Lakshmana (Sanskrit Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and Buddhism[note 1]. Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand. Sanskrit has been declared a classical language by the Government of India: लक्ष्मण, IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a popular transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts Lakṣmaṇa; Burmese The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most continue to refer to the language as Burmese. It is the native language of the Bamar and other related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar. It is spoken by 32 million as a first language, and as a second language by: လက္ခဏ, [lεʔkʰəna̯]; Chinese Chinese or the Sinitic language (汉语／漢語 Hànyǔ; 华语／華語 Huáyǔ; 中文 Zhōngwén) is a language family consisting of languages which are mostly mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages: Loman; Javanese Javanese language is the language of the people in the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more than 75,500,000 people: Leksmana, Lesmana; Khmer Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language (after Vietnamese), with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, through the vehicles of: Phreah Leaksa; Lao Lao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Being the primary language of the Lao people, Lao is also an important second language for the multitude of ethnic groups in Laos and in Isan. Lao,: Phra Lakshana; Malay Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family and the official language of Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, where in the latter it is standardized as Indonesian. It is one of four official languages of Singapore, and as Indonesian is a working language of East Timor, a consequence of over twenty years of Indonesian administration. It is: Laksamana; Maranaw: Mangawarna; Tamil Tamil (தமிழ் tamiḻ; [t̪ɐmɨɻ] ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Puducherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore. It is one of the twenty-two scheduled: Ilakkuvan; Thai Thai (ภาษาไทย Phasa Thai [pʰāːsǎːtʰāj] ) is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai-Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively link the Tai-Kadai languages to any: พระลักษมณ์ Phra Lak; Yuan: Lakkhana) was the brother and close companion of Rama Rama or Ramachandra रामचंद्र, రామచంద్ర is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian mythology, and himself a hero in the famous epic Ramayana The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India, the other being the Mahabharata. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal. Within a number of Hindu Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of South Asia. Hinduism is often referred to as Sanātana Dharma by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as in Vaishnavism. Hinduism also includes yogic traditions traditions Lakshmana is considered to be an avatara In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatara (Devanagari अवतार, IAST avatāra, the Sanskrit for "descent" ) usually implies a deliberate descent from higher spiritual realms to lower realms of existence for special purposes, often translated into English as incarnation, in a secondary form to Rama Rama or Ramachandra रामचंद्र, రామచంద్ర is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian mythology's main appearance. In some Hindu traditions he is worshipped as an avatar of Shesha In Hindu tradition, Shesha (Śeṣa in IAST transliteration, Devanagari: शेष) or Adi-shesha (Sheshanaag) is the king of all nagas, one of the primal beings of creation, and according to the Bhagavata Purana, an avatar of the Supreme God known as Sankarshan. In the Puranas, Shesha is said to hold all the planets of the Universe on his hoods. The name may also be written as Lakshman or Laxman.

Birth and family

Lakshmana is the twin brother of Shatrughna Shatrughna was the youngest brother of Lord Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana . He is the twin brother of Lakshmana, born in Ayodhya Ayodhya pronunciation (Hindi: अयोध्या, IAST Ayodhyā,Tamil: அயோத்தியை) is an ancient city of India, the old capital of Awadh, in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya is described as the birth place of Hindu god Rama, and the capital of the ancient Kosala Kingdom. This Hindu holy city is described as early to Sumitra, the second wife of Dasharatha The life story of Dasharatha is narrated principally in the Hindu epic Ramayana. He was a descendant of Raghu and a king of Ayodhya. He was the father of Rama, Rama being the heroic prince of Ramayana and an avatar of God Vishnu according to Hindu tradition. Dasharatha had three wives: Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. Rama was the son of Kaushalya,, king of Kosala Kosala was an ancient Indian region, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Oudh in the present day Uttar Pradesh state. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text, the Bhagavati Sutra, Kosala was one of the Solasa (sixteen) Mahajanapadas (powerful realms) in 6th century BCE and its cultural and political strength. Thus, Rama Rama or Ramachandra रामचंद्र, రామచంద్ర is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian mythology is the eldest, Bharata is the second, Lakshmana is the third, and Shatrughna Shatrughna was the youngest brother of Lord Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana . He is the twin brother of Lakshmana is the youngest of the four brothers. Despite being the twin of Shatrughna, Lakshmana is specially attached to Rama, and the duo are inseparable. When Rama marries Sita Sita or Seeta is the wife of Rama, the seventh avatāra of Vishnu in the Hindu tradition. Sita is one of the principal characters in the Ramayana, a Hindu epic named after her husband Lord Rama. Goddess Sita was born in Sitamarhi (Punaura) in Bihar (India) and soon after her birth, taken to Janakpur in present day Nepal by her father, King Janak, Lakshmana married the younger sister of Sita named Urmila.

