The Ten Incarnations
 The Story
of
the conquest of Vaishnavism
  over the buddhists &Christians in India

SRI RAMA

Rama was the prince of the Suryavamsha (Sun Dynasty) House of Ikshvaku, descendant of great monarchs like Ikshvaku, Raghu and Bhagiratha. He is the eldest brother to Bharata, son of Kaikeyi, and the twin sons of Sumitra, Lakshmana and Shatrughna. 

Ramayana is the story of Sri Rama as an ideal human being, with every aspect of His life in perfection. Sri Rama is described as an ideal man who is married only once and gives up the kingdom, which was rightfully His, to His brother Sri Bharatha and goes to the forest to fulfill the wishes of His father following a royal family intrigue involving his step-mother who wanted her son Bharata to become the ruler of Bharat in place of Rama.  As a dutiful son he left for his Vana Vasa (Life in deserted to fulfil his fathers promises) with his wife Sita and his other brothers.  It was during this period of travel all along the Southern India visiting hermitages that his wife was abducted by Ravanna the Asura King of Sri Lanka.  In the ensuing war he befriended the Monkey King Hanuman in exchange for getting his Kingdom back.  With the help of the loyal Monkeys of South Indian Kingdoms he crossed over to Sri Lanka and defeated Ravana and retrieved his wife Sita.

The story does not really end there because Rama getting jealous of his wife (in spite of her going through the fire test successfully) eventually divorced her and left his pregnant wife in the forest and left. 

Rama was a traditional Vedic with strong belief in the caste system.  This was considered the highest ideal in that period. The story of how Lord Rama, the sat-purusa (ideal man), the great upholder of dharma, held the dharamic law even to the extent of  slaughtering a  Sudra  because he was performing asceticism (tapas) whch was not lawful for the Sudras.  We hear defense of caste system from our Hindu brothers these days who insists that caste system was a labour division and there was no regidity to it.  But at least that was not the understanding of Ramayana.  The Caste system is first mentioned in the  Dharmashastras. This is the ideology that Vaishnu Avatar of Rama who came to reestablish dharma as is seen in the story below. “Caste is a pre-ordained and hereditary institution which has divine sanction.”

"Thereupon approaching him, Rama said, 'O you of good vows, blessed are you; I do ask you, now, O highly effulgent and grown old in asceticism, in what Varna (caste) are you born? I put this question out of curiosity. I am the son of king Dasaratha and my name is Rama. For what are you going through such hard austerities? Is it heaven or anything else that you pray for? O ascetic, I wish to hear, of the purpose for which you are performing such hard penances. Are you a Brahman, or an irrepressible Ksatriya or the third caste Vaisya or a Sudra? Speak the truth and you shall be crowned with auspiciousness.' Hearing the words of Rama, the ascetic, whose face was downwards, gave out his degraded birth and communicated unto him for what he was performing ascetic observances. Hearing the words of Rama of unwearied actions, the ascetic, with his face downwards, said, 'O highly illustrious Rama, I am born in the race of Sudras; and with a view to reach the region of the celestials with my body I am going through these austere penances. O Kakutstha (Rama), I shall never utter a falsehood since I am willing to conquer the region of gods. I am a Sudra and my name is Sambuka.' The Sudra ascetic having said this, Rama took out of scabbard a beautiful sharp sword and chopped off his head therewith. And that Sudra being slain, Indra, Agni and other celestials praised him again and again and showered flowers." -- Ramayana 7:88-89.

Loyal Vedics still holds on to this ideal of manhood.

Ravana

There are several versions of the story. In the traditional version  Ravana was born to the Brahmin sage known as Vishrava. His mother was the Daitya princess Kaikesi. Kaikesi`s father, Sumali, king of the Daityas.  Thus according to tradition Ravana’s father was a Sura (Vedic Brahmin – Aryan) and his mother was an Asura (Daitya – Dravidian).  But according to the Manu law he is counted as an Asura.

Under Vishrava`s tutelage,Ravana mastered the Vedas and became a scholar .As he became a man, Ravana went for tapasya.  In most cases Asura tapasyas were directed to Brahma (which indicates that Brahma was a powerful god before the coming of Vaishnavism.) Through that he obtained power over the Suras, Nagas and over all creatures along with  knowledge of divine weaponry and sorcery . Sri Lanka flourished under his rule. When he came to the knowledge of  Shiva he became an ardent devotee  of Siva  and came to renowned for his Bhakthi which were expressed in his ecstatic dance worship of Shiva Tandava Stotra to Lord Shiva. Some people think that he got the name Rava because of his dances.  Ravana literally means “Of terryfying roar” which is connected to Rudra form of Siva. It must have been a nickname symbolic of his faith and response to faith.

