Raghava Rama

Among all the Ramas of Sanskrit literature, Raghava Rama was the most famous. The epic Ramayana is all about this Rama. The word "Ramayana" means "Rama's travels" in Sanskrit. He was a Kshatriya king, in the Ikshwaku clan, in the lineage of a famous king Raghu, and hence called by the name Raghava Rama.

The Lineage

The following are the extracts from Mahabharata mentioning about Raghava Rama of Ramayana, showing his lineage.

"(Mahabharata, Book 3, Chapter 272) There was a great king named Aja sprung from me race of Ikshwaku, in the line of Raghu. He had a son named Dasaratha who was devoted to the study of the Vedas and was ever pure. And Dasaratha had four sons conversant with morality and profit known by the names, respectively, of Rama, Lakshmana, Satrughna, and the mighty Bharata."

"(Mahabharata, Book 3, Chapter 282) That descendant of Raghu, O king, who ruleth at Kosala and whose renown hath spread over the whole world"

Empire of Rama

Raghava Rama or Ramachandra was the king of Kosala Kingdom, with the capital Ayodhya. He was one among the 16 great kings who ruled Ancient India, as per the various sources of Sanskrit literature. Rama's influence gone as far as Kishkindha, a kingdom of forest dwellers ("Vanaras") in South Central part of Indina Peninsula, and Lanka, a mythological city, believed by some to be somewhere in modern Sri Lanka, although no archeological proofs have been found to support such a claim. In both these kingdoms Raghava Rama overthrown the existing rulers and established new rulers who were allied to him. In Kishkindha, king Rama overthrew the existing king Bali or Vali, and established his brother Sugriva. Similarly in the Rakshasa kingdom of Lanka, he overthrew the hostile king Ravana and established his brother Vibhishana in the throne. Thus Rama's imperial expansions backed by diplomacy went to the extreme south of Indian sub-continent.

"(Mahabharata, Book 3, Chapter 147) And after Rama's wife was carried away, that descendant of Raghu (Rama), while searching with his brother for his queen, met, on the summit of that mountain, with Sugriva, chief of the foresters. Then a friendship was contracted between him and the high-souled Raghava."

"(Mahabharata, Book 3, Chapter 275) For the protection of the ascetics the virtuous scion of Raghu’s race slew fourteen thousand Rakshasas on earth, and having slain those mighty Rakshasas, Khara and Dushana, the wise descendant of Raghu once more made that sacred forest free from danger."

"(Mahabharata, Book 3, Chapter 282) The descendant of Raghu then caused the ramparts of Lanka to be broken down by a united attack of all those forest-dwellers endued with the speed of the wind. Then Lakshmana, with Vibhishana and the king of the bears marching in the van, blew up the southern gate of the city that was almost impregnable. Rama then attacked Lanka with a hundred thousand crores of monkeys."

Through his brothers viz, Bharata and Lakshmana, Rama established his rule in Gandhara to the west and Vanga to the east, by forming colonies there. Rama's youngest brother Satrughna had defeated the Madhus, a clan of Asuras, on the banks of Yamuna river. He later established the city of Mathura there, which became the capital of Surasena Kingdom.

Decline of Rama's Empire

Rama's forefathers already colonized the East Central India, forming the kingdom of Dakshina Kosala or Southern Kosala. Careful examination of the epic Ramayana, which describes a political scenario in the later periods, reveals the existence of at least two Kosala kingdoms in the south. One was the southern Kosala proper (Chattisgad state of India) and the other one east of it called the Eastern Kosala (Western Orissa ?), both defeated by the Pandava hero Sahadeva in his military campaign.

Ramayana itself mentions that Rama had divided his kingdom of Kosala into two parts one ruled by his son Lava with Sravasti as its capital and the other by his son Kusha with Kusavati as its capital.

By examining Ramayana we finds that these kingdom had further split into four:
#Southern Kosala
#Kosala proper with Ayodhya as its capital
#Northern Kosala and
#Eastern Kosala, all defeated by the Pandava Bhima during his military campaign.

Thus by examining Ramayana (which gives a poilitical picture in Treta Yuga) and Mahabharata (which gives a political picture in the later period ie Dwapara Yuga), we finds that the Kosala kingdom of Ikshwaku's spreading from Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, to the south up to Chattisgad, before Rama's period. During the period of Rama, it almost got the status of an empire, from Gandhara (West) to Vanga (East) and Lanka (South) to Sravasti (North). During the period after the Ramayana, i.e. in the Dwapara Yuga , we find that the empire disintegrated to many kingdoms, with at least six kingdoms with the name of Kosala.

See also

*Rama
*Historic Figures of Ancient India

References

*Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa
*Ramayana of Valmiki