Материалы чтений памяти Б. Н. Мельниченко и С. Е. Трифонова

98 THE ROLE OF THE MIGHTY GODS IN KING RAMA I’S RAMAYANA P. Chatchamni Kasetsart University Laboratory School, Faculty of Education, Kasetsart University, Bangkok chatchamni_kate@hotmail.com Abstract This research is aimed to study and analyze to what extent the roles of the mighty gods in King Rama I’s Ramayana influence the plot of this story by examining their actions across a text. The result shows that the mighty gods, namely, Śiva, Vi ṣṇ u and Brahma play major roles to sup- port Rama’s army (Dharma side) to gain the victory and to protect the righteousness of the world. As it appears in this Ramayana, Śiva used his power to order, curse, bless, exterminate the evil, judge and create. Vi ṣṇ u also used his power to protect the righteousness as the god and as the avatar. Moreover, Brahma used his power to create and protect the righteousness of the world. According to these actions, all mighty gods had power and used it to support the right side and protect the righ- teousness of the world. Therefore, these roles apparently have influence on the story of King Rama I’s Ramayana. Keyword: role of gods, Hindu gods, Ramayana, King Rama I. 1. Background and Significance of the Research Ramayana is a very important body of Hindu literature which presents the story of the incarnation of Vi ṣṇ u as Rama for extermi- nating the dark times. Also, it has influenced the Indians believes. With the spread of Indian culture throughout Southeast Asia, Rama- yana came to acquire more and more popularity across this region, Thailand included. Thus, it imposed this impact on the development of many literary works of that times; and among them in the begin-