Reading Notes - The Divine Archer Part A

Ramanaya - The Divine Archer

Author: F. J. Gould (1911)

Part A:
  • Birth of the four sons to Dasharatha by his three queens
  • Rama is the greatest amongst the four brothers
  • The King lets Rama go to help Vishvamitra defeat demons
  • Sita and Rama fall in love at first sight
  • To win Sita's hand Rama must bend the bow of the god Shiva
  • Rama bends the bow until it breaks
  • Parashurama is a rival suitor and is angry about hearing someone broke Shivas bow
  • Paras. Challenges Rama to string the Vishnu’s bow 
  • Rama does so with ease and earns his respect/honor
  • Rama as well as his four brothers all get married on the same day
  • There are plans for Rama to become the successor to the king
  • Manthara manipulates the queen (mother of Bharata) to oppose Rama 
  • She is owed two wishes so the King obeys and Bharata becomes the successor and Rama is exiled for 14 years
  • Sita and Lakshmana insist on going into exile with Rama
  • The king foreshadows that Rama's exile is to fulfill a life long curse caused by one of his mistakes 
  • The king Dasharatha dies after telling of the curse


(Source: PDE Ramanaya)

  • Bharata is angry with his mother for causing these problems
  • Bharata then seeks out the exiled Rama but Rama refuses to return
  • Bharata returns home but takes with him a pair of Rama's sandals for symbolic reasons until his return
  • Rama receives celestial weapons from a sage and Lakshmana builds a house in the forest
  • A demon woman proposed marriage to Rama because she is in love him
  • This doesn’t end well after trying to seduce Lakshmana she becomes angry and sends her demon army to attack them
  • They are defeated by the two brothers
  • Demon escapes to her brother Ravana who is the demon king of Lanka
  • Maricha appears as a golden deer at the request of Ravana to trick Rama
  • Ravana takes Sita away because Rama and Lakshmana have left
  • Jatayu the king of vultures informs Rama what happened after trying to stop Ravana and having his wings cut off
  • Sugriva and Hanuman are monkeys
  • Sugriva was exiled by his brother Vali and he agrees to help Rama
  • Rama and Sugriva leave to confront Vali since the vowed to help one another


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