Ayodhyā
Rāma
Eldest son of Daśaratha and Kausalyā. Vālmīki presents Rāma first as a man of conduct. Nārada's answer to the opening question is his name.
Bāla Kāṇḍa sarga 67Vālmīki (primary text)In the text
Rāma is the eldest prince of Ayodhyā and the hero of the poem. He loses a throne on the eve of his crowning and a wife to abduction. Each loss forces the same question: what a good man owes to his promises, and what he owes to the people they touch.
Primary text: Śrīmad Vālmīkīya Rāmāyaṇa, Gita Press, Gorakhpur. Later traditions and living-tradition associations are labelled as such. Return to the Rāmāyaṇa World.