People are not unfamiliar with the word epic.
There are many epic poems in the history of world literature. Famous ones include the ancient Greek Homeric epics "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad".
The most famous epics in India are "Ramayana" and "Mokobharata".
These epics all have the same characteristic, that is, they were sung by bards and passed down orally. It can be regarded as the earliest poetry. In other words, these poems change and develop according to the times and the response of the audience. When there are written records, it becomes a document.
Therefore, the original oral sung epic and the later written version may have been very different.
"Ramayana" and "Mokobharata" are also sung and have many versions. The text versions seen now are simplified.
In India, Ramayana is regarded as the earliest poem. Because "Mokobharata" has a similar plot to "Ramayana", and the name and author of "Ramayana" also appear, it can be considered that "Mokobharata" appeared before "Ramayana" 》Slightly late.
"Ramayana" has a profound influence on Indian literature and has spread widely around the world.
It can be said that the prophecy in the poem has been fulfilled today.
Just as people debate whether Homer was a person or a group of poets, the author of "Ramayana" is said to be an anthill (die two tones). But there is no clear archaeological evidence that this person is the author, and of course, there is no clear proof that this person is not.
There are many interesting legends about Anthill. Looking at the Chinese characters, the word "ant" means "ant", and "夤" means a small mound. Legend has it that he was born into a Brahmin family, was abandoned by his parents when he was young, and was adopted by wild people in the mountains. When he grew up, he made a living by stealing, killing and robbing. One day, he robbed an immortal (so brave) and asked the immortal to hand over his property. The Rishi asked him to repeat the word mura, which is the inversion of Rama. After explaining, the immortal disappeared.
The ants stood there in a daze, chanting Moro over and over again for so long that ants were all over his body. This is where his name comes from. At this time, the immortal appeared again and rescued him from the ant pile.
One day he saw a hunter shoot a sparrow and blurted out a poem. Then Brahma descended from the sky and asked him to chant "Ramayana".
The current mainstream theory is more inclined to believe that, like Homer, antqian is the name of a group of troubadours, and may be the name of one of the main contributors. The Ramayana evolved and became longer as it spread. The Ramayana that Xuanzang saw in India was only half its current length. The current refined version is one-sixth shorter than the old version.
"Ramayana" is divided into seven chapters: "Childhood", "Ayotha", "Forest", "Monkey Country", "Wonderful", "Battle" and "Last Chapter".
"Ramayana" means "The Adventures of Rama". As the name suggests, the main content of the entire poem is the story of Rama. The king of Ayotha, the Ten Chariot Kings, held a sacrifice to pray for a son. In order to share the sacrifices, the gods asked the great god Vishnu to be born as the son of the Ten Chariot Kings. Vishnu incarnated as Rama, the eldest son of the four sons of the Ten Chariot Kings. Rama won the contest and married Sita, the princess of Mithila.
The King of Ten Chariots grew old and decided to make Rama the prince. The little queen wanted to make her son the prince and asked Rama to be exiled to the mountains and forests. Since the little queen had saved the King of Ten Chess in danger, the King of Ten Chess had a promise and agreed to her request. In order to prevent his father from breaking his promise, Rama asked for exile, and Sita also decided to go into exile with Rama.
The little queen’s biological son Lakshmana was a good brother and also requested to be exiled with his brother. The three of them fought against various monsters in the forest. Sita was captured by the devil. Rama and Lakshmana formed an alliance with the monkey king. After a series of battles, they finally defeated the devil and rescued Sita.
Originally, the story ended here, but the last chapter, "Part II", "continued the story" with a remaining incident: Sita, who was rescued from the devil, was suspected of being chaste by Rama, and how did she prove her innocence? story.
Although the content of this epic is mediocre when viewed now, it has many interesting aspects compared with the plots of currently popular TV series.
"Ramayana" has many "vulgar" jokes that people are familiar with. Of course, according to the age of birth, these vulgar jokes should be at the ancestral level, such as the devil and Rama's brother. The love for Sita, the plot of brothers and enemies competing for the heroine; the plot of the evil queen, Rama's exile in the forest was caused by the little queen.
But there’s something interesting about it. For example, the male protagonist did not frame the male protagonist. The little queen's son Bharata was a good brother. He did not accept his mother's arrangement to inherit the throne. Instead, he chased Rama and persuaded Rama to go back and inherit the throne. Rama refused, and finally gave up. Bharata has a pair of his own shoes as a symbol of himself. Bharata went back and offered the shoes until Rama returned. This is such a refreshing brotherly relationship.
Compared with Rama, Lakshmana is more touching. Due to the "dog's tail" in the seventh chapter, Rama's character has experienced a transformation from a considerate, good brother and good husband to a tyrant who does not believe in his wife's chastity and is indifferent to his younger brother.
And because the author is too partial to Rama, he often uses too much force in character creation, giving people the impression of a hypocrite. This is very similar to the image of Song Jiang in "Water Margin".
In the poem, Rama himself also believed in fatalism. In contrast, the image of Lakshmana is more moving. He sincerely trusted Rama and would risk his life for Rama. He was brave and loyal. , never compromise on fate.
This kind of character image is similar to the image of Yu Gong in the low-productivity environment at that time, which is very encouraging.
The way "Ramayana" tells stories is also very "advanced". It tells stories in a series of insertions, just like a big tree with branches growing on it. The big story is surrounded by small ones. story. For example, after Rama and Lakshmana ran away, everything they saw along the way had a story; Chapter 36 inserted the birth of the God of War, and Chapter 37 began to talk about Rama’s ancestors. Like layers of dreams.
A work is subject to its author and era, and must have its own flaws. "Ramayana" is no exception. In addition to the inconsistencies in the characters and lengthy descriptions, the content about "chastity" is the only dross of that era.
From the first to the sixth chapter, there are always descriptions of chastity. The content of Sita retaining her virginity in the palace after being captured was finally proved by the god of fire. Sita threw herself into the fire and was killed by the fire. God has given me proof of my innocence. This is very similar to the requirements in ancient China. Thinking of some of the worrying situations in India now, the emphasis on "chastity" in Ramayana is somewhat ironic.
There is a character Hanuman in "Ramayana", who is considered by some to be the prototype of Sun Wukong.
Hanuman is the monkey that can jump the farthest in the Monkey Kingdom. He single-handedly crossed the sea and rescued Sita who was captured by the devil. Although there was no Chinese translation of Ramayana in ancient China, the story of Rama was often mentioned in Buddhist scriptures. The more accepted theory is that Sun Wukong borrowed the legend about monkeys from Indian culture.
Of course, this is another thing worth considering.