Table Of ContentDEVDUTT PATTANAIK
THE BOOK OF RAM
Illustrations by the author
PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
Foreword
Ramayana’s Protagonist
Dashratha’s Son
Vishwamitra’s Student
Sita’s Husband
Lakshman’s Brother
Hanuman’s Master
Ravana’s Enemy
Ayodhya’s King
Vishnu’s Incarnation
Valmiki’s Inspiration
Hindutva’s Icon
A Prayer to Ram
Bibliography
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Copyright
PENGUIN BOOKS
THE BOOK OF RAM
Devdutt Pattanaik is a medical doctor by education, a leadership consultant by
profession and a mythologist by passion. He has written and lectured extensively
on the nature of sacred stories, symbols and rituals and their relevance in modern
times. His books with Penguin India include The Book of Ram, Myth=Mithya:
Decoding Hindu Mythology, The Pregnant King, Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling
of the Mahabharata, Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana, and the
Devlok series of stories for children. Devdutt’s unconventional approach and
engaging style are evident in his lectures, books and articles. To know more visit
www.devdutt.com.
By the same author
Myth=Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology
The Pregnant King
Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata
Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana
Shikhandi and Other Tales They Don’t Tell You
Foreword
Any discussion of Ram today is dominated either by academic analysis or
political debate. The former thrives on portraying Ram as a patriarchal poet’s
fantasy. The latter either asserts Ram or rejects Ram, transforming him into a
potent political lever either way. In the din of these discourses of power, the
discourse of love is lost. One forgets that for hundreds of years, for millions of
people, across history and geography, Ram’s name and Ram’s story has been a
window to the divine.
Ram’s name, the Ram-nam, is repeatedly chanted to tide over a crisis, for the
name, Ram, when reversed becomes Mara, which means ‘die’. Ram is the
opposite of Mara. Ram is life—with all its demands and desires and destinies.
Ram’s calm repose in the face of all adversity, so evident in the Ramayana, has
made him worthy of veneration, adoration and worship.
Ram’s story has reached the masses not through erudite Sanskrit texts but
through theatre, song and dance performed in local languages. All of these
retellings of the Ramayana have their own twists and turns, their own symbolic
outpouring, each one valid in their respective contexts.
I write this book celebrating the Ram of the common man, the power of his
name, the many retellings of his tale, drawing attention to the several layers of
metaphors and meanings in the rituals and narratives, bringing forth my own
creative insight, well aware that:
Within infinite myths lies the Eternal Truth
Who sees it all?
Varuna has but a thousand eyes
Indra, a hundred
And I, only two
Devdutt Pattanaik
1
Ramayana’s Protagonist
O beloved son of Kaushalya,
Dawn is about to break,
O lion amongst men,
Be pleased to open your eyes.
And perform the duties of the day
—From Venkatesa Suprabhatam
by Prathi Vadhi Bhayangaram Annangaracharyar
An upright hero
The Ramayana, one of the most revered texts in Hinduism, tells the story of a
prince called Ram.
Dashratha, king of Ayodhya, had three wives but no children. So he
conducted a yagna and invoked the gods who gave him a magic potion that
was divided amongst his three queens. In time the queens gave birth to four
sons. Ram was the eldest, born of the chief queen, Kaushalya, Bharata was
the second, born to Dashratha’s favourite queen, Kaikeyi and Lakshman
and Shatrughna were the twin sons of the third queen, Sumitra.
Ram completed his early education under the tutelage of Rishi Vasishtha.
He was then asked to defend Rishi Vishwamitra’s hermitage from attacks
by the demons known as Rakshasas. Accordingly, Ram killed many
Rakshasas in the time that he spent under Rishi Vishwamitra’s care
including a female Rakshasa called Tadaka. Pleased with his actions,
Vishwamitra taught him many potent magical chants that transformed
ordinary arrows into potent missiles.
Vishwamitra then took Ram to Mithila, capital of the kingdom of
Videha. On the way, they came to the hermitage of Gautam, who had
cursed his wife Ahalya to turn into stone because she had been unfaithful to
him. Ram placed his foot on the stone that was Ahalya and she was
instantly released from the curse, such was the purity of Ram’s character.
At Mithila, Ram participated in the swayamvar being held by Janaka, the
king of Videha. The young prince broke the mighty bow of Shiva that was
in the king’s custody and by this display of strength, won the hand of
Janaka’s daughter, Sita, in marriage. Sita was no ordinary woman. She had
been ploughed out of the earth by Janaka who had then raised her as his
own daughter.
On Ram’s return to Ayodhya, Dashratha decided it was time to pass on
the crown to Ram and retire from worldly life.
Unfortunately, on the eve of Ram’s coronation, the maid, Manthara,
