Sāra Rāmāyaṇa
The Sāra Rāmāyaṇa is a summary of the whole Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa in one hundred and nine verses. Bhagavān Rāma spoke it himself to Rāmadāsa. It is found in the seventeenth sarga of the Manohara Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa. It is a short hymn-like summary (a stotra) and not a khaṇḍa, so it should not be mistaken for the first khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, which is also called the Sāra Khaṇḍa.
The setting
The Manohara Khaṇḍa has a frame in which Rāmadāsa speaks to Vishṇudāsa at Daṇḍakāraṇya. In it, Rāmadāsa tells how Bhagavān Rāma himself spoke to him a full summary of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa in one hundred and nine verses. This speech of Bhagavān Rāma is the Sāra Rāmāyaṇa. It is called “Sāra” (essence) because it gives the essence of the narrative, as told by the one who lived it.
The summary covers all nine khaṇḍas. These include the Manohara Khaṇḍa itself, in which the Sāra Rāmāyaṇa stands. They also include the Pūrṇa Khaṇḍa, the last khaṇḍa, which has not yet been told at this point in the frame.
The nine khaṇḍas in the summary
Sāra Khaṇḍa (about verses 1 to 15): The basic account. The royal line, the births, Viśvāmitra’s journey, the marriage, the exile, the stay in the forest, the abduction, the battle and the return. The whole story of Rāma in its shortest form.
Yātrā Khaṇḍa (about verses 16 to 25): The khaṇḍa of pilgrimage. Rāma’s journeys through holy places, the founding of tīrthas, and the frame of Rāmadāsa and Vishṇudāsa at Daṇḍakāraṇya.
Yāga Khaṇḍa (about verses 26 to 35): The Aśvamedha yajña, the Sītā-Dakshiṇā episode and the Sītā-tīrtha.
Vilāsa Khaṇḍa (about verses 36 to 45): The inner life of Rāmarājya. The Deha Rāmāyaṇa, Śaṅkara’s Rāghuvīra Stava Rāja, Piṅgalā and the Setu dialogue.
Janma Khaṇḍa (about verses 46 to 55): The births of Kuśa and Lava. The abandonment agreed beforehand. Lava’s battles at the hundredth Aśvamedha. Sītā’s return and her entry into the earth (bhūpraveśa).
Vivāha Khaṇḍa (about verses 56 to 65): The marriages of Kuśa (to Campikā) and Lava (to Sumatī). The twelve weddings. Rāma’s 120 grandsons.
Rājya Khaṇḍa (about verses 66 to 80): The full range of Rāmarājya. The conquest of the directions (digvijaya), Mūlakāsura, the justice done to the dog-sannyāsī, Vālmīki’s birth, rājanīti (the rules of kingship), Suguṇā’s vara about Rādhā, the Sītā-Tulasī episode and the seven-lifetime qualification.
Manohara Khaṇḍa (about verses 81 to 95): The moksha of the three mothers. Nava-Rāma. The glory of the month of Caitra (Caitra mahimā). The kavacas. The episode of the bridge at Dhanushkoṭi.
Pūrṇa Khaṇḍa (about verses 96 to 109): The war of Lava and Kuśa with Hastināpura. Rāma’s great departure (mahā-prasthāna). His return to Vaikuṇṭha as Bhagavān Vishṇu.
The summary of its own khaṇḍa
The Sāra Rāmāyaṇa includes a summary of the Manohara Khaṇḍa, the very khaṇḍa that holds it. Bhagavān Rāma gives this summary in the seventeenth chapter of the Manohara Khaṇḍa. So the Sāra Rāmāyaṇa speaks of its own place in the text.
The phalaśruti
Reciting the Sāra Rāmāyaṇa, Bhagavān Rāma’s own summary, gives the phala (fruit) of hearing the whole Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, in short form. A devotee who cannot do the full pārāyaṇa (continuous reading) of the nine khaṇḍas can gain the merit of the whole narrative through these 109 verses.
Sources
- Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17