The Ramayana began its life as a collection of disjointed stories strung together in a song. It took several decades and innumerable bards and writers to thread the tales into the linear narrative as we know it today. Every time it was sung, it acquired a fresh sound and rhythm. And once it was put down on paper, it gathered volume and mass. According to Camille Bulcke, a Belgian Jesuit missionary who studied the Ramayana and wrote Ram Katha: Utpatti aur Vitaran (The origin and spread of the Ramayana) there were around 300 tellings. It was not the fashion to refer to these as retellings at the time because the epics, myths and legends were part of an oral culture that allowed them to be interpreted and reinterpreted several times over. Scholars and historians lay much store by these tellings as they believed that the subtle differences between the versions held a mirror to the social and moral mores of the times.
By this measure, Sita, An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana is less of a telling and more of a commentary. It does a great job of assimilating the numerous versions of the Ramayana and presenting them as an attractive infographic at the beginning of the book but its focus is to place the epic within the context of a clash between culture and nature. It is not the author's objective to tell the story. It is Pattanaik's contention that according to Hindu thought, the human mind (manas/purusha) is potentially God, while nature (prakriti/maya/shakti) is always the Goddess. The male form represents the mind, the world of thoughts. The female form represents nature, the world of things. The book, he says 'seeks to discover the Ramayana as one of the many maps of the human mind, an open source document evolved by generations of thinkers…'
Unfortunately, epics and myths don't take too kindly to being boxed in; if we persist, as have several recent writers, the stories turn into insipid clones of the earlier versions. Consider the myth about Agni, the fire god, and the seven wives of the seven rishis. The story goes that Agni was in love with the wives. According to one version, he managed to seduce them all except Arundhati whose legendary fidelity to her husband kept her safe. Another version has it that Swaha, a companion to the wives of the sages, tricked Agni. She loved him and took the form of all the wives and seduced him. She failed when it came to Arundhati. In Pattanaik's version, six of the seven wives forgot to wear the symbols of marriage (beads around the neck, bangles, vermilion in the hair and so on) and were therefore mistaken by Agni to be women of the forest, without husbands and without rules to bind them. He made love to them. The story in his book therefore reflects the conflict between nature and culture and not, as the older versions suggest, society's confusion over the role of women and sexual behaviour. Or that it could simply be a tale told on cold nights in the jungle.
The book also suffers from a desire to make every story deliver a grand message. Consider, for instance, the Ahilya story. What is known is that Rama is the saviour who brings Ahilya back to life. It is meant to show us that this boy is actually a god who believes in forgiveness. In this book, Rama saves Ahilya and tells Gautama (Ahilya's husband), 'Let go of your self-pity and your rage, noble sage. Let the knots of your mind unbind until aham gives way to atma.' While Pattanaik is entitled to choose the voice in which he wants his teenage prince to speak, it does make Rama sound like one of our modern-day 'godmen'.
The book packages the many folk versions of the epic neatly within its covers. Not many have dared do that, given the large number of versions in circulation and also because of the sacred space it occupies in the social structure. For that the author deserves to be congratulated. But by fitting these divergent strands within a single frame - that of culture and nature - he loses the sharp edges and angularities that enliven the different versions. With its simple sketches and short chapters, the book is attractive but it speaks largely to those who prefer to have their epics distilled into tiny drops of wisdom delivered in preachy prose. And to the animation moguls who are looking for an Asian princess story.
SITA: AN ILLUSTRATED RETELLING OF THE RAMAYANA
Author: Devdutt Pattanaik
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 316
Price: Rs 499
By this measure, Sita, An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana is less of a telling and more of a commentary. It does a great job of assimilating the numerous versions of the Ramayana and presenting them as an attractive infographic at the beginning of the book but its focus is to place the epic within the context of a clash between culture and nature. It is not the author's objective to tell the story. It is Pattanaik's contention that according to Hindu thought, the human mind (manas/purusha) is potentially God, while nature (prakriti/maya/shakti) is always the Goddess. The male form represents the mind, the world of thoughts. The female form represents nature, the world of things. The book, he says 'seeks to discover the Ramayana as one of the many maps of the human mind, an open source document evolved by generations of thinkers…'
Unfortunately, epics and myths don't take too kindly to being boxed in; if we persist, as have several recent writers, the stories turn into insipid clones of the earlier versions. Consider the myth about Agni, the fire god, and the seven wives of the seven rishis. The story goes that Agni was in love with the wives. According to one version, he managed to seduce them all except Arundhati whose legendary fidelity to her husband kept her safe. Another version has it that Swaha, a companion to the wives of the sages, tricked Agni. She loved him and took the form of all the wives and seduced him. She failed when it came to Arundhati. In Pattanaik's version, six of the seven wives forgot to wear the symbols of marriage (beads around the neck, bangles, vermilion in the hair and so on) and were therefore mistaken by Agni to be women of the forest, without husbands and without rules to bind them. He made love to them. The story in his book therefore reflects the conflict between nature and culture and not, as the older versions suggest, society's confusion over the role of women and sexual behaviour. Or that it could simply be a tale told on cold nights in the jungle.
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The choice of Sita as the voice of the epic is an interesting one. Venerated as the ideal woman by generations of Indians, Sita has her fair share of fans and detractors. But she is human and even as the sacrificing wife who loves her husband she has her moments of doubt and weakness: She rebukes Lakshmana for doubting her word; she erupts in grief and anger at being repeatedly asked to prove her chastity. However, Pattanaik anoints Sita as Shakti. As goddess she is endowed with infinite patience. She is all-understanding and all-seeing. When she is taken into the forest to be abandoned at Rama's orders by Lakshmana, she says: 'I see my husband for what he is, and understand his motivations; at every moment he strives to be what he thinks is best. I will not burden him with my expectations. That is how I make him feel loved.' Sita seems to have lost her character in the transition from woman to goddess.
The book also suffers from a desire to make every story deliver a grand message. Consider, for instance, the Ahilya story. What is known is that Rama is the saviour who brings Ahilya back to life. It is meant to show us that this boy is actually a god who believes in forgiveness. In this book, Rama saves Ahilya and tells Gautama (Ahilya's husband), 'Let go of your self-pity and your rage, noble sage. Let the knots of your mind unbind until aham gives way to atma.' While Pattanaik is entitled to choose the voice in which he wants his teenage prince to speak, it does make Rama sound like one of our modern-day 'godmen'.
The book packages the many folk versions of the epic neatly within its covers. Not many have dared do that, given the large number of versions in circulation and also because of the sacred space it occupies in the social structure. For that the author deserves to be congratulated. But by fitting these divergent strands within a single frame - that of culture and nature - he loses the sharp edges and angularities that enliven the different versions. With its simple sketches and short chapters, the book is attractive but it speaks largely to those who prefer to have their epics distilled into tiny drops of wisdom delivered in preachy prose. And to the animation moguls who are looking for an Asian princess story.
SITA: AN ILLUSTRATED RETELLING OF THE RAMAYANA
Author: Devdutt Pattanaik
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 316
Price: Rs 499