With Rama

In Puranic The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu (or Jain and Buddhist) religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography scripture Lakshmana is described as the incarnation of Ananta Shesha In Hindu tradition, Shesha (Śeṣa in IAST transliteration, Devanagari: शेष) or Adi-shesha (Sheshanaag) is the king of all nagas, one of the primal beings of creation, and according to the Bhagavata Purana, an avatar of the Supreme God known as Sankarshan. In the Puranas, Shesha is said to hold all the planets of the Universe on his hoods, the thousand-headed Naga upon whom rests Lord Vishnu Vishnu is the Supreme God in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God in the primordial ocean of milk (Kshirasagara). The Lord of Serpents, Sheshanaga was incarnated to the earth in the form of Lakshmana and during the Dvapara Yuga, he incarnated as Balarama Balarama , also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism and a number of South Indian, Hindu traditions Balarama is worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu, and he is also listed as such in the Bhagavata Purana. Within both the Vaishnava traditions and Hinduism. He is said to be an eternal companion of Vishnu in all incarnations.

Lakshmana is part of the Mariyada Purshottamm, or The Perfect Man personified by Rama Rama or Ramachandra रामचंद्र, రామచంద్ర is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian mythology, by his unswerving loyalty, love and commitment to his elder brother through times of joy and adversity alike. He is an invincible warrior Kshatriya or Kashtriya meaning warrior is one of the four varnas (social orders) in Hinduism. शर्म ब्राहमणस्य वर्म क्षत्रियस्य गुप्तेती वैश्यस्य Prasar grhaysutras). It traditionally constituted the military and ruling elite of the Vedic-Hindu social system committed to virtue Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being and the service of his brother. He never covets the throne of Ayodhya Ayodhya pronunciation (Hindi: अयोध्या, IAST Ayodhyā,Tamil: அயோத்தியை) is an ancient city of India, the old capital of Awadh, in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya is described as the birth place of Hindu god Rama, and the capital of the ancient Kosala Kingdom. This Hindu holy city is described as early, nor hesitates from joining his brother in exile, even though he does not have to.

During the exile

Early in their exile, when Bharata enters the forest A forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface (or 30% of total land area), though they once covered much more (about 50% of total land area), in many different regions and function as habitats for with the royal entourage to persuade Rama to return to rule Ayodhya, Lakshmana initially mistakes his intentions; he jumps to the conclusion that the former was approaching with malicious intent. Rama, however, knows of Bharata's love for him and explains to Lakshmana that Bharata would never try to harm them.

Lakshmana serves Rama and Sita reverently during the exile, building them a home in the forest and devotedly standing guard during the night, and accompanying them on tiring journeys and long passages of lonely forest life without complaint or care for himself.

During the exile a incident occurs. Surpanakha Soorpanaka or Surpanakha or shurpanakha is one of the most important characters in the Ramayana. Indeed, Valmiki comes close to claiming that if there had been no Kaikeyi and no Soorpanaka, then there would have been no Ramayana and no war with Ravana. In fact, Soorpanaka was the arrow that set in motion the chain of events leading directly to the, sister of Ravana gets attracted to Rama's beauty and so takes an appearance of an equally beautiful girl and goes towards Rama's hut. There she tries to get Rama married to her but he declines saying that he is vowed to have only one wife. Then she tries Lakshmana to get married to her as he is handsome too. He too declines saying that he cannot take care of her as he is a servant to Rama and has duties to fulfill towards his brother. She feels dishonored at the rejection by both the brothers and insults Sita. She then tries to harm Sita and so Lakshmana cuts her nose in anger.

