethaEliya or NuwaraEliya, where Sita was held captive by
Ravana, according to legend Sita bathed in the river next to the temple. Footprints of Lord
Hanuman can be seen on the rock next to the river. Some footprints are said to be small while
others too big which tells us about the power Lord Hanuman had to transform himself into any
size.

2. SitaKotuwa

SitaKotuwa is one of the main places to visit while having a Ramayana Tour in SriLanka, it was
this place where Sita was held captive after kidnapping by Ravana. The place is surrounded by a
waterfall and beautiful stream and the place was named ‘SithaKotuwa’ or ‘Sitha fort’ as Sita
stayed here.

59
According to the legend, Lord Rama after winning war with Ravana started his journey back to
Ayodhya. But he killed Ravana and acquired BrahmanaHatyaDosham for killing a Brahman. So
Lord Rama at Munneswaram prayed to Lord Siva for a solution it was then Lord Shiv advised
him to install four Shivling to get rid of the Dosha. So Lord Rama install Manavari,
Thirukoneswaram, Thiruketheeswaram, and Rameshwaramshivling and prayed them.

4. Ram Sethu

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Mannar is an island in the northwestern part of Sri Lanka and one can visit Adam’s
Bridge or Rama Sethu in Talaimannar which is also one of the essential parts of Ramayana.
Ram Sethu is a legendary bridge built by Rama with the help of his army to reach Lanka.

5. PushpakaVimana

King Ravana brings Sita Devi in a PushpakVimana which is widely known in Sri Lanka as the
“DanduMonaraYanthranaya,” or Large Peacock Machine in Sinhala, This is also called
Gavagala.

6. Sanjeevani Mountain Dolukanda

61
 So
urce: source: https://www.trawell.in
Dolukanda is another famous place in Sri Lanka with a strong link to Ramayana. According to
legend, Lord Hanuman was asked by Rama to fetch herbs to save Lakshman who was wounded
during the war, and Hanuman unable to identify the herb and brought the whole Sanjeevani
Mountain. while flying the mountain fell on five places in Lanka named as Dolukanda,
Rumassala, Ritigala, Thalladi, and Kachchativu.
Suggested Read: Shri Rama Navami

7. Hanuman Temple in Ramboda

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Source: Source: https://www.ramayanatours.com
Lord Hanuman is often called Anjaneyar by Tamils, as his mother’s name is Anjan. On the hills
of Ramboda Lord Hanuman is built where Lord Hanuman is believed to have searched for Sita.
The place is also known for Ramboda Falls, there is also a lake nearby known as ‘Sita Tear
Pond‘ it was said that Sita Devi tear fell here.

5. PushpakaVimana

63
King Ravana brings Sita Devi in a PushpakVimana which is widely known in Sri Lanka as the
“DanduMonaraYanthranaya,” or Large Peacock Machine in Sinhala, This is also called
Gavagala.

7. Hanuman Temple in Ramboda

64
Source: Source: https://www.ramayanatours.com
Lord Hanuman is often called Anjaneyar by Tamils, as his mother’s name is Anjan. On the hills
of Ramboda Lord Hanuman is built where Lord Hanuman is believed to have searched for Sita.
The place is also known for Ramboda Falls, there is also a lake nearby known as ‘Sita Tear
Pond‘ it was said that Sita Devi tear fell here.

8. Ravana Temple & Caves

Source: Source: https://www.visitella.com

Situated near Ella, Ravana Temple & Caves were build to connect various locations of
Ravanaempire, they were a secret passage which serves as quick means of transport through the
hills. Existing tunnel mouths are also situated at Ishtripura in Welimada, Senapitiya in Halagala,
Ramboda, Labookelle, Wariyapola in Matale, and SeethaKotuwa in Hasalaka. The Ravana Ella
Falls and the Ravana Ella Cave are located close to the Wellawaya and the valley is called Ella
Gap.
Suggested Read: Gods of Hinduism

9. Divurumpola

65
 S
ource: Source: https://tripstarsrilankatours.com
Divurumpola is a place where Sita did ‘Agni Pariksha‘ to prove her innocence. When Sita
plunges into the fire, Agni the lord of fire prevented any harm to Sita proving her innocence.

10. Sigiriya

Sigiriya, also known as Lion Rock, according to legend Sigiriya is one of the places where
Ravana kept Sita captive in Sri Lanka.

66
Adam's Bridge, also known as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu,[b] is a chain of
natural limestone shoals, between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the
south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri
Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection between India
and Sri Lanka.[2]

NASA satellite photo: India on top, Sri Lanka at the bottom

The feature is 48 km (30 mi) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk
Strait (northeast). Some of the regions are dry, and the sea in the area rarely exceeds 1 metre
(3 ft) in depth, thus hindering navigation.[2] It was reportedly passable on foot until the 15th
century when storms deepened the channel. Ramanathaswamy Temple records say that Adam's
Bridge was entirely above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480.[3][4]

Historical mentions and etymology

The ancient Indian Sanskrit epic Ramayana (7th century BCE to 3rd century CE) written
by Valmiki mentions a bridge[5] constructed by god Rama through his Vanara (ape-men) army to
reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from the Rakshasa king, Ravana.[5][6] The location of the
Lanka of the Ramayana has been widely interpreted as being present-day Sri Lanka making this
stretch of land Nala's or Rama's bridge. Analysis of several of the older Ramayana versions by
scholars for evidence of historicity have led to the identification of Lankapura no further south
than the Godavari River. These are based on geographical, botanical, and folkloristic evidences
as no archaeological evidence has been found.[7][8] Scholars differ on the possible geography of
the Ramayana but several suggestions since the work of H.D. Sankalia locate the Lanka of the
epic somewhere in the eastern part of present-day Madhya Pradesh.[9]
The western world first encountered it in IbnKhordadbeh's Book of Roads and Kingdoms (c.
850), in which he refers to it as Set Bandhai or Bridge of the Sea.[10] Some early Islamic sources
refer to a mountain in Sri Lanka as Adam's Peak (where the biblical Adam supposedly fell to
earth). The sources describe Adam as crossing from Sri Lanka to India via the bridge after his
expulsion from the Garden of Eden,[11] leading to the name of Adam's Bridge.[12] Alberuni (c.

67
1030) was probably the first to describe it in such a manner. [10] A British cartographer in 1804
prepared the earliest map that calls this area by the name Adam's bridge.[5]

Historical map of Adam's Bridge and environs, before the cyclone of 1964

Location

The bridge starts as a chain of shoals from the Dhanushkodi tip of India's Pamban Island. It ends
at Sri Lanka's Mannar Island. Pamban Island is accessed from the Indian mainland by the 2-km-
long Pamban Bridge. Mannar Island is connected to mainland Sri Lanka by a causeway.

Landsat 7 image of Adam's Bridge/ Landsat 5 image of Adam's Bridge

Considerable diversity of opinion and confusion exist about the nature and origin of this
structure. In the 19th century, two significant theories were prominent in explaining the structure.
One considered it to be formed by the process of accretion and rising of the land. At the same

68
time, the other surmised that it was established by the breaking away of Sri Lanka from the
Indian mainland.[13] The friable calcareous ridges later broke into large rectangular blocks, which
perhaps gave rise to the belief that the causeway is an artificial construction.[14]
According to V. Ram Mohan of the Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Studies of
the University of Madras, "reconstruction of the geological evolution of the island chain is a
challenging task and has to be carried out based on circumstantial evidence".The lack of
comprehensive field studies explains many of the uncertainties regarding the nature and origin of
Adam's Bridge. It mostly consists of a series of parallel ledges of sandstone and conglomerates
that are hard at the surface and grow coarse and soft as they descend to sandy banks.
Studies have variously described the structure as a chain of shoals, coral reefs, a ridge formed in
the region owing to thinning of the earth's crust, a double tombolo,[17] a sand spit, or barrier
islands. One account mentions that this landform was formerly the world's largest tombolo. The
tombolo split into a chain of shoals by a slight rise in mean sea level a few thousand years ago.
The tombolo model affirms a constant sediment source and a high uni-directional or bi-
directional (monsoonal) longshore current.
The Marine and Water Resources Group of the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO) concludes that Adam's Bridge comprises 103 small patch
reefs. The SAC study, based on satellite remote sensing data but without actual field verification,
finds the reefs lying in a linear pattern. The feature consists of the reef crest (flattened, emergent,
especially during low tides, or nearly emergent segment of a reef), sand cays (accumulations of
loose coral sands and beach rock) and intermittent deep channels. Other studies variously
designate the coral reefs as ribbon and atoll reefs.
The geological process that gave rise to this structure has been attributed in one study to crustal
down warping, block faulting, and mantle plume activity.[20] In contrast, another theory attributes
it to continuous sand deposition and the natural process of sedimentation, leading to the
formation of a chain of barrier islands related to rising sea levels.[19] Another theory affirms the
origin and linearity of the bridge to the old shoreline (implying that the two landmasses of India
and Sri Lanka were once connected) from which shoreline coral reefs developed.
Another study attributes the origin of the structure to longshore drifting currents which moved in
an anticlockwise direction in the north and clockwise direction in the south
of Rameswaram and Talaimannar. The sand could have been dumped in a linear pattern along
the current shadow zone between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar with the later accumulation of
corals over these linear sand bodies.[21] In a diametrically opposing view, another group of
geologists propose a crustal thinning theory, block faulting and a ridge formed in the region
owing to thinning and asserts that development of this ridge augmented the coral growth in the
area and in turn coral cover acted as a 'sand trapper'.
One study tentatively concludes that there is insufficient evidence to indicate eustatic emergence
and that the raised reef in southern India probably results from a local uplift. [22] Other studies also
conclude that, during periods of lowered sea level over the last 100,000 years, Adam's Bridge has
provided an intermittent land connection between India and Sri Lanka. According to
famous ornithologists Sidney Dillon Ripley and Bruce Beehler, this supports the vicariance
model for speciation in some birds of the Indian Subcontinent.[23]

Age

69
The studies under "Project Rameswaram" of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), which
included dating of corals, indicate Rameswaram Island evolved beginning 125,000 years ago.
Radiocarbon dating of samples in this study suggests the domain between Rameswaram and
Talaimannar may have been exposed sometime between 7,000 and 18,000 years
ago. Thermoluminescence dating by GSI concludes that the dunes between Dhanushkodi and
Adam's Bridge started forming about 500–600 years ago.[19]
Another study suggests that the appearance of the reefs and other evidence indicate their recency,
and a coral sample gives a radiocarbon age of 4,020±160 years BP. A team from Centre for
Remote Sensing (CRS), Bharathidasan University, led by S.M. Ramasamy dated the beaches of
the Adam's Bridge structure to approximately 3,500 years, [24] concluding that the land/beaches
between Ramanathapuram and Pamban were formed due to the longshore drifting currents.
About 3,500 years ago, the currents moved in an anticlockwise direction in the north and in the
clockwise direction in the south of Rameswaram and Talaimannar. In the same study, carbon
dating of some ancient beaches between Thiruthuraipoondi and Kodiyakarai shows the
Thiruthuraipoondi beach dates back to 6,000 years and Kodiyakarai around 1,100 years ago.

Pearl fishing in the Gulf of Mannar, c. 1926

Due to shallow waters, Adam's Bridge presents a formidable hindrance to navigation through the
Palk Strait. Though trade across the India–Sri Lanka divide has been active since at least the first
millennium BC, it was limited to small boats and dinghies. Larger ocean-going vessels from the
west have had to navigate around Sri Lanka to reach India's eastern coast. [26] Eminent British
geographer Major James Rennell, who surveyed the region as a young officer in the late 18th
century, suggested that a "navigable passage could be maintained by dredging the strait of
Ramisseram [sic]". However, little notice was given to his proposal, perhaps because it came
from "so young and unknown an officer", and the idea was only revived 60 years later.
In 1823, Sir Arthur Cotton (then an Ensign), was assigned to survey the Pamban channel, which
separates the Indian mainland from the island of Rameswaram and forms the first link of Adam's
Bridge. Geological evidence indicates that a land connection bridged this in the past, and
some Ramanathaswamy Temple records suggest that violent storms broke the link in 1480.
Cotton suggested that the channel could be dredged to enable passage of ships, but nothing was
done until 1828, when Major Sim directed the blasting and removal of some rocks.
A more detailed marine survey of Adam's Bridge was undertaken in 1837 by Lieutenants F. T.
Powell, Ethersey, Grieve, and Christopher, along with draughtsman Felix Jones, and operations
to dredge the channel were recommenced the next year. [27][29] However, these and subsequent

70
efforts in the 19th century did not succeed in keeping the passage navigable for any vessels
except those with a light draft.[2]
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

Opposition parties demanded implementation of the Sethusamudram canal project using one of
the five alternative alignments considered earlier by the Government, without damaging the
structure of Adam's Bridge.
The Government of India constituted nine committees before independence, and five committees
since then, to suggest alignments for a Sethusamudram canal project. Most of them suggested
land-based passages across Rameswaramisland, and none recommended alignment across
Adam's Bridge. The Sethusamudram project committee in 1956 also strongly recommended to
the Union government to use land passages instead of cutting Adam's Bridge because of the
several advantages of land passage.
In 2005, the Government of India approved a multi-million dollar Sethusamudram Shipping
Canal Project. This project aims to create a ship channel across the Palk Strait by dredging the
shallow ocean floor near Dhanushkodi. The channel is expected to cut over 400 km (nearly 30
hours of shipping time) off the voyage around the island of Sri Lanka. This proposed channel's
current alignment requires dredging through Adam's Bridge.
Indian political parties including the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), All India Anna
DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK), RashtriyaJanata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal
(Secular) (JD(S)) and some Hindu organisations oppose dredging through the shoal on religious
grounds. The contention is that Adam's Bridge is identified popularly as the causeway described
in the Ramayana. The political parties and organizations suggest alternate alignment for the
channel that avoids damage to Adam's Bridge.The then state and central governments opposed

71
such changes, with the Union Shipping Minister T. R Baalu, who belongs to
the DravidaMunnetraKazhagam and a strong supporter of the project maintaining that the current
proposal was economically viable and environmentally sustainable and that there were no other
alternatives.
Opposition to dredging through this causeway also stems from concerns over its impact on the
area's ecology and marine wealth, potential loss of thorium deposits in the area and increased risk
of damage due to tsunamis.[37] Some organisations oppose this project on economic and
environmental grounds and claim that proper scientific studies were not conducted before
undertaking this project.

A 19th-century painting depicting a scene from Ramayana, wherein monkeys are shown building
a bridge to Lanka.
Indian culture and religion include legends that the structure is of supernatural origin. According
to the Hindu epic, Ramayana, Ravana, the demon king of Lanka (Sri Lanka) kidnapped Rama's
wife Sita and took her to Lankapura, doing this for revenge against Rama and his
brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of Ravana's sister, Shurpanakha. Shurpanakha had
threatened to kill and eat Sita if Rama did not agree to leave her and marry Shurpanakha instead.
To rescue Sita, Rama needed to cross to Lanka. Brahma created an army of vanaras (intelligent
warrior monkeys) to aid Rama. Led by Nila and under the engineering direction of Nala, the
vanaras constructed a bridge to Lanka in five days. The bridge is also called NalaSetu, the bridge
of Nala. Rama crossed the sea on this bridge and pursued Ravana for many days. He fired
hundreds of golden arrows which became serpents that cut off Ravana's heads, but ultimately had
to use the divine arrow of Brahma (which had the power of the gods in it and cannot miss its
target) to slay Ravana.
None of the early Ramayana versions provide geographical identifications that directly suggest
that Lankapura was Sri Lanka. Versions of the Ramayana reached Sri Lanka in the sixth century
but identifications of Sri Lanka with the land of Ravana are first noted in an 8th-century
inscription from southern India. The idea that Sri Lanka was the Lankapura of the Ramayana is
thought to have been promoted in the tenth century by Chola rulers seeking to invade the island
and the identification of Sri Lanka as Ravana's land was supported by rulers of
the Aryacakravarti dynasty who considered themselves guardians of the bridge. The idea of
Rama Setu as a sacred symbol to be appropriated for political purposes strengthened in the
aftermath of protests against the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

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Controversy over origin

Religious beliefs that the geological structure was constructed by Rama have caused some
controversy as believers reject the natural provenance of Adam's Bridge. Some of the more
transient structures such as the beaches having ages that are within hundreds or thousands of
years (see the above section on age) has provided fodder for speculation. For example, S.M.
Ramasamy stated, "as the carbon dating of the beaches roughly matches the dates of Ramayana,
its link to the epic needs to be explored". Some have gone even further; S. Badrinarayanan, a
former director of the Geological Survey of India, a publication of the National Remote Sensing
Agency, a spokesman for the Indian government in a 2008 court case,[47] the Madras High Court,
and an episode from the Science Channel series What on Earth?[49] have all either explicitly or
implicitly claimed that the ancient Hindu myth of Lord Ram building the structure could be
literally true, contrary to the scientific facts of the matter.
In the What on Earth? episode, those claiming that Adam's Bridge was constructed based their
arguments on vague speculation, false implications, and the point that – as with many geological
formations – not every detail of its formation has been incontrovertibly settled. Indian
Geologist C. P. Rajendran described the ensuing media controversy as an "abhorrent" example of
the "post-truth era, where debates are largely focused on appeals to emotions rather than factual
realities.

