Who is Rama?

Valmiki's Ramayana

Valmiki's poem opens with a question. The sage asks Narada who in all the world is “virtuous, heroic, true”, “To every creature good and kind”, and Narada answers that these virtues dwell in one man, “Known to the world by Ráma’s name”. The epic then tells his life as a test of duty: a prince who obeys his father, keeps faith with his wife and brothers, and rules for his people.

Sources for this reading

• Valmiki, Ramayana, Book I, Canto I “Nárad”, in R. T. H. Griffith (tr.), The Rámáyan of Válmíki (London: Trübner; Benares: E. J. Lazarus, 1870–74), Project Gutenberg transcription. Griffith died 1906: public domain. Quoted verbatim from the transcription. (Book I, Canto I)
• The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Ralph T. H. Griffith, vol. I: Book I (London: Trübner; Benares: E. J. Lazarus, 1870) (Book I, Canto I, pp. 3 and 5 (leaves n38 and n40); the three quoted lines checked on the page images)

Vaishnava

Vaishnava traditions worship Rama as an avatar of Vishnu. In the Ramayana itself, Vishnu agrees to be born on earth to end Ravana's power and decides “In four his being to divide”, choosing King Dasharatha as father: Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna are his portions. The Vishnu Purana adds that when Vishnu was born as Rama, Lakshmi was born as Sita.

Sources for this reading

• Valmiki, Ramayana, Book I, Canto XV “The Nectar”, in Griffith (tr.), Project Gutenberg transcription. Public domain. Quoted verbatim. (Book I, Canto XIV (the gods ask Vishnu to be born as man and slay Ravana), Canto XV (“In four his being to divide”) and Canto XIX (the four sons as portions of Vishnu))
• The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Ralph T. H. Griffith, vol. I: Book I (London: Trübner; Benares: E. J. Lazarus, 1870) (Book I, Canto XV, p. 88 (leaf n123), and Canto XIX, p. 106 (leaf n141); checked on the page images)
• The Vishnu Purana, a system of Hindu mythology and tradition, translated by H. H. Wilson (London: John Murray, 1840) (book 1, chapter 9, p. 80 (leaf n178): as Vishnu descends, “so does his coadjutrix Śrí”; when he was Raghava (Ramachandra) she was Sita)
• The Bhagavadgîtâ with the Sanatsugâtîya and the Anugîtâ, translated by Kâshinâth Trimbak Telang (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. VIII, ed. F. Max Müller) (Bhagavad Gita 10.31, footnote 2: Rama is “The hero of the Hindu epos, Râmâyana”)

Tulsidas and the bhakti tradition

For Tulsidas, whose Awadhi Ramcharitmanas is read across North India, Rama is the supreme Lord himself, and the name of Rama is the heart of devotion. The Hanuman Chalisa calls Hanuman Rama's messenger and ends by asking him to dwell in the heart together with Rama, Lakshmana and Sita. Here Rama is loved as much as he is admired.

Sources for this reading

• Hanuman Chalisa, chaupai 2
• Hanuman Chalisa, doha 3
• Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, in F. S. Growse (tr.), The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás, Book 1 (Allahabad: North-Western Provinces Government Press, 1877; title page, leaf n5). Growse died 1893: public domain. Summarised in our words: in the opening invocation Tulsidas reverences “under his name of Ráma, the lord Hari; supreme over all causes”, and he holds that the virtue of the name “transcends the supreme”. The title page quotes Griffith on the poem's place among the people of the North-Western Provinces. (Sanskrit invocation, p. 1 (leaf n27); Doha 27, pp. 18–19 (leaves n44–n45); read on the page images)

Sources

• Bhagavad Gita, 10.31
• Festival guides in this library: Ram Navami, Dussehra and Diwali; the children's stories “The Day Rama Was Born”, “Rama and Ravana”, “Rama Comes Home” and “Hanuman Finds Sita”; and the Learn page “What is the Ramayana?”

More questions

• What is the Ramayana?
• Who is Hanuman?
• What is an avatar in Hinduism?
• Ram Navami: what it is and how families keep it
• All the gods and goddesses, with their prayers and festivals
• All questions
• Stories for children