The bond with the sibling is a gift of the Almighty. Growing and bonding together, a sibling relation teaches many beautiful aspects of family strength. The Ramayan exhibits the sibling relation is shown in different shades of good and bad, and each of the sibling relation in the Ramayan depicts a lesson on how siblings make a family strong, and also how do they make it weak too. Each of the sibling bonds teaches an important lesson in a different shade teaching the values of family.
Shri Ram and his brothers – Shri Ram and his brothers are beautiful examples of unity and brotherhood. They were half-brothers, but one soul. When Shri Ram was declared king, he expresses his desire to share the kingdom with Lakshman and mentions that what all are his, are Lakshman’s too. Shri Ram has the same affection for his brother Bharat too, where he sacrifices the kingdom for his brother’s happiness. When Lakshman is unconscious in the battle, Shri Ram no longer wants to wage a war for Mata Sita as he feels without Lakshman none of his happiness matters. He is relieved only after Lakshman regains conscious and gets back his zeal to fight for his mission. When they return back to Ayodhya, Lakshman gratifies his respect towards Bharat by refusing the crown prince position and humbly requesting Shri Ram to crown Bharat instead. The brothers of Ramayan depict how a family becomes an ideal for mankind with their unity in all times.
Bali and Sugriv – While Shri Ram forgoes his happiness and kingdom for Bharat, Bali banishes Sugirv from the kingdom overshadowed by pride. Sugriv was a dutiful brother who always followed Bali’s footsteps. However Bali overlooked the service of Sugriv. After the fight with the demon Mayavi, without knowing what had actually happened, Bali banishes Sugriv from the kingdom and all the more takes possession of Sugriv’s wife Ruma. Bali creates misery in Sugriv’s life and that finally leads to Shri Ram punishing Bali. It is only when Shri Ram explains what real Dharma is, Bali understands his mistakes. Bali set rights his mistake by entrusting Angad to Sugriv and wishing for his success. Bali and Sugriv depict that trust between siblings is most important and one should not fall prey to pride about his achievements and neglect his own people.
Ravan and his brothers – Born to the great sage Vishrava, while Ravan went to become the conqueror of the world, Kumbhakarn was the mightiest and Vibhishan was the righteous one. However Ravan fills his mind with pride and arrogance bout his powers and neglects the good counsel of his brothers. Ravan does not realise that his brothers are his true well-wishers and succumbs to the false praises of people. Ravan breaks the family apart, with Vibhishan leaving him for good and Kumbhakarn sacrificing his life for Ravan. Ravan’s life is a lesson that even the mightiest of the warrior is doomed when he doesn’t give respect to the good counsel of his siblings.
While the sibling bond of Shri Ram gave an example to the world as to how one can be strong with unity, Ravan and Bali gave examples of what not to do in a sibling relation. The shades of good and bad in their sibling relations teach mankind in thinking as to how the relation can be nurtured with unity or broken with arrogance and pride.