Lakshmana

In the Ramayana, the earlier of the two
great Indian epics, Lakshmana is one of
King Dasharatha’s sons by his wife
Sumitra, and the younger half-brother
of Rama, the epic’s protagonist.
Throughout the Ramayana Lakshmana
is the model younger brother, existing
only to serve and support Rama. When
Rama is banished to the forest for fourteen years, Lakshmana follows him like
a shadow for the entire time: first living
as a forest ascetic, searching for Rama’s
kidnapped wife Sita, then fighting heroically in the battle with Ravana’s army;
finally he returns to serve Rama at his
court in Ayodhya.
Many of the characters in the
Ramayana are paradigms for Indian cultural values. Lakshmana (as with his
brother Bharata) symbolizes the ideal
younger brother. In northern India,
brothers are the heart of the joint family.
They remain at home, whereas after
marriage, sisters live in their marital
families. The eldest brother in every
generation eventually becomes the head
of the joint family. Carrying primary
authority and responsibility for the family as a whole, the eldest cannot succeed
without the cooperation of his younger
brothers who must acknowledge and
support his authority. In his service to
Rama and his complete disregard for his
own needs, Lakshmana is a dutiful
younger brother.
Despite his bravery, valor, and total
loyalty to Rama, Lakshmana is far from
perfect. He lacks Rama’s judgment and
forbearance, and tends to act before he
thinks. For example, when Bharata pursues the two brothers after they have
gone into exile, Lakshmana leaps to the
conclusion that Bharata is seizing the
opportunity to kill them, to clear his
own way to the throne. Lakshmana prepares to attack Bharata, but Rama’s
reasoning forestalls a potential tragedy.
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Laghava
Lakshmana’s most serious lapse of judgment is with Shurpanakha, a demon
princess and sister to Ravana, the
demon-king of Lanka. When she makes
amorous advances toward Lakshmana,
he first ridicules her and then mutilates
her. Ravana kidnaps Rama’s wife, Sita, to
gain a measure of revenge against the
brothers. Like all of the characters in the
Ramayana, Lakshmana is neither good
nor evil—he has many virtues, but also
some very real flaws.