International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics

Volume 118 No. 20 2018, 289-293

ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version)
url: http://www.ijpam.eu
Special Issue
ijpam.eu

Modern-day leadership concepts inspired from Lord Sri Rama’s

“Kalyaana Gunas”: Excerpts from Valmiki Ramayana


Sreejith.A Dr.Jeayaram Subramanian

Depart ment of Management Assistant Professor
Amrita Vishwa Vidypeetham Depart ment of Management
Amritapuri Campus,KeralaIndia Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
sreejithasok001@g mail.co m Amritapuri Campus,Kerala India
jeayaram@am.amrita.edu
Abstract—The leadershi p concepts have been devel ope d
since ancient ti mes. Val miki Ramayana demonstrates II. LIT ERATURE REVIEW
each and every situati on of human life. Accordi ng to A. Leadership
Val miki Ramayana Lord Sri Rama is the only person i n
the earth wi th all the g ood qualities of an i deal leader. Leadership is the skill of influencing and motivating people
This paper mainly deals with anal yzing the leadershi p and achieving acommon goal. Leadership makes society,
characteristics (Kalyaana Gunas) of Lord Sri Rama and Organization,and country effective and prosperous. Every
incorporating it with current leader’s characteristics in King ruled the world, they had theirown leadership styles
an organizati on and how leadership traitsof Lord Sri and management styles. Valmiki Ramayana has been
Rama infl uence leaders in an organization. Here we used inspiring millions of people in India and other countries
qualitati ve research methodolog y named as hermeneutics since many years ago. Lord Sri Rama’s Kalyaana gunas
which is an interpretati on of ancient classical wisdom have attracted many people and many researchers quoted
literature and found that leadershi p characteristics of him as an ideal leader. Real leaders never bend their heads
Lord Sri Rama is a good moti vation and role model for down. They never run away from problems and challenges.
current leaders in organizations. Lord Sri Rama was such a leader who is known to be
anincarnation of Lord Vishnu. In the paper (Pathak, P.,
I. INTRODUCTION Singh, S. and Anshul, A., 2016), Lord Rama is depicted as
the ―Maryada Purushan‖ (Perfect man) showing the epitome
of manneris m of a leader who is capable of lead ing a group
T HE leadership traits have been passed down for
centuries. From the ancient times to current scenario we
of people. This is a treatise related to the problem-solving
capability of a leader with good governance. (Balakrishnan
see a lot of leaders and their numerous traits. The branches Muniapan, 2007) explained the transformational leadership
of wh ich had started from earlier generations. Burns (1978) styles demonstrated by Lord Sri Rama and how it influenced
illustrated transformational leadership as a process that his followers. According to (Sivananda, 1996) quoted
motivates followers by appealing to high ideals and moral Valmiki Ramayana as one of the most influential and
values. Transformational leaders can create avision for the majestic epic depicting dharma through the description of
organization, society,and country and also they could thelife o f one of the greatest kings, Lord Sri Rama. He also
transform their followers into good leaders. The described the life of Lord Sri Rama as a role model for all
transformational leadership characteristics were already the men to attain the highest embodiments of
exhibited by Lord Sri Rama thousands of years back. righteousness.(Balakrishnan Muniapan and Mohan
Valmiki Ramayana demonstrates Lord Sri Rama as the only Dass,2009) tells about Indian leadership perspective fro m
person living on the earth to have theembodiment of sixteen literary works of poet Kannadasan and demonstrated content
analysis besides leadership interpretations from ancient
different auspicious qualities (Kalyaana Gunas).This paper
Indianliterature like Ramayana. (Vikasa, 2000) in his work
illustrates the leadership characteristics of Lord Sri Rama
explained how the verses of Valmiki Ramayana were widely
and how it in fluenced his followers. The review and
sung in nook and corner of India. He also explained that the
literature of this paper are based on research methodology
daily usage of Valmiki Ramayana in everyday conversation
named as hermeneutics which is an interpretation of ancient of Indians astonished even the British missionaries. In
classical wisdom literature. Thailand Ramayana is called as Ramakien, Serat Rama in
Indonesia and in Malaysia it is known as Hikayat Seri Rama
(Rosen, 2002). In the study done by (Balakrishnan
Muniapan and Biswajit Satpathy, 2010) cites how Ramayana
enhances managerial effectiveness. (Wah, S. S., 2003)
highlights leaders as the most important element in
leadership and he also explains that personality, conduct,and
character the leader possess as amost critical ingredient for

