B. The Gods of the Ramayana

Part One: The Gods

Agni. The deity of fire, who receives what is offered into the flames and stands witness to what is sworn before them. Rama's weapon against the rakshasa Subahu was named for him. Agni's largest role comes after the war at Lanka, when Sita entered fire to answer the public doubt cast on her, and Agni carried her out of the flames unharmed, declaring before the assembly that she had remained faithful to Rama in thought, word, and body.

Brahma. The creator deity, who presides over the granting and keeping of boons throughout the book. He gave Ravana the protection, excluding only human beings, that made him so hard to defeat; he restored the infant Hanuman to life after Indra's thunderbolt struck him down, and later gave Hanuman and the other gods their protective gifts; he stopped Yama from striking Ravana dead with the Rod of Time, because doing so would have made his own earlier word false; and at the very end of the book, as Rama's human life came to its appointed close, Brahma welcomed him back into Vishnu's form.

Indra. King of the gods. Early in the book he deceived Ahalya by wearing her husband Gautama's form and was cursed for it. When the infant Hanuman leapt toward Indra's elephant Airavata, mistaking it for fruit, Indra struck him down with his thunderbolt; he later gave Hanuman his name and protection from that same weapon. During the war at Lanka his charioteer Matali drove Rama's chariot in the final duel with Ravana, and Indra granted Rama's wish that the vanaras who had died in battle be restored to life. Ravana once captured Indra in battle, an act that earned Ravana's son the name Indrajit, "conqueror of Indra," before the gods secured Indra's release.

Kāla. Time, "the gatherer of all things," who came to Ayodhya near the end of the book as Brahma's messenger to tell Rama that the span of his life among mortals had been completed. His private meeting with Rama, and the condition that no one might see or hear it, set in motion the events that led to Lakshmana's own departure from the world.

Kubera. Also called Vaishravana and Dhanada, Kubera is the guardian of the world's wealth, one of the great protectors of the world named beside Indra, Varuna, and Yama. He first ruled the city of Lanka and possessed the flying vehicle Pushpaka; his younger half-brother Ravana took both from him by force, and both were eventually restored to him, Lanka after Ravana's death and Pushpaka soon after.

Sarasvati. The goddess associated with speech and sacred learning. At Brahma's direction she entered Kumbhakarna's mouth as he was about to ask Brahma for a boon, so that he asked for many years of sleep instead of a request the gods feared he might otherwise make.

Shiva. Also called Rudra in some chapters, Shiva owns the great bow that Rama breaks at Mithila to win Sita, a bow won long before in a struggle with Vishnu. When Ravana tried to force his way past Kailasa, Shiva pressed the mountain down on him with his toe; pleased afterward by Ravana's strength in bearing the pain, he gave him the name Ravana, for the roar that had shaken the three worlds. Later, having taken female form on a mountain to delight his wife (called Uma in one chapter and Parvati in others), his play there altered every creature who entered, including the king Ila; a horse sacrifice offered to Shiva afterward restored Ila's permanent male form.

Surya. The Sun. As an infant, Hanuman leapt toward Surya, mistaking his brightness for fruit; Surya did not burn the child, and later gave him a portion of his own radiance and the promise of instruction. Hanuman learned grammar from Surya by traveling before him across the sky, his face turned always toward his teacher.

Uma. Called Parvati in some chapters and Uma in others, she is Shiva's wife. When the king Ila, transformed into a woman by Shiva's play on their mountain, could not have his male form restored by Shiva's own boon, Uma granted the alternative that let Ila live one month as a woman and the next as a man.

Varuna. Lord of the waters, one of the great guardians of the world named beside Indra, Kubera, and Yama. Rama placed the bow he received from Parashurama into Varuna's keeping. Ravana's undersea campaign brought him into conflict with Varuna's sons and forces, though Varuna himself had gone to hear the gandharvas' music and was not there to meet him. When Rama's army needed a way across the sea to Lanka, the ocean itself rose in visible form and agreed to bear the great bridge the vanaras built.

Vayu. The wind god, Hanuman's divine father. When Indra's thunderbolt struck down the infant Hanuman, Vayu withdrew in grief and took the breath of life out of every living creature until Brahma restored his son.

