The next morning they started to go to Mithila where the great King Janaka was ruling. They passed by a beautiful ashram that was empty. Rama was eager to know about that Ashram and he asked Vishwamitra to tell him about it. Then Vishwamitra told Rama all about that place. He said that a great rishi called Gautama was living there w…

Early morning they all started after the morning worship and Vishwamitra told all to cross the river Sonna by foot as there was not much water flowing. By noon they reached the banks of the river Ganga (Ganges). They all took baths and made offerings to their ancestors and performed a Homa (small yaga). Then Rama requested Vishwamit…

The next morning after the prayers the rishis told Rama that they were proceeding to Mithila city where a very big Yaga was being performed by the king. They invited Rama and Lakshmana to go with them. They further said that there was a very famous bow, which could not even be lifted not to mention stringing it so far by anybody, so…

The next day morning the Yagas started and both the brothers guarded the Ashram day and night. For five days, everything went off smoothly. On the sixth day, a very loud noise was heard in the sky and two huge figures appeared. They were Mareecha and Subahu. They created a rain of blood, which fell all over the place making it dirty…

Vishwamitra said "Rama this place was where Lord Vishnu did penance before creating the Yugas and the seasons. Here was the Ashram where Vamana performed great penance and which came to be known as Siddhashrama. Vamana is one of the incarnations of Vishnu when he subdued the great King Mahabali the son of Virochana. Mahabali co…

The next day morning Vishwamitra told Rama that he was so pleased with him that he was going to teach him the use of several powerful Astras (weapons or some kind of missiles) which would make him invincible. Valmiki lists over fifty Astras and it is interesting to record the names of some here just for curiosity: Danda Chakra, Dhar…

However, after some years, there came Mareecha with his very strong and powerful mother Tataka, the wife of Sunanda who was a Yakshi (another type of human), and started destroying the peace of the place. Vishwamitra told that they were going to the place where Tataka was living and then Rama should kill her and make the place regai…

Rama started off with Vishwamitra and his brother Lakshmana who was inseparable from him also followed. They both carried their bow and arrows and wore also protective gloves for their hands made of strong skin of a kind of lizard (Udumbu in Tamil). They walked along the southern bank of river Sarayu for one and a half Yojana distan…

One day the Great Rishi rather than The Brahma Rishi Vishwamitra arrived in Ayodhya which created a stir. He was known for his great power gained by a long time of penance and also for his short temper. In fact, as we will see later he lost quite a bit of the benefit of his penance due to his short temper. He asked the guards to ann…

Before concluding it would be of interest to say a few words about Hindu Calendar. In ancient times the unit of time was the Lunar Day or Tithi and not the Solar day. About 30 tithis made a lunar month and are equivalent to 29.5 solar days. A month was divided into two halves, one starting from the full moon called the bright half (…

In Ayodhya after the completion of the great Yaga all the invitees. left and Rishyashringa also left along with his wife Shanta. Dasharatha spent his life happily and peacefully waiting for the great day. The great happy event occurred in the twelfth month (in) Chithra Kausalya gave birth to Rama the protector of the world and who w…

Lord Brahma got busy creating people to help Lord Vishnu during his sojourn in the world. These helpers were somewhat superhumans. They would be very strong and could change their form at will, were well versed in various Astras (missiles) and warfare. Jambavan the great bear who had been already created once by Brahma (during the V…

Such was the greatness of the King Dasharatha but he had no sons and which caused him great grief. He decided to perform the great Ashwamedha Yajnya. This is a ceremony that only great emperors could perform because there would be challenges from other kings which the performer had to meet with success. So generally this was not att…

There is a very interesting description of how king Dasharatha ruled his kingdom. There were eight ministers who were all great men and very learned. They were Drishti, Jayantha, Vijaya, Sidhartha, Arthasaadaka, Ashoka, Manthrabala, and the famous Sumantra who also was Dasharatha's charioteer and a close adviser. I gave the name…

Valmiki gives a wonderful description of the city of Ayodhya. Noteworthy are the wide streets, an abundance of sweet water, groves of mango trees, flowered parks, etc. One could hear musical instruments such as big drums, mridangams, Veenas (yaazhs?), and drums (Maddalam) being played. Very often there is a mention of music. Houses …

The fourth Sarga tells us how Valmiki's work came to be known to others. We learn that Valmiki completed Ramayana. He composed 24000 verses (shlokas or couplets) distributed in six parts or Kandas and several hundred Sargas. He then continued to compose Uttara Ramayana in which he described the future course of life of Rama. Hav…

The third Sarga describes how Valmiki proceeded to compose Ramayana. Valmiki by the power of his meditation and the blessings of Lord Brahma could see clearly all the happenings in Rama's life. All the events that had happened and which Narada had described to him went before his eyes. He started composing the great poetic wor…

The second Sarga describes Lord Brahma's visit to Valmiki's Ashram. After Narada left Valmiki accompanied by his disciple the Great Bharadwaja set out to wander in the forest. He reached the banks of the river Tahamasa which was close to The Ganges. Then Valmiki happened to witness a very moving and sad scene. He saw a Kraun…

The first four Sargas (kind of chapter) of Balakanda deal with the genesis of this great epic Ramayana and how it came to be composed. I use the word compose because it is believed that it was not written down by Valmiki but taught by him to Lava and Kusha (Rama and Sita's twin sons) who had learned it orally and recited it. I…