Rama: Icon of dharma
By Mohindar Pal Kohli

RAMA loves to listen to again AMA is the hero of the story which everyone knows but and again. Along with Lord Krishna, this excellent Lord of Dharma is a leading figure among the teeming pantheon of gods and heroes, and has so permeated the Indian psyche through the millennia that he has become the timeless beau ideal of the Hindu imagination.

The Hindu idea of the perfect man, under trials and temptations, endurance under privations and his devotion to duty under all viscissitudes of fortune, forming as the Hindu ideal of perfect life, has as Vivekananda said, so entered "into the very life of the nation and has so tingled in every drop of blood of the race" that he with his consort symbolises the ideal of fortitude in suffering.

The image of the prince as it emerges from the epic is that of a cool, passive, and acquiescent soul exhibiting little traces of sorrow and suffering. Wedded as he was to his pronounced aim of protecting dharma and the established code of conduct, he presents a serene, withdrawn and sad expression displaying the tribulations and limitations of the human frame.

Considered by his worshippers as the seventh incarnation of God, elevates our minds through the sorrows borne by him, by dint of his courage, strong will and purity of mind. And ideal son, an ideal brother, an ideal husband and above all an ideal democrat king, he appears to be more of human being than God.

He rose above his personal pleasures and, as Raja-gopalachari says, cared more for good even so much and he saw more of mystery of life than we can do in our incessant pursuits of petty and illusory achievements on the material plane.

Rama is the predominant character of the epic Ramayana, which is impregnated with the twin theme of love and Dharma. There are brave souls full of love and strength, fighting against destiny in order to uphold the precepts of right conduct and Rama leads them all by sticking to the behaviour of the ideal king according to the customs of the times.

About the theme of love, again Rajagopalachari narrates how in profound simplicity, it was explained by Mahatma Gandhi. He recalls that on one occasion they were talking about a girl dear to both of them. Raja ji asked the Mahatma, "How did she get all these ideas and phrases of love without having read any of the present-day love stories?" Gandhiji replied. "But has she not read the story of Rama? Is the Ramayana not a love story too?" But it is the love which suffers silently.

The effect of the chanting of the exploits of Rama on Shatrughana and his companions when they halt at Valmiki’s ashram can be gauged in the words of the Rishi. Listening to the truth of the narrative, says Valmiki, the ‘human lion’ (purusha-shardula) Shaturghana sighed deeply again and again" and tears streamed down his eyes. The other heroes and warriors, who accompanied him kept repeating humbly, their eyes dazed and washed by the intensity of vicarious compassion. And how many of us with sensitive feelings have been able to control our tears in such emotional moments.

Rama is the paragon of virtues which flow from his austerity and self-abnegation. He represents the domestic and religious life of ancient India, with all its tenderness and sweetness, its endurance and devotion. The one picture without the other would be incomplete, and we should know but little of the ancient people if we do not comprehend their inner life and faith as well as their political life and their valrous virtues.

Bhavbhuti in his Uttar Ramcharitam brings into bold relief the characteristic quality of Rama that he would give up his comforts, his love, his kingdom and even his faithful and most beloved Sita for the sake of dharma, the codes and the values.

With a high sense of morality as a husband, who is also a leader and the king, he established Sita’s integrity in the presence of his people. He killed Shambuk, not because he was merely a Shudra, as painted by the critical Amalkites, but because he was engaged in the activities against the interests of the state. The symbols become more defined and relevant when we study them in the present context.

His arrows burnt off the layers of dross, the anger, the conceit, the cruelty, the lust and the egotism which had encrusted Ravana’s real self. His personality came through in its pristine form, as Rama says, of one who was devout and capable of tremendous attainments. Who but Rama could express: "What might he not have achieved but for the evil stirring within him."

There are many occasions in the epic which exhibit Rama’s wisdom, valour, patience and humility. But perhaps the most moving and effective parts which bring out his sublime character are the death of Ravana and the test of Sita. In the monosyllabic short funeral speech, perhaps the shortest ever made by anyone, he consoled Vibhishna: "Animosity ends with death. Our end is achieved. Now perform the last rites. I feel his death too as much as you do."

Numerous poets have portrayed Rama in all his grandeur. Whether it is Valmiki and Kamban making him the ideal hero of an epic, or it is Tulsi making him an avtaar of the Almighty fit for worship, or it is Guru Gobind Singh making him a great and invincible warrior or hundreds of poets in the regional languages of the country extolling his glory — all have narrated his excellence, particularly of speech and behavior.

The question is not whether Rama ever lived, whether the story is history or not. We know that ideal is there. The legend of Rama is still a living faith as the basis of moral instruction of a nation and is the part of the lives of millions of people. Even if it is myth, pleads Joseph Campbell, the myth is worth to live by. Rama is the expounder of what R.K. Narayan says "the perennial philosophy", reminding us, as it were, the benediction of Brahma. As long as the mountains stand and the rivers flow, so long shall the story of Rama be cherished among men.