The many Ramayanas: The story of Ram varies from Central Asia to Bali

By Murad Ali Baig

THE current controversy about the Ramasethu highlights the numerous traditions concerning the story of Ram. The Tamil Kamban, or Kampan, version is only one of at least 300 versions popular in different parts of India and neighbouring countries. While Valmiki’s Ramayana is generally considered as the original there is evidence of even earlier versions and it has many differences even with the much more popular poem, the Ramachiritramanas of Tulsidas.

The Ramayana is undoubtedly one of the greatest stories ever written and the film Star Wars I is actually a futuristic interpretation of this great tale. The most popular version of the epic is the account written by Valmiki, usually dated to about 300 BC but probably only put into writing after 400 AD. As most historians believe that the southern movement of the Aryas only began about 800 BC the events of the Ramayana must have occurred after this date or else the events of the myth must have occurred outside peninsular India.

There is no empirical historic evidence about the exact location in India of places like Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Dandakaranya, Lanka, Panchavati, Videha, Kosala, etc., that are an intrinsic part of the Indian legend. People in all countries have a habit of naming new places after venerated old ones in the regions that they had left, as is evident from the names of many English towns in America, Canada and Australia. It is also very paradoxical that although archaeological evidence has been found at every site named in the Mahabharat , there have been none to support any of the sites named in the Ramayana .

Tradition

The old Buddhist Jataka tales, however, have a completely different story of Ram who they believe to have been an earlier incarnation of Buddha. The story of Ram is also a part of the equally ancient Jain tradition where they believe that a noble Jaina like Ravana could not have been an eater of human flesh or a drinker of blood. Theirs is a tragic tale of a great and noble person undone by his unrequited love for Ram’s wife Sita. There is also a tradition that Sita was actually Ravana’s daughter who he was forced to abandon. According to Jain tradition, Ram, as an evolved soul, was not capable of taking anyone’s life, even that of Ravana and it was his brother Lakshman who killed his enemies. As a result Lakshman goes to hell while Ram finds release ( Kaivalya ).

In Srilanka, the myth of the Ramayana is told in reverse with Ravana portrayed as the great hero and Ram as his evil, blue faced, invader from the North. There are many different versions of the great epic in Bali, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. In the latter, Hanuman is a paragon of loyalty but not of virtue, being a mischievous seducer of women.

There is no historical proof to any of these legends but many scholars believe that internal literary evidence suggests that the first and last book of present day versions were interpolated at a much later date. Valmiki’s Ram was a very human hero but the later glorifications gave him the attributes of a god. Actually he was only raised to being an incarnation of Vishnu after the Ramachiritramanas written by Goswami Tulsidas ( 1534- 1623 AD).

This colourful and evocative poetry fired the imaginations of people and uplifted a badly bruised Hindu pride in the late Mughal period when very few Hindus had any knowledge of their rich culture and craved for an authentic Hindu hero. It was only after the Ramachiritramanas that Ram was raised to the status of a god throughout North India. Ram was now worshipped, like Jesus in the adoring Christian fashion, as a living, feeling and almost human deity with compassion for his devotees instead of being an abstract idol in stone.

History

The present day city of Ayodhya used to be called Oudh at the time of Buddha who lived most of his life in the region. He spent 25 years teaching at Savatthi that is located just 58 km away. So many Buddhist pilgrims including Fa Hien and Hieun Tsang frequently visited the area in the 4th and 7th centuries AD. These accounts detail the many Buddhist monasteries as well as the numerous Viharas of the Brahmin heretics.

But of Ram we hear no word except for a place called Ramagram on the Little Gandhak River. Many interpolations were also added to the evolving story. The story of Sita’s banishment seems to have been added much later and Indian women have had to suffer for centuries following this cruel and chauvinist example. The many themes have also been embellished with painting, especially miniature painting, first introduced to the courts of Indian rulers by the Persians and later with European painting techniques that enabled artists to emotionally portray sacred scenes. Popular Ramlila performances in almost every North Indian locality magnified the mythology.

Locale

It is possible that the events of epic Ramayana could have occurred outside the confines of present day India. Ram’s father Dasarath lived in the heavenly city of Ayodhya on the banks of the river Saryu. This might have been a river called the Syr Darya that flows through present day Turkmenistan and Kyrghistan. It is located north of the Pamirs ( Meru) with a city called Andijan that is phonetically quite similar to Ayodhya, as the capital of the area. East of it is Kashi ( Kashgar) and west is Samarkand that was known as the Markanda in the Puranas .

The Ramayana has it that Dasrath, meaning a small ruler with just ten chariots, fell in love with his second wife Kaikeyi after she tended his wounds after a local battle. Kaikeya means that she was the daughter of the king of Kaikay, or Caucasus, like the name Gandhari of the Mahabharata had been derived from Gandhara ( Kandahar).

As a small ruler he could not offer a big bride price but had offered to make the son of their union his successor. Thus Dasrath’s agonising dilemma may not have resulted from the demands of a scheming woman but being torn between his devotion to his son Ram and his moral commitment to fulfill his promise to Kaikeya’s father.

It is however clear that the so called Ramasethu land bridge to Lanka was a very minor event in any of the many Ramayanas and that it had absolutely no spiritual significance that should agitate Hindu sentiments.

The writer is a management consultant Ram, Sita and Hanuman on the Pushpak Vimana depicted by Nina Paley

Source: Mail Today, New Delhi

URL; https://newageislam.com/islamic-history/the-many-ramayanas-story-ram/d/411