Feeling humiliated she goes to Ravana's brothers for help who attack Rama but dies. Then she goes to Ravana and influences him to abduct Sita. She ravishes about Sita's beauty and how she would be worthy for Ravana. He takes it as a challenge and abducts Sita to revenge his sister's humiliation and brothers' deaths.

The Lakshmana 'Rekha'

When Sita asks Rama to fetch the magical, golden deer for her, Rama asks Lakshmana to guard Sita and their home, and to take special care since he felt bad omens and sensed danger and evil. The golden deer is in fact the demon Maricha, who must distract Rama and Lakshmana away from the hut so as to allow Ravana Ravana, is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana; who is the demon king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, infamously kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister Surpanakha to kidnap Sita.

When Rama kills the deer, even as he is dying, Maricha cries out in Rama's own voice, crying for Sita and Lakshmana to help him. Although Lakshmana knows that Rama is invincible and beyond any danger, Sita panics and frantically orders Lakshmana to go to Rama's aid immediately. Unable to disobey the frightened and panicky Sita, and genuinely beginning to fear for Rama's safety, Lakshmana goes out to search for him. He however uses his mystical power to draw the Lakshmana Rekha or Lakshmana's Limit, a perimeter line across the hut that Sita must not cross, and no other being save Lakshmana or Rama may enter uninvited. If any intruder enters, it will be instantly killed.

Sita however, out of compulsion of religious duty and compassion for a poor brahmin Brahmin is a class or caste in the Indian continent, originally thought to have originated from Central Asia. Various subgroups of this caste perform religious duties as priests in Hinduism and preach Dharma. However, teaching Dharma and performing services in temples is not limited to Brahmins, who is actually the disguised Ravana, crosses the line to give him alms. Thus Ravana is safely able to seize Sita.

The Lakshmana Rekha has become a metaphor in situations where a certain limit must not be transgressed by human beings in any circumstance whatsoever.

Ramacharitamanas Śrī Rāmacaritamānasa (Avadhi) is an epic poem composed by the 16th-century Indian poet, Goswami Tulsidas (c.1532–1623) (also transliterated as Tulasidasa). An English translation of Rāmacaritamānasa is "The Lake of the Acts of Rama". As mentioned in the Bāla Kaṇḍa of the composition, Tulsidas started writing it in Vikram, the wildly popular North Indian rendering of story of Rama, does not feature the Lakshmana Rekha story in the Aranya Kanda. Neither does the original, the Valmiki Ramayana. However in Lanka Kanda of the Ramcharitmanas, (35.1) Mandodari rebukes Ravana on his boisterous claims of valour by hinting that his claim of strength and valour is shallow for he could not even cross a small line drawn by Shri Rama's younger brother Lakshmana.

Prowess in war

Lakshmana is considered a powerful warrior nearly equal to Rama. Like Rama, he was a Maharathi able to battle 60,000 warriors at once. In the war against Ravana Ravana, is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana; who is the demon king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, infamously kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister Surpanakha and his Lankan army of rakshasas A Rakshasa or alternately rakshas, is a demon or unrighteous spirit in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Rakshasas are also called man-eaters ("Nri-chakshas," "Kravyads") or cannibals. A female Rakshasa is called a Rakshasi, and a female Rakshasa in human form is a Manushya-Rakshasi, Lakshmana slays thousands of powerful demons such as Atikaya and Prahasta, Ravana's chief commanders, and his son Indrajit.

Injury and revival

During the battle to rescue Sita, Lakshmana is grievously injured by a mystical Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences or awareness. Mysticism may be dualistic, maintaining a weapon fired by Indrajit,which was gifted to him by goddess Nikumbala, rendering him unconscious and approaching death. When the Divine sage Narad Muni questions Lord Vishnu as to why he is not concerned that his own celestial couch, his most beloved devotee, is mortally wounded, Lord Shiva answers his question. He says as follows: "My Dear Narad! Lord Shesha has the ability to absorb both nectar and poison and that he cannot be injured by this weapon. But, because he did nor wish to show disrespect to this weapon of the Mother Goddess, he allowed himself to be mortally wounded."

