Ramayana is a Hindu religious epic and a few movies and TV serials have been made in India on Ramayana. The story of Ramayana is that of a King Dasharatha's family set in Ayodhya in ancient times. The part relevant to the post is the part when Rama, Sita his wife, Luxman his younger brother and his loyal bhakta Hanuman return home after completing the period of exile and after rescuing Sita from the demon king Ravana.
The entire kingdom is joyful on this auspicious occasion; people are ecstatic at the return of their young godly king and his wife after missing them for 14 years. However, Rama and Sita have only rested for few days when a conversation between a dhobi (clothes washer) and his wife reaches Rama's ears. The dhobi had doubt about Sita's chastity because she was captive in Ravana's Lanka for a long time. Ravana wanted her as his own bride but she adamantly refused to marry him. She was Rama's wife and was devoted to him. But who can stop wagging tongues ! Rama therefore had to give up Sita and send her back to the forest while she was pregnant. Such is the life of a righteous King !! Sita meets a fatherly sage in the forest who agrees to give her residence and take care of her. A queen is forced to lead a life of a poor peasant. There two sons Luv and Kush are born to her. The sage trains the two boys the art of using divine weapons and they soon became experts . [The weapons, you see, gain special powers when in the hand of a trained yodha].
Rama, in order to consolidate his Kingdom and find out the loyalty of the rulers of neighboring kingdoms, sends a privileged horse and some of his skilled warriors to each of these kingdoms. Anybody who stops the horse would face a battle. Luv and Kush challenge the horse and knock all the warriors unconscious with their divine weapons ! The two kids defeat all of them and tie Hanuman with a rope. Rama then comes to see for himself who these brave warriors are and decides against harming them when he sees that they two young boys. However, Sita gets angry at her two sons when she hears that they have been fighting their own father and relatives. She wants the two to apologize to Rama.
The Song (Katha) in the video:
Luv and Kush go to the castle of Rama and request him to listen to their Katha. They sing of Rama's birth and subsequent achievements as a warrior and as protector of the righteous even at a young age. They sing of how he broke Shiva's bow without much effort and thus became worthy of marrying the bride Sita. While singing the Katha, the two slowly unveil the story of a queen who now lives in the forest and suffers great hardship everyday. They question the way in which people of Ayodhya had treated the queen based on a clothes washer's word whose profession is to see 'dirt' !! They ask the sages and wise people that adorn Rama's court why their hearts did not melt at the misery of Sita ? How could they be so harsh and exile her to the forest? And towards the end of the katha, they declare to the assembly in a very humble tone as they bow to Rama, that Rama is their father and the sati Sita is their mother. The entire assembly, including Rama, are surprised at the declaration.....This is the summary of the song in the video. The Katha holds a very special place in the heart of the devotees. Ramayana would be incomplete without it.