One Dravidian version of the Sita and Ravana is different.  It is believed that Ravana was a great-grandson of Mahabali. The story goes that  Ravana wanted to fight Mahavishnu, sought the advice of his grandfather Prahlada. Prahlada could not convince Ravana that it is unwise to fight Mahavishnu. He pointed at a huge gold ring - And asked Ravana to lift it. Ravana couldn't even budge it! Prahlada pointed-out; that the ring belonged to Mahabali- their great grandfather.  

Paula Richman’s book titled "Many Ramayanas" gives the various versions of Ramayana stories from various parts of the Hindu world.

Laos Ramayana: Buddha recited the story of Rama to his disciples, in Laos; they believe that the jataka tale to be tale of Buddha's previous birth. There are two popular versions of Ramayana namely Phra Lak Phra Lam and Gvay Dvorahbi. According to these Ramayanas, Ravana is the nephew of King Dasarath. Rama while roaming in desert in search of Sita eats a fruit and becomes a monkey. [The biblical Adam and Eve's story and its resemblance could also be taken note of] After becoming monkey Rama meets Nengsi, a woman turned into monkey and marries her. Hanuman is their son. After killing Ravana, Ram marries his widow.

Thai Ramayana: The earliest version of Ramakien dates back to 13 th century and Thais believe their version to be the original story. In Ramakien many places in Thailand have been identified with Ramayana episodes. The city of Ayutthaya i.e. Ayodhya has been mentioned as capital of the kingdom. Ramakien vividly describes the marriage of Hanuman. According to Thais, Hanuman had many affairs and children.

Jain Ramayana: According to historian D.N.Jha in Jain Ramayana it is Luxman who kills Ravana. Neither Ram, Luxman nor Hanuman is monogamous. Luxman has 16,000 wives while half that number Ram has, says D.N.Jha. "In Buddhist Ramayana Rama and Sita are siblings who later got married while in Jain Ramayana Rama has 8000 wives. Historian D.N.Jha links the monogamous Rama to the patriarchal society, a symptom of which is also Sita's agnipariksha."

Cambodian Ramayana: Cambodian version "The Reamkher" states Ram as incarnation of Vishnu. Akaingameso which means God's doorkeeper was reborn as Ravana. Sita, in her earlier birth was the wife of Indra, who was insulted by Ravana. To avenge the wrong she was born as Ravana's daughter. Ravana was cautioned by his astrologer and brother Bibhek about his daughter's evil birth. Ravana put her in a chest and buried her. King Janaka later discovered her. The Reamkher follows Valmiki episodes on Ram's friendship with monkey chiefs and construction of the bridge. There is one important deviation. Sita gave birth to a son named Ramalaksha parented by Valmiki.One day she went to the river for a bath with her son when the sage was in deep meditation. After meditation Vamiki could not see his son, hence created another son by his yogic power and named him Jupalaksha.

Asian Tribune -

Search Ram first before reaching Ram's bridge

Thu, 2007-05-10 02:10 
Nandhi Varman - General Secretary Dravida Peravai

To find a historical relevance to the story we need to look into the Sri Lankan history.
(SRI LANKA - HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE  http://members.tripod.com/~hettiarachchi/history.htm)

Historically the island is known as sinhaladipa (unity of the island with the Sinhalese), 'Sinhale' or 'Heladiva' and dhammadipa (island of Buddhism).

Sri Lankan history begins with the arrival of Vijaya and his 700 followers. Vijaya, is a Bengali(?) prince, the eldest son of King Sihabahu and Queen Sihasivali, who were siblings born by a mythical union between a lion and a human princess. The historian contrives the chronology to claim that Vijaya landed on the same day as the death of the Buddha, giving added significance to Vijaya's arrival. Vijaya landed near Mahathitha (Manthota or Mannar), and, according to the Mahavamsa,he named the Island "Thambaparni" ('copper-colored palms), a name which entered into Ptolomy’s map of the ancient world.  Hela inhabitants comprised of naga, yaksha, deva and raksha. Ancient epigraphic inscriptions  indicates the presence of large number of people of North Indian origin. 

 

  Buddhism came to Sri Lanka under Asoka’s rule.  The missionaries were essentially Rationalist Buddhists who opposed the Vedic Brahminic supremacy.  Here then we have a mix of North Indian stock of Aryan missinaries in the midst of a Dravidian society.  Under Asoka they became the ruling group of Srilanka.  Major theological changes took place in Buddhism by the third century in parallel with the rise and development of Hinduism in Vedism. However from the fifth century A.D onward, periodic palace intrigues and religious heresies weakened Buddhist institutions leaving Sinhalese-Buddhist culture increasingly vulnerable to successive and debilitating new theology called Hinduism under the renewed Vedic religion.  Culavamsa (Lesser Genealogy or Dynasty), describes this decline.  It is attributed to the thirteenth century poet-monk, Dhammakitti. The Culavamsa was later expanded by another monk the  following century and, concluded by a third monk in the late eighteenth century. The main historical written evidence is the Mahavamsa written in Pali by the Buddhist monks.

