Ramayana in all its hues
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Intrigued by its wide variety of beings, Dr. Paula Richman has been studying the Ramayana in all its many versions for the past two decades. KAUSALYA SANTHANAM elaborates...
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Dr. Paula Richman, passion for the epic. — Pic. by R. Ragu
`Why Bhima marries a Rakshasi' — the intriguing title drew one like a magnet to the meeting of the Madras Book Club held recently at the AMM Matriculation School, Chennai. Dr. Paula Richman, Professor, Department of South Asian Religions at the Oberlin College, Ohio, U.S., gave a humour-specked lecture on how Hidimbi was the best wife Bhima could have had, and how readily Bhima's family accepted her.
After bringing in questions of the fascination for the `other,' questions relating to compatibility and race, Dr. Richman intrigued one more by stating it was actually the Ramayana that fascinated her more than the Mahabharata.
Later, at the YWCA, Chennai, she spoke on her passion for the Ramayana and her interest in India, Hinduism, Buddhism and Tamil, all of which were sparked off by late Prof. A.K. Ramanujan's visit to Oberlin College while she was doing a graduate course there.
Dr. Richman has spent the past 20 years in chasing leads to various versions of the epic. "The Ramayana interests me more than the Mahabharata because it features such a wide variety of beings — humans, rakshasas and vaanaras," says the editor of `Many Ramayanas' and `Questioning Ramayana'. Her book, ` Many Ramayanas' generated a lot of interest and debate as the Ayodhya event happened soon after the book was published. Generally, people are familiar with only a few prominent texts and versions such as those of Valmiki and Tulsidas or Ramanand Sagar's TV serial, says the scholar. But there are many variants of the story, which have been appropriated by a vast number of people in diverse ways. To reduce it to a received version would be to rob it of its richness.
"Two key characteristics at the heart of the Ramayana tradition in South Asia are its multiplicity and its ability to accommodate questioning within its boundaries. Various events in the Ramayana have been questioned — the killing of the shudra Shambuka because he performed ascetic practices reserved for his social superiors, the shooting of Vali in the back, the mutilation of Surpanaka, Rama's demand that Sita prove her purity, the banishment of pregnant Sita to the forest... " Among the hundreds of tellings that exist in India, she lists out a few: Bhavabhuti's "Uttara Ramacharita" in the eighth century, the Buddhist "Dasaratha Jataka," the "Ananda Ramayana" by an anonymous author, tribal versions and the Jain Ramayana where Lakshmana kills Ravana and Rama becomes a Jain monk. The Ramayana has often been used to project present-day injustice and struggles - as in the 1970s when the women of South Asian and Caribbean origin put up their version in Southall, London, to protest against discrimination.
Looking back on her journey of inquiry, Dr. Paula Richman says, "I became fascinated with Sangam poetry when Prof. Ramanujan gave readings on it at my college — it was so old, beautiful and economical." Dr. Richman, who was doing her Bachelor's in English literature, was so taken in by the subject that she decided to do her Masters in the "History of Religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) in India."
She then went on to the University of Chicago where Prof. Ramanujan was one of her three guides. Her thesis was on "Manimekalai" by Seethalai Sathanar, the only extant Buddhist text written in Tamil.
Linguistic
Dr. Richman began learning Tamil as soon as she went to the University of Chicago; Sanskrit was an elective in her graduate course. She also benefited greatly from the guidance of Ku. Paramasivam, who was steeped in the Tamil texts and was just finishing a Ph.D. in Linguistics at the university. "I came to India several times from 1978 — to Madurai and Chennai. I was working on the Pillai Tamizh project then.
These works usually comprise a set of 101 poems in praise of an extraordinary being — a deity, guru or saint."
The political climate at that time in Tamil Nadu was such that Hindu deities and the Ramayana were being critiqued. "I wanted to know whether other authors had critiqued authoritative versions of the Ramayana.
In Bengal, Michael Madhusudan Dutt in the early 20th century had written a Ramayana — `Meghanadavada Kavya' — sympathetic to Ravana. I found many interesting versions in Karnataka."
A friend's 76-year-old mother spoke of a Kannada play she had seen as a child and that set Dr. Richman off on a search that took her to the ailing actor Vajramuni in Bangalore. He had enacted the title role in ``Prachandra Ravana" in which as a Brahmin, Ravana, blesses the weapons of Rama and prays that he be victorious in the battle.
Dr. Richman is especially interested in the Tamil interpretations of the Ramayana from 1900 to 1970.
"Many of the cutting satirists such as Pudumaipitthan, have retold the story. Writer Kumudini has a most interesting tale — of Sita writing to her mother about not having a suitable sari to wear for Rama's coronation! In Bharati's poem, "Kudirai Kombu," Surpanaka cuts off Lakshmana's nose! I feel it is a satire on the idea that mutilation is a brave thing to do."
The professor admits that her students are more attracted to the Mahabharata than the Ramayana as it is very contemporary in its description of power struggle.
"But I consider it my challenge to get them stay interested in the Ramayana." It certainly helps the scholar in her quest to have a husband who shares her passion for this country.
"India brought my husband Michael Fisher and me together," she says. Dr. Fisher teaches `History of India' in Oberlin College. "And he takes interest in all the projects I work on," beams Dr. Paula Richman.
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