Govt needs to expand reach of Indian epics like Ramayana

Today, millions in India and abroad are celebrating the Ram temple consecration at Ayodhya. The government must seize the mood and promote awareness about our epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata and innumerable mythological stories around the world. The content and content creators are already available. It is only a matter of a strong will to encourage interest in our stories.
 

Globally, people, especially the children, like stories, whether the stories are based on facts or otherwise. Fiction Books Global Market Report 2024 estimates the market size for fiction books at $10.81 billion and a compound aggregate growth rate of 2.2 per cent every year. It says that Asia-Pacific is the largest in the fiction books market in 2023 and that West Asia is the fastest growing market. It is not that Indian publishers are not aware of the opportunities or have not tried to tap the global markets but the commercial viability has always been a consideration on how far they could go. This is where the government can play a meaningful role as a facilitator. The government can talk to the publishers to understand what should be done to expand the reach of Ramayana, Mahabharata, and our mythological stories to the global audience in various languages and in various media like print, e-books, audio books, videos, film clips, other digital media and so on. It can talk to non-government organisations (NGOs) capable of raising massive finances through voluntary donations and having a definite aim to spread global awareness about our culture, history, and philosophy and how they can help the publishers reach out to far corners of the world. It can explore how exhibitions of such publications can be organised in various parts of the world.

In quick time, the government can work out a strategy to increase exports of such works. For a start, the government can ask our embassies to make available in their waiting rooms, the books or magazines on our mythologies with pictorial or graphic representations like the ones brought out by Amar Chitra Katha and similar publications. The non-resident Indians (NRI) can be persuaded to introduce such publications to their children and others during the Pravasi Bharatiya meets and during the visits of our Prime Minister.
 

Our travel agents, who organise tours for foreigners who come to India for sightseeing, can be encouraged to introduce such publications to the tourists. Our hotels can be talked into keeping such comics in their rooms and reception areas.
 

Getting foreigners to read such comics or watch animation films is an entertaining way of introducing the values that have had a bearing on the ethos of a large section of our people. Such a soft connection with the foreigners can help build our soft power i.e. our ability to co-opt other countries by our appeal to their people through our culture and values. Our cultural connection has been mainly with the English speaking countries, where many NRIs have settled. Our efforts have been mainly through yoga, sports, spirituality, classical dance and music. Our film industry has made impressions in some parts of the world. The efforts to entertain through our mythological stories have, however, been feeble. That can change with our private sector playing a leading role in doing so with some help from the NGOs and facilitation by the government.

Email: tncrajagopalan@gmail.com