 Two kings from India Sena and Guttika took over the Kingdom of Anuradhapura sometime in 237 BC which lasted over two decades.  Later around 145 BC Elara of Chola dynasty repeated the process and ruled over four centuries.  There is one Sinhalese King by the name of Dutthagamani who finaly deposed the Elara dynasty after a fifteen year war became the ruler of Anuraadhapura..  We know very little about the Southern Kingdoms during the period of 3^rd to 6^th C – known as the Kalabhra Interregnum – the dark ages.  However by the 6^th C Pallavas emerged as victors and rules in the Tamil speaking areas.   They were great supporters of Hinduism and great opponents of the three religions Buddhism, Jainism and Christianity which had strong hold in Kerala and Sri Lanka. In the 7^th C AD Manavamma  (684-718) a Sinhalese Prince with the help of the Pallava Hindu King Narasinghe defeated King Dathopatissa and took over the island of Sinhala.

(http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-361348/Manavamma).

This probably is the historical reality behind the Rama Ravanna story.  In the Ramyana story Vibhishana (brother of Ravana) with the help of Rama took over the Kingdom of Ravana. 

 It is interesting to note that Ravanna was both a Brahmin and an Asura – most probably a Buddhist of North Indian Aryan origin.  He is still a ten headed Asura being a Buddhist an opponent of Vedism.  Thus all through the history of Sri Lanka, we see the Rama –Ravanna war repeated over the centuries that preceded the Christian Era.

The Route of Ramayana epic as traced by Syracus University studies (http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/programs/sac/Outreach/ramayana/images/route.jpg) indicates the movement of conquest of Hinduism from the North of India to Sri Lanka

The various Ramayana Stories with their dates as given by Syracuse University Studies

Jain Traditions in Ramayana Story

There is no doubt that Rama was a hero of history in the folklore of the nation.  But the way his character and the characters of the opponents were dealt with in accordance with the theology of the sect that dealt with the story.  Jain Ramayana also contains the traditional characters like Dasaratha, Janaka, Ravana, Sugriva, Vali, Hanuman etc.  However Jain theology being atheistic has no place for incarnations and being a rationalistic school of thought existing long before the new Hinduism presents the characters as truly human.  There are no monkey tribes nor rakshasas.  They are human beings empowered with magical powers acquired through spiritual knowledge - Vidyadharas.  They may become avarice or proud.  They are not inhuman.  Ravana is explained as a  Vidyadhara (Scholar) King.  Ravana is presented as a  very devout Jain and virtuous.  We should remember that these stories were written almost at the same time or even earlier than the Valmiki Ramayana of Vaisnavas. 

(See Ramayana in Jain Tradition – Umakant P Shah;  Jaina Puranas: A Puranic Counter Tradition, Papers on Jaina Studies – Padmanabh S Jaini; http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/article/antiquity.htm)

According to the Jain version, Ravana and Raksas were highly cultured people belonging to the race of the Vidyadharas and were great devotees of Jina. But the Hindu tradition depicted them as evil natured and irreligious demons because they were antagonistic to the sacrificial cult of the Vedic sages. At the same time, they were defeated, therefore, they become the demons in the hands of the poets. Considering these two accounts together, it seems that the Vedic people denounced the Rakshas because they were the followers of Jainism or Buddhism or later Christians.

Sheldon Pollock (Ramayana and Political Imagination in India  The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 52, No. 2 (May, 1993), pp. 261-297 ) considers that Ramayana first took on a political character by the 12^th century AD. “answer is that until the twelfth century, the hero of the epic, Rama, had little political significance. Instead, Rama's cult blossomed only when Hindu kings found in the Ramayana's story of the contest between Rama and the demonized figure of evil, Ravana, a parallel for their own struggle against Turkic political power. Pollock believes the Rama cult grew during the twelfth century in direct response to the equation of Rama and Hindu kings as the protectors of the purity of the Hindu polity against foreigners. He also suggests that Karl Marx's insight that revolutionaries often "anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service and borrow from them names, battles cries and costumes in order to present the new scene of world history" can help us understand the potential for violence that lies within present-day Hindu invocation of the primacy of Rama.”

Rama killing Vali brother of Sugreeva in the battle between Vali and Sugrreva by stealth