Rāmopākhyāna

The Rāmopākhyāna is the Mahābhārata’s own telling of the story of Rāma. Ṛshi Mārkaṇḍeya tells it to Yudhishṭhira in the Vana Parva, Chapters 273–292, straight after the account of Jayadratha’s carrying off of Draupadī.

Mārkaṇḍeya tells it to comfort Yudhishṭhira. Rāma’s wife was taken by a powerful enemy, Rāma bore the loss with steadiness, and in the end he won through righteous strength. The Pāṇḍavas, he says, will win in the same way. The account covers Rāma’s exile from Ayodhyā, Sītā’s abduction by Rāvaṇa, the alliance with the vānaras, the building of the Setu, the great battle at Laṅkā, and Rāma’s return and coronation. It also names Mātalī, Indra’s charioteer, who brought the divine chariot for Rāma in the last battle, and the rākshasa minister Avimdhya, who protected Sītā in Laṅkā.

Why Mārkaṇḍeya tells it

Mārkaṇḍeya had learned of Jayadratha’s abduction of Draupadī and of Bhīma bringing her back. Yudhishṭhira was shaken. His wife had been dishonoured in the forest, he could not protect those he loved, and the weight of the exile pressed on him.

Mārkaṇḍeya answered with the story of Rāma: another righteous king, another devoted wife taken by an enemy far stronger than Jayadratha, and another triumph won through steadiness in dharma. He meant it as comfort from precedent. What had happened to Yudhishṭhira had happened before to greater men, and they had prevailed.

Daśaratha and Rāma’s exile

Rāma was the eldest son of King Daśaratha of Ayodhyā. He was about to be crowned when Queen Kaikeyī used two varas (boons) that Daśaratha had promised her. She asked that Rāma be sent into exile for fourteen years and that her own son Bharata be crowned.

Chapter 276 of the Rāmopākhyāna tells what lay behind this. Brahmā called the gandharva woman Dundubhī and told her to go down to earth as Mantharā, the hunchbacked maid of Kaikeyī, and so set in motion the events that would lead to Rāma’s exile. Dundubhī obeyed and was born as Mantharā. She stirred up Kaikeyī’s jealousy and led her to use her two vara-s.

Daśaratha was bound by his word and could do nothing. Rāma accepted the exile without complaint or anger, as his father’s command and as a matter of dharma. He left with his wife Sītā and his devoted younger brother Lakshmaṇa.

Life in the forest and Sītā’s abduction

The three lived as forest ascetics in Daṇḍakāraṇya. Rāvaṇa, the rākshasa king of Laṅkā, heard of Sītā’s matchless beauty and was driven by desire. He made a plan. He sent his helper Mārīca in the form of a golden deer to draw Rāma and Lakshmaṇa away from the āśrama. When both had been lured out, Rāvaṇa came to Sītā disguised as a wandering mendicant and carried her off by force.

The vulture-king Jaṭāyu tried to stop Rāvaṇa and was mortally wounded. Rāma found him, and from his dying words learned what had happened and which way Sītā had been taken.

The alliance with Sugrīva and the vānaras

Rāma and Lakshmaṇa searched toward the south. They met Hanumān and made an alliance with Sugrīva, the exiled vānara king of Kishkindhā. Sugrīva’s brother Vāli had taken his kingdom. Rāma slew Vāli from behind a tree, and in return Sugrīva promised the service of the vānara army in the search for Sītā.

Hanumān crossed the ocean to Laṅkā in a single leap. He found Sītā in the Aśokavana, gave her Rāma’s ring as a token, and came back with news of where she was and how she fared.

The Setu and the battle

Under Nala’s direction the vānara army built a great causeway, the setu, across the ocean from the southern shore to Laṅkā. By it the whole army crossed.

In Laṅkā the rākshasa minister Avimdhya had always advised Rāvaṇa to return Sītā and avoid war. He was the voice of dharma in the enemy’s court. Rāvaṇa ignored him. Through the whole conflict Avimdhya saw to it that Sītā was not harmed in the Aśokavana.

Mātalī and Indra’s chariot

At the height of the battle Indra sent his divine chariot to Rāma, driven by his charioteer Mātalī. It was Indra’s own war-chariot, with divine horses and divine weapons, and it carried the full protection of the merit of the deva armies. Mātalī drove Rāma in it for the last fight with Rāvaṇa.

The death of Rāvaṇa and the return

Rāma used the Brahmāstra, which Agastya had given him, and slew Rāvaṇa. Vibhīshaṇa, Rāvaṇa’s righteous brother, who had come over to Rāma’s side, performed Rāvaṇa’s last rites. Sītā was reunited with Rāma and showed her purity through the agniparīkshā (trial by fire).

The fourteen years of exile were done. Rāma returned to Ayodhyā in the Pushpaka vimāna (flying chariot). Bharata had ruled Ayodhyā in Rāma’s name, with Rāma’s sandals on the throne, and he welcomed Rāma back.

The coronation

Rāma was crowned king of Ayodhyā in the rājyābhisheka, the royal coronation, attended by all the devas, ṛshis and citizens. His reign, Rāmarājya, became the model of good rule. There were no untimely deaths, no disasters, no poverty and no unjust suffering. The whole kingdom showed the dharmic rule of its king.

Mārkaṇḍeya’s words to Yudhishṭhira (Chapter 292)

When the account of Rāma was finished, Mārkaṇḍeya turned to Yudhishṭhira. He drew the likeness. Rāma too was a righteous king driven from his kingdom. His wife too was taken by a powerful enemy. He too endured years of hardship in the forest before he prevailed. The power that protected Rāma, the strength of dharma, the support of the cosmic order and the grace of Parameśvara, was the same power that protected the Pāṇḍavas.

Mārkaṇḍeya assured Yudhishṭhira that the Pāṇḍavas would win back their kingdom, that the wrong done to Draupadī would be answered, and that the end of the great dharmic conflict was already fixed in the order of the cosmos. Yudhishṭhira should take courage from Rāma’s steadiness and his final triumph.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 273–292 (Rāmopākhyāna)
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 276 (Dundubhī becomes Mantharā)
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 292 (Mārkaṇḍeya’s words to Yudhishṭhira)