Narratives from the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa

Nārada recites to Vālmīki a short Rāmāyaṇa of one hundred verses at the opening of the Manohara Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa.

The nine sons of the brahmin Sundara do tapas for Rāma's darśana, and Bhagavān Rāma appears to each in a full form: Nava-Rāma.

A brahmin of Kamalapura bathes at the Rāmahrada on Caitra Navamī and gives his puṇya to three piśācas, freeing them.

Piṅgalā enters Rāma's chamber at night. Rāma refuses her and gives her a vara, and Sītā's śāpa later sends her to be born as Kubja.

In Rāmarājya, Rāma bans laughter in his court, Brahmā is found in a pippala tree, and Vālmīki explains how the Rāmāyaṇa and the Purāṇas came to be.

Bhagavān Rāma, parted from his companions in the forest, is sent by a bhilla woman to a Durgā temple, where Durgā appears as Sītā.

In the Rājya Khaṇḍa, Bhagavān Rāma wins all directions: Bhāratavarsha, the nine regions of Jambūdvīpa and the six outer dvīpas.

On the bank of the Gaṅgā, before his ascent to Vaikuṇṭha, Rāma sends each ally, son and friend home with a word for the future.

On his northern tīrtha journey, Bhagavān Rāma meets Brahmā, receives Kāmadhenu, and is received at Kailāsa by Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī.

At Prayāga, two brāhmaṇas debate whether the Rāma avatāra or the Kṛshṇa avatāra is greater, while Śiva and Pārvatī listen unseen.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Rāma was crowned at Ayodhyā, after Bharata nearly entered the fire, and how Rāmarājya began.

After his coronation, Bhagavān Rāma travelled with his whole court to the holy tīrthas of the east, south, west and north, and came home with the Kāmadhenu and Cintāmaṇi.

Two yajñas called Bhagavān Rāma on the same day, so he took two full forms and attended both, with Sītā and the whole retinue.

On the bank of the Bhāgīrathī, Rāmachandra ended his avatāra, showed his form as Bhagavān Mahāvishṇu, and rose to Vaikuṇṭha on Garuḍa.

The Vivāha Khaṇḍa ends by telling how Rāma's family grew, with 120 grandsons and 24 granddaughters, and how Nārada sang the Rāmanāma Sahasra Stava.

In the last days of Rāmarājya, the Candra-vaṃśa kings besiege Hastināpura and Rāma's sons and the vānaras fight them for six months until Brahmā and Sītā bring peace.

Before sending Hanumān to Laṅkā, Bhagavān Rāma whispers the name Śrīrāma into his right ear, and the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa teaches the seven cirañjīvīs.

Bhagavān Rāma gives the city of Brahmapur to its brāhmaṇas on a stone tablet sealed by Hanumān, and Hanumān later saves the grant from a corrupt king.

Bhagavān Vishṇu divides Vālmīki's hundred-crore-śloka Rāmāyaṇa among the worlds, and four ślokas pass from Brahmā to Nārada to Vyāsa to become the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how grief for a krauñca bird gave Vālmīki his first śloka, and how Brahmā asked him to compose a Rāmāyaṇa of one hundred crore ślokas.

Rāma installs a sand liṅga before crossing to Laṅkā, and Bhagavān Śiva declares it the twelfth jyotirliṅga, Rāmeśvara.

Agastya tells Rāma how Rāvaṇa won his varas from Brahmā, and how Kārtavīryārjuna, Vāli, Bali and the Śveta-dvīpa women humbled him.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Rāma dried the amṛta in Rāvaṇa's navel, rode the Vishṇu-ratha, and slew him with the Brahmāstra.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Ṛśyaśṛṅga was born, ended the drought in Aṅga, led Daśaratha's yāga, and how Suvarcalā took Kaikeyī's pāyasa.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa says the Sarayū began from Bhagavān Vishṇu's tears of joy, which formed Bindu Sarovara, and flowed south when Manu shot an arrow.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Nala's śāpa let stones float, how the name Rāma held them, and how the bridge to Laṅkā was built in five days.

Śambhu, a brāhmaṇa of Kāñcī, travels to Ayodhyā for the Caitra snāna, and on the way a robber, a rākshasa, his father, an elephant and a lion are freed.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Rāma tells Sītā the whole plan and its five-year timeline before Lakshmaṇa takes her to Vālmīki's āśrama.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells of Sītā's fire-ordeal and says her three guṇas, kept apart before Rāvaṇa came, were joined in her again.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Sītā was first born as Padmāvatī from a citron fruit, and then found by Janaka in the earth.

At Kurukshetra, Lopāmudrā asks Sītā why Rāma built the Setu when Agastya could have drunk the ocean dry. Sītā gives five reasons.

On Dvādaśī, Sītā breaks a Tulasī leaf by mistake. Nārada sets a test of her pātivratya, and Rāma explains the lesson to all women.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Bhagavān Rāma frees four brahmin kanyās and then sixteen thousand kanyās, who sing the Nārī-gīta.

Vālmīki tells Rāma how Soma, born of the ṛshi Atri, founded Hastināpura and began the Candra-vaṃśa, the line of kings that reached Nala.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, the attendant Suguṇā receives Rāma's tāmbūla rasa in her hands and asks to be with Him in a later birth.

Sulocanā, wife of Indrajit, receives a message from her husband's severed arm, asks Rāma for his head, and enters the fire.

Rāma's charioteer and minister Sumantra dies in Rāma's presence after nine more days of devotion, and a divine vimāna carries him to Vaikuṇṭha.

At Vaṭapura, Sumatī, granddaughter of Bhūrikīrti, passes over eleven suitors and garlands Lava, the younger son of Bhagavān Rāma.

