Navigation System Built By Rama During Exile

Rama had no navigation system in exile, so he built one

When Rama went to jungles for 14 years, he created a navigation system for his use

In the unknown territories of jungles, there was a need for a navigation system

When Rama went to jungles for 14 years to fulfill the wish of his step mother Kaikeyi he knew that he was going to stay for so long in unknown territories. He thought he would manage it on his own. Being alone was not a point of worry. But when Sita and then Lakshman insisted on going along, it became his prime concern to think about it seriously. He wanted to evade risks. He wanted to create a navigation system that they could use during exile period of 14 years.

Rama thought about his learning days and esteemed teachers. It was his learning days that he could learn so much to use in life. All the credit for his learning he gave to his great teachers who taught him with all their efforts. Rama remembered his elders and gurus. He thought about Muni Agastya, Ahalya, Muni Bhardwaja, Arundhati, Muni Kamboja, Rishi Parshuram, Guru Vashistha, Muni Rishsringya, and Guru Vishwamitra. He remembered others too. He prayed and wished for a hassle free journey of 14 years. After all, all the time was to be spent in jungles with so much of danger around. Rama was really worried about all this. He was thinking if he could have a device that could help him to navigate on the way. Gradually he came to a conclusion that he will have to invent his own system of navigation. There were no other possible means of assistance he could sense.

Rama decided to go for it. He thought of a system that could help him in navigating the route. He wanted his system to be foolproof and accurate. He knew about Ayodhya and Saryu river. Saryu river as far as this side was concerned. The side of the river touching Ayodhya. What is there on the other side he never knew. He had been in jungles earlier during his learning days. That generated a lot of confidence in him. He knew about the trees that generate paint. He knew about the shrubs that can be used as nails. He thought of using both these to create his navigation system.

Photo credit: arcreyes [-ratamahatta-] via Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-SA

Rama, Sita, and Lakshman left Ayodhya for their exile. It was only Lakshman and Sita with him by the time they reached the other end of Saryu. Everyone else was left behind. He Ayodhya was far away, faded in the diminishing lights of the evening while stepping towards the night. The next He extracted different color paint from different trees’ trunks once he reached the other end of Saryu. the morning he and Lakshman extracted different color paint from different trees’ trunks. They painted different colors to nails and made 4 sets of colored nails. This created his unique navigation system. Four colored nails he used for four directions and that helped him a lot.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can  apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.