Once Again, With Feeling

It sounds like too much has been made in Indian reviews of 8216;Dasrath ke kasrath8217;, as Indian school humour puts it, for readers are ...

It sounds like too much has been made in Indian reviews of 8216;Dasrath ke kasrath8217;, as Indian school humour puts it, for readers are salivating to know how Sri Ramchandra8217;s parents made love. But just as perspective on this dominant first impression of Ashok Banker8217;s Ramayana, here8217;s what the twelfth century Kamba Ramayana says of Ram8217;s first glimpse of Sita in Mithila: 8220;his large red eyes, those of a conquering hero8217;s, rested on the charmer8217;s breasts8221; Kamba Ramayana, Bala Kandam, translated by P.S. Sundaram, edited by N. S. Jagannathan, Penguin.

In the 3000 years since Valmiki, the first-known writer of our national epic, this even older story has seen 300 versions, according to the late Professor A.K. Ramanujan 8220;How many Ramayanas?8221;. Paula Richman, his acclaimed American student, knows of more. There are Ramayanas in twelve major Indian languages and in eleven South and Southeast Asian ones: Annamese, Balinese, Cambodian, Chinese, Javanese, Khotanese, Laotian, Malaysian, Sinhalese, Thai and Tibetan. In some of these, our celibate Hanuman is portrayed as the casual, ready lover of assorted nymphs and yakshis. The Valmiki Ramayana itself has three major recensions in north, south and east India, with 8220;significant differences in the storyline8221; N.S. Jagannathan. Kamala Das8217;s half-white cousin Aubrey Menen8217;s 8216;Rama Retold8217; was banned for its harsh, contemptuous 8220;modern8221; line, which was deeply hurtful to many newly-independent Hindus and too close to colonial scorn. But while North India stayed in thrall to the bright gold monochrome of Tulsidas8217;s Ramcharitmanas, modern Tamil writers shot many arrows at the epic, from Periyar8217;s 8216;Keemayanam8217; to Pudumai Piththan8217;s short story 8216;Shaapa Vimochanam8217; Release from the Curse in which Ahalya and Sita have a searing exchange which ends with Ahalya willing herself back into a stone because she does not want the gift of life from 8220;such a man8221;. Given this long history of debate and deconstruction, it seems an established pattern that everybody has their own Ramayana.

And so it is that Banker8217;s 21st century Prince of Ayodhya: Part One begins with Rama8217;s imagined nightmare vision of Ravana8217;s impending attack on Ayodhya, the attempt of Kalanemi to penetrate 8216;Ayodhya Anashya8217;, the arrival of Vishwamitra to demand Rama8217;s help in killing Tataka, the palace intrigues of Manthara and Kaikeyi Manthara is a secret devotee of Ravana, and introduces Surpanakha and Jatayu as evil agents of the Asura king.

It ends with the destruction of Tataka and her army of mutant monsters Lakshman is unexpectedly killed and revived right here, and leaves the princes and Vishwamitra en route to Mithila, with Surpanakha planning to ambush them. An epilogue describes Jatayu wheeling over a huge armada of warships ready to sail north from Lanka on Ravana8217;s long-planned invasion of Ayodhya. We last glimpse Jatayu against a sky that rains 8220;a brackish downpour that seemed almost crimson in the gaudy light of the nearly full moon8221;. Cut to Valmiki8217;s Ramayana, Aranya Kandam, translated by Arshiya Sattar, Viking 1996: 8220;When Khara8217;s army went forth, an enormous donkey-coloured cloud thundered and rained dirty water, the colour of blood, upon the troops8230; a huge vicious vulture flew over the battle banner8221;.

Most disturbing is the way Banker toes the simple Western line on Good versus Evil

What jars, besides Dasrath8217;s bedroom antics? Lakshman and Shatrughan calling each other 8220;Luck8221; and 8220;Shot8221;. The consistent muddling of shlokas, especially Om Shiv Hari Swaha rendered as 8216;Praised be the Name of Shiva8217; or Karmanye swahikaaraste mahaphaleshua sic, which is surely too famous to get wrong? Besides, it comes from the Bhagvad Gita, from a later epic about a later avatar, Krishna.

Most disturbing is the way Banker toes the simple Western line on Good and Evil, so that Jatayu and serpents like the uragas are distorted beyond recognition. Whereas in today8217;s living tradition, we weep for Jatayu who gallantly died defending Sita, we grew up lisping songs about Mahavishnu 8220;Uragasayana8221; reclining on the serpent Ananta. Above all, the King of Lanka is not Sauron-Darth Vader-Voldemort. He8217;s descended from Sage Pulastya and he dreams big, legitimate dreams of conquest over the scornful, cunning devas and over deva-worshipping mortals. To make so gross a monster of him seems immature. Interestingly, the debate all along has been on Rama being overly 8220;good8221;, of hero-worshipping him uncritically despite his ungallant behaviour with Vali and Sita. But Banker seems to have 8220;erred8221; at the other extreme and cast Ravana as the horned, fanged Devil of Judeo-Christian myth, whereas his one tragic flaw is overweening conceit or hubris as Greek tragedy calls it.

Otherwise, how well Banker tells his tale! His pace never flags, his attention to detail and character is enormously inventive, he creates charming minor characters who comment on royal parades, inhabit Anangashram or fight in Ayodhya8217;s crack 8216;Vajra8217; troops. Sri Ramachandra himself is depicted with unmistakable love. Though long dead to the Ramayana, I read entranced through the night and ran to Valmiki and Kamban to finish the tale where Banker left off. I await Banker8217;s sequels and I thank him for giving the Ramayana back to me.