Here’s how Hanuman got the name “Bajrangbali”.
After the Ram Rajya was established, once when Sita was applying vermilion (kumkum) to her forehead, a curious Hanumam asked her the reason for this. Sita explained that it was a ritual that would result into a longer and a healthier life for Ram. Enthusiast Hanuman, as big a devotee of Lord Ram he was, went on and covered his entire body with kumkum and hence turned completely orange! Bajrang means orange and hence came the name: Bajrangbali!
Once, Ram issued a death sentence to Hanuman and a war between the two started! *whoa*
After Lord Ram became the King, once, when the court was adjourned, Narada – known for creating disharmony between Ram and Hanuman – asked Hanuman to greet all sages except Vishwamitra, since he was a King once. Hanuman did so but that did not affect Vishwamitra.
Narada went on and instigated Vishwamitra, which boomed up his anger so much that he went to Ram and asked him to punish Hanuman to death. Vishmamitra being Ram’s guru, Ram could not ignore his command and punished Hanuman to death by arrows. Next day in the field, the statement was to be executed, but all arrows failed to do any harm to Hanuman as he kept chanting Ram!
Since Ram had to abide by his Guru’s word, he decided to use the Brahmastra. To the surprise of all, Hanuman’s chants of Ram even failed the most powerful Brahmastra! Seeing this, Narada went to Vishwamitra and confessed his mistake, stopping the war!
Bali of Ramayana became the reason for the death of Lord Krishna from the Mahabharata!
Bali, the elder brother of Sugreev, known for his strength, had a boon that whosoever engaged in a combat with him would lose half of his strength to Bali. Invincible Bali was challenged once by Ravan for a combat. Enraged Bali, grabbed Ravan by his head and took him round the world, making Ravan accept his defeat.
Bali, when took over Sugreev’s wife and the kingdom of Kishkinda forcefully, Sugreev fled the kingdom and met Hanuman in the woods for help. In the interim, Ram killed a demon named Kadambh in the forest while searching for Sita and a curse-free Kadambh now asked Ram to meet Sugreev to help him from Bali.
Ram decided to execute Bali after meeting Sugreev.
Ram shot Bali from behind the tree, and Bali alleged that Ram had betrayed him as he didn’t challenge Bali for a combat. To this, Ram explained that if a man ill-behaves a woman, it is the duty of a righteous man to punish him. Ram then promised Bali that in his next life, he would become the reason of Vishnu’s death and thus take revenge of this incident.
Bali was later reborn as Jara, the hunter, who was the reason of Krishna’s death in the Dwapar Yug!
Had it not been for Soorpnakha, there wouldn’t have been any Ramayana. And here’s why Soorpnakha became the sole catalyst of the Battle of Lanka.
Many accounts of the Ramayana, except that of Valmiki, suggest that Soorpnakha, the sister of Ravan, had no romantic interest in Ram. Valmiki’s account suggests that Soorpnakha, or Minaxi, approached Ram because she had a romantic interest in him, but was rejected as Ram was committed to Sita. Soorpnakha also approached Laxman but Laxman too rejected her. Seeking revenge, Soorpnakha enticed Ravan to capture Sita, which he did, triggering the Battle of Lanka.
Other accounts however suggest that Soorpnakha, who was first married to Dushtabuddhi Rakasha, enticed Ravan to kidnap Sita to seek revenge for her husband’s death. Dushtabuddhi maintained good relations with Ravan until he started demanding more power: this resulted into Ravan killing Dushtabuddhi. Deeply disturbed by the death of her husband, it is said that Soorpnakha realised Ram could well be the only person to be powerful enough to kill Ravan, and thus got her nose chopped from Laxman (by proposing her) and then enticing Ravan to abduct Sita.
Despite Ravan’s family’s reservations and fears, considering Ram’s power, Ravan did abduct Sita causing the Battle of Lanka. It is thus believed that Soorpnakha played a pivotal role in making of the Ramayana and her absence would have ensured no such story to come into existence!
