The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic

When Vibishana arrives across the ocean, Rama’s chiefs believe him to be a spy and treat him harshly. Various messengers attempt to determine Vibishana’s trustworthiness, and ultimately, after Hanuman speaks, Rama decides to give Vibishana protection, like anyone in search of asylum. Rama orders that Vibishana is to be treated like an exiled ruler of Lanka, and Vibishana proceeds to advise Rama on matters of Ravana’s troops, weapons, and military strength.

In preparation for the sea crossing, Rama prays and fasts for a week before asking the sea god to make way for him. The sea god explains that he, too, is “subject to the laws of nature as other elements” (132), a statement that frustrates Rama and motivates him to desire to destroy the sea and its creatures. Eventually, however, the monkey army brings enough rocks, pebbles, and “pieces of mountain” to create a bridge (133). Rama and his army march.

Every one of Ravana’s associates sent to guard the capital city dies. Neither spies nor sorcerers can help him. Finally, a messenger comes to Ravana, and it is Angada, the son of Vali. He bears a message of doom, advising Ravana to seek forgiveness before it is too late. Ravana orders the messenger’s death, but he flies into the air, kicking and breaking the tower of Ravana’s palace as he escapes. Angada tells Rama of Ravana’s resistance, and Rama decides it is time to attack.

During the battle, Ravana loses all of his leaders, and he decides that he must be the one to kill Rama. When he appears on the battlefield, Lakshmana faints, and Hanuman carries Rama to Ravana, who is wounded and weaponless, on his shoulders. Rama offers the helpless Ravana a concession, suggesting he return to his palace for new weaponry. Ravana summons his brother Kumbakarna from his deep sleep, and Kumbakarna offers to take charge of the fight with Rama, offering the dejected Ravana no sympathy for the reckless decisions that have brought them to this fate. On the battlefield, Rama decapitates Kumbakarna, but his son reminds him that he has “Brahma’s gift of invincibility” (137). Indrajit devises a plan to create a figure of Sita in order to destroy and demoralize the monkey army. Vibishana restores their confidence, and the battle continues.

When Lakshmana kills Indrajit, Ravana despairs and decides Sita must die. An advisor reminds him that he must not kill a woman and encourages him to press on with a larger army.

As more and more of Ravana’s leaders die in battle, Ravana decides from the safety of his palace that he must don his battle armor once again. He boards his chariot, believing either Rama or he will meet his death on this day.

In the heavens, the gods see that Ravana is newly determined and send a special chariot to Rama, driven by Indra’s charioteer, named Matali. The chariot will ensure that Rama will win the battle. Rama is unsure about the chariot’s origins, but Hanuman and Lakshmana persuade him to trust it. Rama agrees and instructs Matali to drive slowly as Ravana and his supporters observe Rama’s progress. The bloodthirsty giant Mahodara drives straight into Rama’s chariot and pays for his heedlessness with his life. Ravana grows angrier and approaches Rama himself, blowing his conch to sound a battle cry. Ravana and Rama send showers of arrows upon each other’s heads, and Matali dies. Garuda, the divine eagle, appears on Rama’s flag post as the two chariots fly around the world three times. The battle continues over Lanka, as more and more powerful weapons are neutralized by Rama. Ravana uses a weapon called “Maya” to create illusory images to confuse Rama, and the dead appear to live again. Rama uses a weapon called “Gnana” to improve his perception, leading Ravana to employ his “deadliest weapon.” The flaming trident flies toward Rama, but it falls close to him without doing any harm; Ravana chooses another weapon featuring “monstrous” fire-breathing snakes, but Rama’s Garuda weapon sends a multitude of eagles into the sky to challenge the serpents. As Ravana’s spirits sink, Rama’s courage rises, and he hears from his revived charioteer Matali that Ravana is on the verge of fainting. Rama uses “Brahmasthra” to finish Ravana, aiming for the demon’s heart rather than his many heads.

