Lord Rama – A Warrior of Invincible Stature

Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, has always been portrayed in modern times as a calm, quiet and weak character, who was not able to protect his wife and made her go through a lot of sufferings. Many people now a days preach about how Rama was cruel in sending his pregnant wife to forest on the words of a random citizen of the kingdom and how respecting or worshipping Rama is an disrespect to all the women of the society. But why would shastras celebrate a man who was so cruel and stone hearted towards his wife to such an extent that they say “rAmo vigrahavAn dharma” (Rama is the epitome of righteousness) which clearly states that he can do nothing wrong? Let us see about this in details.

People reading the Valmiki Ramayana will never feel that Rama was a weak character. He is portrayed as a warrior of invincible stature. Imagine a man singlehandedly destroying an army of 14000 soldiers in an open war such was the capability and strength of Rama in battle. He never lost a direct war and hence he is called as the “abhiyAthAprahartha” (one who destroys the enemies by entering into their den). People now a days portray his weak character by speaking about his indirect attack on vaanara king, Bali to help his friend Sugriva. But many seem to forget about the boon of invincibility which Bali had that he will get half the strength of his enemy in an open war and also piercing Bali’s vajra deha was not an easy task even in an indirect attack which Rama did in one shot.

A similar instance can also be found in Mahabharata when Bheema kills Duryodhana by breaking his thighs after Duryodhana gained the boon of vajra deha from his mother, Gandhari. But the same people seem to agree that tactic saying Bheema had no other choice and restrain themselves from calling him weak as it will be a no brainer. So when Bheema’s tactic does not make him weak how will the same make Rama one?

The most popular accusation of modern social reformers on Rama is the agnipravesha of Sita. But once again a person reading Valmiki Ramayana will be surprised to find that Rama never asked Sita to do an agnipravesha in Lanka when he was a normal man proving the fact that he never doubted her but it was Sita who without anyone’s order did one in order to prove her chastity. It was only in Ayodhya that Rama asked Sita to do agnipravesha when she was about to sit on the throne as a queen for which she refused. Many people now a days admire the line, “With great power comes great responsibility”from the famous Hollywood film, Spiderman. This act of Rama is one such example where he says a leader must have his ethics unquestioned for which he asked Sita to do an agnipravesha so that her citizens will not question the chastity of their queen. Even when he came to know about the allegations of his citizens towards Sita, he once again asks Sita to do an agnipravesha in front of all the citizens so that their doubts are cleared but Sita unwilling to do it chose to live her rest of life in forest. Once again this proves that unlike other husbands he totally respected the choice of his wife’s decision and at the same time he was fulfilling his duties as a leader. Thus, the accusations of modern social activists on Rama are baseless and are a result of misunderstanding a warrior of invincible stature.

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