Kaikeyī, Sumitrā and Kauśalyā each gain sudden jñāna from a sound heard in the night and reach Vaikuṇṭha, as told in the Manohara Khaṇḍa.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Vāli and Sugrīva were born from the vānara Ṛksha-viraja at a gem lake on Mount Meru, with Indra and Sūrya as their fathers.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells of Vālmīki's past life as the brahmin Śaṅkha, his awakening, his tapas in an anthill and his rebirth as Vālmīki.

At the end of the Aśvamedha Yajña, Vasishṭha asks Bhagavān Rāma for Sītā as his dakshiṇā, then gives her back for her weight in gold.

Yūpaketu, son of Śatrughna, takes Madanasundarī from her svayaṃvara at Kāñcī, and Bhagavān Rāma comes to see the wedding.

In the years of Rāma-rājya, Bhagavān Rāma and Sītā visit Agastya Maharshi's āśrama, and at Pañcappa lake Rāma frees twelve captive daughters.

In the Rājya Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Agastya Maharshi gives one divine kāṅkaṇa each to Kuśa and Lava, the sons of Bhagavān Rāma.

In Chapter 23 of the Rājya Khaṇḍa, hearing the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa lifts many people to higher lokas, Yama's city empties, and Vasishṭha names the fruit of each khaṇḍa.

Rāma sends Aṅgada, son of Vāli, to Rāvaṇa with a last offer of peace; Aṅgada faces Rāvaṇa's court and returns to Suvela mountain.

Arjuna boasts he could have built Rāma's bridge from arrows. Hanumān tests him, and Bhagavān Kṛshṇa steps in.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells of Bhagavān Rāma's Aśvamedha Yāga: the horse's journey, the gathering, the feasts and Vasishṭha's gift.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Kuśa was born to Sītā at Vālmīki's āśrama and how Vālmīki made Lava from a blade of kuśa grass.

Bṛndā's śāpa on Bhagavān Vishṇu is why Jaya and Vijaya were born as Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa, and why Tulasī is dear to Vishṇu.

Campikā, granddaughter of King Bhūrikīrti, chooses Kuśa, son of Bhagavān Rāma, from a hall of kings at her svayaṃvara in Vaṭapura.

A Chāyā Sītā stays in Ayodhyā while the real Sītā secretly goes to Laṅkā and destroys the asura Mūlakāsura with the Caṇḍikāstra.

King Daṇḍa wronged Candravadanā, daughter of Bhṛgu or Śukra, and the curse that followed turned his kingdom into the forest of Daṇḍakāraṇya.

Rāvaṇa sends a sea-creature against the ship of Daśaratha and Kausalyā. They marry on a sea-island, and the marriage is later completed in the proper way.

The deva-patnīs come to Rāma in kāma and are refused; he promises they will be gopikās in Dvāpara. Guṇavatī is told she will be Satyabhāmā.

Daśaratha's past life as the brāhmaṇa Dharmadatta, who freed the preta Kalahā and earned birth as the father of Bhagavān Rāma.

A dog comes to Rāma's court because a sannyāsī struck it without cause. Rāma hears the case and gives judgment.

After Bhagavān Rāma freed twelve daughters from Jaladevī, twelve weddings were held at Ayodhyā over one year in Rāma-rājya.

At Gayā, Sītā offered one hundred and eight sand piṇḍas for Daśaratha, five witnesses and Bhagavān Sūrya spoke for her, and Daśaratha appeared.

How Rāvaṇa won the ātmaliṅga from Bhagavān Śiva, how Bhagavān Vishṇu had it fixed at Gokarṇa, and how Mandodarī came to be his wife.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells how Hanumān was born to Añjanī and Vāyu, ate the sun as a child, and received the śāpa that made him forget his power.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, the princess Hema holds a svayaṃvara, and a fight breaks out between Citrāṅgada and Ugrabāhu.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Vibhīshaṇa shows Lakshmaṇa how to break Indrajit's secret homa, and Lakshmaṇa kills Indrajit with an arrow marked with Rāma's name.

Bhagavān Rāma strings his bow beside the Pañcappa lake, and Jaladevī frees twelve gandharva and nāga daughters she had held under the water.

In Rāmarājya, Bhagavān Rāma brings the Kalpavṛksha and the Pārijāta from Svarga to Ayodhyā, and Durvāsa comes to Ayodhyā.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa teaches the Kārtika vrata, a month of dawn baths, lamps, pūjā and charity for Bhagavān Vishṇu, and its fruits.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa is woken, tells Rāvaṇa to return Sītā, fights for him anyway, and is slain by Rāma.

The muni Kumbhodara tells Bhagavān Rāma he has not made a tīrtha yātrā, and Rāma sets out in a Pushpaka Vimāna of one hundred floors.

Kuśa and Lava sing the Janma Khaṇḍa before Bhagavān Rāma, Vālmīki names them, and Bhūdevī brings Sītā back from the earth.

Kuśa weds Campikā and Lava weds Sumatī at Vaṭapura, with full Vedic rites, rich gifts from Bhūrikīrti, and Vasishṭha's words about Kuśa's line.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, young Lava beats the guards and then the great warriors of Ayodhyā, until arrows from Rāma and Kuśa show that the boys are Rāma's sons.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yama attacks Ayodhyā over Sumantra, Rāma sends his son Lava, and Sūrya ends the battle by pleading for his son.

Two asuras of pātāla carry off Rāma and Lakshmaṇa at night, and Hanumān goes down, finds his own son Makara-dhvaja, and rescues them.

A Kerala brahmin does Rāma-pūjā on a sand altar every Navamī, Hanumān roars, and the brahmin rules a kingdom of women and reaches Vishṇu-sāyujya.

In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Chāyā-Sītā destroys the asura Mūlakāsura with the Caṇḍikāstra during Rāmarājya.