56 Religious Books, The Ramayana, And The MahabharataThe Ramayana
The Ramayana is the story of Rama. The story of the Ramayana is
divided into seven chapters. Each of these chapters is called a kanda
or event. There are seven events in the Ramayana. These are Adi
Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda, Aranya Kanda, Kishkinda Kanda, Sundara
Kanda, Yuddha Kanda and Uttara Kanda.
Earlier we learnt about the first four events. Here we will recollect
them in brief. Then we will discuss the later three events, such as
Sundar Kanda,Yuddha Kanda and Uttara Kanda in details.
The Early Event (Adi Kanda)
Long ago there was a king named Dasaratha in Ayodhya. He had
three queens. They were Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. Kausalya
was the eldest queen and Rama was her son. Kaikeyi was the second
wife and Bharata was her son. The youngest queen Sumitra had two
sons named Lakshmana and Shatrughna.
One day saint Viswamitra came to the royal court of Dasaratha. He
returned to his Tapobon with Rama and Lakshmana. On the way to
Tapobon Rama and Lakshmana killed Tarka, one of the demons.
They killed many demons in the Tapabon of Viswamitra. After that
Viswamitra went to Mithila along with Rama and Lakshmana. At
that time Mithila was ruled by a king named Janaka. Janaka had two
daughters Sita and Urmila. Marriage between Sita and Rama was
settled. Dasharatha came along with his two sons named Bharata and
Shatrughna. Kushadhwaj was Janaka's brother and he had two
daughters as well. Their name was Mandavi and Shrutakirti. Rama
and Sita, Lakshmana and Urmila, Bharata and Mandavi, Shatrughna
and Shrutakirti got married to each other.