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Other scientists in India and elsewhere have consistently rejected a supernatural explanation for
the existence of the structure. NASA said that its satellite photos had been egregiously
misinterpreted to make this point: "The images reproduced on the websites may well be ours, but
their interpretation is certainly not ours. [...] Remote sensing images or photographs from orbit
cannot provide direct information about the origin or age of a chain of islands, and certainly,
cannot determine whether humans were involved in producing any of the patterns seen."
A report from the Archaeological Survey of India found no evidence for the structure being
anything but a natural formation. The Archaeological Survey of India and the government of

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India informed the Supreme Court of India in a 2007 affidavit that there was no historical proof
of the bridge being built by Rama. In 2017 the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)
announced that it would conduct a pilot study into the origins of the structure, but then, in April
2018, the ICHR announced that it would not conduct or fund any further study to determine
whether the Adam’s Bridge was a human-made or a natural structure, stating "It is not the work
of historians to carry out excavations and work like that. For that, there are apt agencies such as
the Archaeological Survey of India.

In 2007, the Sri Lankan Tourism Development Authority sought to promote religious tourism
from Hindu pilgrims in India by including the phenomenon as one of the points on its
"Ramayana Trail", celebrating the legend of Prince Rama. Some Sri Lankan historians have
condemned the undertaking as "a gross distortion of Sri Lankan history".
The debate about whether the Palk Strait is natural or a man-made bridge is going on from years.
Many discussions have led to some interesting things that make us astonished about Ram Setu.
Ram Setu or Rama's Bridge is a causeway that is created across the sea connecting Pamban
Island in Tamil Nadu to Mannar Island in Sri Lanka. Scientific studies have determined that the
Palk Strait is a natural bridge formed by limestone shoals.
However, the Hindu religious theories believe that it is the bridge constructed by Lord Rama
and his Vanara (monkey) army as mentioned in the epic Ramayana. Surprisingly, this causeway
is visible from an aerial view even to this day. The whole issue of Ram Setu is mysterious and
that makes us to talk about it even more! 1. Is it Man-Made According to Hindu mythology, it
was built by Lord Rama with the help Vanara (monkey) army. He had to construct this bridge to
reach Sri Lanka as his wife Sita was kidnapped and was imprisoned there. Surprisingly, the time
of Ramyana( 5000 BCE) and the carbon analysis of the bridge sync properly. Photo Courtesy:
Is it Man-Made? We can confirm a mythology only through the historical evidence. Some
believe Ram Setu is the only archaeological and historical evidence of Ramayana. The detailing
of the construction in the epic can be related to some scientific theories. However, it is hard to
believe everything through a mythological perspective. Photo Courtesy:

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AbhimanyuArulmiguPorkodiamman Temple Hosts 'YeriThiruvizha' Every Year 2. Walkable
Bridge It is said that Rama's bridge was above the sea level. Even some historical records
suggest that it was walkable till the 15th century. Even theestimated depth is around 3 - 30 ft in
the area of this causeway. Photo Courtesy: PlaneMad Best Summer Vacations In Tamil Nadu.
What's With So Many Names! Ram Setu is also called as Adam's Bridge, NalaSetu and Setu
Banda. Ram Setuas it was built by Rama and his army. It is said NalaSetu because it was Nala
who was the architect (designed) the bridge in Ramayana. The name Adam's Bridge comes from
some ancient Islamic texts referring to the Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka (Adam is suppose to fallen
in this part of earth).

The Reefs of Palk Strait Scientific studies reveal that it is a linear sequence of coral reefs or the
limestone reefs. According to science, it is a naturally formed causeway which connects the
Pambam Island to Mannar Island. Photo Courtesy: Nataraja~commonswiki Round About For
Ships! Eventhough, the Adam's Bridge is inside the water the ships cannot sail on it. The water
here is shallow with the level of depth varying at certain points. Hence, ships from India have to
take another round about route to reach Sri Lanka. Photo Courtesy: Ajay Goyal 6. Mysterious &
Surprising The studies of Oceanography suggests that the bridge is 7000 years old. Interestingly,
the carbon dating of beaches near Dhanushkodi and Mannar Island sync with the date of
Ramayana.

Ambitious SetuSamudram Project SetuSamudram Project is a proposed bridge to build over the
Palk Strait. The idea is to have a short-cut route from Pamban Island to Mannar Island in Sri
Lanka. Religious Uproar AgainstSetuSamudram Project Hindus believe that Ram Setu is a holy
site and hence no other man-made bridge should be constructed over it. As seen from science
perspective, this might destroy the natural reefs which has existed in the sea from a long time.

Interesting Floating Stones Ramayana mentions that the Setu Banda was constructed with
floating stones. Surprisingly, such floating stones are scattered across Rameswaram even to this
day. Scientific theories suggest that some volcanic rocks do float in water. This might explain the
linear formation of rocks which form this bridge. Photo Courtesy: Neechalkaran 10. Man Versus
Natural To think about it as man-made is rather interesting. Looking at its depth, it is possible
that Ram Setu was once above the sea level. It is also possible that the rise of sea level over the
years has submerged this causeway. In nature's perspective, it is rather exciting to see such a long
formation of reefs which have existed for so many years.

77
Floating stones like described in the Ramayana

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79
Supreme Court agrees to hear Subramanian Swamy’s plea on Ram Setu

BJP leader has sought national heritage monument status for structure

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on March 9 a plea by BJP leader
Subramanian Swamy to declare Ram Setu a national heritage monument.
In a mentioning made before Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Mr.Swamy said the
case was pending for a long time and concerned an important issue.
The CJI acknowledged Mr.Swamy's sense of urgency and asked whether the
government had filed its response. Mr.Swamy said it had filed affidavits in the past.
The case had been similarly mentioned by Mr.Swamy in April last year before the then
CJI Justice S.A. Bobde.
Justice Bobde, who was due to retire in a few days, had said the case could be taken up
in due course of time by his successor and present CJI Justice Ramana.
On January 23, 2020, the court similarly said it would consider the plea after three
months.
Ram Setu, also known as Adam's Bridge, is a chain of limestone shoals between
Pamban Island orRameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, and
Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka.
The BJP leader had earlier raised the issue of declaring Ram Setu as a national
monument in his PIL plea against the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel

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project, initiated by the UPA-I government. The matter reached the Supreme Court,
which in 2007 stayed the work for the project on Ram Setu.
The Centre had later said that it considered the "socio-economic disadvantages" of the
project and was willing to explore another route to the shipping channel project without
damaging Ram Setu.
"The Government of India intends to explore an alternative to the earlier alignment of
Sethusamudram Ship Channel project without affecting/damaging Adam's Bridge/Ram
Setu in the interests of the nation," the affidavit filed by the Ministry had said.
The Sethusamudram shipping channel project has been facing protests from some
political parties, environmentalists and certain Hindu religious groups.
Under the project, a 83 km-long deep water channel was to be created, linking Mannar
with Palk Strait, by extensive dredging and removal of limestone shoals.

Japanese Hanuman

1. Did Rama really exist?

Is Rama Historical? While divinity is a matter of faith, Historicity is a matter of existence. In the
last 100 years giant strides have been made in understanding History using modern scientific
rules. So let us look at the Ram Setu with a fresh scientific prospective and try to differentiate
between myth and reality…
2. The description of Ram Setu in Ramayana

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The building of Rama's bridge is described in the chapter titled ‘Yuddha Kanda’ of the
Ramayana, but the description is rather vague. When Rama wants to use an arrow to dry up the
ocean, the ocean god says: O, excellent man! This one, named Nala, a glorious person, is the son
of Vishvakarma; who was given a boon by his father and is equal to Visvakarma. Let this greatly
energetic monkey build a bridge across me. I can hold that bridge.
3. Description of the bridge

From here and there the monkeys brought Palmyra trees, pomegranate shrubs, coconut and
Vibhitaka, Karira, Bakula and neem trees. The huge bodied monkeys with mighty strength
uprooted elephant-sized rocks and mountains and transported them by mechanical contrivances.
The water, raised up due to sudden throwing of mountains in the sea. The rocks befalling on all
sides perturbed the ocean. Some others drew up strings a hundred Yojanas long (to keep the
rocks in a straight line.)
4. Neel and Nala’s role

Nala on his part initiated a monumental bridge in the middle of the ocean. Some monkeys were
holding poles for measuring the bridge and some others collected the material. Reeds and logs
resembling clouds and mountains, brought by hundreds of monkeys, lead by the command of
Rama, fastened some parts of the bridge. On the first day, fourteen Yojanas of bridge were
constructed by the monkeys speedily. In the same manner, on the second day twenty Yojanas of
bridge were constructed.
5. The description isn’t enough

The passage isn't explicit about the role of the trees, but it provides some indication; it says that
the logs "fastened some parts of the bridge". This is all just speculation.
TulsiDas'Ramcharitmanas provide more detail about Nila and Nala getting a curse that would
make anything they throw into the water float, but such specificity isn't there in the original
Ramayan's account of the building of the bridge.
6. Incredible facts about Rama Setu

Rama Setu took 5 days to build by 10 Million Vanaras (Monkeys) under the supervision of
Architects Neel and Nala. Age and Structure Rama Setu is 1.7 Million Years Old. It is believed
that RAMA Setu is made of a chain of limestone shoals. It is 30 Km Long and 3 Km Wide. It
Starts from Dhanushkodi tip of India’s Pamban Island and ends at Sri Lanka’s Mannar Island.
Sea in these areas is very shallow.
7. Mystery of Floating Stones

In Ramayan it is mentioned that the bridge was built by Stones and these stone starts Floating on
water by touch of Nala& Neel. Some such stones were scattered at Rameswaram during the
Tsunami ,these stones still float on water. Many Geologist says RAMA Setu is built by natural
process but failed to Provide enough proofs. Apart from Ramayana there are several facts which
say Rama Setu is Man-made Structure.

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8. Facts that prove it is Man Made

The places mentioned in Ramayan exactly matches to the current location of the bridge. Temple
records say that Rama’s Bridge was completely above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in AD
1480. Ram Setu was walkable till 1480 AD. NASA Says what had been captured by satellite is
naturally occurring chain of sandbanks.
9. Ram Setu is not God’s miracle

Battle between Science & Spirituality is running over a decade. Science relies on logics , facts &
proofs whereas Spirituality is largely related to belief. According to Hindu belief Ram Setu was
built by Lord Rama to cross the sea. Stones used to make the bridge floated on water because
Rama was written on stones. But there is a complete scientific explanation why stones floated on
water & why now Ram Setu is under water.
10. A scientific possibility

If air is trapped within a shell of silica it would look like a stone but would actually be very light
and would thus float. Another example is Ice. When put into glass having liquid, ice floats on
liquid & after some time it sinks. Another prime example is of “Pumice” stone.
11. About Pumice stone

Pumice is one such stone that floats on water. Pumice is the name given to the hardened foam of
lava when it comes out of a volcano. The inside of a volcano has very high pressure, and can be
as hot as 1600 degree Celsius. When the lava comes out of the volcano, it meets the cool air (and
sometimes sea water), which is around 25 degree Celsius.
12. Two things happen immediately

Air and water that were mixed in the lava bubble out, as the pressure falls. The huge difference
in temperature gives the lava a ‘cold shock’, so it freezes almost immediately. So the bubbles get
trapped in the freezing stone, giving it a very spongy appearance. In some kinds of pumice, the
bubbles can make upto 90% of the volume.
13. Dense stones do not float on water

But because pumice is full of air bubbles, it is less dense than water. So in the beginning it will
float. But in time, water will enter the bubbles driving out the air. Slowly, the pumice sinks. This
also explains why the Ram Setu is under water today. Pumice doesn’t float forever. However,
this theory is not 100 per cent correct. Read on to know how some scientists dismiss the Pumice
stone theory….
14. Strange floating stones of Rameshwaram

Some floating stones are found on the coastal regions of Rameshwaram. These stones are similar
to any other stone and possess the same features, physical and chemical composition like the

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stone you may find in your locality. Seeing these stones from a far distance, you may feel that
this stone is made of corals but on physical examination, it is found that this is not a coral
stone...and neither is it a pumice stone!
15. Debunking the Pumice stone theory

There is no volcano near Rameshwaram nor is there any evidence which claims the existence of
volcano in the areas surrounding Rameshwaram over the last few millions of years. Also,
floating stones of Rameshwarm are not light weighted like pumice rocks and doesn’t have the
chemical composition similar to pumice rocks.
16. There is no exception

It might be possible that this is some special kind of heavy pumice rocks found only at
Rameshwaram but if this would have been the case, then it would have been confirmed by Indian
archeologists. According to visitors, some of the stones do look like pumice but are extremely
heavy to be called as pumice. Also, color of the pumice rocks is white or creamish in color but
there are many black floating stones in Rameshwaram.
17. NASA images of Ram Setu

This bridge made of floating stones can still be seen between India and Sri Lanka from
Rameshwaram, the place where Lord ram prayed to lord Shiva and started the construction of the
bridge. Since this story is very old and unproven, many historians, scientists and archaeologists
deny accepting this bridge to be built by lord Rama but at the same time they are unable to
explain the concept of floating stones found in Rameshwaram.
18. It’s not Ram Setu but corals?

Scientist has been claiming far and wide that the stones of ram setu are actually coral formation.
Nasa scientists even release the photo where they claims the Ram setu underwater bridge to be
coral formation. Take a look at the image release by their space shuttle.
19. No, there is definitely a bridge out there!

There is nothing like floating coral because coral is calcium carbonate, and its chemical
composition is too dense to float on water. Geologist claims that after years of formation of
layers on ocean bed, coral stones are formed within the layer, but when they were asked why
these stones were formed only in Rameshwaram and nowhere else there were no answers. Also,
coral stones don’t occur naturally in the sea, they occur only on hard surface.
20. Unknown science behind floating stones

Until the scientists come up with a convincible theory maybe we can consider Rama Setu as an
engineering masterpiece. The technology once existed to make stones float on water and the
architect like Nala and Neela were too advanced in building a bridge from India to Sri Lanka
within 5 days with the help of dedicated work force of million Vanaras.

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Edit : Ram never built Rama Sethu or the Adams Bridge and the chain of small islets between
India and Sri Lanka is the result of a natural geographic process. And if NASA is to be believed,
it has found similar sand bars in other parts of the world too.
In reply to a mail sent by a Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) official, NASA
replied, Our office supports only astronaut photography of the Earth. The chain of small islets
connecting India and Sri Lanka are real geographical features that have been mapped for
centuries. Chains of islands form a variety of natural geological processes and their occurrence is
not evidence of any human activity.
In an email to NASA, the SSCP official had written, Here in India, a burning question is going
on whether this bridge is man-made or not. He had mentioned three theories being floated to
explain the phenomenon. Besides the mythological version that it was part of the bridge
constructed by Hanuman to enable Ram to travel to Lanka to fight Ravan, one theory goes that
the area is covered by shallow water and the sediments underneath appear like a narrow bridge.
The third group says the bridge is a peak of a large mountain that has submerged.
Sethusamudram project, the 167-km channel to link the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal
through the Palk Bay, would bring enormous economic benefits to the country. Shipping
companies also stood to gain from the project, SSCP MD and chairman of Tuticorin Port Trust
NK Raghupathy said. The new channel through Rameswaram, scheduled to be completed in
November 2008, will provide a navigable sea route around the Indian peninsula and the distance
between Cape Comorin and Chennai would be reduced to 402 nautical miles from the present.
Source : www.speakingtree.in

Giant Hanuman uses his tail as bridge for Rama's army (Thai Ramayana mural)

Hanuman uses his tail as a bridge for Rama's army, as seen on a mural at the Emerald Buddha
Temple. On the way to Lanka to rescue Sita, Rama's army cannot cross a wide river. Hanuman,
who is able to change his form, enlarges himself enough that his tail can serve as a bridge for
Rama's army.
In this image, a huge Hanuman lies crouched on his stomach on the bluff at right with his tail
extended and wrapped around rocks on the bluff at left. Hanuman's open-mouthed face looks
back over his right shoulder to watch the tiny figures crawling along his tail. Rama's soldiers
straddle the "tail bridge" and carefully cross the river from the left side over Hanuman's tail.
Rama and his brother Laksman oversee their soldiers' safe crossing from a lookout on the left
side. White clouds, a rocky island, and the open water are visible in the
background.

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86
 III
- The ENIGMA of RAM

Dr Uday Dokras

RA
M is a common computing acronym that stands for random-access memory. Sometimes it's
called PC memory or just memory. In essence, RAM is your computer or laptop's short-term
memory. It's where the data is stored that your computer processor needs to run your applications

87
and open your files.

