The Ultimate Ramayana Quiz | Hinduism

Answer: Pinaka

Pinaka is the bow of Shiva, and one of the many names of Shiva is Pinakapani, meaning one who wields Pinaka. Kodanda is the bow of Rama. Khatvanga is the magic wand/staff of Shiva and Koumodaki is the mace of Vishnu.

Answer: Urmila

Lakshmana's wife, Urmila, was an accomplished painter. Mandavi is Bharata's wife, while Shrutakirti is Shatrughna's wife. Jahnavi is another name of Ganga, the deity of sacred river Ganges.

Answer: Mareecha

Mareecha was actually defeated by Rama once before and was afraid of Rama. However, Ravana persuades him to take the form of a golden deer. Sita, on seeing the golden deer, asks Rama to catch it. Rama goes after it and kills Mareecha, who, while dying mimics Rama's voice and screams "save me Lakshmana". On hearing this, Sita gets agitated and sends Lakshmana to help his brother.

Then Ravana comes and abducts Sita in the absence of both Rama and Lakshmana. Surpanakha is another demon whose nose and ears are cut off by Lakshmana. Kumbhakarna is a brother of Ravana. Bakasura is a demon in Mahabharata.

Answer: Jatayu

Jatayu was a large eagle (falcon) and was the younger son of Arun, who is the charioteer of Sun. Sampathi was the elder brother of Jatayu. While Ravana was abducting Sita, Jatayu fought a fierce battle with Ravana to save Sita. Ravana Cut off Jatayu's wings in the battle. Rama, while searching Sita, comes across Jatayu, who informs him that Ravana had abducted Sita.

Answer: True

There are seven Kandas in Ramayana, but only one named for a major character. First is Bala Kanda, which deals with the childhood of Rama and his brothers. Next is Ayodhya Kanda, which deals with Rama and his brothers' arrival back to Ayodhya after their education. Next is Aranya Kanda, in which Rama is banished to forest, and Sita is abducted by Ravana. Fourth one is Kishkindha Kanda, in which Rama meets his most devout lieutenant, Hanuman, and Sugreeva and his monkey army (vanara sena). Fifth one is Sundara Kanda, which is the only Kanda to be named after a character. Sundara Kanda is named after Hanuman, another name of whom, is Sundara, which means beautiful. Next kanda is Yuddha Kanda, where Rama kills Ravana and fetches Sita back to Ayodhya.

The last one is Uttara Kanda, which deals with Rama's reign over Ayodhya.

Answer: Jambavanta

Jambavanta the bear, is the other immortal character (chiranjeev) in the epic, apart from Hanuman. He tells Hanuman that Hanuman can indeed jump over the ocean and reach Lanka.

Answer: Nala and Neela

The brothers Nala and Neela were given the responsibility of building the bridge, as they had a boon that rocks thrown by them into water will float. So all the vanara sena would fetch rocks and give them to Nala and Neela, who would in turn, throw them into water.

Interestingly, there is a chain of islands linking India and SriLanka, called the Adam's Bridge. It is claimed by some that this chain of islands is the bridge built by the vanara sena. Vishwakarma is the diety of architecture and engineering.

Answer: Lakshmana

Indrajit was to perform one yagnyan (offering to God) called Nikumbhila, which would make him invincible. Vibheeshana, the youngest brother of Ravana, gets to know this and tells Rama that this yagnyan should not be allowed be completed, otherwise, defeating Indrajit and Ravana would be impossible. Lakshmana goes and kills Indrajit with a special weapon. On hearing the death of his son, Ravana sends a special weapon called Ashtaghanta, which knocks Lakshmana unconcious, which makes everybody think that Lakshmana is dead.

Answer: Sushena

Sushena, the healer of vanara sena, informs after inspecting the unconcious Lakshmana that Lakshmana is alive and can be revived only by the Sanjivani herb, which is located on a hill called Sumeru or Chandradrona. Hanuman goes to fetch the herb, but could not identify it, so he lifts the whole mountain and fetches it to Lanka. Sushena then identifies the herb on the mountain and revives Lakshmana. Vibheeshana is the enlightened younger brother of Ravana, who helps Rama kill Ravana. Dhanvantari is the healer of the gods.

Answer: Mandodari

Mandodari was the beautiful daughter of Maya, the king of giants and his elfin wife Hema. She is portrayed as the most devout and righteous wife of Ravana. She tries to dissuade Ravana from abducting Sita, but Ravana does not heed her advice.