Rama and the others are shocked and in sorrow, when the army's physician explains that only with the special herb sanjivani that grows on the Dronagiri mountain in the Himalayan The Himalaya Range (Sanskrit: literally, "abode of snow", Hindi/Sanskrit: हिमालय, IPA: /hɪˈmɑːləj/), or the Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. By extension, it is also the name of a massive mountain system that includes the Karakoram, the Hindu ranges can Lakshmana be revived and brought back to life.

Hanuman Hanuman is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine, whose fate it is to aid the hero Rama in the struggle against the demon king Ravana. His exploits are much celebrated in a variety of, the mighty vanara Vānara popularly refers to a group of ape-like humanoids in the Hindu epic Ramayana who were brave and inquisitive by nature. The term Vanara can be described as forest-dweller (vane carati iti vanara). The epic Mahabharata describes them as forest-dwelling, and mentions their being encountered by Sahadeva, a Pandava general who led a military follower of Rama, flies all the way across the length of Bharat to reach the mountain in the Himalayan ranges. Unable to find the magical herb, and knowing there was no time to waste, Hanuman uses his incredible might to lift the entire mountain and bring it to Lanka Lanka is the name given in Hindu mythology to the island fortress capital of the legendary king Ravana in the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; it is also the ancient name of present-day Sri Lanka. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known as the Trikuta Mountains. The ancient capital city of, the scene of the battle. The magical herb is retrieved and Lakshmana is revived.

Killing of Indrajit

Later in the battle, Lakshmana fights and kills Indrajit,By the help of Hanuman on his shoulders. It is said that in order to help him in battle against Indrajit, he was given many divine astras and shastras by Gandharv Raj Kuber. His killing of Indrajit was considered to be an important turning point of the war, as the latter was almost invincible, having overpowered Indra Indra is the King of the gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology, and also he is the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall, the King of Heaven himself. Indrajit's sheer physical prowess was further illustrated through Lakshamana's use of unorthodox means to kill him.

Legacy

Lakshmana is revered for his absolute devotion to Rama. His performance of his duties as a younger brother is considered to be a sacrifice and superiority of character as such duties are especially hard to do in adverse conditions. Lakshmana's life symbolizes the duties of a man to his elders and superiors, and how greatly valued is seflessness in a man's character.

While he is generally considered to be rather short-tempered when compared to Rama, Lakshmana is also considered an important element of Mariyada Purushottama, displaying great courage and presence of mind when Rama becomes distraught, angry and desperate over the loss of Sita — in an uncharacteristic display of desperation, a furious and almost hopeless Rama, not knowing of Sita's fate or whereabouts, is suddenly about to fire a weapon capable of bringing vast devastation of life; Lakshmana stops Rama, calms him down, explains to him that the world is not responsible for their separation from Sita, and consoles and encourages his righteous brother, while giving him support and strength to keep looking for her.

When Sita's jewels were given back by Sugriva to Rama, Rama lamented Sita's absence, remembering the jewels she used to wear. Lakshamana then gave Sita's toe-ring to Rama in order to aid his grief. What was implied is that he has never looked beyond the toe of Sita. As a great respect to the discipline followed by Lakshmana, the great Tamil poet Kamban made the statement on his character that "a great person never looks desiringly upon another's wife."

The city of Lucknow Lucknow (pronounced /ˈlʌknaʊ/; Hindi: लखनऊ, Urdu: لکھنؤ, Lakhnaū, IPA: [ˈləkʰna.uː] ) is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division. According to Government of India, the Lucknow district is one of the ninety Minority Concentrated Districts in was the ancient capital of Lakshmana. It was known as Lakshmanapura. After the Islamic invasion, the city along with many others were plundered and devastated. The name as pronounced by the Arabs and the Central Asians changed from Lakshmanapura to Lucknow.

See also

• Nityananda
• Hare Rama The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the Maha Mantra , is a sixteen-word Vaishnava mantra which first appeared in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad, and which from the 15th century rose to importance in the Bhakti movement following the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
• Bhagavata Purana The Bhāgavata Purāṇa (also known as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, or Bhāgavata) is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti (devotion) to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna. The Sanskrit text comprises twelve skandas (cantos or books) and some 18,000 verses. The Bhāgavata includes

Notes

External links

• Lakshman as described in the Bhagavata Purana
• Lakshman described in the Caitanya Caritamrita

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