The Ram I know

As if we do not have enough controversies on our national plate, the Archaeological Survey of India ASI in its wisdom had added to the general confusion and tension that surrounds us.

As if we do not have enough controversies on our national plate, the Archaeological Survey of India ASI in its wisdom had added to the general confusion and tension that surrounds us. It is one thing for the ASI to opine that the Ram Setu/Adam8217;s bridge is 8220;merely a sand and coral formation which cannot be said to be of historical, archaeological or artistic interest or importance.8221; This is a bona fide view which can only be countered by equally strong professional counter-arguments. However, they shocked the nation by going far beyond that and making certain sweeping obiter dicta that questioned the very existence of Ram as a historical figure, although they have now withdrawn it. In this connection, several points need to be made.

Firstly, 8216;historical evidence8217; for most of the outstanding religious figures in the world would be difficult to find, particularly as many are lost in the mists of antiquity. This is not a question for Ph.D dissertations, but one that affects the beliefs and sentiments of crores of people around the world. Besides, there are numerous places in India and Sri Lanka which are closely linked with the events in Ram8217;s life including Ayodhya and Janakpuri, Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It is now well accepted by historians that so-called 8216;myths8217; and 8216;legends8217; very often have a strong basis in actual events and personalities.

Secondly, from the original Ramayana of Maharishi Valmiki down to Kamba8217;s great work in Tamil and Tulsidas8217;s immortal Ramcharitamanas, the story of Ram has been told and retold in almost every language of the world. The immensely fascinating story beginning with his birth, his marriage to Sita, his fourteen years of exile, his decisive battle with the then King of Lanka and his triumphant return to Ayodhya is engraved in the minds of the vast majority of Hindus around the world, and he is as real to them as any so-called 8216;historical8217; figure. To quote Jawaharlal Nehru in the Discovery of India regarding the Ramayana and Mahabharata, 8220;I do not know of any books anywhere which have exercised such a continuous and pervasive influence on the mass mind as these two. Dating back to a remote antiquity, they are still a living force in the life of the Indian people. Not in the original Sanskrit, except for a few intellectuals, but in translations and adaptations, and in those innumerable ways in which tradition and legend spread and become a part of the texture of a people8217;s life. They represent the typical Indian method of catering all together for various degrees of cultural development, from the highest intellectual to the simple unread and untaught villager. They make us understand somewhat the secret of the old Indians in holding together a variegated society divided up in many ways and graded in castes, in harmonising their discords, and giving them a common background of heroic tradition and ethical living. Deliberately they tried to build up a unity of outlook among the people, which was to survive and overshadow all diversity.8221;

Thirdly, it is not only Ram but other great characters in the Ramayana story including the noble Sita, the loyal Lakshman and our own flying superman Hanuman who have caught the imagination of the masses down through the corridors of time. The story is acted and re-enacted every year hundreds of times in the form of the Ramlilas culminating in the Vijaya Dashmi celebrations. These may be more prevalent in north India than in the south, but that does not make them any less significant. There are many deities such as Kartikeyan, Ayappan and Shiva Nataraja which are worshipped more frequently in the south, or the Jagannath and Durga Pujas in the east, but this geographical factor does not in any way detract from the deep significance these images hold for practicing Hindus.

Finally, it is remarkable that the Ramayana story is by no means confined to India. Its fragrance has travelled across the whole of south and south-east Asia. The magnificent temple of Angkor Vat in Cambodia, the world8217;s largest place of religious worship, displays on its walls magnificent sculptures telling the whole Ramayana and Mahabharata stories. In Indonesia, the Ramlila is performed with a grace and sensitivity far superior to our somewhat rowdy Ramlilas and, significantly, almost entirely by Muslim artists. The ruling dynasty in Thailand is known as the Ram Dynasty, and there is a shrine named Ayodhya in that country. Such examples can be multiplied. For the indentured labourers who were sent by the British to the ends of the earth and whose descendents now flourish in Fiji and Mauritius, Guyana and Surinam, their only source of cultural and spiritual sustenance was Tulsidas8217;s classic Ramcharitamanas, perhaps the most popular retelling of the Ramayana epic in the world. Hindus in those and other countries around the globe look upon Ram as an incarnation of God, as the Maryada Purshotam, the ideal man. When Gandhiji envisaged his ideal society, he went back to invoking Ram Rajya.

Keeping all these factors in mind, the ASI affidavit was distinctly unfortunate, unfair and downright derogatory, not only to Hindus in India and around the world, but to all those who treasure our unique pluralistic cultural heritage. Let us recall that in many parts of India it is Ram8217;s name that accompanies people on their last journey to the cremation ground 8212; 8220;Ram naam satya hai8221;.

The writer is a Rajya Sabha MP