Rama

==Influence==
[[File:Burmese Ramayana dance.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Rama (Yama) and Sita (Thida) in [[Yama Zatdaw]], the Burmese version of the Ramayana]]
Rama's story has had a major socio-cultural and inspirational influence across [[South Asia]] and [[Southeast Asia]].<ref name="goldmanrama" />{{sfn|Richman|1991|p=17 note 11}}

[[File:Rama and Ravana.jpg|thumb|Rama and Ravana as depicted in Yakshagana, a traditional theater art from Karnataka, a southern state in India.]]

<blockquote style="background-color:none;margin-right:5em;margin-left:0em;border-left:solid 6px #FFE0BB;padding:1.0em">
Few works of literature produced in any place at any time have been as popular, influential, imitated and successful as the great and ancient Sanskrit epic poem, the ''Valmiki Ramayana''.
:– [[Robert P. Goldman|Robert Goldman]], Professor of Sanskrit, [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California]] at [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]].<ref name="goldmanrama" /></blockquote>

According to [[Arthur Anthony Macdonell]], a professor at Oxford and Boden scholar of Sanskrit, Rama's ideas as told in the Indian texts are secular in origin, their influence on the life and thought of people having been profound over at least two and a half millennia.<ref name="Goldmanramabp">{{Cite book |last=Goldman |first=Robert |url=http://southasia.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/documents/Ramayana.pdf |title=The Valmiki Ramayana |publisher=Center for South Asia Studies |year=2013 |location=[[University of California, Berkeley|University of California]], [[Berkeley, California]] |author-link=Robert P. Goldman |access-date=10 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028145411/http://southasia.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/documents/Ramayana.pdf |archive-date=28 October 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Sundaram |first=P S |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPTcCd32pJIC |title=Kamba Ramayana |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-93-5118-100-2 |pages=1–2}}</ref> Their influence has ranged from being a framework for personal introspection to cultural festivals and community entertainment.<ref name="goldmanrama" /> His life stories, states [[Robert P. Goldman|Goldman]], have inspired "painting, film, sculpture, puppet shows, shadow plays, novels, poems, TV serials and plays."<ref name="Goldmanramabp" />

=== Hindu arts in Southeast Asia ===
[[File:L'exposition "Angkor - la naissance d'un mythe" (musée Guimet) (11804234493).jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Rama's story is a major part of the artistic reliefs found at [[Angkor Wat]], Cambodia. Large sequences of Ramayana reliefs are also found in Java, Indonesia.<ref>{{cite book |author=Willem Frederik Stutterheim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OoitUqGk8PAC |title=Rāma-legends and Rāma-reliefs in Indonesia |publisher=Abhinav Publications |year=1989 |isbn=978-81-7017-251-2 |pages=109–160}}</ref>]]

Rama's life story, both in the written form of Sanskrit ''Ramayana'' and the oral tradition arrived in southeast Asia in the 1st millennium CE.<ref name="Brandon2009p22">{{cite book |author=James R. Brandon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g-tAlBV5_LkC |title=Theatre in Southeast Asia |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-02874-6 |pages=22–27 |access-date=10 April 2017 |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131062705/https://books.google.com/books?id=g-tAlBV5_LkC |url-status=live }}</ref> Rama was one of many ideas and cultural themes adopted, others being the Buddha, the Shiva and host of other Brahmanic and Buddhist ideas and stories.<ref name="Brandon2009p15">{{cite book |author=Brandon |first=James R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g-tAlBV5_LkC |title=Theatre in Southeast Asia |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-02874-6 |pages=15–21 |access-date=10 April 2017 |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131062705/https://books.google.com/books?id=g-tAlBV5_LkC |url-status=live }}</ref> In particular, the influence of Rama and other cultural ideas grew in [[Java]], [[Bali]], [[Malaysia|Malaya]], [[Burma]], [[Thailand]], [[Cambodia]] and [[Laos]].<ref name="Brandon2009p15" />