But there is another Ram, surprisingly more famous and worshipped by 1.5 Billion people

Rama holding arrows, early 19th century depiction

The Ideal Man and Embodiment of Dharma-The Supreme Being (Ramaism) and Member of Dashavatara.
He is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most
popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme
Being. Also considered as the ideal man (maryāda puruṣottama), Rama is the male protagonist
of the Hindu epic Ramayana. His birth is celebrated every year on Rama Navami, which falls on
the ninth day of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) of the lunar cycle of Chaitra (March–April), the
first month in the Hindu calendar. Rama has been considered as a source of inspiration and has
been described as Maryāda Puruṣottama Rāma (transl. The Ideal Man). He has been depicted in
many films, television shows and plays.

88
Ram is one of the most widely worshipped Hindu deities, and considered the epitome of moral
virtue and royal conduct. Although there are three Ramas mentioned in Indian tradition—
Parashurama, Balarama, and Ramachandra—the name is specifically associated with
Ramachandra, the seventh incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu.
His story is told briefly in the Mahabharata (“Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty”), at great
length in the Ramayana (“Rama’s Journey”), and in many other texts from South
Asia and Southeast Asia where he holds strong religious and cultural significance. While known
in Sanskrit and many other languages as “Rama,” he is commonly referred to as “Ram” in North
Indian languages, such as Hindi, that delete the final “a” sound.

Rama on HorsebackRama on Horseback, Folio from a Ramayana (Adventures of Rama), opaque watercolor on paper,
drawing from Raghogarh, Madhya Pradesh, India, c. 1775–1800; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Rama is
depicted on a journey back to Ayodhya, attended by his brothers Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna (right), with
Hanuman (upper left).(more)

The Ramayana describes Rama as a charming, well built person of a dark complexion (varṇam
śyāmam) and long arms (ājānabāhu, meaning a person whose middle finger reaches beyond their
knee). In the Sundara Kanda section of the epic, Hanuman describes Rama to Sita when she is
held captive in Lanka, to prove to her that he is indeed a messenger from Rama. He says:

He has broad shoulders, mighty arms, a conch-shaped neck, a charming countenance, and
coppery eyes;he has his clavicle concealed and is known by the people as Rama. He has a voice
(deep) like the sound of a kettledrum and glossy skin,is full of glory, square-built, and of well-
proportioned limbs and is endowed with a dark-brown complexion.

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 Rama, symbolised as an ideal son,
accepting exile to honor his father's words.
Rama's life story is imbued with symbolism. According to Sheldon Pollock, the life of Rama as
told in the Indian texts is a masterpiece that offers a framework to represent, conceptualise and
comprehend the world and the nature of life. Like major epics and religious stories around the
world, it has been of vital relevance because it "tells the culture what it is". Rama's life is more
complex than the Western template for the battle between the good and the evil, where there is a
clear distinction between immortal powerful gods or heroes and mortal struggling humans. In the
Indian traditions, particularly Rama, the story is about a divine human, a mortal god,
incorporating both into the exemplar who transcends both humans and gods.

Responding to evil

A superior being does not render evil for evil,

this is the maxim one should observe;
the ornament of virtuous persons is their conduct.
(...)
A noble soul will ever exercise compassion
even towards those who enjoy injuring others.

—Ramayana 6.115, Valmiki

(Abridged, Translator: Roderick Hindery)

As a person, Rama personifies the characteristics of an ideal person (purushottama). He had

within him all the desirable virtues that any individual would seek to aspire, and he fulfils all his
moral obligations. Rama is considered a maryada purushottama or the best of upholders of
Dharma. According to Rodrick Hindery, Book 2, 6 and 7 are notable for ethical studies. The

90
views of Rama combine "reason with emotions" to create a "thinking hearts" approach. Second,
he emphasises through what he says and what he does a union of "self-consciousness and action"
to create an "ethics of character". Third, Rama's life combines the ethics with the aesthetics of
living.] The story of Rama and people in his life raises questions such as "is it appropriate to use
evil to respond to evil?", and then provides a spectrum of views within the framework of Indian
beliefs such as on karma and dharma. Rama's life and comments emphasise that one must pursue
and live life fully, that all three life aims are equally important: virtue (dharma), desires (kama),
and legitimate acquisition of wealth (artha). Rama also adds, such as in section 4.38 of
the Ramayana, that one must also introspect and never neglect what one's proper duties,
appropriate responsibilities, true interests, and legitimate pleasures are.

Ravana

According to the Ramayana, Rama was born to Dasaratha and his first
wife Kausalya in Ayodhya, the capital of the Kingdom of Kosala. His siblings
included Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. He married Sita. Born in a royal family, Rama's
life is described in the Hindu texts as one challenged by unexpected changes, such as an exile
into impoverished and difficult circumstances, and challenges of ethical questions and moral
dilemmas. The most notable story involving Rama is the kidnapping of Sita by the demon-
king Ravana, followed by Rama and Lakshmana's journey to rescue her.

The entire life story of Rama, Sita and their companions allegorically discusses duties, rights and
social responsibilities of an individual. It illustrates dharma and dharmic living through model
characters.

Rama is especially important to Vaishnavism. He is the central figure of the ancient Hindu
epic Ramayana, a text historically popular in the South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures. His
ancient legends have attracted bhashya (commentaries) and extensive secondary literature and
inspired performance arts. Two such texts, for example, are the Adhyatma Ramayana – a
spiritual and theological treatise considered foundational by Ramanandi monasteries,[13] and
the Ramcharitmanas – a popular treatise that inspires thousands of Ramlila festival performances
during autumn every year in India.

Rama legends are also found in the texts of Jainism and Buddhism, though he is sometimes
called Pauma or Padma in these texts, and their details vary significantly from the Hindu
versions. Jain Texts also mentioned Rama as the eighth balabhadra among the 63 salakapurusas.
In Sikhism, Rama is mentioned as one of twenty-four divine avatars of Vishnu in the Chaubis
Avtar in Dasam Granth
Etymology and nomenclature
Rama is also known as Ram, Raman, Ramar, and Ramachandra, and is a Vedic Sanskrit word
with two contextual meanings. In one context, as found in Atharva Veda, as stated by Monier
Monier-Williams, it means "dark, dark-colored, black" and is related to the term ratri, which

91
means night. In another context in other Vedic texts, the word means "pleasing, delightful,
charming, beautiful, lovely".The word is sometimes used as a suffix in different Indian
languages and religions, such as Pali in Buddhist texts, where -rama adds the sense of "pleasing
to the mind, lovely" to the composite word.

Rama as a first name appears in the Vedic literature, associated with two patronymic names –
Margaveya and Aupatasvini – representing different individuals. A third individual named Rama
Jamadagnya is the purported author of hymn 10.110 of the Rigveda in the Hindu tradition. The
word Rama appears in ancient literature in reverential terms for three individuals:

1. Parashu-rama, as the sixth avatar of Vishnu. He is linked to the Rama Jamadagnya of

the Rigveda fame.
2. Rama-chandra, as the seventh avatar of Vishnu and of the ancient Ramayana fame.
3. Bala-rama, also called Halayudha, as the elder brother of Krishna both of whom appear
in the legends of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
The name Rama appears repeatedly in Hindu texts, for many different scholars and kings in
mythical stories. The word also appears in ancient Upanishads and Aranyakas layer of Vedic
literature, as well as music and other post-Vedic literature, but in qualifying context of something
or someone who is "charming, beautiful, lovely" or "darkness, night".

The Vishnu avatar named Rama is also known by other names. He is

called Ramachandra (beautiful, lovely moon), or Dasarathi (son of Dasaratha),
or Raghava (descendant of Raghu, solar dynasty in Hindu cosmology). He is also known as Ram
Lalla (Infant form of Rama).

Additional names of Rama include Ramavijaya (Javanese), Phreah Ream (Khmer), Phra
Ram (Lao and Thai), Megat Seri Rama (Malay), Raja
Bantugan (Maranao), Ramar or Raman (Tamil), and Ramudu (Telugu).[30] In the Vishnu
sahasranama, Rama is the 394th name of Vishnu. In some Advaita Vedanta inspired texts, Rama
connotes the metaphysical concept of Supreme Brahman who is the eternally blissful spiritual
Self (Atman, soul) in whom yogis delight nondualistically.

The root of the word Rama is ram- which means "stop, stand still, rest, rejoice, be pleased".

According to Douglas Q. Adams, the Sanskrit word Rama is also found in other Indo-European
languages such as Tocharian ram, reme, *romo- where it means "support, make still", "witness,
make evident." The sense of "dark, black, soot" also appears in other Indo European languages,
such as *remos or Old English romig.

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 The Rama story is carved into stone as an 8th-century relief
artwork in the largest Shiva temple of the Ellora Caves, suggesting its importance to the Indian
society by then.
RAVANA

REASON for thr BIRTH of Ram

Ravana the King of LANKA was the reason for the birth of Lord Ram and the vishnu Avatar of
Ram as a human. Who was this ASURA? What made him so powerful? That the Gods could not
kill him and sent Lord Ram as an ASSASSIN. Rama (or Ramacandra) is the seventh avatar of
the Hindu god Vishnu. His adventures include the slaying of the demon king Ravana which is
recounted in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata and in the Ramayana, the
oldest Sanskrit epic, written sometime in the 5th century BCE but with some later additions.

Lord Rama, considered by many Hindus to be based on an historical figure, is perhaps the most
virtuous hero from Hindu mythology and he, along with his wife Sita, are a picture of purity and
marital devotion. Further, the adventures of Rama illustrate above all the importance and rewards
of fulfilling one's pious duty or dharma.

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 Ravana is not some ordinary person or not just some mere Emperor.

He is so powerful that even the king of gods, Lord Indra fear him. He is much stronger than
Indra and most of the Demi gods but the thing is that Ravana is greatest devotee of Lord Shiva,
The God of Gods.

As Per Hindu beliefs, Lord Shiva is neutral and no matter the nature of a person , he grants boons
to them if they pray to him sincerely.

Ravana got many boons from Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma.

Being a hater of Lord Vishnu, he didn’t pray to him. PS: Before Ravana was a gate keeper of
Vaikunta lokam, which is the abode of Lord vishnu. He was a great devotee of the god but due to
curse, he was born as a hater of Lord Vishnu.

Rāvaṇa was that torturous to the Gods and mortals. People nowadays really try to downplay
Rāvaṇa by saying he has no threat and whatnot. Their excuse rather springs from pathetic
interpretation of the scriptures. Without Rāvaṇa there is no Rāmāyaṇa, he was the only reason
why the Dévas asked Lord Viṣṇu to take an incarnation.

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Rāvaṇa was a serial rapist, mass murder and destroyer of Yajñas. He violated Dharma in many
ways. When he got cursed by Brahmā, his raping spree stopped but then he still continued to
torture mortals and Dévas. All he cared was about his Rākṣasa Vaṃśa and made others suffer to
please them.

The Dévas say:

उद्वेजयतिलोकांस्त्रीनुच्छ्रितान्द्वेष्टिदुर्मतिः |
शक्रंत्रिदशराजानंप्रधर्षयितुमिच्छति || १-१५-८
ऋषीन्यक्षान्सगन्धर्वानसुरान्ब्राह्मणांस्तथा |
अतिक्रामतिदुर्धर्षोवरदानेनमोहितः || १-१५-९
नैनंसूर्यःप्रतपतिपार्श्वेवातिनमारुतः |
चलोर्मिमालीतंदृष्ट्वासमुद्रोऽपिनकंपते || १-१५-१०
तन्महन्नोभयंतस्माद्राक्षसाद्घोरदर्शनात् |
वधार्थंतस्यभगवन्नुपायंकर्तुमर्हसि || १-१५-११

"That malevolent Rāvaṇa is tormenting all the three worlds, hating the functionary deities of
cosmos, and always desires to assail Indra, the king of all the functionary deities of universe.
That invincible one is further self-conceited by the boons you have accorded, and he is
overbearingly torturing the sages, celestial beings like Yakṣas, Gandharvās, Asurās, and like that
even the Brāhmaṇas. Sūrya will not verily parch Rāvaṇa, Vāyu will not puff at his sides, and on
seeing Rāvaṇa, the lord of the undulating waves, namely the ocean will not pulsate either.
Thereby, there is a great panic for all of us from that Rākṣasa with an awesome look, hence oh,
god, it will be apt of you to give a thought for his elimination.”

~ Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Sarga 15.

So this pretty much sums up why Rāma had to annihilate Rāvaṇa, now one might object saying
that the Dévas tolerated Rāvaṇa out of respect for Brahmā's boon, this rather shows how Dévas
mean to justify their defeat as they are surely ashamed. Rāvaṇa recived the boon of being free
from death from everyone other than a human as per the Dévas, Brahmā, and Vālmīki himself
but nowhere did he recive any boon which would protect him from defeat.

The Dévas were unable to even defeat Rāvaṇa let alone killing him, he received immense power
due to his Tapas. But he misused them and needed to die as he crossed all his limits.

Coming to the point, He asked for immortality but the supreme gods knowing that immortality is
a curse because everyone they love die in front of them and they live longer which is nothing but
a psychological hell to a mortal. They warned him of the consequences but he didn’t agree. But
there is another thing even supreme Gods don’t violate. That’s the rule of nature. Everything that
is ever created must be destroyed and everything that is ever born has to die.Being a strong
person, No God nor demon can kill the King Ravana. He used to go on rampage on other realms
and kill them and take the women. So the gods pleaded Lord Vishnu to stop Ravana.So Lord
Vishnu came to earth as human. A god or a demon cannot kill Ravana , but a normal human
being can, that part he didn’t thought of at that time. If lord vishnu directly comes and kill the
Demon king, it is insult to the boons and his devotion. So as per the nature laws, he was martyred
in war by human avatar of Lord Rama.

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This summary is a traditional legendary account, based on literary details from
the Ramayana and other historic mythology-containing texts of Buddhism and Jainism.
According to Sheldon Pollock, the figure of Rama incorporates more ancient "morphemes of
Indian myths", such as the mythical legends of Bali and Namuci. The ancient sage Valmiki used
these morphemes in his Ramayana similes as in sections 3.27, 3.59, 3.73, 5.19 and 29.28.

Why do you think Lord Vishnu had to incarnate as Rama to kill Ravana? Kill him for his ego?

Ravan was a scholar yet there is a fine difference between being educated and being literate. No
doubt he knew all the texts and literature, was extremely skilled in playing the Veena, did penance
and tapa in order to please Lord Shiv and Lord Bhrama, all of which were his good deeds, for which
he was handsomely rewarded. But his later actions were all of Adharma.

The Valmiki Ramayana

says :इतिउक्त्वामैथिलीम्वाक्यम्प्रियअर्हाम्प्रियवादिनीम् || ३-४९-१५
अभिगम्यसुदुष्टआत्माराक्षसःकाममोहितः |
जग्राहरावणःसीताम्बुधःखेरोहिणीम्इव || ३-४९-१६

On saying that sentence to Maithili, who by herself is a nice talker and who is a proper one for
addressing with nice words, that verily evil-minded demon Ravana maddened by lust drew
nigh of Seetha and grabbed her, as Budha, the Jupiter grabs the Star Rohini in firmament.

2. वामेनसीताम्पद्माक्षीम्मूर्धजेषुकरेणसः |
ऊर्वोःतुदक्षिणेनएवपरिजग्राहपाणिना || ३-४९-१७

He that Ravana grabbed the lotus-eyed Seetha on lifting her up with his left hand at her plait of
hair at nape, and with his right hand at her thighs.

3. ततःताम्परुषैःवाक्यैःअभितर्ज्यमहास्वनः |
अंकेनआदायवैदेहीम्रथम्आरोपयत्तदा || ३-४९-२०

Then he whose voice is strident that Ravana lifted her up by her waist and got Vaidehi up on
the air-chariot intimidating her with bitter words.

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Now coming to the last part of your question astonishing why Lord Vishnu had to incarnate and kill
the “innocent and Dharmic” Ravan:

1. According to the Bhagavata Purana, Ravana and his brother, Kumbhakarna, were said to
be reincarnations of Jaya and Vijaya, gatekeepers at Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu and
were cursed to be born on Earth for their insolence, and would be only relieved from the
materialistic world after being killed by Lord Vishnu. Henceforth in the Treta Yuga Lord
Vishnu incarnates as Lord Ram and kills both of them.
2. Ravan had been cursed multitudinous times. To name a few he was cursed by Vedvati
( former incarnation of mata Sita) and Nal Kubera for his lust. He was cursed by a former
Ishvaku King and Nandi (the vehicle of Lord Shiv) for his misuse of power. He had further
been cursed by his own sister Shurpankha for killing her husband.
3. Ravan had again misused his power to capture all the Nine planets and had harassed and
abused them in his court.
4. He abducted Mata Sita, when Lord Ram and Lord Lakshma were not around.
If still people think that these reasons were not enough to kill Ravan then I only pray to the lord to
provide them with an iota of brain particle, so that they can allow their petty and shallow minds to
look beyond the crass and fraudulent pretence of a few people who fabricate such lies in order to
spread hatred, enmity and acrimony.

