Uploaded December 2015 | Updated September 2026, 45 minutes ago
Soorya Dance Company Los Angeles presents "Ramayana" - the most popular epic story of India, in Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form of South India at the Malibu High School for the LA Indian Dance Festival 2015. This 5000 year old Ramayana is the story of Prince Rama who is the son of Ayodhya King Dasharatha and queen Kausalya, and is entitled to the throne. Though Dasaratha is himself keen that Rama should ascend to the kingship, Dasaratha’s other queen Kaikeyi contrives to have Rama sent into exile for fourteen years, and have her own son, Bharatha, installed as king. Though Bharatha is not a party to the plot, and is devoted to his elder brother, Rama nonetheless proceeds to the forest, accompanied by his brother Lakshmana, (who is one of two sons of Dasaratha’s third queen, Sumithra), as well as by his wife, Sita, renowned for her beauty and matchless virtue.
In the forest, Rama and his party have numerous adventures, but it is the abduction of Sita by Ravana, the demon-king of Lanka, which sets the stage for the epic battle between Rama and Ravana.
In his efforts to find Sita, whose whereabouts are unknown, Rama is aided by Hanuman, the monkey god or god of wind. In Indian literature and mythology, there is no greater exemplar of the perfect devotee than Hanuman. Eventually, Ravana, his kin, and his entire force is defeated by Rama and his military allies, and in triumph Rama returns to Ayodhya with Lakshmana and Sita and is crowned king.
Soorya Dance Company Los Angeles presents "Ramayana" - the most popular epic story of India, in Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form of South India at the Malibu High School for the LA Indian Dance Festival 2015. This 5000 year old Ramayana is the story of Prince Rama who is the son of Ayodhya King Dasharatha and queen Kausalya, and is entitled to the throne. Though Dasaratha is himself keen that Rama should ascend to the kingship, Dasaratha’s other queen Kaikeyi contrives to have Rama sent into exile for fourteen years, and have her own son, Bharatha, installed as king. Though Bharatha is not a party to the plot, and is devoted to his elder brother, Rama nonetheless proceeds to the forest, accompanied by his brother Lakshmana, (who is one of two sons of Dasaratha’s third queen, Sumithra), as well as by his wife, Sita, renowned for her beauty and matchless virtue.
In the forest, Rama and his party have numerous adventures, but it is the abduction of Sita by Ravana, the demon-king of Lanka, which sets the stage for the epic battle between Rama and Ravana.
In his efforts to find Sita, whose whereabouts are unknown, Rama is aided by Hanuman, the monkey god or god of wind. In Indian literature and mythology, there is no greater exemplar of the perfect devotee than Hanuman. Eventually, Ravana, his kin, and his entire force is defeated by Rama and his military allies, and in triumph Rama returns to Ayodhya with Lakshmana and Sita and is crowned king.