The ''Ramayana'' was translated from Sanskrit into old Javanese around 860 CE, while the performance arts culture most likely developed from the oral tradition inspired by the Tamil and Bengali versions of Rama-based dance and plays.<ref name="Brandon2009p22" /> The earliest evidence of these performance arts are from 243 CE according to Chinese records. Other than the celebration of Rama's life with dance and music, Hindu temples built in southeast Asia such as the [[Prambanan]] near [[Yogyakarta]] (Java), and at the [[Panataran]] near [[Blitar]] (East Java), show extensive reliefs depicting Rama's life.<ref name="Brandon2009p22" /><ref>Jan Fontein (1973), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4171579 The Abduction of Sitā: Notes on a Stone Relief from Eastern Java] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506025631/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4171579 |date=6 May 2020 }}, Boston Museum Bulletin, Vol. 71, No. 363 (1973), pp. 21–35</ref> The story of Rama's life has been popular in Southeast Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kats |first=J. |year=1927 |title=The Ramayana in Indonesia |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=4 |issue=3 |page=579 |doi=10.1017/s0041977x00102976 |s2cid=162850921}}</ref>

{{Main|Rama (Kings of Thailand)}}
In the 14th century, the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] and its capital Ayuttaya was named after the Hindu holy city of Ayodhya, with the official religion of the state being Theravada Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Francis D. K. Ching |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ciywCgAAQBAJ |title=A Global History of Architecture |author2=Mark M. Jarzombek |author3=Vikramaditya Prakash |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-470-40257-3 |page=456}}, Quote: "The name of the capital city [Ayuttaya] derives from the Hindu holy city Ayodhya in northern India, which is said to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama."</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Michael C. Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6QPWXrCCzBIC |title=Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies: The Role of Cross-Border Trade and Travel |publisher=McFarland |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-7864-9033-2 |pages=200–201}}</ref> Thai kings, continuing into the contemporary era, have been called Rama, a name inspired by Rama of ''Ramakien'' – the local version of Sanskrit ''Ramayana'', according to Constance Jones and James Ryan. For example, King [[Chulalongkorn]] (1853–1910) is also known as Rama V, while King [[Vajiralongkorn]] who succeeded to the throne in 2016 is called Rama X.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Constance Jones |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&pg=PA443 |title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |author2=James D. Ryan |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8160-7564-5 |page=443}}</ref>

===Jainism===
[[File:Swarn Jain temple, Gwalior - Ram.jpg|thumb|''Rama'', ''Lakshmana'', and ''Sita'' with Jain acharya ''yugal-charan'', Swarn Jain temple in Gwalior.]]

{{see also|Rama in Jainism|Salakapurusa}}

In [[Jainism]], the earliest known version of Rama story is variously dated from the 1st to 5th century CE. This Jain text credited to Vimalasuri shows no signs of distinction between [[Digambara]]-[[Svetambara]] (sects of Jainism), and is in a combination of [[Maharashtri Prakrit|Maharashtri]] and [[Sauraseni language]]s. These features suggest that this text has ancient roots.<ref name="Doniger1993p190">{{cite book |author=John E Cort |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kZFzHCuiFAC |title=Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-7914-1381-4 |editor=Wendy Doniger |page=190}}</ref>

In Jain [[cosmology]], people continue to be reborn as they evolve in their spiritual qualities, until they reach the Jina state and complete enlightenment. This idea is explained as cyclically reborn triads in its Puranas, called the [[Balabhadra|Baladeva]], [[Vasudeva]] and evil [[Prati-vasudeva]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacobi |first=Herman |title=Vimalsuri's Paumachariyam |publisher=Prakrit Text Society |year=2005 |edition=2nd |location=Ahemdabad}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Iyengar |first=Kodaganallur Ramaswami Srinivasa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CU92nFk5fU4C&pg=PA80 |title=Asian Variations in Ramayana |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-260-1809-3}}</ref> Rama, Lakshmana and evil Ravana are the eighth triad, with Rama being the reborn Baladeva, and Lakshmana as the reborn Vasudeva.<ref name="Padmanabh216" /> Rama is described to have lived long before the 22nd Jain Tirthankara called [[Neminatha]]. In the Jain tradition, Neminatha is believed to have been born 84,000 years before the 9th-century BCE [[Parshvanatha]].{{sfn|Zimmer|1953|p=226}}

