10 Characters Who Are Found Both In Ramayana And Mahabharata

We have been blessed with an incredible childhood adorned by the enchanting stories of the great epics of our culture – Ramayana and Mahabharata. It’s amazing to see the cross-references between these two tales of grand scale which makes it hard to be a skeptic about their authenticity.

Let’s take a look at some of the characters who were mentioned in both epics that make the tales all the more interesting.

1. Jambavan

The King of bears, Jambavan or Jambavanta as he is also known, is said to be a creation of Brahma who went on to assist Rama on his quest to free Sita from the captivity of Raavana. Jambavan also plays a significant role in Mahabharata where he finds himself involved in an eighteen-day-long fight with none other than Krishna.

When Jambavan realized that it was Lord Krishna he was fighting, he submitted to him and also offered his daughter, Jambavati’s hand to Krishna for marriage.

 

2. Vayu Dev

The significance of Vayu Dev in both great epics of Hinduism lies in the fact that he’s the father two great heroes – Hanuman and Bheema.

While Bheema is regarded not only as Vayu Dev’s son but also as his reincarnation, Hanuman is often regarded as Pavan-Putra, which means, the spiritual son of Pavan – Pavan being another name of Vayu Dev, the lord of the winds.

 

3. Maya Danava

Maya Danava, the great deity of the Asuras, is also known as the Mayasura. In Ramayana, the Maya Danava, the builder of the city of Meerut, has been mentioned as the father-in-law of Raavana, to whom, Mayasura’s daughter, Mandodari was married.

Maya Danava is also the one who builds the magnificent palace for Yudhisthira as a service of gratitude to Krishna and Arjuna who spared his life while destroying the Khandava forest.

 

4. Maharishi Bharadwaja

While on exile, Rama, along with Sita and Laxmana had taken refuge in Maharishi Bharadwaja’s ashram. Bharadwaja and his fellow sages knew that Rama was Vishnu reincarnated and so, they didn’t let him leave without accepted the gifts they offered.

The same Bharadwaja is also mentioned as Dronacharya’s father and Asvatthama’s grandfather in Mahabharata.

 

5. Kuber

Kuber, the lord of wealth, also finds mention in Ramayana and Mahabharata both. In Mahabharata, Kuber is mentioned as the brother of sage Vishrava, Raavana’s father, which makes Kuber his uncle.

In Ramayana, Raavana overthrows him off his throne and Kuber settles in the Himalayas.

 

6. Parashurama

The interesting thing about Parashurama is that although he is the sixth avatar of Vishnu, he lived to see the subsequent reincarnations of Vishnu in Rama and Krishna.

In Ramayana, Parashurama was the one to present Sita’s father, King Janaka with the famous bow of Shiva while in Mahabharata, he had been a mentor to great warriors such as Bhisma, Drona and Karna.

 

7. Hanuman

The ardent devotee of Rama, we all know that Hanuman was the biggest and the strongest ally of Rama in his fight against Ravaana. In Mahabharata, there was a very interesting encounter between Bheema and Hanuman, who are considered brothers because of they’re both sons of Vayu Dev.

Upon their meeting, Bheema mistakes Hanuman to be just another monkey but realises his folly when fails to lift even the tail of Hanuman with all the strength he could acquire.

 

8. Vishwamitra

Regarded as the seventh avatar of Lord Vishu, Vishwamitra is the preceptor of Rama and his brother Laxman. His daughter was Shakuntala who in turn, gave birth to Bharata. Bharata went on to become a great emperor of the Bharata dynasty and was succeeded by the Pandavas and Kauravas of Mahabharata.

 

9. Agastya

The Vedic sage is also believed to be the author of Agastya Samhita. In Ramayana, it was Agastya who gave Rama the “Adhithya Hrudhayam” which let him overcome the difficulties to defeat Raavana.

Agastya is also mentioned in the Sauptikaparva of Mahabharata where he gives Drona the biggest weapon ever to have been created – the Brahmastra.

 

10. Vibhishana

Although of the Demon clan, Vibhishana, the brother of Raavana thrived to follow the path of righteousness and is known for revolting against his family just to take sides with the truth in the grand epic of Ramayana.

After Raavana was defeated, Vibhishana was crowned the king of Lanka but he knew he had to pay the price of rising against family. Therefore, when Yudhisthira sent for taking over Lanka, Vibhishana accepted readily.

The intricacies of our epics never cease to amaze.

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