Birth
Balak Ram, the 5-year-old form of Rama, is the principal deity of the Ram Mandir in Ram
Janmabhoomi
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The ancient epic Ramayana states in the Balakanda that Rama and his brothers were born to
Kaushalya and Dasharatha in Ayodhya, a city on the banks of Sarayu River.The Jain versions of
the Ramayana, such as the Paumacariya (literally deeds of Padma) by Vimalasuri, also mention
the details of the early life of Rama. The Jain texts are dated variously, but generally pre-500 CE,
most likely sometime within the first five centuries of the common era. Moriz Winternitz states
that the Valmiki Ramayana was already famous before it was recast in the
Jain Paumacariya poem, dated to the second half of the 1st century CE, which pre-dates a
similar retelling found in the Buddha-carita of Asvagosa, dated to the beginning of the 2nd
century CE or prior.

Dasharatha was the king of Kosala, and a part of the Kshatriya solar dynasty of Iksvakus. His
mother's name Kaushalya literally implies that she was from Kosala. The kingdom of Kosala is
also mentioned in Buddhist and Jain texts, as one of the sixteen Maha janapadas of ancient
India, and as an important center of pilgrimage for Jains and Buddhists.However, there is a
scholarly dispute whether the modern Ayodhya is indeed the same as the Ayodhya and Kosala
mentioned in the Ramayana and other ancient Indian texts.

Rama's birth, according to Ramayana, is an incarnation of God (Vishnu) as human. When

demigods went to Brahma to seek liberation from Ravana's menace on the Earth (due to powers
he had from Brahma's boon to him), Vishnu himself appeared and said he will incarnate
as Rama (human) and kill Ravana (since Brahma's boon made him invincible from all, including
God, except humans).

Youth, family and marriage to Sita

The marriage ceremony of Rama and Sita //Rama is portrayed in Hindu arts and texts as a compassionate
person who cares for all living beings.

Śrī Rāma Jaya Rāma Jaya Jaya Rāma (Sanskrit: श्रीरामजयरामजयजयराम)

— Chant of Mahatma Gandhi containing thirteen syllables. It is known as Śrī Rāma Tāraka mantra (lit. 'The
Rama mantra for Salvation').

Rama had three brothers, according to the Balakanda section of the Ramayana. These
were Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna.[3] The extant manuscripts of the text describes their

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education and training as young princes, but this is brief. Rama is portrayed as a polite, self-
controlled, virtuous youth always ready to help others. His education included the Vedas,
the Vedangas as well as the martial arts.The years when Rama grew up are described in much
greater detail by later Hindu texts, such as the Ramavali by Tulsidas. The template is similar to
those found for Krishna, but in the poems of Tulsidas, Rama is milder and reserved introvert,
rather than the prank-playing extrovert personality of Krishna.

In the kingdom of Mithilā, Janaka conducted a svayamvara ceremony at his capital with the
condition that she would marry only a prince who would possess the strength to string
the Pinaka, the bow of the deity Shiva. Many princes attempted and failed to string the bow.
[48]
During this time, Vishvamitra had brought Rama and his brother Lakshmana to the forest for
the protection of a yajna (ritual sacrifice). Hearing about the svayamvara, Vishvamitra asked
Rama to participate in the ceremony with the consent of Janaka, who agreed to offer Sita's hand
in marriage to the prince if he could fulfil the requisite task. When the bow was brought before
him, Rama seized the centre of the weapon, fastened the string taut, and broke it in two in the
process. Witnessing his prowess, Janaka agreed to marry his daughter to Rama and invited
Dasharatha to his capital. During the homeward journey to Ayodhya, another avatar of
Vishnu, Parashurama, challenged Rama to combat, on the condition that he was able to string the
bow of Vishnu, Sharanga. When Rama obliged him with success, Parashurama acknowledged
the former to be a form of Vishnu and departed to perform penance at the mountain Mahendra.
The wedding entourage then reached Ayodhya, entering the city amid great fanfare. Thereafter,
Rama lived happily with Sita for twelve (12) years.

Meanwhile Rama and his brothers were away, Kaikeyi, the mother of Bharata and the third wife
of King Dasharatha, reminds the king that he had promised long ago to comply with one thing
she asks, anything. Dasharatha remembers and agrees to do so. She demands that Rama be exiled
for fourteen years to Dandaka forest. [46] Dasharatha grieves at her request. Her son Bharata, and
other family members become upset at her demand. Rama states that his father should keep his
word, adds that he does not crave for earthly or heavenly material pleasures, and seeks neither
power nor anything else. He informs of his decision to his wife and tells everyone that time
passes quickly. Sita leaves with him to live in the forest, and Lakshmana joins them in their exile
as the caring close brother.

Rama draws Parashurama Bow

Exile and war

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Rama, along with his younger brother Lakshmana and wife Sita, exiled to the forest.
Rama heads outside the Kosala kingdom, crosses Yamuna river and initially stays at Chitrakuta,
on the banks of river Mandakini, in the hermitage of sage Vasishtha.[55] During the exile, Rama
meets one of his devotee, Shabari who happened to love him so much that when Rama asked
something to eat she offered her ber, a fruit. But every time she gave it to him she first tasted it to
ensure that it was sweet and tasty as a testament to her devotion. Rama also understood her
devotion and ate all the half-eaten bers given by her. Such was the reciprocation of love and
compassion he had for his people. This place is believed in the Hindu tradition to be the same
as Chitrakoot on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. [56] The region has numerous
Rama temples and is an important Vaishnava pilgrimage site. [55] The texts describe nearby
hermitages of Vedic rishis (sages) such as Atri, and that Rama roamed through forests, lived a
humble simple life, provided protection and relief to ascetics in the forest being harassed and
persecuted by demons, as they stayed at different ashrams.

After ten years of wandering and struggles, Rama arrives at Panchavati, on the banks of river
Godavari. This region had numerous demons (rakshashas). One day, a demoness called
Shurpanakha saw Rama, became enamored of him, and tried to seduce him.Rama refused her.
Shurpanakha retaliated by threatening Sita. Lakshmana, the younger brother protective of his
family, in turn retaliated by cutting off the nose and ears of Shurpanakha. The cycle of violence
escalated, ultimately reaching demon king Ravana, who was the brother of Shurpanakha. Ravana
comes to Panchavati to take revenge on behalf of his family, sees Sita, gets attracted,
ask Maricha, his uncle, to disguised himself as a magnificent deer to lure Sita, and kidnaps her to
his kingdom of Lanka (believed to be modern Sri Lanka).

Rama seated on back of Hanuman (right) fights Ravana, c.

1820
Rama and Lakshmana discover the kidnapping, worry about Sita's safety, despair at the loss and
their lack of resources to take on Ravana. Their struggles now reach new heights. They travel
south, meet Sugriva, marshall an army of monkeys, and attract dedicated commanders such
as Hanuman who was a minister of Sugriva. Meanwhile, Ravana harasses Sita to be his wife,

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queen or goddess. Sita refuses him. Ravana gets enraged and ultimately reaches Lanka, fights in
a war that has many ups and downs, but ultimately Rama prevails, kills Ravana and forces of
evil, and rescues his wife Sita. They return to Ayodhya.

Post-war rule, death and re-appearance

The return of Rama to Ayodhya was celebrated with his coronation. It is called Rama
pattabhisheka, and his rule itself as Rama rajya described to be a just and fair rule. It is believed
by many that when Rama returned people celebrated their happiness with diyas (lamps), and the
festival of Diwali is connected with Rama's return.

Upon Rama's accession as king, rumours emerge that Sita may have gone willingly when she
was with Ravana; Sita protests that her capture was forced. Rama responds to public gossip by
renouncing his wife and asking her to prove her chastity in front of Agni (fire). She does and
passes the test. Rama and Sita live happily together in Ayodhya, have twin sons
named Kusha and Lava, in the Ramayana and other major texts. However, in some revisions, the
story is different and tragic, with Sita dying of sorrow for her husband not trusting her, making
Sita a moral heroine and leaving the reader with moral questions about Rama. In these revisions,
the death of Sita leads Rama to drown himself. Through death, he joins her in afterlife. ]Depiction
of Rama dying by drowning himself and then emerging in the sky as a six-armed incarnate
of Vishnu is found in the Burmese version of Rama's life story called Thiri Rama.

Variations

Rama darbar (Rama's court), Chamba painting, 1775–1800.

Rama and Sita on the throne with Rama's brothers behind. Hanuman with Sugriva and Jambavan
pay their respects.
Rama's legends vary significantly by the region and across manuscripts. While there is a
common foundation, plot, grammar and an essential core of values associated with a battle
between good and evil, there is neither a correct version nor a single verifiable ancient one.
According to Paula Richman, there are hundreds of versions of "the story of Rama in India,
Southeast Asia and beyond". The versions vary by region reflecting local preoccupations and
histories, and these cannot be called "divergences or different tellings" from the "real" version,
rather all the versions of Rama story are real and true in their own meanings to the local cultural
tradition, according to scholars such as Richman and Ramanujan

The stories vary in details, particularly where the moral question is clear, but the appropriate
ethical response is unclear or disputed. For example, when demoness Shurpanakha disguises as a
woman to seduce Rama, then stalks and harasses Rama's wife Sita after Rama refuses

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her, Lakshmana is faced with the question of appropriate ethical response. In the Indian tradition,
states Richman, the social value is that "a warrior must never harm a woman". [71] The details of
the response by Rama and Lakshmana, and justifications for it, has numerous versions.
Similarly, there are numerous and very different versions to how Rama deals with rumours
against Sita when they return victorious to Ayodhya, given that the rumours can neither be
objectively investigated nor summarily ignored. Similarly the versions vary on many other
specific situations and closure such as how Rama, Sita and Lakshmana die.

The variation and inconsistencies are not limited to the texts found in the Hinduism traditions.
The Rama story in the Jain tradition also show variation by author and region, in details, in
implied ethical prescriptions and even in names – the older versions using the name Padma
instead of Rama, while the later Jain texts just use Rama.

Rama with Lakshmana (left), Sita (right) and Hanuman at his feet. Tanjore painting, mid 19th century//A
4th-century-CE terracotta sculpture depicting Rama
In some Hindu texts, Rama is stated to have lived in the Treta Yuga that their authors estimate
existed before about 5000 BCE. Archaeologist H. D. Sankalia, who specialised in Proto- and
Ancient Indian history, find such estimate to be "pure speculation" A few other researchers place
Rama to have more plausibly lived around 1250 BCE, based on regnal lists of Kuru and Vrishni
leaders which if given more realistic reign lengths would place Bharat and Satwata,
contemporaries of Rama, around that period. Sankalia dates various incidents of the Ramayana
to have taken place as early as 1,500 BCE.

The composition of Rama's epic story, the Ramayana, in its current form is usually dated
between 8th and 4th century BCE. According to John Brockington, a professor of Sanskrit at
Oxford known for his publications on the Ramayana, the original text was likely composed and

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transmitted orally in more ancient times, and modern scholars have suggested various centuries
in the 1st millennium BCE. In Brockington's view, "based on the language, style and content of
the work, a date of roughly the fifth century BCE is the most reasonable estimate".

Historians often highlight that Rama's narrative reflects not only religious beliefs but also
societal ideals and moral principles. They explore the possibility of Rama being a composite
figure, embodying virtues and qualities valued in ancient Indian society. This perspective
underscores the Ramayana's role as both a religious scripture and a cultural artifact, illustrating
how legends like Rama's have shaped India's collective consciousness and ethical frameworks
over centuries. Ariel Glucklich about this, quoted: "[...] Rama serve not only as historical
narratives but also as moral and spiritual teachings, shaping cultural identity and religious beliefs
in profound ways."

Who is Rama

I Think of that Rama

Who lives in Ayodhya
Who is decorated with gems
Who sits beneath a golden canopy
Whose doorways are festooned with mandana flowers.
He, who is seated on a throne
Surrounded by celestial vehicles
Who is revered by rishis
Who has Sita on the left
Who is served by Lakshmana;
Who is the blue complexioned,
Whose face is tranquil,
Who is adorned with ornaments

—Rama Rahasya Upanishad.

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 Valmiki composing
the Ramayana/
Rama (right third from top) depicted in the Dashavatara (ten incornations) of Vishnu. Painting by Raja Ravi
Varma.

Rama in religious belief and practiceMan or God ?

In the earliest layers of the textual tradition, Rama is more human than divine, but by the time of
the final compilation of the Ramayana in the early centuries CE, he was considered to be an
incarnation of Vishnu. He has been regarded as entirely divine in subsequent versions of the
story and in popular belief. There was, however, probably no special worship of him before the
11th century, and it was not until the 14th and 15th centuries that distinct sects appeared
venerating him as the supreme god (notably that of the followers of the Brahman Ramananda).
Rama’s popularity was increased greatly by the retelling of the Sanskrit epics in the vernaculars,
such as Tulsidas’s celebrated Awadhi Hindi version, the Ramcharitmanas (“Sacred Lake of the
Acts of Rama”), and the Tamil Iramavataram by Kampan, as well.

Idols (Murtis) of Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita in a Hindu templeThe Hindu deity Rama (center)
with Lakshmana (left) and Sita (right), murtis (devotional embodiments of the gods) in the Shree
Hindu Temple (Mandir), Leicester, England.(more).Rama and Krishna (also an incarnation of
Vishnu) were the two most popular recipients of adoration from the bhakti (devotional) groups
that swept the country during that time. Whereas Krishna is adored for his mischievous pranks
and amorous dalliances, Rama is conceived as a model of reason, right action, and desirable
virtues. Temples to Rama faced by shrines to his monkey devotee Hanuman are widespread
throughout India. In the Ram Mandir temple in Ayodhya, on the site where Hindus believe Rama
was born, he is worshipped in the form of Ram Lalla, the divine hero depicted as a child. Rama’s
name is a popular form of greeting among friends (“Ram! Ram!”), and Rama is the deity most
often invoked at death.

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Three Hindu holidays feature Rama and his story. Rama Navami, in the month of Chaitra
(March–April), celebrates the birth of Rama in Ayodhya. Dussehra, in the month of Ashvina
(September–October), marks Rama’s defeat of Ravana. As part of that celebration, Ravana is
often burned in effigy. Finally, the very popular festival of lights Diwali, in the months of
Ashvina and Karttika (October–November), while often associated with the goddess Lakshmi, is
considered in some regions to commemorate the return of Rama and his retinue to Ayodhya.
In some Advaita Vedanta inspired texts, Rama connotes the metaphysical concept of Supreme
Brahman who is the eternally blissful spiritual Self (Atman, soul) in whom yogis delight
nondualistically. The root of the word Rama is ram- which means "stop, stand still, rest, rejoice,
be pleased".

First the question arises: who is Śrī Rāma?

When we say 'Rāma' (Śrī Rāma), then it means we are talking about the all-encompassing
supreme-entity (Brahman), the most perfect incarnation of the supreme-reality, or the supreme-
entity himself in the human-form as a Young charming prince of Ayodhyā, or the Supreme

105
personality of godhead. Śrī Madhvāchārya says — "'Rāma' literally means the supreme bliss,
Rāma means the 'Brahman' (the complete, the absolute, the supreme element) as well as
Bhagavān (the Brahman or god with form) who is the delight for all the worlds, both".
'Rāma' this is a whole indivisible term, denoting the Supreme absolute which is indivisible
(akhand) all encompassing infinite (anant) without any beginning or end (anadi). In Samskrit
'Ram'-dhātu in the sense of 'ramate sarvabhuteshu sthāvareshu charāchareshu ch' - Rāma means
'the one who dwells within all sentients (Chid) and insentient (achid) substances, existing in all
[as their soul of souls], and also in case of insentients, pervading whole everything.'
In simple words, Rāma is the one indivisible (akhand) all encompassing supreme cosmic spirit
(Brahman), the all pervading (therefore, He is called Vishnu), the embodiment [abode] of all
souls (therefore, He is called Nārāyaṇa), the ātma of all ātma-s (therefoe, He is called Vāsudeva),
and thus the ultimate reality, the supreme entity. The resplendence of the supreme reality Rāma
(Brahman) is perceived two fold ways - direct (Pratyaksham) resplendence as He himself as
Bhagavān, and the hidden (Tirohitam) resplendence which is abiding in and energizing all
(ramate charāchareshu). As Bhagavān or Ishvara (denoted by Śrī Rāma the qualified Brahman
with infinite attributes and form), he is mine of infinite auspicious qualities, the original cause of
all the causes, the supreme ruler (Ishwara) of all rulers (Ishwara-s), the source of supreme bliss,
the supreme refuge of all Jivas (individual souls), therefore the subject of worship for all Jivas.
Thus, Ishwara Śrī Rāma is Param-brahman endowed with infinite auspicious qualities. Śrī Rāma
(Bhagavān, Ishwara, the supreme personality, the consort of Sītā) is one, and Jivas are many, Śrī
Rāma (Bhagavān) is Supremely Independent and all Jivas are dependent. The triad of Ishvara
(Bhagavān) along with the universe (Achid, Prakriti, the nature) and the sentient beings (Chid) is
Brahman (the supreme truth, the absolute), which signifies the completeness of the existence.
Since Bhagavān or Ishwara (Brahm with form) is the subject of worship for all Jivas, to be loved
most, therefore Bhagavān Śrī Rāma as the Lord of Ayodhyā, the supreme personality unto whom
one should take refuge should be the subject of worship by all, and the main focus here.
In whole world people know about Śrī Rāma, the prince of Ayodhyā (a place in north India) and
his saga 'Rāmāyaṇa'. Śrī Rāma is on the lips of every man, woman, child in the sacred land of
Bhāratavarsha (India). He, being the god himself, is worshipped by all; moreover He is the most
ideal hero, the role model for everyone in true sense, and therefore popularly known as the
Maryādā-Purushottama (the best among all virtuous men with all Ideal qualities).
Śrī Rāma is the Supreme Purusha, the Supreme personality of godhead, eulogized by all Vaidic-
scriptures in one voice.
रामत्वंपरमात्मसिसच्चिदानन्दविग्रहः॥
इदानींत्वांरघुश्रेष्ठप्रणमामिमुहुर्मुहुः।
(शुक्लयजुर्वेदीयमुक्तिकोपनिषद् 1/4,5 क)
rāma tvaṃ paramātmasi saccidānandavigrahaḥ ॥
idānīṃ tvāṃ raghuśrēṣṭha praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ ।
(śuklayajurvēdīya muktikōpaniṣad 1.4,5 a)
“O' Śrī Rāma! You are the Paramātmā (the Supreme ātmā, the Supreme Being), of the nature Sat
(real, eternal), Chid (consciousness) and Ananda (bliss)! I pay my obeisance in your lotus feet
again and again.”

