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In the Ramayana, the vanara Hanuman takes flight like a bird, and enters supra-mundane realms.
Sometimes it’s fun to take a retrospective—a look back at what was happening in the world a few years ago. The following article originally appeared in the Hindustan Times, New Delhi, on November 9th, 2005.

What do C.S. Lewis, Quentin Tarantino and J.K. Rowling have in common? Maybe nothing, but here’s what I think: One, all will have hit the big screen by December 2005; two, all are considered innova

The Ramayana is one of the two main itihasa - historical epics – of India, along with the Mahabharata. It describes the activities of Krsna’s incarnation Lord Rama, including the kidnapping of His consort Sita by Ravana, King of Lanka, and the subsequent military campaign to release her. Since a substantial amount of the history takes place in Lanka the actual real identity of Lanka is important to Vaisnavas and devotees of Lord Rama in general. For hundreds, perhaps thousands of years the isla

From Back to Godhead

By Chaitanya Charana Dasa

The final stage of the relationship between Vali and Sugriva, important characters in the Ramayana, provide important ethical lessons.

A poignant subplot in the Ramayana is the fratricidal confrontation between the two monkey brothers Vali and Sugriva. In the Mahabharata, fraternal animosity between the virtuous Pandavas and the evil Kauravas continues till the death of the Kauravas. In contrast, the Ramayana features a deathbed reconciliation betw

Lessons on overcoming difficulties

Is India just a land of spices and snakes? Ones who seek true treasure amid the adversities of this subcontinent do find their jewels of spirituality hanging at every chowk. Many eyes are still surprised at the Indian economy sustaining well despite uncertain global situations.

The westerners are sensing the awakening to the Vedic stories of this nation, but Indians are unable to understand their roots. The greatest tragedy is that every other citizen of this

The Ramayana depicts an incident when the monkeys serving Rama were brought brutally face to face with their limitations. While they were searching for Sita, they survived many dangers until they finally came to know her whereabouts: she was held in captivity by the demon king Ravana in his island fortress of Lanka. Delighted, they roared and ran toward the ocean. But when they came to the coast and saw the vast ocean extending unendingly into the horizon, their voices fell, as did their spirit

According to Madhvacarya’s Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya 2.3-4 the original Mula Ramayana was a massive work consisting of 100 crore slokas (1 billion) while the currently available Valmiki Ramayana consists of only 24,000 slokas. The greatest repository of Rāma līlā in the Purāṇas is the Padma Purana wherein much of the fifth canto is devoted to Lord Rama. It even includes a narration of the Ramayana that took place in a earlier Kalpa and is different (Kalpa Bheda) in some respects to the more

By Madhava Smullen

Destroyer of Sorrow, the epic conclusion to Vrinda Sheth’s Sita’s Fire trilogy based on the Ramayana, is set to be released by Mandala Publishing on April 20th. Hardbound and 336 pages long, the book features over ninety illustrations by Vrinda’s mother Anna Johansson (Annapurna Dasi) and is the culmination of a decade of work on the trilogy by the mother and daughter team. (Pre-order here: https://sitasfire.com/)

In this final volume, Princess Sita defies all odds to rise ab

This short video is a talk given by Sri Nandanandana dasa (Stephen Knapp) called “The Power of the Ramayana,” given at the 2nd World Ramayana Conference held in Jabalpur, India, in January 26-29, 2020. He was a special invited guest for the conference, and his talk explains from the Valmiki Ramayana the different ways it helps uplift humanity from the ordinary miseries of life, up to and including liberation or freedom from material existence altogether. At 17:53 in the video, it shows Dr. Akhil

The Ramayana culminates in a massive war between the vicious Ravana and the virtuous Rama, the Supreme descended in human form. The confrontation between them is triggered by Ravana’s abduction of Rama’s wife, Sita. But its seeds were sowed much earlier, by the demon’s atrocities that had extended for a long time.

Ravana is traditionally seen as the embodiment o

Andy Fraenkel was born in Germany in 1947 and came to America with his parents at the age of five. He is a multicultural storyteller, author, and workshop leader. He is the author of Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest and Hanuman’s Quest.

Andy is a long-time resident of New Vrindaban Community in West Virginia. He was initiated by Swami Prabhupada in 1973 and given the name Sankirtana Das. He is a presenter of the Krishna-Bhakti tradition and offers Katha – a traditional Vedic format of dramatic st