Comparing Ramayana And The Book Of Samuel

Alberto Gutierrez

Dr. Dumans

World lit

2/25/16

Two different heroes Every story that we have read has a hero and a lesson the variation of the hero and the lesson are very different from one another. Some heroes might be strong and mighty like Rama In The Ramayana and others are simple and have faith in God like David in the Book of Samuel. Both of these heroes are very different with their physical appearance and culture but are also similar with their heroic qualities and moral values. All this traits have a role on defining who each hero is and what they do.

Rama of the Ramayana is half god, tall, strong, and handsome since his mother Kaushalya drank half of the payasam sent by the gods. With age Rama grew into these physical qualities

“Hindu religion looks at the entire cosmos as having originated from a common source…. Therefore, in Hindu philosophy, there is no place for discrimination on the basis of religion, ideology or worldview, either with other religions and belief systems on one hand or with modern science on the other hand.” Karma is all about what goes around comes around so if Rama is good and amazing now in this life then in the next one his life will also be wonderful and amazing. Something else about Rama’s culture is that “At the time when it was normal for kings to have more than one wife, Rama gave ideal of having a single wife….” So even if the culture was okay with the king having more than one wife, Rama being the role model he is only stuck with one wife and was faithful to

David it is also the same concept in that his main goal is to be faithful to God; to follow everything the all mighty and all powerful has planned for you. So in the end of it all when your days come to an end you will be allowed into the kingdom of God. Another point in David’s culture that is also similar to Rama’s is the kind of marital statues a man could have. “…Although women could not have more than one husband simultaneously (polyandry), men might have more than one wife at the same time”. David unlike Rama did have more than one wife in fact he had about six wives and children with most of them.

The main difference for both cultures is the reason behind all their actions and well doing. For David the only reason to be good is so that you are accepted by god and for Rama the sole purpose to respect others is that in the next life it won’t be bad for you. In David it’s all about following a cretin set of rules created by God himself it’s a cretin way. But Rama is just living your life do whatever you want to do, for every action you do in this life there is a counter re-action in the next