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In the words of Vedāvatār Śrīmad Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa — Śrī Rāma is the sun of sun (Mahā-
Surya), the fire of fire, the god of god, the ruler of ruler i.e. the ruler of even those who govern
all (Prabhoh-Prabhu), the supreme unchanging element (Akshara), perfect, omniscient,
omnipresent, incorporeal, the selfsame supreme, the eternal Maha-Viṣhṇu, the Parātpar (higher
than the highest) Brahman. Therefore, everything exists in Śrī Rāma, and Śrī Rām pervades
everything. He is the one supreme entity, which is identified as Brahman, Paramātmā, and
Bhagavān.

Śrī Rāma (श्रीराम), the Purushottama

Śrī Rāma is known as Purushottama which means the best of Purusha-s, or the Supreme Purusha
(personality), Bhagavān.
Śrī Rāma is the perfect Avatār (incarnation) of the Supreme all-pervading omnipresent entity.
The most popular symbol of chivalry and virtue, Śrī Rāma - in the words of Swāmi Vivekānanda
- is "the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband, and above all, the
ideal king."
Shukrāchārya, a great devotee of lord in his Shukra-neeti has said the same:-
नरामसदृशोराजापृथिव्यांनीतिमानभूत्॥
सुभृत्यतातुयन्नीत्यावानरैरपिस्वीकृता।
(शुक्रनीतिः५.४४ख,४५क)
na Rāmasadṛśō rājā pṛthivyāṃ nītimānabhūt ॥
subhṛtyatā tu yannītyā vānarairapi svīkṛtā ।
(śukranītiḥ 5.44b,45a)
“On this earth, neither before (in past) nor after (in future) there would be a King as Neetimān
(statecraft, paragon of virtuosity, nobility, principled) like Śrī Rāma; by his virtuosity, (let alone
human) even monkeys (which are thought to be uncivilized) gladly became his servants for
forever (i.e. they gladly accepted Śrī Rāma as their eternal King, their Bhagavān)!” .
What a charm Śrī Rāma has, His captivating look and charm made millions of (seemingly
uncontrollable) monkeys being controlled, and clung around him, that too without any effort!
Here is one of the excellent declarations about Śrī Rāma in Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa:-
रामोविग्रहवान्धर्मःसाधुःसत्यपराक्रमः।
राजासर्वस्यलोकस्यदेवानामिववासवः॥
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण३.३७.१३)
rāmō vigrahavān dharmaḥ sādhuḥ satyaparākramaḥ।
rājā sarvasya lōkasya dēvānāmiva vāsavaḥ॥
(Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.37.13)
“Śrī Rama is the embodiment of Dharma (righteousness), he is sadhu (noble, equable person)
with truthfulness as his valour, and as Indra to all gods, He (Lord Rāma) is the king of all the
worlds.”

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Anyone can find the tale of Śrī Rāma and his life in Rāmāyaṇam (Rāmāyaṇ), which is known as
the first epic poem in the whole world, written by sage Vālmīki.

Śrī Rāma, the all attractive personality

चन्द्रकान्ताननंराममतीवप्रियदर्शनम्॥
रूपौदार्यगुणैःपुंसांदृष्टिचित्तापहारिणम्॥
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.३.२८ख-२९क)
candrakāntānanaṃ rāmamatīva priyadarśanam ॥
rūpaudāryaguṇaiḥ puṃsāṃ dṛṣṭicittāpahāriṇam ॥
(śrī vālmīki rāmāyaṇa 2.3.28B-29A)
“With a moon-like face, Śrī Rāma is an extreme delight to look at. By His form (रूप), qualities
(गुणैः) and generosity, He steals the eyes (vision) and hearts of even men! (What about
women? What a futile question!).”
Śrī Rāma is so beautiful, so attractive that both young and old women pray devoutly for
illustrious Rāma. His charming eyebrows, red-lotus eyes, his broad chest, and his everything
else, all are captivating!
सुभ्रूरायतताम्राक्षःसाक्षाद्विष्णुरिवस्वयम्।
रामोलोकाभिरामोऽयंशौर्यवीर्यपराक्रमैः॥
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.२.४३ख, ४४क)
subhrūrāyatatāmrākṣaḥ sākṣādviṣṇuriva svayam।
rāmō lōkābhirāmō'yaṃ śauryavīryaparākramaiḥ ॥
(Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.2.43b, 44a)
“Śrī Rāma, who enchants all in all the worlds, has beautiful eyebrows. He has red and broad
eyes. He is absolutely like the Viṣṇu himself in strength, heroism and valour ”.
स्त्रियोवृद्धास्तरुण्यश्चसायंप्रातःसमाहिताः।
सर्वान्देवान्नमस्यन्तिरामस्यार्थेयशस्विनः॥
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.२.५२)
striyō vṛddhāstaruṇyaśca sāyaṃ prātaḥ samāhitāḥ ।
sarvān dēvān namasyanti rāmasyārthē yaśasvinaḥ॥
(Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.2.52)
“Both young and aged women pray devoutly invoking at dusk and at dawn (each morning
and evening to) all the gods, for the sake of illustrious Rāma”.
The Naam (नाम name), Rupa (रूप form), Leela (लीला exploits or pastimes), and Dhaam (धाम)
of Śrī Rāma, all these fours are higher than the highest (ParatPar, परात्परम्).
Śrī Rām is the most beautiful, the most attractive, the most handsome, the most virtuous, the
most Valiant, yet the most compassionate, the most merciful, the most fit to be taken shelter of in
all the worlds, the Dharma-personified (the embodiment of Dharma), the protector of those who
are in his refuge, the most truthful, the possessor of the most beautiful and noble character, of
extremely mild disposition, and the mine of infinite auspicious qualitiies. If the word

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'Purushottama' (the bestest Purusha) becomes real in anyone, then He is Śrī Rāma alone! Is there
anywhere else such hero like Śrī Rāma? Simple answer is No. None comes close to Śrī Rām in
any manner; he is the culmination of all the best virtues and qualities.
All divine transcendental qualities are found to the full extent in Śrī Rāma, Paratpar Brahman
(Paripurntamam Bhagavān). No one else is as much beautiful or attractive as like the Supreme
personality of Godhead Śrī Rāma. The all attractive transcendental beauty of Śrī Rāma is just
matchless. Similarly, the glory of his name "Rāma" is incomparable to any other name of God.
रामस्यनामरूपंचलीलाधामपरात्परम्।
एतच्चतुष्टयंनित्यंसच्चिदानन्दविग्रहम्॥
(वशिष्ठसंहिता)
rāmasya nāma rūpaṃ ca līlā dhāma parātparam।
ētaccatuṣṭayaṃ nityaṃ saccidānandavigraham॥
(vaśiṣṭha saṃhitā)
“Śrī Rāma’s name, form, Leelā (pastimes) and Dhama (abode) are all Suprememly divine, higher
than the highest (परात्परम्) and sat-chid-aananda-vigrah, the very form of truth,
conciousness and bliss!”
Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa which is the primary source to know about Śrī Rāma and his story, says
Śrī Rāma is the Supreme Personality, the most superior God, who can be referred only in the
sense of the God of gods, Mahā-Viṣhṇu (Prabhoh Prabhu, Viṣhṇu of Viṣhṇu), or Mahā-Surya
(Sun of Sun), or Mahā-Shakti (Śrī of Śrī), etc.

Śrī Rāma, the ultimate refuge for all

Lord Rāma is the only personality who desrves praises in whole universe, as He has been
glorified as the ultimate refuge, the ultimate Purusha in all Vaidic scriptures. He should be
worshiped by all and all in the existence. The self-sufficient authority Vedāvatāra Śrī Vālmīki-
Rāmāyaṇa says -
निवासवृक्षःसाधूनामापन्नानांपरागतिः।
आर्तानांसंश्रयश्चैवयशसश्चैकभाजनम्॥
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण४.१५.१९)
nivāsavṛkṣaḥ sādhūnāmāpannānāṃ parā gatiḥ ।
ārtānāṃ saṃśrayaścaiva yaśasaścaikabhājanam ॥
(śrī vālmīki rāmāyaṇa 4.15.19)
“Śrī Rāma is like a sheltering tree to the virtuous, he is the ultimate (supreme) refuge for the
destitutes and a protector of the distressed. He is the only personality who deserves to be
famous”.
Here the word 'Nivāsavṛkṣaḥ - the sheltering tree' indicates, anyone be it deva or even an asura,
can approach and get shelter under that tree in form of Śrī Rāma, a tree can't say I will not
provide you my shelter.

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द्विश्शरंनाभिसन्द्धत्तेद्विःस्थापयतिनाश्रितान्।
द्विर्ददातिनचार्थिभ्योरामोद्विर्नाभिभाषते॥
(श्रीहनुमन्नाटक)
dviśśaraṃ nābhisanddhattē dviḥsthāpayati nāśritān।
dvirdadāti na cārthibhyō rāmō dvirnābhibhāṣatē ॥
(Śrī-hanumannāṭaka)
Bhagavān Śrī Rāma says to Parashu-Rāma:
“Rāma never aims his arrow twice! (means 'in one go, he can destroy his enemy or target
completely'), Rāma doesn't establishes his āśrītas (those who are completely dependent on him)
twice! (means 'He gives Abhayam [complete fearlessness, makes one completely free from all
fear, worries, and anxiety etc] to his dependents, no god can depose his AŚrītas once installed by
Rāma), Rāma doesn’t give twice to any seeker! (means Rāma bestows so much in first seeking
itself that the seeker doesn’t need to look anywhere else thereafter!), Rāma never speaks
anything twice!(What is said is said. No one in entire cosmos can change that!)”.
In Sharaṇya (to whom one should take refuge), these two qualities must be present as per
Bhagavad śrī Rāmānuja :
First, He should be able to maintain, sustain and protect those who come in his refuge,
and second, He could fulfill the desires and wishes of his dependents!
And Bhagavān Śrī Rāma has all these qualities in full, he gives ultimate protection and fulfill all
desires and wishes of those who come in his refuge!
Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is known by various others names like Rāmachandra, Rāmabhadra, Rāghav,
Rājivalochan, Rājivanayan, etc, all these other names of Śrī Rāma are also greater than all the
Vedas, Yet his eternal and the most superior, the most divine and the most beautiful name is
'Rāma' राम.

Śrī Rāma, the complete Personality

In beginning of Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sage Vālmīki enquired with the divine sage Nārada
about the personality with 16 attributes [i.e shodash-kalā-Purusha].
Then, Divine sage Nārada thought for a while in his heart and said to the best of sages Vālmīki,
'the qualities You have asked for are extremely rare and unattainable to be found all
simultaneously in one Person, Yet there is one personality in the world in whom all these rare
qualities are found, he is renowned by the name 'Rāma' in the world.' And then divine sage
enumerated some of the innumerable qualities of Śrī Rāma which can be grouped broadly in
following three categories as below. In fact, in the cosmic hero to be adored (and fit to be taken
refuge) by all, following features should be present :-
(1) Param-Aishvarya (Supreme Lordship): The universal hero should be Param-
aishwaryavAn (means the one having supreme Lordship), the one Lord of all beings.
The qualities of Śrī Rāma such as samarthah (All-capable, capable of doing everything),
MahAvIryO (of incomprehensible prowess), dyutimAn (self-resplendent), bibhyati devAh (from
whom even gods fear, let alone foes, when exited to wrath), vashii (supreme controller of

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everyone and everything), Rakshita-Jivalokasya (the protector of all living beings), dhaataa (the
sustainer of all the worlds), etc show his Param-Aishwarya (supreme Lordship).
* 'bibhyati devAh - from whom even gods fear, let alone foes, when he is excited to wrath' is for
telling his Param-Aishwarya over all others. It doesn't mean Śrī Rāma causes fear to others, in
fact Śrī Rāma is the delight to all in all the worlds, He is very Saral (gentle, soft, tender, simple)
and Saumya (calm, pleasing, tranquil), whose full-moon like countenance constantly drips
nectarine bliss to whole world. He is like mother earth of earth in forbearance and forgiveness,
and doesn't remember anyone's fault [ansuyakaH] or any number of bad things done to him. Yet,
certainly they would have to fear who wish to do bad to his devotees, be it anyone, even gods.
Even though he has equal disposition towards all [sarva-samaH], still to uphold the rule of love,
to protect his devotee(s), he shows anger in which he can become the cosmic-fire, or Narasimha
(man-lion incarnation), the death of even death, then even gods fear from him to give shelter to
the offender of his dear ones (devotees). This is like assurance for the adherers of Śrī Rāma who
seek refuge in him that Śrī Rāma loves them so much.
Śrī Rāma has done the most solemn pledge in Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa as an assurance to all - “He
who seeks refuge in me telling just once 'I am Yours. Oh Rama!' then I give him Abhayam (i.e.
complete fearlessness, another meaning of Abhayam is liberation , as in liberation alone a Jiva is
completely free from all fears, worries and anxiety) from all types of beings”.
साहिबहोतसरोषसेवककोअपराधसुनि।
अपनेदेखेदोषसपनेहूँरामनउरधरे॥
(दोहावली)
sāhiba hōta sarōṣa sēvaka kō aparādha suni ।
apanē dēkhē dōṣa sapanēhūm̐ rāma na ura dharē ॥
(dōhāvalī)
“Ordinary Lords of the world get angry just by listening to some fault on the part of their
servants (they do not even bother to verify it); But, Śrī Rāma never even in dreams, took to heart
even those faults (of His devotees), which He himself had been witness to”.
(2) Param-Mādhurya (Supreme sweetness) - The qualities of Śrī Rāma such as sadaik-
PriyadarshanaH (who gives constant delight to everyone by the lovelinless of his look, beauty, in
each and every moment), dhritimaan (the one who is sublime bliss personified to satisfy others),
Sarvalokapriya (dear to all in all the worlds), etc shows his Param-Mādhurya (supreme
sweetness). Therefore, Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is called Śrī Rāmachandra who is pleasing to all like
moon.
(3) Sheel (inherent noble disposition) - A hero is adored, and worthy of praises and worship
when he has inherent noble sublime disposition, character and conduct.
The qualities of Śrī Rāma such as ChAritravAn (of noble conduct), GunavAn (the abode of all
qualities and virtues), satya vaakyaH (always truthful, never deceiving anyone), dhridh-vrataH
(Of firm resolve), anasuuyakaH (free from finding fault in others), sarva-samah (having
equanimity towards all Jivas, discriminating none on the basis of caste, creed, race, etc),
Kritagya (the one who remembers even the smallest things done ever to him, [and never
remembers any number of bad things done to him by anyone]), dharmagya (always righteous as
being the knower of dharma in its entirety), etc shows his noblest sublime disposition, character

