Invitation to World Religions

122  CHAPTER 4  Hinduism

happy for a time, but later, because of rumors circulating about Sita’s chastity, Rama is compelled to abandon Sita in the forest. He doesn’t know she is pregnant with their two sons, who are raised by the hermit Valmiki. Valmiki, who, while meditating, has seen all that has come to pass, com- poses the Ramayana and teaches it to the two boys, who eventually sing it before their father. Rama dies shortly thereafter, sadly pining for Sita. For many Hindus, the characters in the Ramayana serve as exemplary social role models. Sita is the faithful wife, Rama is the ideal man and perfect king, Lakshmana is the loyal brother, and Hanuman is the selfless devotee. The text grapples with issues involving dharma, both in the public, political realm and in the private, familial realm. The characters of the Ramayana , however, are also understood to be divine. Thus, the Ramayana is as much a text that imparts religious and ethical knowledge as a text that reinforces Hindu beliefs about the accessibility and immanence of God. Mahabharata  The other great Hindu epic, the Mahab- harata , is composed of over 100,000 verses and is the

world’s longest epic poem. Like the Ramayana , this work is deeply concerned with issues of dharma. The epic also introduces Krishna, the beloved avatar of Vishnu. The main storyline of the Mahabharata concerns a dynastic conflict between two groups of royal cousins. These are the Pandavas (the five sons of King Pandu), the heroes of the epic who are all descendants of the gods, and their antagonists, the Kauravas (the hundred sons of the blind king, Dhritarashtra). Their dispute ulti- mately results in a terrible war that marks the end of an epoch for humanity. On the eve of the battle, the great Pandava warrior Arjuna experiences crippling doubt. When Arjuna asks his charioteer, Krishna (an avatar of Vishnu), to pull the chariot into the middle of the battlefield, he sees his friends and relatives on both sides clamoring for war. Not wanting to commit the sin of killing his kinsmen and overcome with sorrow, he refuses to fight. It is at this key point in the story that the profound philosophical discourse known as the Bhagavad Gita begins. Many Hindus regard this conversation between Krishna and Arjuna as the most signifi- cant philosophical work in Hinduism. The Bhagavad Gita (The Song of the Lord)  The Bhagavad Gita , the conversa- tion between Krishna and Arjuna, was probably composed around the first century ce. The text, which seeks to reconcile the tension between renunciation and worldly Ravana. India, Mughal period, c. 1595–1605. PROPERTY OF OXFORD Rama and Lakshmana, with their army of monkeys and bears, are camped outside the palace of the demon-king Ravana on the isle of Lanka, while the demons try to rouse Kumbhakarna, the giant brother of

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