Śambūka
Sign in to savethumb|Rama slays Shambuka. Illustration from a Mughal miniature of the Ramayana. Shambuka (, IAST: śambūka) is a character in some editions of the Ramayana. Some say that the character and his story are an interpolation which is not found in the original Valmiki Ramayana but in a later addition called Uttara Kanda.
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Legend in the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana
- Appearance in other texts
- Reception
- Relationship to Caste System
- In popular culture
- Notes
- References
thumb|Rama slays Shambuka. Illustration from a Mughal miniature of the Ramayana. Shambuka (, IAST: śambūka) is a character in some editions of the Ramayana. Some say that the character and his story are an interpolation which is not found in the original Valmiki Ramayana but in a later addition called Uttara Kanda.
According to this version, Shambuka, a shudra ascetic, was killed by the god Rama (protagonist of the Ramayana) for attempting to perform tapas (austerities) in violation of dharma, resulting in the bad karma which caused the death of a Brahmin's son.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Śambūka” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.