Who is Rama?

Lord Rama is the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu and the supreme embodiment of dharma (righteous conduct). As the ideal son, husband, brother, friend, and king, Rama demonstrated how to live a perfect life while fulfilling worldly duties. His story, told in the epic Ramayana by the sage Valmiki, has guided the moral and spiritual life of India for thousands of years.

Rama’s divine bow, the Kodanda, represents the power of dharma to protect the good and destroy evil. He is always depicted with his consort Sita (the embodiment of devotion) and his loyal brother Lakshmana (the embodiment of service), showing that the divine life includes both love and loyalty.

Rama is not merely a historical hero. He is the Self that dwells in every heart — the ideal toward which all beings unconsciously strive.

In Kriya Yoga, Rama represents the Atman — the divine Self that resides in the spiritual heart. The name “Rama” itself is a powerful mantra; its syllables contain the essence of all divine names, and its constant repetition is itself a complete spiritual practice.

The Lore of Rama

The Birth and Exile of Rama

Rama was born in Ayodhya as the eldest son of King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya. Trained in all the arts of warfare and statecraft, he was beloved by all. When the time came for his coronation, the jealous queen Kaikeyi invoked two boons the king had once granted her: that Rama be exiled to the forest for fourteen years and her own son Bharata be made king. Without hesitation, Rama accepted the exile, demonstrating that for one established in dharma, happiness and sorrow are the same.

The Abduction of Sita

In the forest, the demon king Ravana devised a plan to abduct Sita. Using a golden deer as bait, he lured Rama away, then disguised himself as a sage to trick Sita across the protective boundary (the Lakshmana Rekha). Carrying her to Lanka, Ravana tried everything to win her heart, but Sita remained faithful to Rama. Her steadfast devotion represents the soul’s loyalty to the divine even in the darkest circumstances.

The Alliance with Hanuman

In their search for Sita, Rama and Lakshmana formed an alliance with the monkey king Sugriva and his minister Hanuman. Hanuman’s leap to Lanka, his burning of the demon city, and his return with Sita’s message form the heart of the epic. The alliance represents the cooperation of all faculties — human, animal, and divine — in the quest for Self-realisation.

The Return to Ayodhya

After slaying Ravana in a great battle, Rama returned to Ayodhya with Sita and was crowned king. His reign, called Ram Rajya, is the ideal of governance — a time of such perfect justice and harmony that every citizen was fulfilled and nature itself flourished. Even today, Ram Rajya is invoked as the model of an ideal society.

The Inner Meaning

Rama as the Inner Self

In the inner yoga, Rama is the Self that dwells in the spiritual heart. Sita is the individual soul (jiva), Lakshmana is the power of discrimination (buddhi), and Hanuman is the vital force (prana) that serves the Self. Ravana, with his ten heads, is the mind controlled by the ten senses. The Ramayana is the story of how the soul, separated from the Self by the senses’ tyranny, is reunited through divine grace and devoted service.

The Rama Mantra

The name “Rama” is composed of two seed syllables: Ra (representing the solar/fire energy) and Ma (representing the lunar/water energy). Together they balance the inner sun and moon, the pingala and ida nadis. Repeating “Rama” creates a vibration that purifies the heart chakra and awakens the divine qualities latent within. Learn more in our guide to Mantras & Japa.

Iconography & Symbols

Rama is depicted as a noble prince of blue or green complexion, upright and serene, bearing the great bow Kodanda and a quiver of arrows — emblems of the disciplined power that upholds righteousness. He is rarely shown alone: at his side stand his devoted wife Sita, his loyal brother Lakshmana, and kneeling before him the monkey-god Hanuman, the perfect servant.

Every element of his form expresses maryada — right conduct and self-restraint. Rama is called Maryada Purushottama, 'the perfect man who honours all boundaries,' and his bow signifies not aggression but the readiness to defend dharma. The seventh avatar of Vishnu, he embodies the ideal that true kingship is service and true strength is virtue.

The Story of the Ramayana

Rama's life is told in the Ramayana, one of the two great epics of India. On the eve of his coronation, Rama is exiled to the forest for fourteen years to honour a promise made by his father. There his wife Sita is abducted by the ten-headed demon-king Ravana and carried to the island of Lanka. With the help of Hanuman and the monkey army of Sugriva, Rama builds a bridge across the ocean, defeats Ravana in a great war, and recovers Sita.

His return marks the beginning of Rama Rajya — a reign so just and harmonious that it became the enduring symbol of the ideal society. Beyond its drama, the epic is read as a map of the inner life: the exile of the soul, its trials in the wilderness of the world, and its eventual return to its rightful kingdom.

Ravana and the Ten Heads

Rama's great adversary, Ravana, is one of the most striking symbols in Hindu myth. He is no mere brute: he is a brilliant scholar, a master of the Vedas, a powerful devotee of Shiva, and the ten-headed king of Lanka. His downfall is not a lack of power or learning but an unmastered ego swollen by pride.

His ten heads are traditionally read as the ten passions that bind the soul — desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride, envy and the rest — for the ego is many-headed and endlessly regrows. That such a learned being can fall teaches the sobering lesson that knowledge without humility and self-mastery becomes the very force that destroys us. Rama's victory over Ravana is therefore the soul's victory over the multiplying heads of the lower self.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Rama?

Rama is the seventh avatar of Vishnu and hero of the Ramayana, revered as the ideal king and perfect man.

What is the story of Rama?

Exiled to the forest, his wife Sita is abducted by Ravana; with Hanuman’s help he defeats Ravana and establishes Rama Rajya.

What does Rama represent?

Dharma and self-restraint — virtue as the true foundation of strength.