INFLUENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RAMAYANA

RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE OF THE RAMAYANA

Rama is God, the Supreme Being and creator of the universe. Through Tulsidasa, whose whole life, after he renounced the world, became infused with Rama. One sees Tulsidasa place emphasized on the emotional path of worship but he does not deny the intellectual aspect. He advocates intense, selfless, undivided bhakti, love and adoration for Rama as the means for the attainment of moksha through the Ramacharitmanas.  In the 16^th century there were many different schools of thought and sampradayas that advocated different methods and paths towards God’s realization.
The Vaishnavas and the Saivites, who worshipped Vishnu and Shiva respectively, would not agree on religious doctrine and even became antagonitistic towards each other. Then there were great saguna bhakti streams, (devotion to God with form and attributes) comprising Krishna bhaktas, Rama bhaktas and Sakta worshippers who worshipped Krishna, Rama and Shakti respectively. The Nirguna bhakti streams (devotion to God without form and attributes) comprising the Prema-margis, jnan-margis, hathayogis, gorakha panthis, the nathas and siddhas spelt stressed the worship of a formless God. While these movements had their own particular appeal, they kept the Hindu nation divided on religious matters, which have a direct bearing on all other aspects of life.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE

Today the nations of the world hanker after swarajya and surajya, i.e. self government and good government, both are found in Ramarajya. The system of education, religion, socialism, economics and politics were at their best during Ramarajya. Therefore even the ideal Hindu leader of modern times, Mahatma Gandhi desired the establishment of Ramarajya in India, which should be the aspiration of every patriot. The Ramayana, in its social and political teaching, supports the Vedic principle of character building. Parents educate their children by citing relationships and incidents form the epic. Grandchildren are told bed time stories based on the main plot or the sub-plots like the stories of Prahlada, Ganga etc. Every line, every incident, every character has something morally and ethically positive to offer as a guide to contemporary society.

INFLUENCE ON CULTURE AND ART

An exhaustive list of the translations of the Ramayana in various languages and papers, research work done on Ramayana, that is readily available to us, is truly amazing. The travel of Rama's story to the far east islands, is worth noting. Principle carriers of this valued treasure might have been the traders, pilgrims and the ambassadors. It was probably gold that initially attracted Indian merchants to SEA, broadly known as Suvarnabhumi, the land of gold. The Chinese too called it Kin-Lin; Kin meaning gold. There is one more theory of this spread. According to the Hindu Dharmasastra the eldest prince was the heir to the throne in India. Other sons of the king, in spite of their valour and intelligence, had no political future. They, therefore, might have started conquering the scattered islands, away from their homeland. In this way colonial rule got established in these islands in the beginning of the Christian era. One such prince Kaundinya came to Kambuja i.e. Cambodia and settled there. Thereafter Kaundinya dynasty ruled there for many years. Similarly we have the Srimara dynasty in Campa (Vietnam), Srivijaya dynasty in Sumatra and Sailendra dynasty in Java and Vali. The accounts of the rulers of these dynasties are found in the SEA countries during 5th century A.D. to 17th century A.D.

THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, is one of most popular deities worshipped in the Hindu religion. Each year, many devout pilgrims trace his journey through India and Nepal, halting at each of the holy sites along the way. The poem is not seen as just a literary monument, but serves as an integral part of Hinduism, and is held in such reverence that the mere reading or hearing of it, or certain passages of it, are believed by Hindus to free them from sin and bless the reader or listener.  According to Hindu tradition, Rama is an incarnation of the God Vishnu. The main purpose of this incarnation is to demonstrate the righteous path for all living creatures on earth.

Ramjanama Bhoomi, Ram Temple in Ayodhya was desecrated by an invader called Babar from Afghanistan. He builds a mosque named Babari mosque. After 600 years, this mosque was again demolished by Hindu fanatics in Dec.1992.The matter of whether Ramjanama Bhoomi or Babari Masjid was settled by Delhi High Court, which gave the majority verdict in favour of existence of Ram and Temple Ramjanama sthan to be incarnated at Ayodhaya.

The Ramayana, as well as the Mahabharata, is respectively Ram's and Krishna's hidden divinity and its progressive revelation. The evolution of Ramayana has still not completed and it going on till date.