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and conduct. Therefore, Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is called Śrī Rāmabhadra who is of gentle,
auspicious, noble character and qualities.
Thus, Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is the most complete person who is called Śrī Rāmachandra as well as
Śrī Rāmabhadra, both.
Some other aspects of Śrī Rāma :-
Śrī Rāma, the most compassionate Lord : Bhagavān means compassion personified, which is
predominantly seen in Bhagavān Śrī Rāma alone. He is most compassionate, most merciful and
kindest Lord.
व्यसनेषुमनुष्याणांभृशंभवतिदुःखितः।
उत्सवेषुचसर्वेषुपितेवपरितुष्यति॥
(वाल्मीकिरामायण२.२.४०ख-४१क)
vyasanēṣu manuṣyāṇām bhṛśaṃ bhavati duḥkhitaḥ ।
utsavēṣu ca sarvēṣu pitēva parituṣyati ॥
(vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.2.40kha-41ka)
“Śrī Rāma feels touched and becomes sad seeing the pains or afflictions of people; and rejoices
like a father in all their jubilations.”
Śrī Rāma, the most merciful Lord :
सुरोऽसुरोवाप्यथवानरोनरःसर्वात्मनायःसुकृतज्ञमुत्तमम्।
भजेतरामंमनुजाकृतिंहरिंयःउत्तराननयत्कोशलान्दिवमिति॥
(श्रीमद्भागवतम्५.१९.८)
suro'suro vāpyatha vānaro naraḥ sarvātmanā yaḥ sukṛtajñam uttamam ।
bhajeta rāmaḿ manujākṛtiḿ hariḿ ya uttarān anayat kosalān divam iti ॥
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.19.8)
“इसलिएदेव, असुर, नर, अथवानरसेभिन्न (वा-नर) पशु, पक्षी,
आदिअन्यसभीकोसम्पूर्णभावसे (सर्वात्मना) मनुजाकृति
(माधुर्यविशेषनराकृतिद्विभुज) हरिश्रीरामकाहीभजनकरनाचाहिए,
(यदिप्रश्नउठेक्यूँ? तोकहतेहैं- श्रीरामअतिशयकरुणासिन्धुहैं)
जोथोड़ेकियेकोभीबहुतमानतेहैं, जिन्होंनेसमस्तकोसलवासियोंको (तरु-गुल्म-
लता-कीट-पतंग-पशु-पक्षी-नर-नारीसमेत) अपनेसाथदिव्य-स्वधाम (दिवं -
त्रिपादस्यामृतदिव्य-अयोध्या) लेतेगए।”
“Therefore, whether one is a demigod or a demon, a man or a creature other than man, such as a
beast or bird, everyone should wholeheartedly worship the human-formed (the embodiment of
Mādhurya, the two-armed Narākriti) Hari Bhagavān Śrī Rāma, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. There is no need of great austerities or penances to worship Bhagavān Śrī Rāma, for
He is pleased by even a small service offered to him (such supremely compassionate lord he is).
Thus He is satisfied, and as soon as He is satisfied, the devotee is successful. [[Indeed, No one
can match his compassion towards his devotees, that] Lord Śrī Rāma brought all the
residents of Ayodhyā to his divine-abode Sāntānik Sāket loka (the supreme Mādhurya-
abode in Tripād-Vibhuti)”

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Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Śrī Vaṃśīdhara, and other great commentators of Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam, comment over this verse —
तस्माद्भजनीयेषुसर्वावतारेषुमध्येरामएवकृपासिन्धुतिशयेनभजनीयोयद्भज
नेसर्वएवाधिकारीत्याह - सुरइतियःकोऽपिसर्वात्मनासर्वप्रकारेण (भजेत)।
tasmādbhajanīyēṣu sarvāvatārēṣu madhyē rāma ēva kṛpāsindhutiśayēna bhajanīyō yadbhajanē
sarva ēvādhikārītyāha - sura iti yaḥ kō'pi sarvātmanā sarvaprakārēṇa (bhajēta)।
“Among all the Avatārās (incarnations) who are worthy of worship, Bhagavān Śrī Rāma
(रामएव) is exceedingly compassionate, He is the ocean of mercy and compassion
(कृपासिन्धु), therefore Supremely worshipable alone for one and all. All have rights in doing
his worship, be it Devas or Daityas (Asuras), Man or creature different from man such as beast
or bird - one and all should wholeheartedly worship (surrender to) him, in every manner.”
Prapannas are constantly dearmost to Bhagavān Śrī Rāma. In fact, in his causeless mercy and
affection), Bhagavān Śrī Rāma doesn't expect any worldly qualifications - of Jñāna (knowledge),
Kriyā (action), Bhakti (devotion), or Yoga (Contemplation) in someone. He, by his own
causeless-mercy only, brought all the residents of Kosala-puri Ayodhyā (even trees-plants-
creepers-shrubs-insects-animals-birds-Rishi-Maharshi-Devas-Asuras-men-women, whatever
creature is there in the existence, who used to live in Ayodhyā, or just came there at that time
from somewhere, they all were brought by him) to his divine-world (Sāntānik Sāket loka), Such
is the all-merciful Bhagavān Śrī Rāma.
Therefore, Everyone should wholeheartedly adore and worship Bhagavān Śrī Rāma as per
the instruction of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
Śrī Rāma, the best in Gāndharv-kalā : Gāndharva-Kala is the arts of playing music and dance.
Śrī Rāma is best in dance and music also (which indicates Śrī Rāma is the expert of Rāsa dance).
गान्धर्वेचभुविश्रेष्ठोबभूवभरताग्रजः।
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.२.३५)
gāndharvē ca bhuvi śrēṣṭhō babhūva bharatāgrajaḥ ।
(Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.2.35)
“Śrī Rāma is best in the world in the arts of music and dance.”
Śrī Rāma is the all beauty-elegance-and-charm personified, He is sarvang-sundar from the head
to the tips of the nails. He is lokabhirama (रामोलोकाभिरामोऽयं - the enchanter of all the
worlds) in every manner. Śrī Rāma always speaks sweetly and softly with all living beings
(प्रियवादीचभूतानाम्सत्यवादीचराघवः॥ ~ श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.२.३२), He
himself initiates conversation (as respect given to all) with loving words
(स्मितपूर्वाभिभाषीच ~ श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.२.४२). Śrī Rāma is Saral (gentle, soft,
tender & simple) and Saumya (pleasant, peaceful, calm, & tranquil) and lokabhiram (the delight
to all in all the worlds). He is the ocean of all qualities and virtues and character. He is the
compassion-personified, a truly complete and perfect personality in every sense.
Śrī Rām (Rāma) is celebrated as the perfect ideal hero in Rāmāyana, the first epic poem of the
world. No one can find any such hero in any other history of the world. Only the followers of

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Sanātan Vedic-Dharma can proudly claim that they have a hero like Śrī Rāma who has no match
in entire world.

Śrī Rāma, the Bhagavān himself

In Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa and other Vaidic-scriptures, Śrī Rāma is celebrated as the Supreme
personality of godhead - The complete personality who himself descended as the prince
charming of Ayodhya to teach the world how to lead a righteous life by presenting the example
of his own life, to establish the Dharma, to liberate the earth from evil demons, and to impart the
supreme bliss to his devotees.
वदन्तितत्तत्त्वविदस्तत्त्वंयज्ज्ञानमद्वयम्।
ब्रह्मेतिपरमात्मेतिभगवानितिशब्द्यते॥
(श्रीमद्भागवतम्१.२.११)
vadanti tat tattva-vidas-tattvaḿ yaj jñānam advayam ।
brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate ॥
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.2.11)
“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman,
Paramātmā or Bhagavān.”
If there is god (Bhagavān), then He can be completely presented before everyone as Śrī Rāma
alone, How?
As Śrī Rāma shows all the characteristics of being Bhagavān as described in various scriptures.
As per Viṣhṇu Purāṇa, Bhagavān is:
ऐश्वर्य्यस्यसमग्रस्यवीर्यस्ययशसःश्रियः।
ज्ञानवैराग्ययोश्चैवषण्णांभगइतीङ्गना॥
(श्रीविष्णुपुराण६.५.७४)
aiśvaryyasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ ।
jñāna-vairāgyayōścaiva ṣaṇṇāṃ bhaga itīṅganā ॥
(Śrī Viṣṇu-Purāṇa 6.5.74)
Śrī Viṣhṇu Purāṇ says: - “He who possesses these six attributes of aiśvarya (supremacy,
Lordship over all), vīrya (valor), yaśa (fame, glory); śriya (splendor); jñāna (knowledge) and
vairāgya (renunciation) in full (to infinite degree) is called Bhagavān!.”

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Lord Shiva completely surrendering in the lotus feet of Śrī Rāma!

Śrī Viṣhṇu Purāṇa further says :

भगवच्छब्दवाच्यानिविनाहेयैर्गुणादिभिः॥
(श्रीविष्णुपुराण६.५.७९)
bhagavacchabdavācyāni vinā hēyaih guṇādibhiḥ ॥
(Śrī Viṣhṇu Purāṇa 6.5.79)
“The word 'Bhagavad' denotes the one who is bereft of any vile quality (i.e. No vile quality can
ever touch Bhagavān) and full of auspicious qualities.”
Upon consideration of these Inclusion (assertive statement — Vidhi-Vākya) and Exclusion
(Negation — Nishedha-Vākya), Śrī Rāma alone perfectly qualifies to be called Bhagavān, as no
vile quality is ever seen in him !
(1) Aishvarya (supremacy, Lordship) — Śrī Rāma has the supreme Aishvarya, He is the supreme
King of all the worlds, the king of Tripād-Vibhuti (divya-Ayodhyā) as well as of leelā-Vibhuti
(Bhaum-Ayodhyā). He is worshiped by gods like Shiva, Brahmā and even his incarnations, etc.
(2) Vīrya (valor) — Śrī Rāma is second to none in his valor, he is the most valorous one!
(3) Yasha (fame, glory) — His Yasha (fame, glory) has been sung in millions of scriptures
(ग्रन्थकोटिभिः) , one billion Rāmāyaṇa-s are solely dedicated to one personality i.e. Śrī
Rāma, one can't find more than two-three arsha-texts solely dedicated for other personalities.
(4) Śrī (splendor) — He is the possessor (consort) of Bhagavatī Śrī (Sītā), He is dyutimān (self-
resplendent), and the Śrī (splendor) of Śrī (splendor).

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(5) Jñāna (knowledge) — सर्वज्ञःसर्वदर्शी ~ श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.१०६.६ /
sarvajñaḥ sarvadarśī ~ Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.106.6 — Śrī Rāma is all knowing, omniscient,
and all-viewing supreme.
(6) Vairāgya (unattached) - Even though being the supreme lord of the entire world, he is the
most ascetic personality. Just to make his father's words true, He without any second
cosideration immediately gave up all the opulence and luxuries of his Rājya-lakṣmī (of the most
divine city Ayodhyā, the eternal Puri of Brahman) which is most difficult to renounce for others
and is always desired earnestly by even the great personalities and demigods.
Each of the aforementioned six qualities are full in Śrī Rāma, there are now being described in
detail :

(1) Param-Aishvaryam (Supremacy, Lordship, Opulence):

🌷Śrī Rāma has the supreme Aishvarya, He is the supreme King of all the worlds, the king of
Tripād-Vibhuti (divya-Ayodhyā) as well as of leelā-Vibhuti (Bhaum-Ayodhyā). He is worshiped
by gods like Shiva, Brahmā and even his incarnations, etc.
🌷Śrī Rāma liberated Ahalyā by the touch of his feet, this showed the nature of him being the
supreme-being.
🌷All the divine weapons, with all humility prostrated before Śrī Rāma, since He is original
possessor of them all, this shows his Ishvaryam (supreme nature).
🌷 Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is Jāmadagnyajit, He took out the Vaishṇavi-Splendor from Parashu-
Rāma, and thus ParashuRāma was rendered vigor-less. This shows Śrī Rāma is Swayam-
Bhagavān (the original personality of godhead, and the fountain source [Avatārī] of all
incarnations [Avatāras] - सर्वेषांअवताराणांअवतारीरघुत्तमः ~ अगस्त्यसंहिता),
and all incarnations are the amsha (parts) and Kalā (the parts of the parts) of Śrī Rāma.
After this, Lord Parashu-Rāma praised Śrī Rāma as the Supreme personality of godhead. (In
Mahā-Bhārata, it is mentioned that Śrī Rāma even showed his universal form to Parashu-Rāma)
In the Mantra-Rāmāyaṇa, Śrī Nilakaṇth Chaturdhar says even though displaying the humanly-
sentiments (for leelā), Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is wielder of divine weapons. Śrī Rāma is the breaker
of Shiva's divine bow (Bhagnēśakārmukaḥ), thus He is greater than Shiva; Śrī Rāma is
(Jāmadagnyajit) the subduer of Parashurama who was endowed with the divine splendor of
Brahmā and Vishṇu, thus Śrī Rāma is greater than Brahmā and even Vishṇu, these are clearly
visible (in Rāmāyaṇa).
Here, the sense behind telling 'Śrī Rāma is higher than even Vishṇu' means He is the Vishṇu of
Vishṇu, and the innumerable Vishṇu-Tattvas appear from the original divinity Bhagavān Śrī
Rāma!
🌷 Śrī Rāma killed the demon king Rāvaṇa who was not even killed by Viṣhṇu's Sudarshan
Chakra. Thus after killing Rāvaṇa, Śrī Rāma restored the glory of Viṣhṇu again in the universe.
That's why Rāmāyaṇa says, Śrī Rāma is Vishnorardham means
"विष्णुंअर्ध्नोतिऋद्धिमन्तंकरोतिइतिविष्णोरर्धम् Viṣhṇum ardhnoti

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ridhimantam karoti iti Vishnorardham - Śrī Rāma is the one who gives glory (Vishnutvam) to
even Viṣhṇu".
🌷All merciful Śrī Rāma bestowed his supreme Mādhurya abode, Sākēt-Lōka to innumerable
Jivas from an ant even to an straw, even to those who were never ever in his service - who just
followed him few steps in the end. Śrī Rāma is the personality who gave liberation to whole
Ayodhyā and brought all the residents of Ayodhyā in the Sāntānik-Loka (a Vana full of
Madhuryā namely - Sāntānik-vanam) which is within the supreme abode of Para-Brahman
i.e. Sāket Loka. Such leela is shown by Śrī Rāma only. This is the supreme generosity and
compassion of Lord Śrī Rāma. Only the most superior personality can do this out of his supreme
mercy and affection on ordinary souls.
सयैःस्पृष्टोऽभिद‍ृष्टोवासंविष्टोऽनुगतोऽपिवा।
कोसलास्तेययुःस्थानंयत्रगच्छन्तियोगिनः॥
(श्रीमद्भागवतम्९.११.२२)
sa yaiḥ spṛṣṭo ’bhidṛṣṭo vā saṁviṣṭo ’nugato ’pi vā ।
kosalās te yayuḥ sthānaṁ yatra gacchanti yoginaḥ ॥
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.11.22)
“जिन्होंनेभगवान्श्रीरामकास्पर्शकिया (स्पृष्टो),
याएकबारमात्रदर्शनहींकरलिया (अभिद‍ृष्टो), यासहवाससाथमेंसोएयाबैठे),
याउनकेपीछेअनुगमनकिया, वेसबकेसबकोसलदेशकेनिवासीभक्ति-
सिद्धपरमयोगियोंकेस्थान (साकेतानन्तरसान्तानिकलोक) कोगए (मुक्तहोगए)!”
“Those who touched Bhagavān Śrī Rāma (sprishto), or just saw him only once (abhidrishto), or
cohabited (slept or sat together with him), or followed behind him, all those inhabitants of
Kosala region (Ayodhyā) went to the supreme divine abode (Sāntānika-lōka within the divine
Ayodhyā Sāketa-lōka) where the perfect Bhakti-Yogis go!>”
🌷 Śrī Hanumāna described about the supreme Aishvaryam of Bhagavān Śrī Rāma to Rāvana that
just don't take Śrī Rāma mere a human-being, he is the Supreme-Person (Purushottama), He is
very much capable of annihilating all the worlds again & again and create them over again in
exactly the same manner.
सर्वांल्लोकान्सुसंहृत्यसभूतान्सचराचरान्।
पुनरेवतथास्रष्टुंशक्तोरामोमहायशाः॥
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण - ५.५१.३९)
sarvāṃllōkān susaṃhṛtya sabhūtān sacarācarān।
punarēva tathā sraṣṭuṃ śaktō rāmō mahāyaśāḥ॥
(Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa - 5.51.39)
“Annihilating all the worlds including the elements, their created beings, as well as the
entire mobile and immobile creation, the highly illustrious Śrī Rāma is capable of creating
them over again in exactly the same way.”

(2) Param-Viryam (Supreme Valour, Heroism):-

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If Bhagavān wishes, He can destroy even the greatest of demonic-armies just by mere his will,
but then there would be no playful efforts and leelā to be rejoiced by his devotees. He is sportive,
and to be recognised as Bhagavān, He should have incomprehensive valor, means second to none
in his prowess.
🌷 Śrī Rāma is second to none in his valor, he is the most valorous one, He never shown his back
to one who challenged him, whoever challenged him got defeated!
When Meghanād was becoming invincible for even Śrī Lakshmaṇ. Then finally, Lakshmaṇ ji
addressed the following prayer in which he invoked the supreme truth to get Meghanād killed by
his arrow:
धर्मात्मासत्यसन्धश्चरामोदाशरथिर्यदि॥
पौरुषेचाप्रतिद्वन्द्वस्तदेनंजहिरावणिम्।
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण - ६.९०.७१ख,७२क)
dharmātmā satyasandhaśca rāmō dāśarathiryadi ॥
pauruṣē cāpratidvandvastadēnaṃ jahi rāvaṇim ।
(Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa - 6.90.71B,72A)
“O my dear arrow! If Śrī Rāma, the son of Dasaratha, is always righteous, keeps up his promise,
and is second to none in his prowess (पौरुषेचाप्रतिद्वन्द्वः - pauruṣē cāpratidvandva'
i.e. he is supreme Purusha of Vedas), then please destroy this Indrajit.”
Param-Viryam Guna is predominantly visible in the hero of Rāmāyaṇa. Śrī Rāma is the
personality in the history (Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata) and other scriptures, who never shown
his back in war. Thus, Puruṣa or Pauruṣhatva (Param-vIrya) in its entirety culminates in Śrī
Raghunātha, and it is predominantly visible in Śrī Rāma alone.
🌷 Śrī Rāma eliminated single-handedly an army of 14000 (fourteen thousand) dreaded demons in
Daṇdakāraṇya in no time. Again, during the Rāma-Rāvaṇ Yuddh, Bhagavān swiftly and single-
handedly killed a very fierce army of around 2.5 lacs dreaded demons.

