Why Ramayana is relevant in today's age

The two epics, Ramayana and the Mahabharata, are the two pillars of Indic civilisation.

The Ramayana is a palimpsest of cultural, social, religious, philosophical and other impulses of the Indian society. You cannot get away from the story, the characters, the ideals represented in the text and the society that the epic talks about.

Whether we like it or not, the Ramayana is an integral part of every Indian's psyche, worship and their everyday life - as we speak, this is the season of the Ramleela. In thousands of places across the country, people playing the roles of Ram, Sita, Ravan and Hanuman, are being touched by the story and the divine at the same time.

The Ramayana has acted as a vehicle which reflects and carries societal change over the two millennia that the story has existed.

The relevance of the Ramayana is self-evident - every child in the country knows of its story, but at this point, today, the relevance seems even more pertinent, because most of us have lost touch with our mother tongue. We have definitely lost touch with Sanskrit and do not have access to the original sources of the story.

The Valmiki Ramayana is the adikavya, it is the shrot or the source from which all other Ramayanas draw their inspiration. It was Valmiki, the dacoit-turned-sage, a friend of Ram's father, King Dashrath, who first decided to set down the story as an ideal for the world.

His wasn't a black-and-white frozen, two-dimensional ideal, but a human story for the fight for an ethical and dharmic existence.

Valmiki tells us that if you look around the world, the man who is the closest to the ideal of human virtue and kingship is Ram.

The Ramayana is his story, the journey of Ram through life, how he deals with the vicissitudes that life throws at him, how he tries to maintain the ideal, how he remains ethical in the face of adversities and tragedies.

The Valmiki Ramayana is the lodestar which remains a source of reference. It is the measure, the basis, the centre of the whole world of the Ramayana story. 

Growing up with Ramayana

I started reading the Ramcharitramanas when I was ten. Growing up in north India, one can find it in every household.

I was particularly fascinated by the grotesqueness of Kumbhakaran - his large appetite, the vastness of his body, and, of course, the fact that he would sleep through his life, a luxury rarely anyone of us has. Any child would love his lifestyle.

The ignored romance between Ram and Sita

The relationship between Ram and Sita is particularly intriguing as it is not often conceived of in the popular narrative as a very romantic one. But if you read the many different versions of the Ramayana, especially the Sanskrit ones and even the Valmiki Ramayana, there are certain small episodes - one where Sita remembers certain memories of her husband while in captivity in Lanka.

The romantic in me loves that relationship.

The Uttaramcharit (a Sanskrit play by Bhavbhuti) deals in detail with the delicate, romantic and sensitive relationship between Ram and Sita which is often not given much significance because they are subsumed as the ideal couple within the societal, familial and patriarchal matrix. 

War and peace and Ramayana

Yudh kand in Valmiki's Ramayana is dedicated to the war between Ram and Ravan. It mentions intricate details of war strategy, weaponry, the gains and losses of both sides.

It is an integral part of the Ramayana. In fact, the size is much bigger than all the other kands. Interestingly, if you look at the other versions, for example, the Thai Ramayana or Ramakien as it is popularly known, it emphasises the war to the exclusion of the other aspects.

That is one side, where war is glorified and a necessary action that needs to be undertaken. But there is also another aspect, that of pacifism.

There are other versions that look at the necessity of war and whether or not it is needed to achieve one’s end.

Upon reaching Lanka, Ram sends a messenger, asking Ravan to peacefully release Sita so that needless bloodletting and loss of life could be avoided.

In the Ramayana, there is a balance of both sides: you have warriors being glorified, but, at the same time, negative aspects of war are condemned and war itself is questioned. The first duty of the warrior is to achieve a truce.

Gendered reading of the Ramayana

One of the favourite criticisms of the Ramayana has been the treatment of Sita by Ram. The mere fact that Sita was exiled has led to a feminist attack on the Ramayana.

I do not believe in the black-and-white view of the Ramayana, neither subscribe to the harsh and often uninformed criticism of the epic. 

I would urge people to read the epic again.

Sita is no pushover, either in the Valmiki Ramayana, or in the Raghuvanshyam or the Uttaramcharit, or in the Bhattikavya, or in many of the Prakrit versions.

Hers has been a character that is well delineated and powerful, both in Valmiki and Raghuvanshyam texts of Ramayana.

Perhaps people have heard more than they have read. The criticism is at time not very well founded.

The Ramcharitatramanas has a particular attitude towards women which is not acceptable to us today, but that is not to be taken as an example or as a representative of Sita's character.

The fact of her exile was less about her relationship between husband and wife, and more about the moral values and consensus of the society of the time - where Ram had to bow down to the consensus of his praja and ask Sita to live in exile. Wouldn't we call that democracy now?

(As told to Ursila Ali.)

Also read: Valmiki’s Ramayana is a mirror, what we find in the story is what we look for