Khara (Ramayana)
Khara ( Sanskrit खर ) is a rakshasa (demon) from the Indian national epic Ramayana . In the action there he is an opponent of the main hero Rama . He is a brother of Ravana , the ten-headed demon prince and king of Lanka , who is the main antagonist of the epic. Khana goes into battle against Rama with 14,000 demons and is killed by him.
The Ramayana
The Ramayana epic originated between the 4th century BC. And the 2nd century AD in India. It is an art poem consisting of 24,000 double verses, which is attributed to the legendary singer Valmiki and has been largely complete since the 2nd century AD. The poetry spread with the Indian religions and developed a great cultural influence in Southeast Asia. There it was adapted to the respective regional conditions. In India it is the second national epic alongside the Mahabharata . The work has the story of the king's son Rama , who is an incarnation ( avatar ) of the god Vishnu .
Khara in Ramayana
In the story of the Ramayana, Khara rules over the land of Janasthan, which lies in the Dandaka forest. The protagonist of the epic, Rama, settles there with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana after being exiled from his father's court in Ayodhya . That arouses the wrath of Khara. His demons torture, kill and eat the ascetics and saints living there even more violently than before , until they move to a more distant part of the forest and leave Rama, Sita and Lakshmana.
When Shurpanakha , Khara's sister, who also lives in Dandaka Forest, is rejected by Rama with her love and mocked by his brother Lakshmana , she tries to kill Sita . She is mutilated by Lakshmana, who cuts off her nose and ears. Shurpanakha then flees to the kingdom of her brother Janasthan. When Khara heard her report and saw his sister's wounds, he sent 14 demons of his retinue to Gandaka to kill Rama, Sita and Lakshmana there. Rama can slay all demons with Shiva's bow . Shurpanakha reports this to Khara and scornfully calls on him to flee because he is not up to Rama. Khara becomes angry and orders his general Dushan to collect 14,000 rakshasa for the fight against the prince. Khara himself leads the group with his golden chariot. On the way Khara encounters ominous omens, among other things it rains blood mixed with water, the draft horses stumble and a giant vulture perches on the flagpole. But in his anger he does not turn back, although he knows the meaning of these omens.
When Rama perceives the omens, he sends Sita under the protection of Lakshmana to a mountain cave to hide her there. He faces Khara and his army alone. At the beginning of the battle, Khara allows the charioteer to bring her close to Rama and shoots a thousand arrows at him. The army quickly gathers around the prince and wounds him badly. Since every arrow that Rama releases from the bow is deadly, the ranks of the demons thin out. After Rama has killed the military leader Dushan and his entire entourage, only Khara and the three-headed monster Trishiras face him. When Khara rushes towards Rama to fight him, Trishiras holds him back, saying that it is his job to shed the blood of Rama and that Khara should follow the fight from afar. When Trishiras is also defeated, Khara attacks Rama with his chariot. With an arrow, Khara can destroy one of Rama's bows, seven more pierce the prince's armor and wound him. Finally, Rama uses the bow of Vishnu , which he had received from the sage Agastya, and kills the charioteer and horses with 19 arrows, destroys the chariot, the flagpole and the bow of Khara and hits the demon prince on the head, shoulder and chest. Khara now approaches Rama on foot and armed with a heavy club that emits glowing lightning bolts. When he hurls them after an angry speech at Rama, the latter can split them with arrows and render them harmless. Then Khara tears a large sal tree out of the earth and throws it at Rama, who can stop it in flight with arrows and pierce the demon's chest with a thousand more. The fatally wounded Khara continues to attack Rama until he finally brings him down with an arrow from Indra .
The giant Akampan, who has fled the battlefield and is one of the army leaders of Khara's brother Ravana, arrives in Lanka and tells his master about his brother's fate. For the first time, Ravana's anger against Rama is kindled and his plan to kidnap Sita is taking shape. Only the advice of his uncle Maricha prevents the demon king from carrying out the project immediately.
literature
- Khara . In: John Dowson : A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion, geography, history, and literature. Trübner & co., London 1879, p. 157 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hari Prasad Shastri: Ramayana . The story of Prince Rama, the beautiful Sita and the great ape Hanuman. In: Diederich's yellow series . Heinrich Hugendubel, Kreuzlingen 2004, ISBN 3-89631-431-9 , p. 296 .
- ↑ Second Book Ayodhya Kanda, 116th Canto
- ↑ Third Book Aranya Kanda, Canto 18
- ↑ Third book Aranya Kanda, 19th song
- ↑ Third Book Aranya Kanda, 20th Canto
- ↑ Third Book Aranya Kanda, 21st Canto
- ↑ Third book Aranya Kanda, 22nd song
- ↑ Third Book Aranya Kanda, 23rd Canto
- ↑ Third book Aranya Kanda, 24th song
- ↑ Third book Aranya Kanda, 25th song
- ↑ Third book Aranya Kanda, 26th song
- ↑ Third Book Aranya Kanda, Song 27
- ↑ Third book Aranya Kanda, 28th song
- ↑ Third Book Aranya Kanda, Song 29
- ↑ Third Book Aranya Kanda, Chant 30
- ↑ Third book Aranya Kanda, 31st song