Twinning Loyalties – Lakshman and Shatrughan

The beauty of Ramayan is that it shows each and every relation of life as how it has to be. Each and every individual show the beauty of the relation and highlight a virtue necessary to walk in the path of life. When it comes to Shri Ram and his brothers, each of them depict a virtue which are much important in not only making a family strong , but also define how a family stands together in times of adversities. While the elder siblings Shri Ram and Bharat stand for truth, the younger ones, Lakshman and Shatrughan stand for loyalty and support their brothers win the fight for Dharma. It is often seen that youngsters in the family are given more comfort than the elders. But, Lakshman and Shatrughan do quite the opposite and instead devote themselves to take care of their elder brothers. This is a great quality and it imparts that even youngsters are responsible when it comes to keeping the family together.

Since childhood, Lakshman becomes the life breath of Shri Ram, and Shatrughan finds servitude in Bharat. Lakshman finds the reflections of his parents, guru, brother, friend in Shri Ram. Shatrughan had total faith in Bharat and never leaves him alone. Both of the younger brothers become the soul of the elder brothers. They ideally show how beautiful a relation of a sibling can be.

Dedicating a selfless life in service of the elder brothers in spite of having a family of their own is a very difficult task, yet Lakshman and Shatrughan manage it with great devotion. With life partners who support them in their tasks, they unconditionally devote their life to the service of their brothers. Lakshman and Urmila are the epitome of unconditional sacrifice. As the better half of Lakshman, Urmila totally understands Lakshman’s devotion towards Shri Ram and supports him. When Shri Ram has to leave for the forest, Lakshman and Urmila silently sacrifice their personal life as they both have duties to take care of the family.

When Bharat is distressed with the separation of Shri Ram, Shatrughan becomes his strength. He never shies away from his responsibilities and just as his elder brothers, manages his duties well and takes care of the administrative affairs of the kingdom and keeps it united in spite of distress times when all the brothers were separated for the cause of Dharma. Shrutakirti is the princess of whom very less is spoken. She simply follows Shatrughan’ ideals and takes care of her elder sisters and the queens in the palace, supporting Shatrughan in all times.

Both Lakshman and Shatrughan are the shadows of Shri Ram and Bharat. It is often heard that a shadow is the one which always stays with us, and gets highlighted when the radiance of light falls on the body. In the similar way, the loyalty, virtues and the way how a younger one has a role in keeping the family together as a shadow is shown by Lakshman and Shaturghan, and their loyalty is highlighted by the radiance of the love of Shri Ram and Bharat on them. Although Lakshman was in the forest and Shatrughan in the palace, their loyalty was always twinning and till date is defined one of the greatest virtue of life in the most beautiful selfless way.