Rama, often distinguished as Ramacandra, is usually treated as the seventh incarnation and anterior to Krishna, for he was born in the second age of this rapidly deteriorating world, whereas Krishna did not appear until the third.  But his deification is later than that of Krishna and probably an imitation of it.  He was the son of Dasaratha, King of Ayodhya or Oudh, but was driven into banishment by a palace intrigue.  He married Sita, daughter of the King of Mithila.  She was carried off by Ravana, the demon tyrant of Ceylon, and Rama re-captured her with the aid of Hanuman, King of the Monkeys, and his hosts.[361] Is there any kernel of history in this story?  An examination of Hindu legends suggests that they usually preserve names and genealogies correctly but distort facts, and fantastically combine independent narratives.  Rama was a semi-divine hero in the tales of ancient Oudh, based on a real personality, and Ceylon was colonized by Indians of Aryan speech.[362] But can we assume that a king of Oudh really led an expedition to the far south, with the aid of ape-like aborigines?  It is doubtful, and the narrative of the Ramayana reads like poetic invention rather than distorted history.  And yet, what can have prompted the legend except the occurrence of some such expedition?  In Rama’s wife Sita, seem to be combined an agricultural goddess and a heroine of ancient romance, embodying the Hindu ideal of the true wife.

We have no record of the steps by which Rama and Krishna were deified, although in different parts of the epic they are presented in very different aspects, sometimes as little more than human, sometimes as nothing less than the Supreme Deity.  But it can hardly be doubted that this deification owes something to the example of Buddhism.  It may be said that the development of both Buddhism and Hinduism in the centuries immediately preceding and following our era gives parallel manifestations of the same popular tendency to deify great men.  This is true, but the non-Buddhist forms of Indian religion while not objecting to deification did not particularly encourage it.  But in this period, Buddhism and Jainism were powerful:  both of them sanctioned the veneration of great teachers and, as they did not recognize sacrifice or adoration of gods, this veneration became the basis of their ceremonies and easily passed into worship.  The Buddhists are not responsible for the introduction of deification, but the fact that it was to some extent the basis of their public ceremonies must have gone far to make the worship of Rama and Krishna seem natural.

It is commonly said that whereas the whole divine nature of Vishnu was embodied in Krishna, Rama was only a partial incarnation.  Half the god’s essence took human form in him, the other half being distributed among his brothers.  Krishna is a greater figure in popular esteem and receives the exclusive devotion of more worshippers.  The name of Rama commands the reverence of most Hindus, and has a place