Ramਰਾਮ

Ram is the hero at the heart of the Ramayana, one of the two great Sanskrit epics of India, and for millions of Hindus he is much more than a hero: he is God, the seventh descent of Vishnu to earth, and the pattern of how a human being should live. His name is on people's lips constantly in northern India, called out in greeting as Ram Ram, spoken in joy and in grief, and traditionally the name most invoked at the hour of death.

Who is Ram?

Ram is worshipped as Maryada Purushottam, the man of perfect measure, the embodiment of dharma, the moral order by which life should be lived. Tradition centres on Ramachandra, the prince of Ayodhya, though the name Ram also belongs to two other figures, Parashurama and Balarama. In art he is shown as a noble prince, dark in colour like Vishnu, wearing the tall kirita-makuta crown, holding his bow, with Sita beside him and his brother Lakshmana and the devotee Hanuman in attendance.

The story of the Ramayana

According to the Ramayana, Ram was the eldest son of King Dasharatha of Ayodhya. On the eve of his coronation, his stepmother Kaikeyi claimed an old promise from the king and demanded that her own son Bharata take the throne and Ram spend fourteen years in exile. Ram accepted without protest, and his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana went with him into the forest. In exile they faced demons and hardships, until Ravana, the ten-headed king of Lanka, abducted Sita and carried her across the sea. Searching for her, Ram allied with the monkey king Sugriva, and it was Sugriva's minister Hanuman who crossed the ocean, found Sita in Lanka and became Ram's greatest devotee. With a monkey army, Ram built a bridge of stones to Lanka, fought Ravana and killed him, and rescued Sita. The exile complete, Ram returned to Ayodhya to universal joy and was crowned king; his just reign, Ram Rajya, remains the byword for good government. Later tradition adds the sadder ending in which doubts raised about Sita led to her banishment.

Why Ram matters

Hindus read Ram's life as a lesson in dharma worked out through hard choices: a son's obedience, a brother's loyalty, a husband's duty, a king's justice. The epic exists in hundreds of versions. Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana is the oldest; Tulsidas retold it in the 16th century as the Ramcharitmanas, the beloved Hindi text that carries Ram's story into village squares, where Ramlila plays act it out every autumn. Versions of the story spread across Asia, from Thailand's Ramakien to Cambodia's Reamker.

Festivals and temples

Three of Hinduism's greatest festivals belong to Ram: Ram Navami, his birthday in spring; Dussehra, also called Vijayadashami, marking his victory over Ravana, when effigies of the demon king burn in public grounds; and Diwali, the festival of lights, celebrating his return to Ayodhya, when lamps were lit to guide him home. His birthplace at Ayodhya is now crowned by the great Ram Mandir, opened in 2024 after a decades-long movement, and the Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram, one of India's holiest Shiva shrines, is bound by tradition to Ram's journey south.

Ram in Punjab

The Ramayana's second most loved figure may be Ram's brother Bharata. When Ram left Ayodhya, Bharata, who was away and innocent of his mother's plot, pursued him into the forest and begged him on his knees to come back and take the throne. Ram refused: the promise had been given, and a promise is not broken even by its victim. So Bharata carried Ram's wooden sandals back to Ayodhya, set them on the throne, and ruled the kingdom for fourteen years as a regent from the village of Nandigrama, sleeping on the ground and living as an ascetic while the sandals reigned. The episode, the Bharata Milap, is performed in Ramlilas to this day, and audiences weep at it.

No Indian story has been retold more often. Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana runs to some 24,000 verses, but the version that shaped the devotion of the north is Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, written in the Awadhi language in the 16th century and read aloud in homes and temples ever since. Kamban retold it in Tamil in the 12th century, and there are Jain, Buddhist and folk Ramayanas besides. The story travelled with trade and faith across Asia: Thailand's national epic is the Ramakien, Cambodia's is the Reamker, and Ram's exile, Sita's abduction and the battle for Lanka are carved on temple walls from Ayutthaya to Bali.

No god is more woven into Punjabi speech than Ram: the greeting Ram Ram is heard across the region's Hindu homes, and his name anchors everyday oaths and blessings. Every autumn, towns across Punjab stage Ramlila and burn Ravana's effigies at Dussehra, and Diwali is the region's most loved festival. Since the Ayodhya temple opened, Punjabi devotees have travelled there in large numbers, and Ram Navami processions fill the streets of cities from Amritsar to Ludhiana.