After visiting the Shree Lakshminarayan temple, Bangulzai and I
got into a short discussion about Rama and Sita, whose picture they
have in the worship area. Here's some stuff on Rama from
Wikipedia:
The name Ramayana is a tatpurusha compound of Rāma and ayana
"going, advancing", translating to "Rama's Journey". The Ramayana
consists of 24,000 verses in seven books, and 500 cantos (kāṇḍas),
and tells the story of Rama (an incarnation of the Hindu
preserver-god Vishnu), whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon
(Rakshasa) king of Lanka, Ravana. Thematically, the epic
explores themes of human existence and the concept of dharma.
In the Uttara Kanda, Rama banishes his wife Sita, even as she is
pregnant, asking Lakshmana to deliver her safely to Rishi Valmiki's
ashram. He does so when it is reported to him that some subjects of
his in Ayodhya believed that Sita was unchaste due to her long
captivity in Ravana's city. As a king is expected to uphold moral
principles, and the keeping of an unchaste woman is considered a
violation of said principles, Rama reluctantly banished Sita in
order to uphold his duty as a king.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu#Avatars
Rama and Sita were also the subject of a Philippine musical.
Take note, this was a 1988 production, pretty impressive for its
time. Hopefully someone can comment on its faithfulness to the
Hindu original. If anyone's curious I can help figure out what's
going on. I wish I could translate it fully but I'm not very good
at Filipino :)
If you like the videos below, there are many other videos of the
same production in the Youtube user's channel.
Don't Escape, preceded
by I Am Vishnu, I Am Lakshmi
Talking about Rama's fate as a great ruler, and his destiny with
Sita.
Come Now to
Mithila
Yes, that's an elephant =P From Wikipedia, "Vishnu's eternal
consort Lakshmi took birth as Sita and was found by king Janaka of
Mithila while he was ploughing a field." I guess that means Rama
and Sita really are a couple who's meant for each other.
The Same Heartbeat
(that is, two hearts beating as one)/Song of Courtship
The two fall in love at this point.