Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship Spring 2012 Rāmāyaṇa Parth Sharma Trinity College,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Sharma, Parth, "Rāmāyaṇa". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2012. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/202 1 Rāmāyaṇa By Parth Sharma Dedicated to my late Grandmother, Kamla Sharma 2 Contents Introduction 3 Up to the Exile I. Dharmic Conflict #1 5 II. Dharmic Conflict #2 9 III. Dharmic Conflict #3 10 IV. Dharmic Conflict #4 10 V. Dharmic Conflict #5 12 In the Exile 13 I. Dharmic Duties 14 II. Dharmic Conflict #6 16 III. Dharmic Conflict #7, #8 17 IV. Followers of Dhárma 19 V. Truth Act #1 22 The War between Dhárma and Adhárma 24 I. Dharmic Conflict #9 25 II. Dhárma follower in Lanka 27 III. Other Values 35 After the War 36 I. Dharmic Conflict #10 36 II. Truth Act #2 37 III. Truth Act #3 39 Commentary 39 End Notes 44 Glossary 46 Work Cited 47 3 Rāmāyaṇa Introduction Vālmīki provides a foundation for Indian society through Rāmāyaṇa. Vālmīki is known as the poet harbinger for Sanskrit literature. He defines the form of Sanskrit poetry because he discovers the first Sholka, first verse, and that’s why he is also referred as Adi Kavi. Vālmīki composed the whole Rāmāyaṇa in 24,000 Sholkas during the time period of 500 BCE-100 BCE. Like many other epics such as Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa also went through the process of editing for publishing, but it is still impossible to provide the correct dates of its compositioni Rāmāyaṇa is the tale of the Lord and His consort born as mortal, experiencing human sorrow and following their Dhárma on earth.