RĀMA 7609
tion of chapters written about Osho by both his devotees and with Sı̄tā for sixteen thousand years. Other Jātaka stories also
also by academics.
MARION S. GOLDMAN (2005)
RALBAG (ACRONYM FOR RABBI LEVI
BEN GERSHOM) SEE GERSONIDES
RĀMA, the hero of the Rāmāyan: a, an epic of ancient
India, is the figure most celebrated in literature, music, and
art throughout India and Southeast Asia. Vālmı̄ki’s
Rāmāyan: a is the earliest known source of Rāma’s heroic bi-
ography. Many modern scholars agree that in the central part
of Vālmı̄ki’s epic Rāma is depicted as a secular hero. The first
and the sixth books of the Vālmı̄ki text, however, depict
Rāma as an incarnation of Vis: n: u, who comes down to the
earth as a human warrior to kill the menacing demon
Rāvan: a. Medieval devotional Rāmāyan: as developed this
theme, making Rāma the god himself. In this view, Rāma’s
wife, Sı̄tā, is the goddess Śrı̄, and his brother Laks: man: a is
perceived as the human incarnation of the snake Ādiśes: a, on
top of whom Vis: n: u sleeps. Rāma and Laks: man: a are per-
ceived as inseparable brothers, identical even in physical ap-
pearance except for their skin color: Rāma is blue, Laks: man: a
is golden yellow.
Rāma is described as perfect: He is self-controlled, elo-
quent, majestic, and capable of annihilating all his enemies.
Above all, he is truthful and totally devoted to only one wife.
Similarly, Sı̄tā is described as the ideal in chastity, devoted
to Rāma in thought, word, and deed.
The idealizations of Rāma and Sı̄tā are not totally free
of problems, particularly for the authors of bhakti texts. Sev-
eral events described in Vālmı̄ki’s text tarnish Rāma’s charac-
ter. For instance, after his wife is abducted by Rāvan: a, Rāma
makes a pact with the monkey king Sugrı̄va to kill the latter’s
brother Valin in return for Sugrı̄va’s help in finding Sı̄tā. To
keep his part of the contract, Rāma, hiding behind a tree,
kills Vālin. This act violates all norms of justice and valor.
A second such incident occurs later, when Rāma wages a bat-
tle against Rāvan: a. Rāma succeeds in killing the demon king,
but refuses to take Sı̄tā back because she has lived in another
man’s house. To prove her innocence, Sı̄tā has to go through
the fire ordeal. Later, Rāma again abandons Sı̄tā (who is now
pregnant) when the people of Ayodhyā spread vicious talk
about her stay in Rāvan: a’s house.
Buddhist texts transform Rāma from a martial hero into
a spiritually elevated person. In the Dāśaratha Jātaka, Rāma
is depicted as a bodhisattva figure. In this version there is no
mention of Rāvan: a, and Sı̄tā is not abducted. Indeed, Sı̄tā
is depicted as Rāma’s sister. The intrigues of their stepmother
make their father, Daśaratha, send Rāma, Sı̄tā, and
Laks: man: a into the forest for twelve years. At the end of
twelve years Rāma returns and is crowned king. He rules
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION
incorporate the Rāma theme, with some variations.
If Buddhists made Rāma a bodhisattva, Jains trans-
formed him into one of their sixty-three śalākāpurus: as. In
Jain retellings, prominent among which is Vimalasūri’s Pau-
macariya (written in Prakrit in the early centuries of the com-
mon era), Rāma eats no meat, performs no sacrifices involv-
ing animals, and wins his battle by wit rather than by
violence. Jain Rāmāyan: as include the story of Rāma up to
the birth of his twin sons. Other Rāmāyan: a texts of the Jain
community include Hemacandra’s Jaina Rāmāyan: a and
Nāgacandra’s Rāmacandracarita Purān: a, both of the twelfth
century. In these versions Rāma eventually enters the Jain
order as a monk and finally achieves liberation through hero-
ic mortifications.
Rāma’s story is mentioned in a number of Purān: as. The
Śaiva Purān: as, such as the Liṅga Purān: a and Śiva Purān: a,
make Rāma a devotee of Śiva, while the Bhāgavata Purān: a
and other Vais: n: ava Purān: as describe him as an incarnation
of Vis: n: u.
In about the twelfth century, the Vais: n: ava theology,
particularly that of Rāmānuja, gave rise to a cult of Rāma.
Numerous Vais: n: ava commentators on the Rāmāyan: a inter-
pret Rāma as the manifestation of the divine among human
beings. In keeping with Vais: n: ava influences, the bhakti
Rāmāyan: as make Rāma the god (Vis: n: u) incarnate exercising
his lı̄lā (“divine play”) with his consort, Sı̄tā.
A late fourteenth-century text, Adhyātma Rāmāyan: a,
uses the narrative form to provide an advaita (nondualist)
philosophical orientation to the teachings of the Rāma cult.
In this book, presented as a conversation between Śiva and
Pārvatı̄, Rāma is brahman, the Absolute itself, which takes
a human shape as a pretext to accomplish his divine pur-
poses. Sı̄tā, in this text, is the eternal consort of the Lord.
In keeping with this logic, the events leading to the abduc-
tion of Sı̄tā, her later abandonment, the birth of her two sons
Lava and Kuśa, and the final separation of Sı̄tā and Rāma
are significantly altered to represent the reuniting of the cou-
ple in Vaikun: t: ha, Vis: n: u’s heavenly abode.
Tulsidas’s Ramcaritmanas (composed around 1574)
adopts ingenious themes to free Rāma’s biography of its
problems. In this text all the characters of the Rāmāyan: a, in-
cluding Rāvan: a and all the demons whom Rāma kills, are de-
scribed as Rāma’s devotees. According to the devotional the-
ory presented here, even an enmity to God is one of the
means of reaching God. For human beings, however, the
model of devotion is said to be set by Hanumān, the monkey
servant of Rāma, who attends upon his master with intense
devotion. Bhakti Rāmayanists also borrow elements of stories
about Kr: s: n: a, especially relating to the god’s childhood, to de-
scribe the child Rāma.
The figure of Rāma remains prominent in many bhakti
cults. There, devotees believe that chanting Rāma’s name
and reflecting upon the main incidents of his biography ulti-
mately lead them to reach God.