(3) Param-Yasha (Supreme fame, glory)

🌷 Śrī Rāma is Puroshottama (पुरुषोत्तम - the best among all Purushas) in real sense, He is
the mine of all auspicious qualities, virtues, and noble conduct, therefore most deserving
personality of eulogies, praises and fame.
🌷 His Yasha (fame, glory) has been sung in millions of scriptures, one billion Rāmāyaṇa-s are
solely dedicated for one personality alone i.e. Śrī Rāma, one can't find more than two-three
arsha-texts solely dedicated for any other personality.
Scriptures says: ‘चरितंरघुनाथस्यशतकोटिप्रविस्तरम। - Charitam Raghunathasya
Shatkoti Pravistaram (~ Śrī Padma Purāṇa, Pātāl Khaṇd) - Śrī Rāma's Charitam (exploits) has
been sung across 100 crore (one billion) Rāmāyaṇa-s’.
यस्यामलंनृपसदःसुयशोऽधुनापि
गायन्त्यघघ्नमृषयोदिगिभेन्द्रपट्टम्।
तंनाकपालवसुपालकिरीटजुष्ट-

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पादाम्बुजंरघुपतिंशरणंप्रपद्ये॥
(श्रीमद्भागवतम्९.११.२१)
yasyāmalaṁ nṛpa-sadaḥsu yaśo ’dhunāpi
gāyanty agha-ghnam ṛṣayo dig-ibhendra-paṭṭam ।
taṁ nākapāla-vasupāla-kirīṭa-juṣṭa-
pādāmbujaṁ raghupatiṁ śaraṇaṁ prapadye ॥
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 9.11.21)
“Śrī Rāma’s spotless name and fame (yaśa, glories), which vanquish all sinful reactions, are still
sung by great sages like Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi in the assemblies of great emperors like Mahārāja
Yudhiṣṭhira. His immaculate Glory is spread (shining) to the end of all the directions ― like the
ornamental clothes of the guardian-deities of all directions. All the Lords of Vasu (the saintly
kings) and all the gods of heaven, including Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā, worship the Lord (Śrī
Rāma) by bowing down with their helmets. I (Shukadeva) take refuge (Śaraṇāgati) in those
lotus-feet of Śrī Rāma.”
🌷 Śrī Rāma has been the symbol of all auspicious qualities (सर्वलक्षणसंयुतम्,
सचसर्वगुणोपेतःकौसल्यानन्दवर्धनः ~ श्रीवाल्मीकीये) a perfect man - a
complete personality should have. He is renowned for being ideal obedient son, ideal-disciple,
ideal-husband, ideal-brother, ideal-friend and more than all these, an ideal-king, and the one
virtuous benevolent supreme lord (master) of the entire cosmos.
सबबिधिसमरथसकलकहसहिसाँसतिदिनराति।
भलोनिबाहेउसुनिसमुझिस्वामिधर्मसबभाँति॥
(दोहावली, पद -२०४)
saba bidhi samaratha sakala kaha sahi sām̐sati dina rāti ।
bhalō nibāhēu suni samujhi svāmidharma saba bhām̐ti ॥
(dōhāvalī, pada -204)
Goswāmī Tulsīdās Ji says — ‘Śrī Rāma is supreme, potent, proficient and adept in every way’—
this is declaration of all wise and learned people. The Lord strived daily to live up to his vows of
righteous conduct, probity, and propriety which are expected from a great Lord. Lord had truly
lived up to that immaculate reputation in a perfect manner. For this Supreme Lord Śrī Rāma
sacrificed his own pleasure every time for the pleasure of his people, and lived up to his exalted
stature and its incumbent reputation, to uphold his own vows, and to be always vigilant towards
his responsibilities as the Lord of this world. Śrī Rāma truly lived up to the exalted stature suiting
to a great Svami of the whole world.
🌷Even among his enemies, Śrī Rāma was celebrated as a righteous man. His enemies were
praising his righteousness (Dharma), vIrya (supreme-valour) and Madhurya (sweetness and
charm). Not even an enemy talks bad about Śrī Rāma, even they fall in his love.
नतंपश्याम्यहंलोकेपरोक्षमपियोनरः।
स्वमित्रोऽपिनिरस्तोऽपियोऽस्यदोषमुदाहरेत्॥
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.२१.५)

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na tam paśyāmy aham lōkē parōkṣam api yō naraḥ ।
svamitrō'pi nirastō'pi yō'syadōṣamudāharēt ॥
(Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.21.5)
At the time of exile, Śrī Lakshmaṇ remarks — “I see no one in this world any person, whether an
enemy or an expellee, speaking ill of Śrī Rāma even indirectly behind his back.”
🌷When Śrī Rāma ruled this earth, whole earth became the Rāma's world. No one was interested
in anything other than Rāma and Rāma alone. Every creature felt pleased, Every one was intent
on virtue (dharma). Turning their eyes towards Śrī Rāma alone, creatures did not kill one
another.
🌷 Śrī Vālmiki Rāmāyaṇa says Śrī Rāma is the only personality who deserves to fame:
निवासवृक्षःसाधूनामापन्नानांपरागतिः।
आर्तानांसंश्रयश्चैव यशसश्चैकभाजनम् ॥
(श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण४.१५.१९)
nivāsavṛkṣaḥ sādhūnāmāpannānāṃ parā gatiḥ।
ārtānāṃ saṃśrayaścaiva yaśasaścaikabhājanam ॥
(Śrī Vālmikī Rāmāyaṇa 4.15.19)
“Lord Rāma is like a sheltering tree to the virtuous, an ultimate (supreme) refuge for the
destitutes and a protector of the distressed. He is the only personality who deserves to be
famous.”

(4) Śrīyah (resplendence, Śrī)

🌷 Lord Śrī Rāma is the possessor (consort) of Bhagavatī Śrī (Sītā), He is dyutimān (self-
resplendent), and the Śrī (splendor) of Śrī (splendor).
🌷 Lord Śrī Rāma is the possessor of Śrī (all attractive beauty, Youngness, handsomeness, charm,
elegance, riches, etc ) in full (infinite) degree, for he is one without a second in the beauty-
elegance-charm and loveliness of his form.
All attractive beauty: Śrī Rāma has all attractive beauty which attracts even men, then what to
say of women, even brahm-realised sages to demonesses lost their senses and became lustful
seeing the all attractive beauty of Śrī Rāma.
🌷 Śrī Rāma is the consort of Śrī. When Śrī Rāma was ruling on earth, then all people were
engaged in virtue and lived without telling lies, without having greed, and thus totally satisfied in
Śrī Rāma's rule. When supreme personality himself rules this earth, earth becomes fully satisfied.
That's why all give example of Rāma-Rājya (the rule of Śrī Rāma on this earth).
🌷Except Śrī Rāma, none else has a servant like Hanumān ji, a Vaishnava-devotee like Lord
Shiva, a brother like Lakshmana, and a wife like Śrī Sītā.
🌷 Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is the god of god, the god of even Brahmā-Viṣhṇu-Shiva. Sadā-Shiva
himself appeared as Śrī Hanumān to serve the supreme Lord Bhagavān Śrī Rāma. In Padma-
Purāṇ, Lord Sada-Shiva himself accepts Lord Śrī Rāma alone is his Iṣhṭa-Deva, and He
completely surrendered in the lotus feet of Śrī Rāma. Lord Shiva had wars with the other forms

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of Bhagavān in leelā, however when He had to do war with Bhagavān Śrī Rāma upon the call of
his devotee, instead of doing any war Lord Shiva like a true-devotee just surrenders in the lotus-
feet of his Iṣhṭa-Deva Bhagavān Śrī Rāma. Thus, Śrī Rāma is the possessor of the best of
everything in the world.

(5) Param-jñāna

🌷 Jñāna (knowledge) — सर्वज्ञःसर्वदर्शी ~ श्रीवाल्मीकिरामायण२.१०६.६ /

sarvajñaḥ sarvadarśī ~ Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.106.6 — Śrī Rāma is all knowing, omniscient,
and all-viewing supreme. However, He keeps it hidden for the purpose of Leelā, and displays it
in private to his devotees, e.g. when Kāla came to deliver the message of Brahmā, Supreme Lord
Bhagavān Śrī Rāma said to him I know with which message You have come here
(ममापिहृदिवर्तते), and In the end of conversation Śrī Rāma smilingly said to him
"(हृद्गतोह्यसिसम्प्राप्तो) As per my desire only, You have come here (on being sent
by Brahmā)".
🌷 Śrī Rām in his heart knew well that only Hanumān Ji would be able to find Sītā, therefore He
gave his mudrikā (ring) to Śrī Hanumān alone!
🌷 Śrī Rāma had already given his words to Sugreeva and Vibhishana, even before killing Vali
and Ravana respectively, he declared them king of Kishkindha and Lanka respectively.
These show Śrī Rāma is the supreme controller of time, and He is the omniscient Lord with the
knowledge of Past, present and future.
🌷 Śrī Rāma knows everything, सर्वशास्त्रअर्थतत्त्वज्ञो - He is the knower of the
meaning and the essence of all the shastra (scriptures), he knows Dharma in it's subtle form. Śrī
Rāma has been proclaimed as Vigrahvan Dharmah means who is the embodiment of Dharma. It
means Śrī Rāma was the knower of the subtle form of Dharma which is known to Param-jñāna
swarupam Bhagavān only. How would he use Dharma, no one can understand entirely apart
from him.

(6) Param-Vairāgya (unattachment)

🌷 Even though being the supreme lord of the entire cosmos, he is the most ascetic personality.
The supreme personality of godhead has the nature of being completely free from any material
desire. Param-Vairagya Guna has been clearly seen or predominantly visible in Bhagavān Śrī
Rāma.
🌷 There are many instances where Śrī Rāma showed his Param-Vairagya Guna, e.g. Just to make
his father's words true, He without any second cosideration gave up instantly all the opulence and
luxuries of his Rājya-lakṣmī (of the most divine city Ayodhyā, the eternal Puri of Brahman)
which is most difficult to renounce for others and is always desired earnestly by even the great
personalities and demigods.
गुर्वर्थेत्यक्तराज्योव्यचरदनुवनंपद्मपद्‌भ्यांप्रियायाः
पाणिस्पर्शाक्षमाभ्यांमृजितपथरुजोयोहरीन्द्रानुजाभ्याम्।
(श्रीमद्भागवत९-१०-४)

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gurv-arthe tyakta-rājyo vyacarad anuvanaḿ padma-padbhyāḿ priyāyāḥ
pāṇi-sparśākṣamābhyāḿ mṛjita-patha-rujo yo harīndrānujābhyām
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 9.10.4)
“For the sake of [keeping the promise of] His father, Lord Śrī Rāma immediately gave up his
Rajya-lakshmi (the opulence, luxuries, & comforts of Śrīmatī Ayodhyā Mahāpurī) and,
accompanied by His wife, mother Sītā, wandered from one forest to another on His lotus feet,
which were so delicate that they were unable to bear even the touch of Sītā's palms.”
The very next morning Śrī Rāma was going to be coronated as the prince (heir) of Ayodhya and
even all citizens, courtiers, ministers, brothers were in favour of Śrī Rāma, and they all wanted to
see him coronated as soon as possible, however when Śrī Rāma heard the wishes of his step
mother and the promise made earlier by his father to mother Kaikeyi, Śrī Rāma decided instantly
without any heSītātion to leave Ayodhya and go in exile to keep the promises of his father
towards his step-mother (for Pitru-Saty-Vachana Palanay, Lord left Ayodhya very next
morning). Śrī Rāma sacrificed all his comforts as well as the throne which rightfully belonged to
him for his younger brother Bharat, and decided to spend the 14 years of his life in forests as per
the wish of his step mother. Definitely he could have lived with all luxuries and comforts in
Ayodhya as he was not responsible for the promises made to his step mother by his father, Yet
he chose to keep the honor of the promises made by his father to his step-mother. Where one
would see such a son like Śrī Rām !?
🌷 Śrī Rāma won the golden-Kingdom-Lanka and treated it as a mere golden-ring and gifted it to
Vibhishana, (and still felt in his heart that he has not given something enough to Maharāj
Vibhishana), and same way He gifted the kingdom of Kishkindhā to Sugreeva.
Thus, all the six (6) qualities are full and complete in Śrī Rāma. The word 'Bhagavān' is
primarily attributed to Śrī Rāma by scriptures, actually the name 'Rāma' itself stands for
'Parabrahm' or 'Bhagavān' himself. Śrī Rāma is the Purusha (the Supreme Person) of Vedas, and
Vedanta.
Apart from all above attributes which can be found to full degree in Bhagavān (God) alone, there
is another attribute (virtue) of Rama which makes him very unique among his all incarnations.
That attribute is his pure unblemished character which makes him "Maryāda Purushottam".
जोबड़होतसोरामबड़ाईं॥
"Wherever there is anyone who is great (or best in something), his greatness (bestness) is due to
Śrī Rāma alone (because Śrī Rāma has all bestness in all qualities)!”
सीतापतिर्जयतिलोकमलघ्नकीर्तिः॥
(श्रीमद्भागवतम्११.४.२१)
sītāpatirjayati lōkamalaghnakīrtiḥ ॥
(śrīmadbhāgavātam 11.4.21)
“(Recounting) Whose spotless glories and fame destroy the contamination of all the worlds, that
illustrious Lord Rāma, the darling consort of Sītā is always victorious!”
Therefore, Lord Brahmā in Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa said to this extent "None other than You, O'
Śrī Rāma, can be worthy of all eulogies, praises and fame."

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Maryada-purushottama (मर्यादापुरुषोत्तम)

Śrī Rāma is renowned for one word (keeping his promises), one arrow (Rama-Baan, the
infallible weapon of Śrī Rāma which never goes in vain, as an assurance of protection), and one
wife (ek-patni Vrata i.e. devoted towards one wife only). Śrī Rāma was the Chakrvarti-Samrat
i.e. the king of the entire earth, the greatest empire, and that time it was a general practice among
kings to keep many wives. Even Śrī Rāma could have married many princesses, but He was
solely devoted to his consort Sītā alone. Such pure character of being Ek-Patni-Vrata (devoted to
one wife only, not thinking of any other lady in even dreams) is seen in Bhagavān Śrī Rāma
only, this highest Dharma of Ek-Patni-Vrata was established by him.
Whatever Śrī Rāma accepted (in his actions), It became the virtue! Whatever Śrī Rāma did, it
became the highest form of Dharma. In other words, Qualities are termed as quality because Śrī
Rāma adorns them, because they have found place in Śrī Rāma!
Śrī Rāma never ever spoke any untruth, truthfulness is valor. He never deceived any person. He
has an impeccable character. Whatever Śrī Rāma promised to someone, he fulfilled it. Whoever
surredered to him, He gave them Abhayam.

Śrī Rāmā's Avatāras

Śrī Rāma has innumerous incarnations, and of which ten are upheld as major incarnations, they
are:-

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1. Matsya
2. Koorma
3. Vārāh
4. Nrisimha
5. Vāmana
6. Parashurāma
7. Śrīmad Rāmachandra
8. Śrī Kṛṣṇa
9. Baudhha
10. Kalki
Śrī Rāma is the original source of all the Avatāra-s (incarnations), and He is himself the Supreme
personality of godhead known as Purusa, or Brahm of the the Veda-s.
Out of infinite incarnations or major 10 incarnations, there are 3 Poorna-avataras
(पूर्णावतार) or Purna-Brahman.
Those three (3) Poorṇa-Avatār of Bhagavān Śrī Rāma are:
(1) Śrī Narasimha
(2) Śrī Rāma (Śrīmad Rāmachandra)
(3) Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Out of aforementioned 3 Poornāvatāra-s (पूर्णावतार), both Śrī Rāma and Śrī Kṛṣṇa are
glorified as Sarva-Kāraṇ-Kāraṇam (means, the cause of all the causes) and 'Svayam Bhagavān'
(the God himself) in Vaidic-scriptures.
Out of above two Avatāras, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is counted as the manifestation (incarnation) of
Bhagavān Śrī Rāma in Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Upanishad (i.e in Shruti), Purāṇa-s, and
other various Vaidic-scriptures.
विष्णोर्यथावतारेषुकौशल्याजनितोवरः।
(श्रीपद्मपुराण६.२१२.२६)
viṣṇōr-yathā-avatārēṣu kauśalyā janitō varaḥ ।
(Śrī Padma-Purāṇ 6.212.26)
Bhagavān Śrī Viṣhṇu said —
“The son of Kausalyā (Bhagavān Śrī Rāma) is best among all the incarnations of Viṣhṇu (the all-
pervading supreme-being)!”
Śrī Rāma is called Paripūrntamam-ParaBrahman, for his nama, rūpa, leela and dhaam all these
four are called Paratpar (most superior).
(a) Naam - the name 'Rāma' is called 'Parabrahman' itself (रामनामपरमब्रह्मसर्व-
देवाधिकममहत्। - पद्म-पुराण) in Vedic-scriptures and also known as Tarak-Brahm. Harit-
Smriti says no Bhagavānnama could become equal to Śrī 'Rama' Naam as only the name 'Rama'
manifests the capability to impart the supreme bliss and delight to even Bhagavati 'Śrīi'.
The name 'Rāma' is chanted by even great divinity like Lord Shiva himself with his consort
Bhagavati Parvati.

