EDUCATION IN HUMAN VALUES

GROUP 2
LESSON 2
TOPIC
VALUE
SUBVALUES
OBJECTIVE
TEACHING AIDS

The Characters of Ramayana

Love
Respect our Parents & Ancestors
Students should able to create their own family tree
Paper, Worksheets, Manilla card (family tree)

TEACHING TECHNIQUES
STORY
TELLING

The teacher narrate the born of 4 brothers in the Kingdom of Ayodhya.

Refer to the appendix.

GROUP
ACTIVITY

Cut & Paste as the teacher narrate the story, the students need to cut the
pictures of the characters in the Ramayana and paste it into the boxes
accordingly. Refer to the worksheet.

SILENT
SITTING

CHARACTERS OF THE RAMAYANA

King of Ayodhya
Dasaratha's
first wife

Dasaratha's
third wife

Dasaratha's
second wife

Dasaratha's
second-son

Adopted daughter
of King Janak

Dasaratha's
first-son

Dasaratha's
second-son

Dasaratha's
Twins Son

Dasaratha's
Twins Son

God of the wind

Dasaratha

Guru of 4 Brothers

Kaushlaya

The 10-headed king of

Lanka

Rama

Sita

Bharata

Kaikeyi
Sumitra

Vasishtha

Teacher Reference:
Major Characters of the Ramayana

Lakshmana
Satrughna

Ravana

Hanuman

Dasaratha -- King of Ayodhya (capital of Kosala), whose

eldest son was Rama. Dasaratha had three wives and four
sons -- Rama, Bharata, and the twins Lakshmana and
Satrughna.
Rama -- Dasaratha's first-born son, and the upholder of
Dharma (correct conduct and duty). Rama, along with his
wife Sita, have served as role models for thousands of
generations in India and elsewhere. Rama is regarded by
many Hindus as an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and by
Southeast Asian Buddhists as an incarnation of the
Buddha.
Sita -- Rama's wife, the adopted daughter of King Janak.
Sita was found in the furrows of a sacred field, and was
regarded by the people of Janak's kingdom as a blessed
child.
Bharata -- Rama's brother by Queen Kaikeyi. When
Bharata learned of his mother's scheme to banish Rama
and place him on the throne, he put Rama's sandals on the
throne and ruled Ayodhya in his name.
Hanuman -- A leader of the monkey tribe allied with
Rama against Ravana. Hanuman has many magical
powers because his father was the god of the wind.
Hanuman's devotion to Rama, and his supernatural feats
in the battle to recapture Sita, has made him one of the
most popular characters in the Ramayana.
Ravana -- The 10-headed king of Lanka who abducted
Sita.

Kaushlaya -- Dasaratha's first wife, and the mother of

Rama.

Lakshmana -- Rama's younger brother by Dasaratha's

third wife, Sumitra. When Rama and Sita were exiled to
the forest, Lakshmana followed in order to serve.

Minor Characters of the Ramayana

Vasishtha -- Brahman Sage and spiritual advisor to the

King of Ayodhya. Offers the King important advice on all
aspects of rule and major decisions, including the decision
to let Rama go off and kill demons, and the decision to
make him King.
Vishwamitra -- An incredibly holy and powerful asetic
who enlists Rama's aid to kill a demon who is defiling his
sacrifices. He then takes Rama and Lakshmana on various
demon-killing adventures, training them and giving them
celestial weapons. Finally, he escorts Rama to King
Janak's court, where Rama lifts the magic bow and thus
win's Sita's hand in marriage.
Kaikeyi and Manthara -- Kaikeyi is King Dasaratha's
second wife, the mother of Bharata. Manthara is her evil,
conniving attendant. When Manthara learns that the
throne is to be given to Rama, she plants the seeds of
jealousy in Kaikeyi's mind and convinces her to use the
two boons granted her by the King to force him to instead
place Bharata on the throne and exile Rama to the forest
for 14 years.
Jatayu -- A friend and former companion of King
Dasaratha who has been turned into a vulture and lives in
the woods. He witnesses Ravana abducting Sita and
causes his chariot to crash in his attempt to rescue her.
Ravana mortally wounds him, but before he dies he
manages to inform Rama and Lakshmana of what has
happened.
Sugreeva -- The King of the monkeys, he is dethroned by
his evil brother Bali due to a misunderstanding when both
fight a water buffalo together and Sugreeva accidentally
leaves Bali trapped in a cave, thinking he is dead. Bali
then defeats Sugreeva and bansishes him to the forest.
Rama and Lakshmana form an alliance with Sugreeva and
help him regain his throne and defeat Bali. In return,
Sugreeva pledges his monkey army (led by Hanuman) to
Rama's aid in rescuing Sita from her imprisonment by
Ravana on the island of Lanka. The story of Sugreeva and
Bali is generally given more weight in Southeast Asian
versions of the Ramayana than it is in the Valmiki version.
Kumbhakarna -- The giant, obese, powerful ogre brother
of Ravana. He is awaken and enlisted into the battle
against Rama and the monkey army as a last resort by
Ravana.
Indrajit -- The devious and powerful son of Ravana, who
causes major problems for Rama and Lakshmana in their
battle to take Lanka and rescue Sita.

