The Ramayana and the Concept of LustRamayana by RK Narayana is an epic tale of the patron god Vishnu in his human form of Rama. The Ramayana is not only a story about Rama's journey to abolish evil, but it also deals with conquering the five evils and attaining a higher level of one's spirituality. Lust is one of the main evils and is a very common topic in the epic tale. In many cases and situations, Rama conquers him to save many lives, including his own. First, Rama learns about the sin of lust, how the people involved in the story should be judged, and then he learns the art of overcoming evil. During his journey with Viswamithra, he learns about sin from two different stories. First, he learns it through the story of the god Shiva, then through the story of Ahalaya. God Shiva turned the god of love into ashes when he tried to interpret Shiva while meditating on a mountain. Through this example, Rama learned that lust is considered one of the greatest sins in the Hindu religion practiced at the time. This concept is proven by the story of Ahalaya in which her husband, Gautama, punishes her by turning her into stone until Rama comes to free her soul. She is punished because of Lord Indra who disguises himself in the form of Sage Gautama during her absence because he is hypnotized by her beauty and considers himself the only one worthy of her. Ahalaya was punished for going to Indra without confirming if that was the case. was really Gautama. Moreover, when she realized that Indra was not Gautama, she did not take any action against him. Gautama also curses Indra who tries to escape by transforming into a cat; with an entire body covered in female parts. Later he changed his punishment due to the call of Lord Brahma. This caused the female parts of his body to transform into eyes, making Indra a god with "a thousand eyes". Learning about Ahalaya and Indra's punishment, Rama understands that when a person falls into the trap of lust, he has to face severe punishment and then has to perform various tasks to purify his body and soul. Rama releases Ahalaya's soul and asks Gautama to take her back as his wife because Ahalaya has now fully justified her charge. Rama faced his own battle of lust when Ravana's sister Soorpanaka disguised herself as a beautiful woman and tried to seduce Rama..