ramayana comparison

Brittany Platt
Period 2
Mrs. Johnston
9/21/09

The Indian story Ramayana tells the tale of Rama, whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon, Ravana. Rama and Ravana battle over Sita. In the end Rama succeeds in killing the demon and gets his wife back. This story actually has many similarities to the 1994 movie “The Lion King”, which tells the story of a young lion cub, Simba, who is born and thus becomes heir to his father’s throne. Simba’s uncle Scar is now second in line to the throne, so Scar kills his brother, Mufasa, and tricks Simba into thinking it’s his fault. As a result he leaves the kingdom, soon to realize it wasn’t his fault, so Simba then battles Scar and wins the kingdom back. Most people would not think to compare such an extraordinary Indian epic to a miniscule children’s movie. However, they really share an ample amount of similarities.

In both stories there is a character that represents good, and one that represents evil. In Ramayana evil is represented by Ravana, and good by Rama. In “The Lion King” evil is represented by Scar, and good by Simba. “The Lion King” and Ramayana have more similarities then the fact that they both have figures of good and evil. In each story both figures of good get what they love stolen from them. For Rama it’s his wife. In Ramayana Ravana kidnaps Rama’s wife, because he loves her and obviously Rama was not going to give away his wife. For Simba it’s his father and the kingdom. In “The Lion King” Scar kills Simba’s father, Mufasa, and manipulates Simba so that he exits the kingdom, leaving it for Scar.

Another similarity between the two stories is that the forces of good battle against the evil forces in order to get what they love back. In Ramayana Rama starts this colossal battle against Ravana, with all sorts of weapons and powers, in order to get the love of his life back. In “The Lion King” Simba, after being shamed out of the kingdom, comes back and initiates a battle against Scar, in attempts to win the kingdom back.

Both Rama and Simba succeed in winning their battles and getting their loves back. Which is another similarity: Good conquers evil. In both stories the force of good triumphs over that of evil. In both of these stories, as in most other stories, good conquers evil by a pretty large margin. The large margin is death. In Ramayana Rama wins the battle by killing Ravana. The same thing in “the Lion King”, Simba wins by killing Scar. However, the figures of good might not have won is it wasn’t for the help that they received. Rama received help from the more powerful gods, in terms of a chariot as well as other powers to counter act Ravana. Simba also receives help when battling against Scar. During Simba’s battle against scar his family that he had once abandoned cam out and helped him to defeat Scar and his followers.

Although you wouldn’t think to find similarities between an amazing ancient Indian epic and a children’s story, both stories are alike in many ways. They both have figures of good and evil, both figures of good get what they love stolen, both forces of good and evil battle, both figures of good win and win by death. In the end these two stories are actually more alike then we would like to believe. However alike they are they are both still amazing stories and teach great life lessons.