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Do you know why Lord Rama is followed as a most eminent personality in South east Asia?
The reasons are many - He referred himself as a human avatar, he struggled like a normal man all through his life and his deeds, actions, existence can still be recorded through a lot of ways.
We know the place Lord Rama was born as Ayodhya in Utttar Pradesh, India.
We know Lanka as Sri Lanka where Ravana lived.
We also know his wife Sita's Janakpur and the place where Lord Rama learned lessons from Rishi Vishwamitra.
The most important and significant factor of Lord Rama's existence can be compared with the existence of all the places as it is as suggested in Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas.
We all know about the epic journey of Lord Rama from Ayodhya to Lanka. The story of Ramayana is all about this epic journey and the events took place in the journey.
Almost everyone in India or well versed with Hinduism knows the story of how the Lord Rama defeated the evil demon Ravana, the ruler of Lanka (present day Sri Lanka) at the end of his 14 year long journey from Ayodhya to Lanka while he was banished from his kingdom and forced to wander and live in jungles. But what not many people are aware of are all the places he visited during his journey.
Here is a brief look at 12 important and not so important landmarks that were part of Lord Rama’s journey from Ayodhya to Lanka.
The route followed by Rama included following places:
8. Lanka: Once Rama and Lakshmana crossed into Lanka with the monkey brigade, then a peace overture was initiated by Rama which failed. There upon war was declared. The actual duration of the war is not known but estimated to have lasted just 13 days from the start. . Ravana and his associates (except for Vibhishan) were killed. At the end of the war Rama offered the throne of Lanka to Vibhishana and returned to Ayodhya in the aerial vehicle (Pushpak Viman) of Ravana in time to take over the reign of the Kaushal kingdom at the end of his 14-year exile.
1. AYODHYA - Uttar Pradesh
Ayodhya: Rama's epic journey started from Ayodhya, the place where Lord Rama was born. Ayodhya is situated on the southern banks of the river Saryu. At present it is located in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Dashrath had three wives - Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. Sri Ram was born to Kaushalya and Dashrath. After 12 years of marriage of Rama and Sita, King Dashrath decided to make Lord Rama as the crown prince. On the even of the crowning ceremony, Manthra - a maidservant to Kaikeyi poisend her ears and reminded her of two boons from Dashrath. Manthara diverted the mind of Kaikeyi and here started the story of Ramayan and it was also the start of the Epic Journey of Rama from Ayodhya to Lanka. Kaikeyi asked Dashrath to exile Rama and Crown his son Bharat. As Dashrath has to fulfil two boons of Kaikeyi, he had no choice though he tried to negotiate with Kaikeyi a lot. With heavy heart, he asked Rama to leave to the wilderness on exile of 14 years. Out of respect and as referred as Maryada Purushottam - Lord Rama agreed on this and left Ayodhya. Sita and Laxman also asked to go with Sri Ram. After they left Ayodhya, they reached to the banks of Ganga. Nishadraj Guha was the ruler of the Nishad kingdom. He ferried the three to the southern bank of Ganga, at Rama's request, in his boat.
9. ASHOK VATIKA - Sri Lanka
Situated in Sri Lanka, this is the place where Sita stayed during her capture. It has a temple called Sita Amman Temple located in the village called SitaEliya, which is named after Sita herself.
10. USSANGODA - Sri Lanka
The black soil of this region has generated much debate. Here Hanuman had set Lanka on fire and some believe the soil is black due to the remains of the demons left behind, while pragmatics believe it was hit by a meteorite.
3. CHITRAKUTA - Madhya Pradesh
Here, Lakshmana constructed a hermitage on the banks of the river of. Bharata met Rama and urged him to return after knowing the real reason behind the exile. However, Lord Rama could not go back on his word and disrespect his father, and so he carried on. After failing to exhort Rama to return to Ayodhya he got Rama's footwear to be placed on the throne while he would run a caretaker government for the next 14 years.
