Rama

==Philosophy and symbolism==
Rama's life story is imbued with symbolism. According to [[Sheldon Pollock]], the life of Rama as told in the Indian texts is a masterpiece that offers a framework to represent, conceptualise and comprehend the world and the nature of life. Like major epics and religious stories around the world, it has been of vital relevance because it "tells the culture what it is". Rama's life is more complex than the Western template for the battle between the good and the evil, where there is a clear distinction between immortal powerful gods or heroes and mortal struggling humans. In the Indian traditions, particularly Rama, the story is about a divine human, a mortal god, incorporating both into the exemplar who transcends both humans and gods.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Vālmīki|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h1g6fWIu-kAC|title=The Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki: An Epic of Ancient India. Araṇyakāṇḍa|last2=Pollock|first2=Sheldon I.|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=2007|isbn=978-81-208-3164-3|pages=41–43|author-link=Valmiki|author-link2=Sheldon Pollock}}</ref>

{{Quote box
 |quote  = '''Responding to evil'''
<poem>
A superior being does not render evil for evil,
this is the maxim one should observe;
the ornament of virtuous persons is their conduct.
(...)
A noble soul will ever exercise compassion
even towards those who enjoy injuring others.
</poem>
 |source = —''Ramayana 6.115'', Valmiki<br />(Abridged, Translator: Roderick Hindery)<ref name=hindery103/>
 |bgcolor=#FFE0BB
 |align  = right
}}
As a person, Rama personifies the characteristics of an ideal person (''purushottama'').<ref name = "Hess2001">{{cite journal| author = Hess, L.| year = 2001| title = Rejecting Sita: Indian Responses to the Ideal Man's Cruel Treatment of His Ideal Wife| journal = Journal of the American Academy of Religion
| volume = 67| issue = 1| pages = 1–32| doi = 10.1093/jaarel/67.1.1| pmid = 21994992}}</ref> He had within him all the desirable virtues that any individual would seek to aspire, and he fulfils all his moral obligations. Rama is considered a ''maryada purushottama'' or the best of upholders of Dharma.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LexraSEgRfIC&q=The+Blackwell+Companion+to+Hinduism|title=The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism|author=Gavin Flood|isbn=978-81-265-1629-2|date=17 April 2008|publisher=Wiley India Pvt. Limited|access-date=28 October 2020|archive-date=31 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131062703/https://books.google.com/books?id=LexraSEgRfIC&q=The+Blackwell+Companion+to+Hinduism|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Rodrick Hindery, Book 2, 6 and 7 are notable for ethical studies.<ref name=hindery100>{{cite book|author=Roderick Hindery|title=Comparative Ethics in Hindu and Buddhist Traditions |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-FswBLvTkvQC&pg=PA100|year =1978|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn= 978-81-208-0866-9|pages=100–101}}</ref><ref name="Horstmann1991p9"/> The views of ''Rama'' combine "reason with emotions" to create a "thinking hearts" approach. Second, he emphasises through what he says and what he does a union of "self-consciousness and action" to create an "ethics of character". Third, Rama's life combines the ethics with the aesthetics of living.<ref name=hindery100/> The story of Rama and people in his life raises questions such as "is it appropriate to use evil to respond to evil?", and then provides a spectrum of views within the framework of Indian beliefs such as on [[karma]] and [[dharma]].<ref name=hindery103>{{cite book|author=Roderick Hindery|title=Comparative Ethics in Hindu and Buddhist Traditions |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-FswBLvTkvQC&pg=PA100|year =1978|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn= 978-81-208-0866-9|pages=103–106}}</ref>

Rama's life and comments emphasise that one must pursue and live life fully, that all three life aims are equally important: virtue (dharma), desires ([[kama]]), and legitimate acquisition of wealth ([[artha]]). Rama also adds, such as in section 4.38 of the ''[[Ramayana]]'', that one must also introspect and never neglect what one's proper duties, appropriate responsibilities, true interests, and legitimate pleasures are.<ref name=hindery106/>
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