The Epic Tale of Rama

by Renu Verma
Thousands of years ago a very righteous and truthful king, Dasaratha, was ruling an Indian
Kingdom Ayodhya. He had three wives; Kaushalaya, Sumitra and Kakai. Kakai was very
brave; once when she had accompanied Dasaratha in a war, she had saved his chariot in
the war field. Overwhelmed by her courage Dasaratha promised her to give her two boons
as and when she asked for them. Dasaratha had four sons. The eldest was Rama the son
of Kaushalaya. The next was Bharat was from Kakai. Sumitra had two sons Laxman and
Shatrughan. Rama loved all his mothers and brothers equally.
All the four brothers went to Guru Vashitas Ashram. They became well versed in all the
scriptures and learnt the art of war craft. After they came back to Ayodhya, Guru
Vishwamitra took Rama and Laxman to his Ashram. He was being disturbed by demons.
Rama killed the demons and protected Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra gave many special
weapons to Rama and Laxman.
Rama and Laxman went to Janakpur along with Vishwamitra. The king Janak had
organized a competition. He had a mighty Bow. He had announced that whoever would
break the bow would marry Sita, the princess of Janakpur. Rama broke the bow and
married Sita. Sitas sisters were married to Bharat, Laxman and Satrughan. They all came
back to Ayodhya.
Dasaratha decided to make Rama the heir prince. Kakai was misled by her maid servant
Manthra who tempted her to ask Dasaratha to make Bharat the king of Ayodhya and not
Rama. Kakai reminded Dasaratha about his promise of two boons. She asked that Bharat
should be made the heir prince and Rama should go to jungle for fourteen years.
Dasaratha was in a dilemma. He did not want to send Rama to the jungle. When Rama
heard this, he volunteered to go to the jungle. He did not want that his fathers promise to
Kakai should be proved to be false. Sita and Laxman also volunteered to go to jungle with
Rama, even though they were not supposed to go. Dasaratha was shocked to death.
All this while, Bharat and Satrughan were out of Ayodhya. They were called back but
Bharat refused to become the king . He went to the jungle, to persuade Rama to return
back to Ayodhya and become the king. Rama forced Bharat to rule Ayodhya and fulfill the
promise of his father, Dasaratha. Bharat brought Rama a wooden sandle and enthroned it
at Ayodhya , Bharat preferred to live like a sage at the outskirts of Ayodhya. In fact
Satrughan executed the administration following the instruction of Bharat. Such righteous
detachment to power is quite a contrast to the present day power politics.
During first thirteen years in jungle Rama got blessings of many sages. He killed many
demons. The demon king Ravana of Lanka wanted to take revenge. Playing tricks one day
when both Rama and Laxman were away in jungle, he disguised as a sage and forcefully
carried away Sita to Lanka. After coming back Rama and Laxman were shocked. However,
Rama showed exemplary courage, bravery and excellent team management. He got the
help ofa monkey king Sugreev, the monkey warrior Hanuman and bear king Jamwant. With
the help of their army Rama made a bridge over the sea. Ramas army crossed the sea
and attacked Ravans Lanka . Ravan was killed along with his whole army. However ,
Ravans younger brother Vibhishan was righteous . He was made the king of Lanka. Sita
was brought back to Rama.
By this time, Rama had already spent fourteen years in jungle. They all came back to
Ayodhya and Rama was formally made the king of Ayodhya.

Rama was an idyllic king, he was very benevolent and was loved and respected by his
subjects. He was such an ideal ruler that RAMRAJYA was Mahatma Gandhis vision for
India.