Vishnu. The great deity who protects the worlds. To answer Ravana's threat, the gods asked Vishnu to take human birth; he entered Dasharatha's household through the fourfold birth of Rama and his three brothers, and the gods later recognized Lakshmana as a fourth portion of Vishnu returned to them. Parashurama recognized Vishnu in Rama during their encounter after the wedding at Mithila. At the very end of the book, Rama walked into the Sarayu river and returned to Vishnu's own form.

Yama. Lord of the dead, one of the great guardians of the world named beside Indra, Varuna, and Kubera. Before him and the fire god Agni, the dead receive the consequences of what they did in life. Ravana invaded Yama's realm and fought his guards, the personified figure of Death who stood beside Yama's chariot, and finally Yama himself with the Rod of Time; Brahma stopped Yama from striking the killing blow only because it would have broken the boon Brahma had earlier granted Ravana.

Part Two: Kinds of Beings

Apsara. A celestial woman, often associated with dance, who belongs to the courts of the gods. Apsaras danced at the wedding of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna in Mithila. Rambha, an apsara pledged to Vaishravana's son Nalakubara, was assaulted by Ravana on the road to Kailasa; her testimony led Nalakubara to curse Ravana never again to force himself on an unwilling woman.

Asura. One of the elder beings who contend with the gods for rule of the worlds. Asuras are not simply another tradition's demons; they are the gods' rivals and kin, distinct from daityas, danavas, and rakshasas, though closely related to them. Ravana's boon from Brahma protected him from asuras along with gods and several other orders of powerful beings.

Daitya. One of an elder race of beings, born of the same fathers as the gods and set against them from the beginning; the danavas are their kin. Vritra, whose death at Indra's hands and the sacrifice that followed it are told to Rama as a precedent for the horse sacrifice, was a daitya ruler.

Danava. Kin to the daityas, another elder race set against the gods. Ravana's boon from Brahma named danavas among the powerful beings from whom he sought protection. Maya, the craftsman who made Mandodari's mother's palace and later gave Ravana an unfailing spear, is a danava, and the Kalakeya danavas were led by Shurpanakha's husband Vidyujjihva.

Gandharva. A musician of the courts of the gods. Gandharvas sang at the wedding of Rama and his brothers, and elsewhere they are named among the powerful beings, including gods, asuras, and rakshasas, who could not string Shiva's great bow. Sarama, Vibhishana's wife, was the daughter of a gandharva king.

Kimpurusha. A race of the mountain country. When the sage Budha found Ila's transformed female companions with no husbands and no home, he told them to settle on the mountain, where they would find husbands called kimpurushas; his words gave that race its beginning in the book.

Naga. A serpent-associated being, distinct from ordinary snakes. Ravana's journey below the waters brought him to Bhogavati, a naga city ruled by Vasuki, which he subdued before continuing his campaign.

Rakshasa. A kind of powerful nonhuman being in the world of the book; the word is not simply another tradition's word for a demon. Ravana, lord of the rakshasas, ruled Lanka with his people; the class includes figures as different from one another as Vibhishana, devoted to right conduct, and the violent Khara and Kumbhakarna.

Rishi. A sage whose disciplined practice and learning carry religious and public authority, not a clerical office. The word is used for the sages who came to Rama's court from every direction after the war, led by Agastya, whom the king received as people before whom power itself must answer; Vishvamitra, Narada, and Valmiki are among the many other rishis who shape the book's events.

Vanara. A powerful forest being, often represented in monkey-like form, and never merely a comic animal. Vanaras built kingdoms, held councils, fought wars, and kept loyalties as fiercely as human rulers; Hanuman, Sugriva, Vali, Tara, and Angada are among the vanaras central to the search for Sita and the war at Lanka.

Yaksha. A powerful being of the forest world, keeper of wild places and of wealth hidden under the earth. Yakshas are distinct from rakshasas and are not evil by class: Tataka, born a yakshi (a female yaksha), turned violent only after a curse fell on her. Kubera commanded yaksha guards when Ravana attacked his mountain dwelling at Kailasa.