Jain texts tell a very different version of the Rama legend than the Hindu texts such as by Valmiki. According to the Jain version, Lakshmana (Vasudeva) is the one who kills Ravana (Prativasudeva).<ref name="Padmanabh216" /> Rama, after all his participation in the rescue of Sita and preparation for war, he actually does not kill, thus remains a non-violent person. The Rama of Jainism has numerous wives as does Lakshmana, unlike the virtue of monogamy given to Rama in the Hindu texts. Towards the end of his life, Rama becomes a Jaina monk then successfully attains [[siddha]] followed by [[moksha]].<ref name="Padmanabh216" /> His first wife Sita becomes a Jaina nun at the end of the story. In the Jain version, Lakshmana and Ravana both go to the hell of Jain cosmology, because Ravana killed many, while Lakshmana killed Ravana to stop Ravana's violence.<ref name="Padmanabh216" /> ''Padmapurana'' mentions Rama as a contemporary of [[Munisuvrata]], 20th ''[[tirthankara]]'' of Jainism.{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|pp=21–23}}

===Buddhism===
[[File:Bharhut Dasaratha Jataka.jpg|thumb|Scene from Dasaratha Jataka, [[Bharhut]], c. 200-300 CE]]
The ''Dasaratha-Jataka'' (Tale no. 461) provides a version of the Rama story. It calls ''Rama'' as ''Rama-pandita''.<ref name="Francis325" /><ref name="cowell78" />

At the end of this ''Dasaratha-Jataka'' discourse, the Buddhist text declares that the Buddha in his prior rebirth was Rama:

{{Blockquote|The Master having ended this discourse, declared the Truths, and identified the Birth (...): 'At that time, the king Suddhodana was king Dasaratha, Mahamaya was the mother, [[Rahula]]'s mother was Sita, Ananda was Bharata, and I myself was Rama-Pandita.
|Jataka Tale No. 461|Translator: W.H.D. Rouse<ref name=cowell78/>}}

While the Buddhist Jataka texts co-opt Rama and make him an incarnation of [[Buddha]] in a previous life,<ref name="cowell78" /> the Hindu texts co-opt the Buddha and make him an [[avatar]] of [[Vishnu]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Bassuk |first=Daniel E |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3iwCwAAQBAJ |title=Incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity: The Myth of the God-Man |date=1987 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-1-349-08642-9 |pages=40 |access-date=9 April 2017 |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131063255/https://books.google.com/books?id=k3iwCwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Edward Geoffrey Parrinder |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VkV5AAAAMAAJ |title=Avatar and Incarnation: The Divine in Human Form in the World's Religions |publisher=Oxford: Oneworld |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-85168-130-3 |pages=19–24, 35–38, 75–78, 130–133}}</ref> The ''[[Jataka tales|Jataka]]'' literature of Buddhism is generally dated to be from the second half of the 1st millennium BCE, based on the carvings in caves and Buddhist monuments such as the [[Bharhut]] stupa.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Claus |first1=Peter J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ienxrTPHzzwC&pg=PA306 |title=South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia |last2=Diamond |first2=Sarah |last3=Mills |first3=Margarat |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-415-93919-5 |pages=306–307}}</ref>{{refn|group=lower-greek|Richard Gombrich suggests that the Jataka tales were composed by the 3rd century BCE.<ref>{{cite book|author=Naomi Appleton|title=Jātaka Stories in Theravāda Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86Kaus872e0C&pg=PA51 |year=2010|publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-1-4094-1092-8|pages=51–54}}</ref>}} The 2nd-century BCE stone [[relief]] carvings on Bharhut stupa, as told in the ''Dasaratha-Jataka'', is the earliest known non-textual evidence of Rama story being prevalent in ancient India.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mandakranta Bose |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_vuoXvAUfQC&pg=PA337 |title=The Ramayana Revisited |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-803763-7 |pages=337–338}}</ref>