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(b) Rūpa - Among all Pūrṇa-avataras, Śrī Rāma is called Rajīvalochana (राजीवलोचन - the one
having red-lotus eyes). Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is so beautiful that even Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is said
to be attracted towards Bhagavān Śrī Rāma. Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself accepts this in Brahmanda-
Purāṇa, that among all incarnations He loves Śrī Rāma most.
(c) Leelā - Bhagavān Śrī Rāma's divine leela is sung across one billion Rāmāyaṇa-s.
Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa says Bhagavān Śrī Rāma sported with Sītā in the most beautiful divine
forest, Ashok-vanam, of Ayodhya, for a ten thousand Years. Same Śrī Rāma again appeared as
Śrī Kṛṣṇa and did Rasa for 10 years in Vrindavana.
(d) Dhaam - Divine Veda names the divine abode of Purusha as 'Ayodhya' exclusively, which
signifies the superiority of the divine abode of Śrīmad Rāmachandra over all divine abodes of
Bhagavān, whoever comes to know this divine abode of Brahman 'AyodhyRā' is granted
immortality, and supreme bliss.
Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa declares Śrī Rāma to be Ishta-Deva of all worlds (iShta sarvasya Lokasya
Ramah, इष्ट: सर्वस्यलोकस्यरामः .
भगवान्श्रीरामरूप-सिंधु, गुण-सिंधुऔरशील-
सिंधुहोनेकेकारणसभीप्राणिमात्रकेइष्टहैं।
Bhagavān Śrī Rāma is Rupa-sindhu (the ocean of all beauty-elegance-&-charm), Gun-Sindhu
(the ocean of all virtues & qualities) and Sheel-sindhu (the ocean of intrinsically sweetest
disposition and inherently noblest character), therefore he is the one Ishta for one and all-beings.
Thus, Paripurntamam-Parabrahman (परिपूर्णतमम्परमब्रह्म), the original Purusa or the
original personality of godhead is Śrī Rāma.
Vaidic scriptures say there is no one even equal to Śrī Rāma, let alone talking of anyone being
superior to him.
नेदंयशोरघुपतेःसुरयाच्ञयाऽऽत्त-
लीलातनोरधिक-साम्य-विमुक्त-धाम्नः ।
रक्षो-वधोजलधि-बन्धनंअस्त्र-पूगैः
किंतस्यशत्रु-हननेकपयःसहायाः॥
(श्रीमद्भागवतम्९.११.२०)
nedaḿ yaśo raghupateḥ sura-yācñayātta-
līlā-tanor adhika-sāmya-vimukta-dhāmnaḥ
rakṣo-vadho jaladhi-bandhanam astra-pūgaiḥ
kiḿ tasya śatru-hanane kapayaḥ sahāyāḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 9.11.20)
“Killing of demons (Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarna, etc) with bow and arrows, or building a bridge over
the ocean does not constitute the factual glory of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord
Rāma, whose spiritual body is always engaged in various pastimes. There is no one even equal to
Lord Rāma, so there is no question of anyone being superior to him, and therefore He [to such a
supreme lord who has no equal or superior] had no need to take help from the monkeys to gain
victory over demon Rāvaṇa. [so if someone says even Supreme Lord Rāma needed help of

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monkeys such as Sugriva, Angad, Hanumana, etc., then it is utter foolishness, nothing else.]” (-
Śrī-Mad BhAgvat MahaPurāṇa 9-11-20)

Brahmā-Viṣṇu-Shiva are the parts (portions) of Śrī Rāma

ब्रह्मविष्णुमहेशाद्यायस्यांशालोकसाधका: ।
तमादिदेवंश्रीरामंविशुद्धंपरमंभजे॥
(स्कन्दपुराण, उत्तरखंड,
रामायणमहात्म्यप्रथमोध्याय -३ )
brahmaviṣṇumahēśādyā yasyāṃśā lōkasādhakā: ।
tamādidēvaṃ śrīrāmaṃ viśuddhaṃ paramaṃ bhajē ॥
(skanda purāṇa, uttara khanḍa,
rāmāyaṇa mahātmya prathamōdhyāya -3 )
“Salutations to that Rama who is the most superior, the primeval lord of universe, and free from
all the vices. Brahmā (Brahmaa), Viṣṇu (Viṣhṇu) and Mahesa (Shiva) who are sustainer of
the world, are just parts of Lord (Śrī) Rāma . ” (- Skanda Puran, Uttar Khand, Rāmāyaṇa
MahAtmya, 1.3)
ब्रह्मविष्णुमहेशाद्यायस्यांशालोकसाधका: ।
तंरामंसच्चिदानन्दंनित्यंरासेश्वरंभजे॥
(हनुमत्-संहिता)
brahmaviṣṇumahēśādyā yasyāṃśā lōkasādhakā: ।
taṃ rāmaṃ saccidānandaṃ nityaṃ rāsēśvaraṃ bhajē ॥
(hanumat-saṃhitā)
Param-Bhāgavat Śrī Hanumān says to Vibhishana “I always worship Lord Śrī Rāma, who is
eternal and who is very form of Sat 'real, eternal existence', Cit 'Consciousness' and Ananda
'Bliss'. Śrī Rāma is an expert in the rāsa leelā, the dance practiced by cowherds, Kṛṣṇa and gopis.
His parts are Brahmā (Brahmaa), Viṣṇu (Viṣhṇu) and Mahesa who are the sustainers of the
world.”

Ram manifested himself as Viṣhṇu

He is Śrī Rāma who transformed himself as Viṣhṇu in starting of the creation.

सर्वावतारीभगवान्रामश्चतुर्भुजोऽभवत्॥ (कोशल-खंड)
sarvāvatārī bhagavān rāmaścaturbhujō'bhavat ॥ (kōśala-khaṃḍa)
“Lord Śrī Rāma, the original source of all the incarnations, transformed himself in his four-
armed form of Viṣhṇu!”
सर्वेअवताराश्रीरामनामशक्तिसमुद्भवाः। [स्कन्द-पुराण ]
sarvē avatārā śrī rāma nāma śakti samudbhavāḥ । [skanda-purāṇa]
Lord Shiva tells Pārvatī: “All incarnations of Lord Hari are originated from Śrī Rām Naam.”

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(Ram Naam is itself Parambrahman and there is no difference between Lord Śrī Rām and
his name.- Padma-Purāṇa)
सर्वेषामवताराणामवतारीरघूत्तम: ।
रामपादनखज्योत्स्नापरब्रह्मेतिगीयते॥
[अगस्त्य-संहिता]
sarvēṣāmavatārāṇāmavatārī raghūttama: ।
rāmapādanakhajyōtsnā parabrahmēti gīyatē ॥
[agastya-saṃhitā]
“Lord Śrī Rāma, the best among the Raghus, is the original personality of Godhead, among all
the incarnations; and the moonlight coming from the nails of Śrī Rāma's feet is praised as
Parabrahman by the scriptures.”
Lord Rāma is the original godhead among all incarnations, Śrī Rāma's Paratva
(परत्व Supremacy over other forms of Brahman) is also more evident from the words of
scriptures that Lord Rāma has two arms in his eternal form residing in his supreme abode Saket-
Loka and supreme Purusa of Veda is described as the two armed Para-Brahman (i.e. Lord Śrī
Rāma).
ययौतथामहाशम्भू रामलोकमगोचरम् ।
तत्रगत्वामहाशम्भू राघवंनित्यविग्रहम् ॥
ददर्शपरमात्मानंसमासीनंमयासह।
सर्वशक्तिकलानाथं द्विभुजंरघुनन्दनम् ॥
द्विभुजाद्राघवान्नित्यात्सर्वमेतत्प्रवर्तते।
[सुन्दरीतन्त्र]
yayau tathā mahāśambhū rāmalōkamagōcaram ।
tatra gatvā mahāśambhū rāghavaṃ nityavigraham ॥
dadarśa paramātmānaṃ samāsīnaṃ mayā saha ।
sarvaśaktikalānāthaṃ dvibhujaṃ raghunandanam ॥
dvibhujādrāghavānnityātsarvamētatpravartatē ।
[sundarītantra]
“The Maha-Siva went to the abode of Śrī Rāma i.e. Saket loka, which is beyond the reach of
sensual organs. Reaching there the great Siva found Rāghava (Lord Rāma) the supreme soul
possessed of eternal body. Śrī Rāma who is the lord of all powers, was seated along with
Sītā. This entire universe is activated by the prowess of eternal Rāghava (Lord Rāma), with
two arms.”
स्थूलंचाष्टभुजंप्रोक्तंसूक्ष्मंचैवचतुर्भुजम्।
परंचद्विभुजंरूपंतस्मादेतत्त्रयंयजेत्।
[आनंदसंहिता ]
sthūlaṃ cāṣṭabhujaṃ prōktaṃ sūkṣmaṃ caiva caturbhujam ।
paraṃ ca dvibhujaṃ rūpaṃ tasmādētattrayaṃ yajēt ।
[ānanda saṃhitā ]
“Sthula-Brahman is the god with eight arms (i.e. 8 armed Viṣhṇu) and is visible, but the form of
Viṣhṇu who has 4-arms is subtle i.e. He is Sukshma-Brahman but the God who is of two-armed

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(i.e. Lord Ram in his eternal form), is the most superior (परंचद्विभुजंरूपं). Therefore,
one should worship the assemblage of god's three forms. .
Same Lord Śrī Rāma transformed himself into various forms and also into four armed Viṣhṇu for
sustenance of the universe. There is none in whole universe who is beyond Lord Śrī Rāma. Lord
Śrī Rāma is higher than even the highest which means Śrī Rāma is the only person (Purusa) who
is superior than himself.
So lord Śrī Rāma comes himself in Treta-Yuga in his original Swayam-Rupa i.e. ultimate form
of Para-Brahman, while in various incarnations he assumes different forms like of Matsya
(divine fish), Varaha (divine boar), Vamana, Narsimha (half man-half lion), Śrī Kṛṣṇa etc.
Of the various avatar, Śrī Rāmavatāra is unique and highly glorious. While the earlier avatars
only served a limited purpose, namely subduing the wicked and protecting the good, the main
purpose of Śrī Rāmavatāra is Dharma-Samsthāpana. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the Lord
chose the role of a man - an ideal human. The glory of Śrī Rāmavatāra is the demonstration that
the dharmic way of life could be lived by all in thought, word and deed, under all conditions and
circumstances.
This has been achieved by Lord Rāma in this descent by becoming the son of King Dasaratha.
“वेदवेद्येपरेपुंसिजातेदशरथात्मजे।
वेदःप्राचेतसादासीत्साक्षाद्रामायणात्मना॥
तस्माद्रामायणंदेवि! वेदएवनसंशयः॥"
(- अगस्त्यसंहिता
- मंगलाचरण, श्रीमद्वाल्मीकिरामायण)
“vēdavēdyē parēpuṃsi jātē daśarathātmajē ।
vēdaḥ prācētasādāsīt sākṣād rāmāyaṇātmanā ॥
tasmādrāmāyaṇaṃ dēvi! vēda ēva na saṃśayaḥ ॥"
(- agastya saṃhitā
- maṅgalācaraṇa, śrīmad vālmīki rāmāyaṇa)
Lord Shiva tells Parvati:-
Supreme being is known through only Vedas. When that Supreme being born as son of Dasratha
(Śrī Rāma) in Ayodhya, that time all Vedas manifested themselves through the mouth of sage
Vālmīki, the son of sage Prachetus, directly as the Rāmāyaṇa.
Therefore O' Devi, there is no doubt that Rāmāyaṇa is Vedas itself.
“When the Supreme Lord who is sought after and proclaimed by the Vedas was born as the son
of Dasaratha, the Vedas became the Rāmāyaṇa. The Rāmāyaṇa is Vedas in action".
Lord Śrī Rāma is the original Source of All the Avatāras.

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 In Aadi-Rāmāyaṇa, Lord Hanumān says to Garuda:-
“Lord Śrī Rāma of Ayodhyā is the God of all the Gods ( देवदेवेश ). Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and
other incarnations are his Amsha-Avatāras (अंशावताराःकृष्ण: the plenary portions) of
Lord Śrī Rāma. Those innumerable (ह्यसंख्यका) incarnations make
salutations (प्रणमन्ति) to Lord Śrī Rāma. I don't know any other Supreme Being, the god
of all the gods other than that Lord Ram. All the innumerable incarnations are originated
from Lord Śrī Rām alone.”
Again Brihad.Brahm-Samhita says same thing that many incarnations of Śrī-Hari make
salutations to Supreme Purusa of Veda-s i.e. Lord Rāma.
Brihad.Brahm-samhita (बृहद्ब्रह्मसंहिता):
तस्मिन्साकेतलोके विधिहरहरिभि: सन्ततं ,
सेव्यमानेदिव्येसिंहासनेस्वेजनकतनययाराघव: शोभमान:।
युक्तोमत्स्यैरनेकै: करिभिरपितथानारसिंहैरनन्तै:
कूर्मै: श्रीनन्दनन्दैर्हयगलहरिभिर्नित्यमाज्ञोन्मुखैश्च॥
यज्ञ: केशववामनौनरवरोनारायणोधर्मज:
श्रीकृष्णोहलधृक्तथामधुरिपु: श्रीवासुदेवोऽपर: ।
एतेनैकविधामहेन्द्रविधयोदुर्गादय: कोटिश:
श्रीरामस्यपुरोनिदेशसुमुखा नित्यास्तदीयेपदे॥
इत्यादीनिबृहद्ब्रह्मसंहितावचनानिसङ्गच्छन्ते।
अत्रनन्दनन्दनशब्द: नन्दंनन्दयतिविविधोक्त्या
शोकत्याजनाद्वर्धयतीतिमथुरानिवासिपर: ।
श्रीकृष्णशब्दोद्वारकानिवासिपरइतिनविरोध: ।
tasmin sākētalōkē vidhi-hara-haribhih santataṃ ,
sēvyamānē divyē siṃhāsanē svē janaka-tanayayā rāghavah śōbhamānah।
yuktō matsyair-anēkaih karibhirapi tathā nārasiṃhair-anantaih
kūrmaih śrīnandanandai-haya-gala-haribhir-nityam-ājñōn-mukhaiśca ॥
yajñah kēśava-vāmanau naravarō nārāyaṇō dharmajah
śrīkṛṣṇō haladhṛk tathā madhuripuh śrīvāsudēvō 'parah ।

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ētē naikavidhā mahēndravidhayō durgādayah kōṭiśah
śrīrāmasya purō nidēśasumukhā nityāstadīyē padē ॥
ityādīni bṛhadbrahmasaṃhitāvacanāni saṅgacchantē ।
atra nandanandana-śabdah nandaṃ nandayati vividhōktyā
śōkatyājanādvardhayatīti mathurā-nivāsiparah ।
śrīkṛṣṇaśabdō dvārakā-nivāsipara iti na virōdhah ।
“Rāghava (Śrī Rāma) shines with Sītā on the divine throne in world of SAketa (AyodhyA)
where BrahmA, Shiva and Viṣhṇu constantly worship him. He (Lord Rāma) is surrounded by
many divine fish incarnations, monkeys and also by plentitude of the Narasimhas or Narasimha
incarnations, tortoise incarnations, and sons of Śrī Nanda, i.e Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Haya, Gala, and
Hari. They all are eager to receive the orders of Lord Rāma. Keshava, Vamana the
foremost persons, Narayana, Yudhisthira, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Haladhrik BalaRAma and
VAsudeva, the enemy of the demon Madhu as well as various kinds of Mahendras and
millions of Goddess Durgas, eager for advice, remain always in front of Śrī Rāma (Śrī
Rāma) near His feet" . Here, the epithet Nanda-nandana signifies that form of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who
delights Nanda and dwells in MathurA, while Śrī Kṛṣṇa refers to the one who resides in
DwArika.”

॥श्रीसीतारामचंद्रार्पणमस्तु॥

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