As Ravana falls from the sky, his face is transformed, and “his personality came through in its pristine form” (147). As Rama and his cohorts view the fallen body of Ravana, Rama wonders at the demon’s potential if only he had not been evil. Rama sees a scar on Ravana’s back and believes he has shot a man who had turned his back, but Vibishana explains that it is an old scar from a divine elephant. Rama leaves Ravana to his burial.

Narayan links the narrative with a brief interlude that summarizes the rescue of Sita. Hanuman fetches Sita, who is dressed and decorated, and though she is eager to see Rama, when she meets him in public, he appears “preoccupied and moody and cold” (148). She does not understand, but prostrates herself at his feet, only to hear him reject her because she is a woman who has “resided all alone in a stranger’s house” (148). Sita weeps and asks Lakshmana to build her a fire on which she can immolate herself. When the pyre is lit, she jumps into the fire only to rise from the flames, lifted by the god of fire. Her reputation and integrity now intact for all to see, Sita and Rama embrace.

Narayan acknowledges the “strange inconsistency” of Rama’s decision to test Sita in public. Ravana was unable to touch her throughout the time of her imprisonment, yet Rama had spoken to her in a harsh way. Rama’s behavior causes the gods to feel “uneasy” about Rama, whose human limitations continue to trouble him. Brahma appears to Rama to remind him that he is divine. In heaven, Shiva asks Dasaratha to meet with Rama and offer Rama his blessing, and Rama is overwhelmed with emotion to see his father again. Dasaratha speaks of Kaikeyi’s evil, which caused him such pain until this very moment, and he asks his son Rama if he can grant a wish for Rama.

Rama’s wish is for Dasaratha to forgive Kaikeyi and Bharatha and to restore the blood connection Dasaratha previously cut off. Dasaratha agrees to accept Bharatha, but he holds a grudge against Kaikeyi. Rama tries to show his father that Kaikeyi was not at fault and that he, Rama, should have paused before accepting the kingship from his father. Dasaratha finally accepts Rama’s explanation and forgives Kaikeyi, returning to heaven and allowing Rama to live “completely at peace with the world again” (152).

After Dasaratha returns to heaven, the gods tell Rama that his 14 years of exile are ending and that he must return to Ayodhya, where Bharatha is waiting for him. Vibishana gives Rama a vehicle so that he may travel quickly, and his army of supporters accompanies him. They fly over the landscape, Rama shows Sita every place that has meaning for him, and they make several stops on the way to Ayodhya.

Meanwhile, Bharatha sees no sign of Rama and gives up, passing on his duties to his brother Sathrugna and preparing to immolate himself. As the two brothers argue, Hanuman appears as a “brahmin youth” and extinguishes the fire, explaining that he has a message from Rama. Hanuman reveals his true gigantic self to persuade Bharatha to believe him, and Bharatha’s demeanor changes. The city prepares a grand celebration. All of Rama’s mothers come to meet him, and he and Sita change into royal garb. Vasishtha the sage arranges the coronation that was “interrupted” 14 years earlier.

Narayan concludes the epic with a brief description of the coronation and the loyalty of Lakshmana and Hanuman to Rama. Hanuman realizes that Rama is Vishnu and that Hanuman’s father’s advice to serve Vishnu has been fulfilled. Narayan reveals to the reader that Hanuman is one of the most “worshipful” of characters in the Ramayana: “to meditate on him is to acquire immeasurable inner strength and freedom from fear” (156).

Traditionally, a storyteller would demonstrate “great reluctance” to conclude the tale of Rama, which ends with his coronation. Tiny details as well as references to contemporary matters enable the storyteller to extend the 10,500 stanzas of the narrative, which the storyteller would know “by heart.” Audiences might consist of “a couple of hundred to thousands” (156), and the tale would require 40 days to tell, each episode requiring at least three hours. The audience would offer the storyteller gifts, while the storyteller would offer the audience sweets at celebratory moments like the wedding of Sita and Rama. Narayan explains that he, like the poet Kamban, prefers to end “his tale on the happy note of Rama’s return to Ayodhya, followed by a long reign of peace and happiness on this earth” (157).