===Sikhism===
{{Main|Rama in Sikhism}}
[[File:Sikh_woodcut_of_a_battle_scene_from_the_Ramayana,_Lahore_or_Amritsar,_about_1870.png|thumb|Sikh woodcut of a battle scene from the Ramayana, Lahore or Amritsar, about 1870]]
Rama is mentioned as one of twenty four divine incarnations of [[Vishnu]] in the [[Chaubis Avtar]], a composition in ''[[Dasam Granth]]'' traditionally and historically attributed to [[Guru Gobind Singh]].<ref name=":0" />{{Refn|Ath Beesvan Ram Avtar Kathan or Ram Avtar is a Composition in the second sacred Granth of Sikhs i.e Dasam Granth, which was written by Guru Gobind Singh, at Anandpur Sahib. Guru Gobind Singh was not a worshiper of Ramchandra, as after describing the whole Avtar he cleared this fact that ਰਾਮ ਰਹੀਮ ਪ੝ਰਾਨ ਕ੝ਰਾਨ ਅਨੇਕ ਕਹੈਂ ਮਤਿ ਝਕ ਨ ਮਾਨਿਯੋ ॥. Ram Avtar is based on Ramayana, but a Sikh studies the spiritual aspects of this whole composition.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wpTXAAAAMAAJ&q=Nihang+sikhs+and+shri+ram|last=Singh|first=Govind|author-link=Guru Gobind Singh|title=Dasamgranth|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers|isbn=978-81-215-1044-8|year=2005|access-date=6 March 2021|archive-date=31 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131063211/https://books.google.com/books?id=wpTXAAAAMAAJ&q=Nihang+sikhs+and+shri+ram|url-status=live}}</ref>|name=rGts|group=lower-greek}} The discussion of Rama and Krishna avatars is the most extensive in this section of the secondary Sikh scripture.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Doris R. Jakobsh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NBJPAQAAIAAJ |title=Sikhism and Women: History, Texts, and Experience |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-806002-4 |pages=47–48 |access-date=3 July 2018 |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131063328/https://books.google.com/books?id=NBJPAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> The name of Rama is mentioned more than 2,500 times in the [[Guru Granth Sahib]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Judge |first1=Paramjit S. |last2=Kaur |first2=Manjit |date=2010 |title=The Politics of Sikh Identity: Understanding Religious Exclusion |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23620888 |journal=Sociological Bulletin |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=219 |doi=10.1177/0038022920100303 |issn=0038-0229 |jstor=23620888 |s2cid=152062554 |via=Book |access-date=6 March 2021 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529013855/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23620888 |url-status=live }}</ref> and is considered as [[avatar]] along with the [[Krishna]].{{Refn||name=rGts|group=lower-greek}}

===Other===
{{See also|Category:Television series based on the Ramayana|label 1=Television series based on the Ramayana}}

In [[Assam]], [[Boro people]] call themselves ''Ramsa'', which means ''Children of Ram''.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Dodiya|2001|p=139}}.</ref> In [[Chhattisgarh]], [[Ramnami Samaj|Ramnami people]] tattooed their whole body with name of Ram.{{Sfn|Ramdas Lamb|2012|pp=31–32}}

Rama has been considered as a source of inspiration and has been described as ''Maryāda Puruṣottama Rāma'' ({{Trans|The Ideal Man}}).{{Refn|
* {{harvnb|Blank|2000|p=190}}
* {{harvnb|Dodiya|2001|pp=109–110}}
* {{harvnb|Tripathy|2015|p=1}}|group=lower-greek}} He has been depicted in many films, television shows and plays.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rajadhyaksha |first1=Ashish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOtkAAAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema |last2=Willemen |first2=Paul |date=1994 |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |isbn=9780851704555 |access-date=6 March 2021 |archive-date=31 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131063252/https://books.google.com/books?id=jOtkAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>