Ramayana's Influence on India
By: Sulaim Desai
Introduction
- In India today, many aspects of life are influenced by the book, Ramayana
- Many parents and grandparents tell the stories in this book to their kids and grandkids
- Helps learn about culture, specific holidays, and how to behave
- It influenced India in two ways:
- Their religion
- Their holiday
Sita
- She went through many challenges
- Got exiled to forest with Rama (Valmiki)
- She got kidnapped by Ravana (Valmiki)
- She walked through fire to prove her purity (Valmiki)
Why is Sita Worshipped?
- She is worshipped for many reasons:
- As a perfect role model for a wife (Moore)
- As a fertility goddess (Moore)
- Immense strength (Moore)
How Do We Pray To Sita?
- To pray to her, merely chant her name and focus on her qualities and you feel in sync with her (Moore)
Rama
- Worshipped in many parts of India today
- People worship Rama because his qualities attracted everyone (Saraswati)
- He adhered to his morals and duty (Saraswati)
- Forgive people after death (Saraswati)
- Do not take short path to success (Saraswati)
- Uphold respect of everyone in your life (Saraswati)
How Do We Worship Rama?
- To worship him,
- Merely need to say his name (Saraswati)
- By doing this,
- You win over lust, greed, anger, and jealousy (Saraswati)
Diwali
- "Festival of Lights" (Das)
- Occurs in October or November for four days (Das)
What Does It Celebrate?
- It celebrates the return of Rama with his wife, Sita, from exile (Das)
- The villagers were extremely happy and lit oil lamps in the kingdom to help Rama and Sita get home (Das)
- Celebrate defeat of evil (Das)
How Is It Celebrated Today?
- All houses in India are lit up with oil lamps (Das)
- The sky is illuminated with firecrackers (Das)
- Thank the heavens for health, wealth, and peace (Das)
What Occurs On This Day Between People?
- It is a day to forget the bad things in life and forgive everyone (Das)
- Everyone unifies with each other (Das)
- People pray for prosperity (Das)
- People feed the poor (Das)
Dussehra
- It occurs in September or October (Dhawan)
- It celebrates the victory of good over evil (Dhawan)
The Story Behind Dussehra
- Ravana kidnapped Sita and kept her captive (Valmiki)
- Rama went to save his wife and fought with Ravana for ten days (Valmiki)
- On the tenth day, Rama killed Ravana and this is why Dussehra is celebrated
- To celebrate, a statue of Ravana is burned by shooting fire burning arrows at it (Dhawan)
Ram Navami
- In Ramayana, it talks about the perfect morality that is instilled in Rama
- Perfect son, brother, and wife
- When Rama became king, the people celebrated Ram Navami, Rama's birthday, to celebrate his good deeds (Patel)
- To celebrate:
- People fast
- People pray
- People recite stories of Rama
- (Patel)
Hanuman Jayanti
- Birthday of Lord Hanuman (Hertzenberg)
- Son of Anjana and Desari (Hertzenberg)
- He was a devotee of Lord Rama and commanded Rama's army of monkeys (Hertzenberg)
What Do We Do On Hanuman Jayanti?
- First, take a bath early in the morning (Hertzenberg)
- Then, go to a Hanuman Temple and pray (Hertzenberg)
- After that, they read the Hanuman Chalisa and give offerings (Hertzenberg)
- They get:
- sweets
- coconut
- flowers
- holy water
- (Hertzenberg)
- People take a bath early in the morning (cite)
- Go to a Hanuman Temple to pray (cite)
- Read Hanuman Chalisa(cite)
- Give offerings to Hanuman
- Get: sweets, coconut, flowers, and sacred water in return (cite)
- Smear red color on their forehead (cite)
What Do We Get By Praying To Hanuman?
- Brave
- Intelligent
- Loyal
- (Hertzenberg)