EDUCATION IN HUMAN VALUES

GROUP 2

LESSON 2TOPICThe Characters of Ramayana

VALUELove

SUBVALUES Respect our Parents & Ancestors

OBJECTIVEStudents should able to create their own family tree

TEACHING AIDSPaper, Worksheets, Manilla card (family tree)

TEACHING TECHNIQUES

STORY TELLINGThe teacher narrate the born of 4 brothers in the Kingdom of Ayodhya. Refer to the appendix.

GROUP ACTIVITYCut & Paste as the teacher narrate the story, the students need to cut the pictures of the characters in the Ramayana and paste it into the boxes accordingly. Refer to the worksheet.

SILENT SITTING

CHARACTERS OF THE RAMAYANA

Teacher Reference:

Major Characters of the Ramayana

Dasaratha --King of Ayodhya (capital of Kosala), whose eldest son was Rama. Dasaratha had three wives and four sons -- Rama, Bharata, and the twins Lakshmana and Satrughna.

Rama --Dasaratha's first-born son, and the upholder of Dharma (correct conduct and duty). Rama, along with his wife Sita, have served as role models for thousands of generations in India and elsewhere. Rama is regarded by many Hindus as an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and by Southeast Asian Buddhists as an incarnation of the Buddha.

Sita --Rama's wife, the adopted daughter of King Janak. Sita was found in the furrows of a sacred field, and was regarded by the people of Janak's kingdom as a blessed child.

Bharata --Rama's brother by Queen Kaikeyi. When Bharata learned of his mother's scheme to banish Rama and place him on the throne, he put Rama's sandals on the throne and ruled Ayodhya in his name.

Hanuman --A leader of the monkey tribe allied with Rama against Ravana. Hanuman has many magical powers because his father was the god of the wind. Hanuman's devotion to Rama, and his supernatural feats in the battle to recapture Sita, has made him one of the most popular characters in the Ramayana.

Ravana --The 10-headed king of Lanka who abducted Sita.

Kaushlaya --Dasaratha's first wife, and the mother of Rama.

Lakshmana --Rama's younger brother by Dasaratha's third wife, Sumitra. When Rama and Sita were exiled to the forest, Lakshmana followed in order to serve.

Minor Characters of the Ramayana

Vasishtha --Brahman Sage and spiritual advisor to the King of Ayodhya. Offers the King important advice on all aspects of rule and major decisions, including the decision to let Rama go off and kill demons, and the decision to make him King.

Vishwamitra --An incredibly holy and powerful asetic who enlists Rama's aid to kill a demon who is defiling his sacrifices. He then takes Rama and Lakshmana on various demon-killing adventures, training them and giving them celestial weapons. Finally, he escorts Rama to King Janak's court, where Rama lifts the magic bow and thus win's Sita's hand in marriage.

Kaikeyi and Manthara --Kaikeyi is King Dasaratha's second wife, the mother of Bharata. Manthara is her evil, conniving attendant. When Manthara learns that the throne is to be given to Rama, she plants the seeds of jealousy in Kaikeyi's mind and convinces her to use the two boons granted her by the King to force him to instead place Bharata on the throne and exile Rama to the forest for 14 years.

Jatayu --A friend and former companion of King Dasaratha who has been turned into a vulture and lives in the woods. He witnesses Ravana abducting Sita and causes his chariot to crash in his attempt to rescue her. Ravana mortally wounds him, but before he dies he manages to inform Rama and Lakshmana of what has happened.

Sugreeva --The King of the monkeys, he is dethroned by his evil brother Bali due to a misunderstanding when both fight a water buffalo together and Sugreeva accidentally leaves Bali trapped in a cave, thinking he is dead. Bali then defeats Sugreeva and bansishes him to the forest. Rama and Lakshmana form an alliance with Sugreeva and help him regain his throne and defeat Bali. In return, Sugreeva pledges his monkey army (led by Hanuman) to Rama's aid in rescuing Sita from her imprisonment by Ravana on the island of Lanka. The story of Sugreeva and Bali is generally given more weight in Southeast Asian versions of the Ramayana than it is in the Valmiki version.

Kumbhakarna --The giant, obese, powerful ogre brother of Ravana. He is awaken and enlisted into the battle against Rama and the monkey army as a last resort by Ravana.