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the success of any company. He also adds that organizations A person is said to possess the quality of
without a leader are just collection of people. ―Sousheelyam‖ when he/she comes down from h is/her
elite level/standard to the lowest level and accepts
B. Lord Sri Rama as a leader
everyone unconditionally. For instance, we can see this
According to Valmiki Ramayana Rama is the world- quality in Rama wherein when he goes to the forest, he
renownedgentleman who is keenly into the path of accepts Guha, the leader of the hunters as his younger
righteousness. Rama inspired many of his followers in many brother. He accepts Sugriva, the king of the Vaanaras
stages of their life with his values and thoughts same way (Monkeys) as his brother. He accepts Hanuman as one
Burns (1978) illustrated transformational leadership as a of his best devotees, who by nature is born in the clan o f
process that motivates followers by appealing to high ideals monkeys. He then proclaims Vib ishana, a person who’s
and moral values. A leadership happens in either of two born in the Rakshasa (Demon) clan as his brother too.
ways: transactional and transformational. (Bass and Avolio, So, in all these cases we can observe that Lord Rama
1994) explained four d imensions of the leadership like treats everyone equally without any variations, whoever
inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulat ion,and they are and wherever they originate fro m. Th is noble
individual consideration. Swami Vivekananda once quality is called Sousheelyam. So fro m this, we can
described Lord Sri Rama as animmortal character and infer that a good leader should come tothe lowest level
ancient idol of heroic ages who is embodied with truth, and treat every team members equally and he/she should
morality ideal son,and husband. not discriminate their subordinates and should give
value to team members.
III. M ET HODOLOGY
Through this paper, we want to incorporate the leadership B. Veeryavaan:
characteristics of Lord Sri Rama with modern leadership This can be interpreted as ―Strength‖. It’s well known
qualities. We have taken 8 Kalyana Gunas (good qualities) that Lord Rama was a great and a fierce warrior with
of Lord Sri Rama fro m Valmiki Ramayana and relating extraordinary powers and strength.Lord Rama and his
these characteristics to modern management. Here we used alliance of vanaras had to face the powerful and
qualitative research methodology named as hermeneutics sophisticated army of the Demon-King Ravana, the one
which is an interpretation of ancient classical wisdom who singlehandedly defeated the formidable Devas and
literature. vanished powerful kings. Lord Rama was not frightened
but was courageous enough to fight the odds and drive
IV. A NALYSIS AND RESULT S away the fear. He was strong mentally, mo rally and
physically. After the war, the Demon-King Ravana was
“Konvasmin saampradam loke gunavaan kasya veeryavaan! defeated and was given the eternal bliss of mu kthi fro m
Dharmagnyascha kritagnyascha sathyavaakyo his sins by Lord Rama. Similarly, a good leader should
dridavrathaha!! (1) be courageous to take risks and decision making at right
Chaarithrenacha koyuktaha sarvabhooteshu kohitaha! time and also protect or support his/her team members
Aatmavaankaha jithakrodaha dyuthimaan konasuyakaha!! in tough situations. A great leader creates and nurtures
(2) other leaders. Also, a leader should be mental,
physically and morally strong enough to fight the odds
Vidvaankaha kaschamarthascha tasyayika
in the organization. During a crisis, the leader should
priyadarshanaha! leave his/her objective, but s/he should be mentally
Kasyabibyrathi devaaschajaatharoshaschasanyuge!!”(3) prepared to face the difficulty and develop strategies to
The above three slokas (verses) taken from BaalaKanda of overcome the situations and find solutions for the crisis
Valmiki Ramayana exp lains the sixteen kalyanagunaas of and emerge v ictoriously.
Lord Sri Rama. As answered by Sage Narada to Valmiki
Maharshi’s question;who is the only person in the earth C. Dharmagnya:
filled with all the sixteen good qualities of a leader? Here we A person who stands by his ―Dharma‖ (Righteous path)
have explained eight Kalyaana Gunas of Sri Lord Rama at all t imes.When the war started on the first day
relating to modern leaders hip qualit ies. Let’s analy ze all the Ravana, without adequate preparation marched to the
eight Kalyaana Gunas of Lord Sri Rama one by one: battlefield and fought with vanaras and Rama’s alliance,
he was rendered weaponless by Lord Rama. Taking into
A. Gunavaan: consideration the code of chivalry, Ravana was allowed
(Sousheelyam): This is the crux of the very purpose of to return to his citadel. This shows the code of conduct
Lord Rama’s incarnation. The deeper exp lanation of this and ethics Lord Rama fo llo wed that an unarmed enemy
quality is described in Sanskrit for a better should not be attacked, proving the righteous path or
understanding: Dharma he stood with.Being ethical is very important as
“Mahathaha a leader is concerned. Ethics represent the standards that
mandaissahaneerandrenasamskleshahasvabhaavam” – determine business decisions every day. These affect the
Sousheelyam way a co mpany operates and how it treats employers,