Kuber, the Lord of Wealth, was the stepbrother of Ravana and the actual ruler of Lanka. Ravana fought Kuber to then conquer Lanka!
Lord Brahma produced ten Prajapatis, or mind-born sons when he created the Universe. These ten were the father of the human race and one of them was Sage Pulatsya, the father of Vishrava. Vishrava – a sagacious scholar, mesmerised Rishi Bhardwaj so much that he offered his daughter Ilavida to Vishrava for marriage. Ilavida gave Vishrava a son, Kuber, the Lord of Wealth.
An asura Sumali and Tataka, decided that their daughter Kaiseki should marry the most virtuous man and hence they planned a meeting of Kaiseki and Vishrava. He fell in love with her and fathered Ravan and his brothers. Hence, Ravan was a Brahmasura.
Vishwakarma, the architect of Universe, created Lanka for Shiva; and Vishrava later asked it from Shiva as a dakshina. Vishrava’s son Kuber then inherited Lanka and shared all his wealth his half-brothers including Ravan. However, after getting all kinds of booms from Brahma, Ravan considered himself the most powerful of the lot and demanded entire Lanka from Kuber. When Kuber did not pay heed to his demands, Ravan fought Kuber and conquered Lanka.
Later, after killing Ravan, and returning to Rameshwar, Lord Ram created the Shiva Temple so as to reimburse his sin of Brahmanhatya
How Lord Ram affected the tail of Squirrels.
While creating the bridge to get to Lanka, a squirrel was helping the monkeys headed by Nal and Neel (trained by Vishawakarma). Seeing a squirrel carry beach sand for the Setu (the bridge from the tip of India to Sri Lanka), some monkeys started laughing! Upset squirrel went and sat near Ram. Acknowledging the tiny creature’s dedication, Ram cuddled its back and hence ever since, squirrels carry white stripes as the finger signs of Ram!
The final victory over Ravan was made possible by Bali’s Son’s ill-treating of Mandodari, the wife of Ravan.
When only Ravan was left to battle with Ram and his army of monkeys, Ravan organised a Yagna for his victory. The caveat was: Ravan could not leave the Yagna. Knowing this, Ram asked Angada, the son of Bali, to head a group of monkeys to impure and extinguish the Yagna.
Reaching the palace of Ravana, Angada and his group created mayhem but Ravana was indifferent to this. In order to grab Ravan’s attention, and make him leave the Yagna, Angad then pulled Mandodari’s hair in front of Ravan. When Ravan still continued to focus on the Yagna, pleasing tHanuman also created his version of Ramayan – which was supposedly a superior version compared to that of Valmiki’s – but Hanuman destroyed it!
After the war when Hanuman went to Himalaya for continuing his reverence of Lord Ram, Hanuman etched his version of Ram’s tale on the walls of Himalayas with his nails.
When Maharshi Valmiki visited Hanuman to show his version of Ramayana, he saw the walls and felt sad as Valmiki believed that Hanuman’s Ramayana was superior and that his arduously created version of the Ramayana would remain unnoticed. Realising this, Hanuman discarded his version. Taken aback, Valmiki said he would love to be reborn to sing the glory of Hanuman!he Gods, Mandodari pleaded Ravan to help her and she taunted to Ravan mentioning what Ram was doing for his wife! This made Ravan leave the Yagna, and Angad and his group fled the palace as their purpose was done.
The first letter of every 1000th Shloka of the Ramayana together make up the Gayatri Mantra!
There are 24 letters in the Gayatri Mantra and there are 24,000 Shlokas in the Valmiki Ramayana. The first letter of every 1000th Shloka together of the Ramayana forms the Gayatri Mantra, making this revered mantra the essence of the epic. While the Gayatri Mantra has been actually first mentioned in the Rig Veda, it has gained significance thanks to the Ramayana.