Ramayana Simplified: Part 1: An Introduction to the kingdom of Kosala

This story goes way back to the Tretha yuga. There was a kingdom named ‘Kosala’ which was situated on the banks of the beautiful river Sarayu. The capital of this kingdom was ‘Ayodhya’.

What was special about the Sarayu river?

Sarayu was a beautiful river as mentioned, with pure water and most importantly people in Kosala didn’t pollute the river. They respected rivers and maintained them accordingly.

What was special about the people in the kingdom of Kosala?

People in Kosala led a happy and prosperous life. There was no poverty, hunger, or other social issues. They were honest, there was no chaos among each other and everyone lived in peace and harmony. It was like an ideal kingdom.

This kingdom was ruled by a king named Dasharatha who belonged to the ‘Ishwaku dynasty’. He was referred to as the ‘Diamond of Ishwaku dynasty’. The king worked for the welfare of each and everyone in his kingdom and made sure that they were happy. The people of Kosala were also grateful towards their king.

The king had three wives namely, Kousalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumithra. The king was getting old, he didn’t have kids with his three wives, he started worrying that the dynasty will come to an end after his death, as he may not have any successors. He really could not concentrate on the administrative matters as he used to do earlier.

Will the Ishwaku dynasty come to an end? Let's see what happens in the next chapter.

Few Insights…

• We see how pure and beautiful is the Sarayu river. As mentioned before, it was not at all polluted, and the people in the kingdom of Kosala respected the river by all means. Let’s see the traditional Indian approach towards the water bodies and the environment. We could not think of a living without water or the environment which gives us all the things we need. Thus Indian tradition has taught us to consider each water body as a mother or a goddess and it was called upon as ‘Maa’ (which means mother). As an example, the longest river in India, river Ganga is referred to as ‘Ganga Maa’. Ganga is also considered to be a goddess. Similar is the case with many other water bodies in India. The earth/environment upon which we rely upon for everything in our life is referred to as a goddess or ‘Bhoomi devi’. Traditional Indians also respected the environment and never polluted it. There are several other simple and scientific traditions seen in Hinduism as a means to protect everything we need for our life.
• The character of people in the Kosala kingdom is another thing to be noted. As mentioned in my previous articles, good people, practicing Satya and Dharma (Honesty and good values) form the backbone of a good country. Good people form good families, good families make up good villages or cities, good cities eventually make up good countries.

So, we as responsible individuals can stop polluting water bodies, air, or our mother earth/environment and start considering them as our own mother or as a goddess! Let's also start practicing Satya and Dharma in everything we do to bring up good families and spread this notion to everyone around us to form good societies and good countries!