Boy Kings: Rama and Arthur

The Ramayana and Le Morte D’Arthur are magical stories about two special boys who are to become king of their respective realms. In The Ramayana, Rama is the one who is to rise up and ”restore righteousness and virtue to mankind and eliminate all evil” (The Ramayana 22). In Le Morte D’Arthur, Arthur is chosen to create Camelot and The Knights of the Round Table “for it is God’s will that Arthur shall be king, and he that holdeth against it, we will slay him” (Le Morte D’Arthur 20). Perhaps two of the greatest epics ever written, The Ramayana and Le Morte D’Arthur not only share the criteria that make them epics (royal birth, unusual conception, quests, magical teachers), but also share similar storylines. 


Rama and Arthur are perhaps the easy connection between the two stories. Rama and Arthur are both born into royal families. Though two boys lead vastly different lives, there comes a point when both of their lives converge. In both stories, the reader sees the emergence of the guru. For Rama, his guru is named Viswamithra and for Arthur his guru is named Merlin. The two gurus cleverly guide both of the boys on their intended paths. They give the boys words of wisdom, they show them how a king should rule his land and subjects, and at a certain point they leave their students.


Another character connection between the two stories is Lakshmana and Gawain. Lakshmana and Gawain, although different in kinship to their respective kings, both serve the same function. The two are the sworn protectors of their masters. They go anywhere and do anything that their kings ask of them. Not only is there a connection in characters in the stories, but there is also a connection in storyline.


The first connection in storyline is between Rama and Arthur and their gurus. In Rama’s case he is allowed to grow up with his birth family, but there comes a time when Viswamithra comes to take him from his family so he can be shown his intended path. This scenario also occurs for Arthur, although Arthur is taken at birth by Merlin and placed into his intended path. The two storylines are pretty much identical to each other. The second connection between the stories is when Indra changes into Ahalya’s husband so that he can sleep with her. This occurs in Le Morte D’Arthur when Uther Pendragon changes into the Duke of Cornwall so he can sleep with Igraine the Duke’s wife. Both of the stories show a man who is completely infatuated with a married woman and then uses metamorphosis so he can get what he wants. 


The third connection occurs when Rama strings Shiva’s bow and wins the hand of Sita. This kind of convention of a god ordaining what is to be is also a big part of Le Morte D’Arthur. Arthur is able to pull the sword from the stone because God allows him to. God has chosen Arthur to become the King of England and Lord Shiva has chosen Rama to marry Sita.


The Ramayana and Le Morte D’Arthur are masterful tales of adventure, deceit, and love. Though both of the stories were written centuries apart it shows that there is a desire for the themes of epics to live on. Human beings never tire of these kinds of stories because they show the very good that man processes, yet at the same time they show the pure evil that can corrupt and destroy man.