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customers, shareholders and the community in which The leader should have a strong will-power to
it’s located. accomplish the solution for any kind of miseries or
problems s/he faces. Total commit ment to the cause and
D. Kritagnya: integrity of character are his real weapons.
A quality where one is always thankful or grateful or
indebted for even the smallest of the ―upakaara‖ (help)
that he received from others.Lord Rama after saving
Devi Sita, co me to meet king Sugriva to convey his H. Priyadarshanaha:
thanks for letting his alliance to rescue mother Sita. A person who has a captivating, handsome and pleasant
Apart from being a superior person than king Sugriva, look.
Lord Rama shows a down to earth friendship to king On Lo rd Rama and his brother Lakshmana’s first
Sugriva, Hanu man, Jambavan and each and every meet ing with Lord Hanu man, he praises about Lord
vanaras. Rama as the most handsome and pleasant looking
A leader, even if he is the one leading the pack should person and Hanuman could extend his speech because
be able to thank and appreciate even the member at the of the radiance of beauty and aesthetics Lord Rama
lowest ranking in his pack. Considering an examp le of possessed.
how any manager of a company should be thankful to A leader should not be aggressive rather s/he should be
emp loyees and even to the guards who take care of the assertive and listen to what his followers or others speak
company during day and night. A thankful leader will and also s/he should smile and have a pleasant face. It is
respect more than the one who is an authoritarian. not wise for a leader to be an egotist. The more pleasant
the leader is the more elegant the works are done by
E. Drudavrathaha: him/her.
A person who is self-determined, steadfast in his/her
attitude towards truth and righteousness and V. CONCLUSION
resolute.Lord Sri Rama was very much determined by Leaders always bring a positive change among the people to
his vision and his vision was to bring back Devi Sita foster a sense of belongingness for the group. The followers
fro m Raavana and he used therighteous path to it and he help each other in accomplishing the goal set by the team. It
defeated Raavana and brought back Devi Sita.So it creates an atmosphere of harmony and encouragement. The
defines a leader should always be well determined by leader enhances the personal potential growth of every
teams vision and mission and should always use individual member of the team and provides them required
therighteous path to achieve goals. guidance to achieve their goals as well as organizations
goals. Here Lord Sri Rama is a perfect example of an ideal
F. Vidwaan: leader and his Kalyaana Gunas (good qualities) is an
A person who has a mastery over all subjects. This is inspiration for all the upcoming leaders in future. Lord Sri
also known to be a Scholar. Rama had shown every characteristic of a good leader
Lord Rama never does anything without having ample through his entire life situations Lord Sri Rama’s leadership
knowledge of a subject or thing to be done. He used to styles shows how to encourage and empower employees of
study mantras in such a way that words could create a an organization and to think innovative and to take risks at
world of peace and happiness. Taking into right time.
consideration Lord Rama has used beautiful stanzas
with word rich in mean ing to describe Lord Hanu man to
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