The Ramayana is one of the two great Indian epics,the other being the Mahabharata. The Ramayana tells about life in India around 1000 BCE and offers models in dharma. The hero, Rama, lied his whole life b! the rules of dharma" in fact, that was wh! Indian consider him heroic. #hen Rama was a !oung bo!, he was the perfect son. $ater he was an ideal husband to his faithful wife, %ita, and a responsible ruler of &!doh!a. 'Be as Rama,' !oung Indians hae been taught for (,000 !ears" 'Be as %ita.'The original Ramayana was a (),000 couplet*long epic poem attributed to the %ans+rit poet ,almi+i. -ral ersions of Rama.s stor! circulated for centuries, and the epic was probabl! first written down sometime around the start of the Common Era. It has since been told, retold, translated and transcreated throughout %outh and %outheast &sia, and the Ramayana continues tobe performed in dance, drama, puppet shows, songs and moies all across &sia./rom childhood most Indians learn the characters and incidents of these epics and the! furnish the ideals and wisdom of common life. The epics help to bind together the man! peoples of India, transcending caste, distance and language. Two all*Indian holida!s celebrate eents in the Rama!ana. 0ussehra, a fourteen*da! festial in -ctober, commemorates the siege of $an+a and Rama.s ictor! oer Raana, the demon +ing of $an+a. 0iali, the -ctober*1oember festial of$ights, celebrates Rama and %ita.s return home to their +ingdom of &!odh!a2rince Rama was the eldest of four sons and was to become +ing when his father retired from ruling. 3is stepmother, howeer, wanted to see her son Bharata, Rama.s !ounger brother, become+ing. Remembering that the +ing had once promised to grant her an! two wishes she desired, shedemanded that Rama be banished and Bharata be crowned. The +ing had to +eep his word to his wife and ordered Rama.s banishment. Rama accepted the decree un4uestioningl!. 'I gladl! obe! father.s command,' he said to his stepmother. '#h!, I would go een if !ou ordered it.'#hen %ita, Rama.s wife, heard Rama was to be banished, she begged to accompan! him to his forest retreat. '&s shadow to substance, so wife to husband,' she reminded Rama. 'Is not the wife.s dharma to be at her husband.s side5 $et me wal+ ahead of !ou so that I ma! smooth the path for !our feet,' she pleaded. Rama agreed, and Rama, %ita and his brother $a+shmana all went to the forest.#hen Bharata learned what his mother had done, he sought Rama in the forest. 'The eldest must rule,' he reminded Rama. '2lease come bac+ and claim !our rightful place as +ing.' Rama refused to go against his father.s command, so Bharata too+ his brother.s sandals and said, 'I shall place these sandals on the throne as s!mbols of !our authorit!. I shall rule onl! as regent in !our place, and each da! I shall put m! offerings at the feet of m! $ord. #hen the fourteen !earsof banishment are oer, I shall 6o!ousl! return the +ingdom to !ou.' Rama was er! impressed with Bharata.s selflessness. &s Bharata left, Rama said to him, 'I should hae +nown that !ou would renounce gladl! what most men wor+ lifetimes to learn to gie up.' $ater in the stor!, Raana, the eil 7ing of $an+a, 8what is probabl! present*da! %ri $an+a9abducted %ita. Rama mustered the aid of a mone! arm!, built a causewa! across to $an+a,released %ita and brought her safel! bac+ to &!doh!a. In order to set a good e:ample, howeer,Rama demanded that %ita proe her purit! before he could ta+e her bac+ as his wife. Rama, %itaand Bharata are all e:amples of persons following their dharma. This lesson focuses on how the Rama!ana teaches Indians to perform their dharma. Encouragestudents to pic+ out e:amples of characters in the epic who were faithful to their dharma andthose who iolated their dharma. Mahatma ;andhi dreamed that one da! modern India wouldbecome a Ram*ra6!a.Main Characters of the Rama!anaDasaratha -- 7ing of &!odh!a 8capital of 7osala9, whose eldest son was Rama. 0asaratha hadthree wies and four sons ** Rama, Bharata, and the twins $a+shmana and %atrughna.Rama -- 0asaratha.s first*born son, and the upholder of 0harma 8correct conduct and dut!9.Rama, along with his wife %ita, hae sered as role models for thousands of generations in Indiaand elsewhere. Rama is regarded b! man! 3indus as an incarnation of the god ,ishnu.Sita -- Rama.s wife, the adopted daughter of 7ing (, EliEabethFs fathersold his rural estate at a public auction. 3e moed his famil! to a coastal town and rented cottages for the ne:t three !ears, before settling permanentl! in $ondon. #hile liing on the sea coast, EliEabeth published her translation of Prometheus Bound 81C>>9, b! the ;ree+ dramatist &esch!lus.;aining attention for her wor+ in the 1C>0s, EliEabeth continued to lie in her fatherFs $ondon house under his t!rannical rule. 3e began sending EliEabethFs !ounger siblings to C9, e:pressing Christian sentiments in the form of classical ;ree+ traged!. 0ue to her wea+ening disposition, she was forced to spend a !ear at the sea of Tor4ua! accompanied b! her brother Edward, whom she referred to as JBro.K 3e drowned later that !ear while sailing at Tor4ua!, and Browning returned home emotionall! bro+en, becoming an inalid and a recluse. %he spent the ne:t fie !ears in her bedroom at her fatherFs home. %he continued writing, howeer, and in 1C)) produced a collection entitled simpl! Poems. This olume gained the attention of poet Robert Browning, whose wor+ EliEabeth had praised in one of her poems, and he wrote her a letter.EliEabeth and Robert, who was si: !ears her 6unior, e:changed ?B) letters oer the ne:t twent! months. ImmortaliEed in 1D>0 in the pla! The Barretts of Wimpole Street, b! Rudolf Besier 81CBC*1D)(9, their romance was bitterl! opposed b! her father, who did not want an! of his children to marr!. In 1C)@, the couple eloped and settled in /lorence, Ital!, where EliEabethFs health improed and she bore a son, Robert #ideman Browning. 3er father neer spo+e to her again. EliEabethFs Sonnets from the Portuguese, dedicated to her husband and written in secret before her marriage, was published in 1C?0. Critics generall! consider the SonnetsLone of the most widel! +nown collections of loe l!rics in EnglishLto be her best wor+. &dmirers hae compared her imager! to %ha+espeare and her use of the Italian form to 2etrarch.2olitical and social themes embod! EliEabethFs later wor+. %he e:pressed her intense s!mpath! for the struggle for the unification of Ital! in Casa Guidi Windos 81C)C*1C?19 and Poems Before Congress 81C@09. In 1C?B Browning published her erse noel Aurora Leigh, which portra!s male domination of a woman. In her poetr! she also addressed the oppression of the Italians b! the &ustrians, the child labor mines and mills of England, and slaer!, among other social in6ustices. &lthough this decreased her popularit!, EliEabeth was heard and recogniEed around Europe.EliEabeth Barrett Browning died in /lorence on