Indrajit --The devious and powerful son of Ravana, who causes major problems for Rama and Lakshmana in their battle to take Lanka and rescue Sita.

The Epic Tale of Ramaby Renu VermaThousands of years ago a very righteous and truthful king, Dasaratha, was ruling an Indian Kingdom Ayodhya. He had three wives; Kaushalaya, Sumitra and Kakai. Kakai was very brave; once when she had accompanied Dasaratha in a war, she had saved his chariot in the war field. Overwhelmed by her courage Dasaratha promised her to give her two boons as and when she asked for them. Dasaratha had four sons. The eldest was Rama the son of Kaushalaya. The next was Bharat was from Kakai. Sumitra had two sons Laxman and Shatrughan. Rama loved all his mothers and brothers equally.

All the four brothers went to Guru Vashitas Ashram. They became well versed in all the scriptures and learnt the art of war craft. After they came back to Ayodhya, Guru Vishwamitra took Rama and Laxman to his Ashram. He was being disturbed by demons. Rama killed the demons and protected Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra gave many special weapons to Rama and Laxman.

Rama and Laxman went to Janakpur along with Vishwamitra. The king Janak had organized a competition. He had a mighty Bow. He had announced that whoever would break the bow would marry Sita, the princess of Janakpur. Rama broke the bow and married Sita. Sitas sisters were married to Bharat, Laxman and Satrughan. They all came back to Ayodhya.

Dasaratha decided to make Rama the heir prince. Kakai was misled by her maid servant Manthra who tempted her to ask Dasaratha to make Bharat the king of Ayodhya and not Rama. Kakai reminded Dasaratha about his promise of two boons. She asked that Bharat should be made the heir prince and Rama should go to jungle for fourteen years. Dasaratha was in a dilemma. He did not want to send Rama to the jungle. When Rama heard this, he volunteered to go to the jungle. He did not want that his fathers promise to Kakai should be proved to be false. Sita and Laxman also volunteered to go to jungle with Rama, even though they were not supposed to go. Dasaratha was shocked to death.

All this while, Bharat and Satrughan were out of Ayodhya. They were called back but Bharat refused to become the king . He went to the jungle, to persuade Rama to return back to Ayodhya and become the king. Rama forced Bharat to rule Ayodhya and fulfill the promise of his father, Dasaratha. Bharat brought Rama a wooden sandle and enthroned it at Ayodhya , Bharat preferred to live like a sage at the outskirts of Ayodhya. In fact Satrughan executed the administration following the instruction of Bharat. Such righteous detachment to power is quite a contrast to the present day power politics.

During first thirteen years in jungle Rama got blessings of many sages. He killed many demons. The demon king Ravana of Lanka wanted to take revenge. Playing tricks one day when both Rama and Laxman were away in jungle, he disguised as a sage and forcefully carried away Sita to Lanka. After coming back Rama and Laxman were shocked. However, Rama showed exemplary courage, bravery and excellent team management. He got the help ofa monkey king Sugreev, the monkey warrior Hanuman and bear king Jamwant. With the help of their army Rama made a bridge over the sea. Ramas army crossed the sea and attacked Ravans Lanka . Ravan was killed along with his whole army. However , Ravans younger brother Vibhishan was righteous . He was made the king of Lanka. Sita was brought back to Rama.

By this time, Rama had already spent fourteen years in jungle. They all came back to Ayodhya and Rama was formally made the king of Ayodhya.

Rama was an idyllic king, he was very benevolent and was loved and respected by his subjects. He was such an ideal ruler that RAMRAJYA was Mahatma Gandhis vision for India.

Bharata

Sita

Rama

Kaushlaya

Dasaratha

King of Ayodhya

Guru of 4 Brothers

The 10-headed king of Lanka

God of the wind

Satrughna

Lakshmana

Kaikeyi

Dasaratha's

first wife

Dasaratha's

first-son

Adopted daughter

of King Janak

Dasaratha's

second-son

Dasaratha's

second wife

Dasaratha's

third wife

Dasaratha's

Twins Son

Dasaratha's

second-son

Dasaratha's

Twins Son

Vasishtha

Sumitra

Hanuman

Ravana