He heeds calumny and sends his helpless wife packing to the forest when she is pregnant with his child. After years of separation when he goes to bring her back he compels her to go through a purity test. I am sure almost all of us would have no hesitation in condemning this chap as a horrible MCP and a heartless cad of the first order, but our mythology calls him Purushottama (prince among men), a god. Yes, he is none other than Lord Rama, revered and worshipped in thousand of homes all over the country.It is but natural that in a highly religious society like ours religion has a conditioning role in shaping societal norms and value. But I have often felt that a number of events in our mythology deserve to be condemned in humanistic terms though they are regarded sacrosanct in religious terms. For instance, what should be the behavioral response of an individual to the above obvious flaws of Lord Rama? Are not our mythological stories nurturing a set of negative values through immensely popular tales?Take Guru Dronacharya who denies Eklavya the art of warfare because of his lowly origin. Though Eklavya is still able to teach himself by worshipping Drona as his ‘manasika guru’, the moment he is discovered, Drona demands his archer’s thumb as guru dakshina, so that Eklavya will not outshine his favourite royal pupil, Arjuna.Yet another victim of deceit is Karna. Deceived by his mother, deceived by society as well and debunked as suta putra for his lowly origin, although he is born of Lord Surya and Kunti, the excellent warrior Karna was most deceitfully killed by Arjuna while he was engaged in pulling the wheel of his chariot out of the mud. Could there be a more obnoxious act of cowardice? But Arjuna is hailed as a hero for doing this, that too at the behest of Lord Krishna.The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two most popular mythologies having far reaching impact on the Indian populace, are replete with such examples, when ironically these stories are supposed to enthrone virtues and assert the triumph of good over evil. Even other mythological stories are not free from such lapses: we know how Lord Shiva with his trident cuts off the head of Ganesha in an unfair battle.I wonder how all these lapses by our deities are supposed to affect us humans, since we are enjoined to follow their virtues. When deities become icons their acts become glorified. Perhaps even our myths need to be revised in order to relate meaningfully to a changing socio-economic reality.
