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  • Essay / Ramayana: Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa - 1164

    One of the most striking relationships in all of Rāmāyaṇa is that between the Indian epic hero Rāma and his half-brother Lakṣmaṇa. What is interesting about this matter is Lakṣmaṇa's pure loyalty to her brother and all his goals. While Rāma is the king on leave for most of the Hindu epic, Lakṣmaṇa more or less acts as his royal servant and bodyguard to his most prized possession, namely Rāma's wife Sītā. Interestingly, Lakṣmaṇa is himself a very intelligent being and one who delights in the longevity of his brother's interests and goals. This article will discuss how Lakṣmaṇa creates himself as the most faithful companion of the first book of Rāmāyaṇa. In the Bāla Kāṇḍa, Vālmīki sets out the ideal relationship between the brothers, which only grows stronger and allows the story to conclude at the end of the Uttara Kāṇḍa. In order to understand Lakṣmaṇa, we must understand that he, like Rāma, is an avatar of Vishnu, and again, like Rāma, is sent to the forest with the sage Viśvāmitra in order to defeat the demons that inhabit the earth. Lakṣmaṇa is therefore a royal and legitimate heir to the throne, although he is the youngest of all the sons of the king of Ayodhyā. Apparently his most striking characteristic is that of his loyalty not only to Rāma, but also to dhárma. Dhárma, in addition to being “the right course of action in every dilemma,” is a social contract that all human beings must follow. With the rise of the demon Rāvaṇa and his dispensation of Brahmā with a blessing of invincibility, Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa vow to help save the kingdom and the world from this evildoer and henceforth to promote and uphold the dhárma. This, while truly heroic, is middle of paper...... "Works CitedEncyclopædia Britannica Online, sv "Dharma-shastra", http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/160730/Dharma-shastra (accessed May 3, 2011).V Raghavan, The two brothers, Rama and Lakshmana, (Madras: Raghavan, 1976), 5.V. Raghavan, The two brothers, Rama and Lakshmana, (Madras: Raghavan, 1976), 5. .GS Ghurye, The Legacy of the Ramayana, (Bombay: Popular Prakashan Private Ltd., 1979), 98.Swami Venkatesananda, THE CONCISE RĀMĀYAṆA of Vālmīki, (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1988), 13. GS Ghurye, The Legacy of the Ramayana, (Bombay: Popular Prakashan Private Ltd., 1979), 98.V Raghavan, The Two Brothers, Rama and Lakshmana, (Madras: Raghavan, 1976), 21.Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. “adharma”, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adharma (accessed May 4, 2011).