Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Criticise him on 8216;facts8217;, and he comes up with versions of the Ramayana that you never thought existed. 8220;Many of the episodes or 8216;moments8217; we believe are from Valmiki8217;s Ramayana, are not even present in the original Sanskrit work,8221; he says. And so, like a grandmother doesn8217;t consult Valmiki before telling the tale to her grandchildren, this is Ashok Banker8217;s Ramayana 8212; following the story we know in its skeletal form provided by legends Valmiki, Kamban, Tulsidas and contemporaries Rajagopalachari, Narayan, Buck, but adding flesh and blood to it, modernising it, making it not only palatable but intensely attractive to the modern mind.
Having gone through many unsatisfying, unfulfilling Ramayanas, having come to the conclusion that the tale is nothing more than bhakti, a kitchdi of contradictory morality, and having dismissed this classic tale as not worthy of my time, Banker8217;s first book in the series, Prince of Ayodhya 2003 showed what a tale recited over millennia could morph into in the hands of a modern writer. Banker brings to his seven-part series a vitality, a touchability, an identification with a great story that was lying dormant, inert, flaccid.
The question of facts remains 8212; did Kaikeyi8217;s mind get taken over by one of Ravana8217;s minions, did Dasaratha divorce her, was Manthara8217;s magic indeed so powerful? I remember reading that post-Vanvaas, Bharat blamed Manthara and had got her thrown out of Ayodhya and had wondered why a humble servant was punished for the misdeeds of a covetous queen. Banker brings a new twist here, showcasing Manthara as Ravana8217;s agent, with his strong sorcery in her very vitals, in her being, her mind 8212; almost an extension of him. And logic falls into place. As it does while exploring food 8212; did Rama eat fish and meat, did he and Sita drink wine?
Then there is the evocative, touching plight of vulture-king Jatayu, simultaneously a slave and a victim of Ravana8217;s. His flight into Kumbhakarna8217;s chamber and the discovery of the giant is a remarkable insight into vultures themselves 8212; Banker8217;s research shows. As does his skill while illustrating the tension between compassionate Kausalya and outrageous Kaikeyi for the status of 8216;first queen8217;, Surpanakha8217;s dilemma as she turns from a rakshasi with the assassination of Rama as her brief to a growing love for him, Vibhisena8217;s balancing of the love for his brother Ravana while reviving him and a rejection of everything asuric about him, Mandodhari being simultaneously protective and ambitious for her husband Ravana. The detailing is minute. Often so minute that it becomes a drag.
While Banker is very successfully able to bring out the essence of his characters, his bigger achievement is in being able to get those characters to bring out Rama8217;s personality 8212; his dharma, his disappointments, and most of all, his silent relationships with Sita and Lakshman. In this book, it is not Banker8217;s violence you remember; it is tenderness that lingers longer 8212; the Rama-Sita-Lakshman love, the Shabri episode or even the slaying of lizard beast Viradha. But Banker allows only the beginnings of lumps in the throat. His style of jumping across events and people mercilessly decapitates these moments.
But beyond all these elements of facts, style and treatment, Demons of Chitrakut remains a taut story that leaves you waiting for next arrow in Banker8217;s quiver 8212; Armies of Hanuman.
