BOOKISHGAL

It’s kind of hard to contain this whole book in one blog post. The Ramayana (or the Ramayan as it’s also known) is one of India’s two greatest mythical epics, the other being the Mahabharata. These two ancient epics underlie India’s self-identity, for both Hindu and non-Hindu alike, in much the same way the Bible underlies North America’s.

I first encountered the Ramayana when I was a grad student in the PhD program at Syracuse university. In one semester, I was studying the three-volume translation pictured above, translated by N. Raghunathan, while being a TA for an undergraduate Hinduism class, in which the students were studying the shorter one-volume translation of A.K. Narayan. I didn’t have any other courses that semester, so you could say I was pretty much immersed in the story for four solid months.

I had always been interested in Hindu myths, but had never heard of the Ramayana until then. But suddenly I was slammed into the story of Prince Rama, considered one of the avatars of the god Vishnu. Rama is exiled, with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana, for 14 years in order to enable his father to keep his honour and fulfill a boon. While the three are wandering in the forest, they encounter gods and humans, but also catch the eye of Ravana, lord of the Rakshasas, who are demon-like hordes who oppose all honourable action.

Many adventures ensue in the forest, with saintly Rama behaving according to dharma (the sacred law of right conduct) all the while. When Ravana kidnaps Sita, an abominable crime against dharma, Rama receives aid from the monkey kingdoms and the famous monkey god, the faithful Hanuman.

The story was magical and marvelous to me, even if Rama did get a little preachy about dharma sometimes. But it was a whole new mythology, and as enthralling in its own way as the Iliad has been through history.

Another thing struck me though. From what I did know of Hindu mythology already, one of my favourite gods had always been Indra. He has lost popularity as Hinduism evolved, because he was one of the earlier gods, perhaps one of the gods who came with the Aryans who invaded India centuries ago. (If, of course, the Aryan invasion theory is the correct view of Indian history; it has been debated by some.) Most of the stories you hear or read now involve the later gods, especially Vishnu and Shiva. Rama himself, in this epic, is as I mentioned, an avatar of Vishnu.

And yet Indra was a constant presence in the Ramayana. The story wasn’t about him, and yet most of the adventures that Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana had in the forest were consequences of the acts of Indra in the past. Some were things he had done, that Rama now had to undo. Others were instances of Rama following in his footsteps. All through the story there were remarks about Rama doing as Indra had done, or being like Indra when he did this or that.

It was like the whole Ramayana was a sort of “passing on the torch,” from Indra the older god to Rama/Vishnu the later one. It was a fascinating thread that ran through the entire epic, that I never saw anyone comment about as I researched papers and commentaries on the story. It seemed really obvious to me, though.

This story isn’t just told in India. There are Buddhist versions, Bali versions, Sri Lankan versions. Even I, since I first studied the story, have acquired several versions. I have three complete ones (one of them being an abridged illustrated), and two incomplete (one of those being a comic!). And I’ve bought 4 of the 6 volumes of a fantasy retelling by A.K. Banker, and will hopefully soon finish the set with the last 2 volumes.

This is a gripping, magical, mythical tale. Though I must warn people who are becoming interested in reading it because of this post — it has a very different sensibility than we in the west are used to. For one thing, the numbers are always huge. Armies will be in the millions. Riches will fill whole cities. Emotions will be extravagant. Strong men could lift ten elephants. Sages could fast for a thousand years. And so on.

And it will be very preachy in places, as dharma gets expounded. And the good guys, at least the main characters, will pretty much be perfect. You will grit your teeth sometimes, and wish just once that Rama would lose his temper or something.

But when you switch your mindset into the mode of seeing the world that goes with Hindu myth — it’s a wonderful, elevating, grand and glorious story. Well worth delving into.

******************************

******************************

Trackback URI | Comments RSS