2. PRAYAG - Uttar Pradesh
After crossing the river Ganga, Rama, Sita and Laxman reached (on their foot) to the holy confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati at Prayag's Triveni Sangam in present Allahabad. where they met the sage Bharadwaj who advised them to seek out Chitrakuta. They crossed the river Yamuna on a raft and walked for 2 days to reach Chitrakut.
Chitrakut, about 10 leagues (1 league= 3 miles or 5 Km) from Prayag, for a peaceful stay.
Prayag,is the first place that they stayed at after having left their kingdom behind.
4. DANDAKARANYA (Danda) - Chhattisgarh
This is a vast territory covering the region south of the Vindhya mountain range,Krishna River in the south, and the mouth of Godavari River in the east.
Here all three of them visited the sage Atri and sought his blessings. Anasuya, his wife gifted a collection of jewelry to Sita, which she later used to drop in Kishkindha, on the way to Lanka, while Ravana abducted and carried her off. The trio kept moving from place to place, spending a month, a season, or a year at each hermitage. A period of 10 years rolled by peacefully during such transit. After visiting the sages Sarabhanga and Suteekshna, they went to visit sage Agasthya who directed them to spend the rest of the exile in a place called Panchvati, two yojan As down south (1 yojanA = 9 miles) on the northern banks of the river Godavari.
6. KISHKINDHA - Karnataka
Situated in current day Karnataka,Kishkindha, a mountain range in the Tungabhadra river valley. The Vijayanagar Empire of the 14th-16th centuries covered this region. this is the place where Lord Rama and Lakshmana met Bali and Sugriv for the first time. Not only did Lord Ram help Sugriv win the kingdom of Kishkindha, but he was also promised help in return in his attempt to rescue Sita.
Ramsetu:The bridge to Lanka known as Ramsetu. This stretch of limestone shoals between Rameswaram and the Mannar island in Sri Lanka was called Adam's Bridge by the British.
11. TALAIMANNAR/WASGAMUWA - Sri Lanka
Now a beach in Sri Lanka, this was the battleground where Lord Rama fought, beheaded and defeated Ravana with the help of the Bramhastra.
Panchvati means five (pancha) banyan (vata) trees. This is the place where Lakshmana built a bamboo cottage in a tranquil area for Rama and Sita to reside. At this site Surpanaka (Ravana's sister) came to entice Rama, failing which she got disfigured by Lakshmana. Her brothers, Khar and Dhushan, who came to her defense along with a bunch of other demons were defeated and killed by Rama and Lakshmana. The aftermath of this brought Ravana into the scene with a wicked plan to abduct Sita. The plan was for Ravana's uncle Mareecha to assume the form of a golden deer to entice Sita, lure Rama in pursuit of it, and draw Lakshmana too away from the scene at which time Ravana would swoop in to carry Sita away.
Lepakshi (Andhra Pradesh) is a place were the words uttered by Lord Rama to Jatayu after his wings were cut off by Ravana here when he had tried to stop Ravana from carrying Sita off to Lanka.
Bali, the older brother of Sugreeva, ruled this region when Rama and Lakshmana arrived there. Sugreeva, shunned by Bali as a result of a misunderstanding, took refuge in the mountain called Rishyamuka parvat. This is said to be located near the Pampa Lake in the Tungabhadra river valley. It is here that Rama was served by the pious lady Sabari who attained salvation (Moksha) after waiting for 12 years for Rama's arrival and serving him delicious fruits when he came.
After Lord hanuman had managed to locate Sita, Lord Rama marked the place with his bow as the starting point of a bridge that they would build with the help of the army of apes using stones, tress and such things to cross over to Lanka.
12. DIVURUMPOLA/DUNUWILA
After Lord Rama victory, husband and wife were reunited here before starting their journey back to their home in Ayodhya. Here ended the epic journey of Sri Ram.
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