Rama

RAMA (Heb. Hā-Rāmāh = "The Height"). - Name of several biblical localities situated on hills.

1. R. in the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. 18:25) on the Jerusalem-Bethel road (Judg. 4:5), north of Gibeah (Judg. 19:13; 1 Sam. 25:6), an outpost to the south of the Kingdom of Israel and fortified by King Baasha (1 Kings 15:17; 2 Chron. 15:1-6). After the fall of Jerusalem it became a collection center for prisoners deported to Babylon (Jer. 41:1). Repopulated after the exile by the Benjaminites (Ezra 2:26; Neh. 11:33), it was nothing but a parvus siculus in the time of St. Jerome (PL 25, 1354). The indication of Eusebius (Onom., 144, 14), 6 miles north of Aelia, corresponds to the present-day village of er-Rām, 9 km. north of the Jerusalem-Nablus road.

2. R. in Naphtali (Josh. 19:36) is the village of er-Rameh, at the 25th km. of the road from Safed to Acre. In 1930, among the remains of Jewish dwellings, an inscription was discovered there in memory of Rabbi 'Elī'ezer bar Te'ādār, who had built an inn there.

3. R. in Asher (Josh. 19:28) was in the vicinity of Tyre; its identification is uncertain. Both Ramjah east of Rās en-Naqūrah and Hīrbet er-Rāmāh east of el-Bassah have been proposed.

4. R. homeland, residence and burial place of the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1:1; Rāmāthajim; in the other passages, 1:19; 2:11; 7:17; 8:4; 15:34; 16:13; 19:18; 22:23; 25:1 always Rāmāh and with the accusative of motion Rāmāthāh). The Septuagint transcribes 'Aḫuzāẓūz (in 19:18; 20:1 'Pāyāz) from which comes the 'Aḫuzāẓūz of the Gospels (v. ABHMAYRA). Among the many localities proposed for Samuel's homeland, the most probable is the one already attested by Eusebius (Onom., 144, 28) and by St. Jerome (Epist., 108; PL 22, 883), namely the village of Rentis, 15 km. northeast of Lydda and 40 from Jerusalem. This tradition agrees with the itinerary of Saul in search of the she-asses and with the meeting with the prophet in his house at R. The form Rāmāthajim alludes to the two heights over which the village extends.

RĀMA. - R., like Kṛṣṇa (v.), was a mortal hero, who deserved to be considered an incarnation (avatāra) of the god Viṣṇu for his valor and his extraordinary virtues. He belonged to the solar dynasty, which had Iṣkāvu as its progenitor and prided itself on descending from Vivasvat, the Sun; he came to the throne after a long series of vicissitudes that are the subject of the Rāmāyaṇa (v.) or Deeds of Rāma.

It is not known when the admiration for the hero began to be transformed into veneration for the god made man. In the parts of the Rāmāyaṇa recognized as apocryphal, which belong to ca. the 2nd century A.D., the apotheosis of R. is already an accomplished fact, but there is no record of a true and proper cult rendered to images of R. and Sītā until the 13th century. A vigorous impulse to the spread of Ramaism was given by the reforms carried out by the Brahmin Rāmānanda (14th century) within Vaiṣṇavism. He replaced the cult of R. and Sītā with that, far less noble and pure, of Kṛṣṇa (v.) and his lover Rādhā; he made use of the Neo-Indian dialects to make the doctrines of Ramaism accessible to the people, and he abolished caste distinctions in the order he founded. Through his work and that of his disciples, who were 13, among them a woman,

Padmavāti, Ramaism spread throughout all India, not without schisms caused by dogmatic disagreements. One of the most important is the one that even today divides the Ramaites of the north (ṣaḍāhalai) from those of the south (teṅkalai). The former believe that to attain mokṣa (v.), bāshī, latria, is necessary. It is not enough to seek refuge in God (R.-Viṣṇu) to obtain salvation; one must merit it through the observance of religious practices, moral conduct and the exercise of Yoga. The latter believe instead that God spontaneously saves the souls predisposed to receive his grace, and that therefore prapatti, dedication to him, is sufficient. The ṣaḍāhalai take as their example the little monkey that clings to its mother to be carried to safety by her, while the teṅkalai do as the kitten that abandons itself, inert, to its mother to be carried to a safe place.

Ferdinando Belloni Filippi

RAMAḌĀN: v. ISLĀM.