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VOLUME VII: ISSUE 5&6
R
AM
R
AM
!
A
SHIS
N
ANDY
C
HANDAN
M
ITRA
G.N. D
EVY
G
ULZAR
I
NDIRA
P
ARTHASARATHY
J
AYANTA
M
AHAPATRA
J
OY
G
OSWAMI
K.B. S
RIDEVI
K. S
ATCHIDANANDAN
K
ETAN
M
EHTA
K
UNWAR
N
ARAIN
L
AL
S
INGH
D
IL
M
ANEKA
G
ANDHI
M
EGHNAD
D
ESAI
M
EENA
A
LEXANDER
N
ABANEETA
D
EV
S
EN
P
RALAYAN
P
UDHUMAIPITHAN
R
AJEE
S
ETH
R
AJENDRA
Y
ADAV
R
AM
R
AHMAN
S
HIBRAM
C
HAKRABORTY
S
ITANSHU
Y
ASHASCHANDRA
S
ITARAM
Y
ECHURI
S
UBRAMANIAN
S
WAMY
S
YEDA
H
AMEED
V
OLGA
Once again,India is heading into an election and the Hindutva groups are marching out with Rama for a mascot.But it’s not like the Nineties,when he had crowded everything else offthe political gaming board.And after the election,he will be allowed to recedeinto the background.His name is a powerful talisman,not a mere political plaything.Myth as reality is just too hot to handle.But like homoeopathy,Rama’s name works even in small,manageable doses.Betweenelections,Rama is routinely pressed into service.In the last five years,the god-hero hasbeen invoked to justify the movement against the Sethusamudram project,the beating ofaffluent urban women in Karnataka by the Rama Sene and the witch-hunt againstM.F.Husain for depicting Sita in the nude.These are only the most prominent in a ratherlong list ofincidents in which the name ofRama was not taken in vain.Naked violenceeasily brushed aside opposition from civil society institutions while the State studiously kept out ofharm’s way. This rather grim picture is now changing for the better because society at large is taking a stand.The middle class is organising in new ways against the curtailment offreedomsand the voter wants to see development in his neighbourhood,not a temple in faraway Ayodhya.But in the meantime,the cultural damage has been done.The
Ramayana
is nolonger what it was — an appealing,accessible,layered tale which travelled all over South Asia and Southeast Asia because every identity,whether Vaishnava or Buddhist,whetherChhotanagpur village woman or Sumatran prince,was free to interpret and adapt itaccording to local cultural needs.In this issue,we try to remind ourselves ofthe ancient,ever-alive,vibrant cultural phenomenon that fundamentalists are trying to replace witha new,soulless,authorised version ofthe
Ramayana
.Thus robbing us ofour culturalheritage,an epic that offered a palimpsest so wide that anyone,anywhere,could writehis or her own story into it.
Dear Reader,
volume VII issue 5&6
the little magazine
1
D
ISCLAIMER
:
The views presented in this issue reflect the diversity ofopinion and thecultural pluralism in India and do not necessarily reflect the personal views ofany individual or this publication.
2
the little magazine
volume VII issue 5&6
volume
VII
:
issue
5&6
E S S A Y S
6
The return of the sacred
After the age ofsecular ideologies,religion hasdefied the obituary notices and re-emerged.Andthere is no enigma here,says Ashis Nandy
16
The god who divides
Hinduism has flourished for so long because of its chaotic diversity.To Semitise it would be todevalue it,writes Meghnad Desai
20
In defence of the Rama Setu
Subramanian Swamy invokes the scripturalauthenticity ofthe
Ramayana
in defence ofthemovement against the Sethusamudram project
24
Let a hundred Ramas bloom
Respect those who believe in Rama,writesSitaram Yechuri,but don’t drag him on to thestreets as a political mascot
29
The moving spirit
Chandan Mitra traces the evolution ofRamafrom religious icon to political phenomenon
33
My Rama: Secular Hindu Divine
Syeda Hameed recalls the poetry ofIqbal heardin childhood,which spoke ofRam,Jesus andMohammad in the same breath
36
On edge
Nabaneeta Dev Sen explores the many countercultural oral
Ramayanas
ofthe littletradition,sung on the margins ofsociety
43
Not perfect, but close
Kamban’s Ram reflects the triumph offallibleman over flawless god,writes Indira Parthasarathy
47
The Kunkna Sita
G.N.Devy retells the delightful story ofan Adivasi
Ramayana
from Dangs,Gujarat
52
Between sacred and secular
Swapan Majumdar analyses the myriadadaptations ofthe
Ramayana
in east India,whichfreely interpret the text to fit local realities
56
Urban legend
Seeking the English
Ramayana
,Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr finds that the moderntranslator cannot tell god from demon
64
Revisioning Rama
M.F.Husain’s exile and the attack on women inMangalore are the result ofa process that beganin 1993,writes Ram Rahman
68
The shadow of unreason
Ketan Mehta reminds us ofthe the lawsuitagainst Raja Ravi Varma,the first fundamentalistassault on art in modern times
76
Ramanama
Tridip Suhrud revisits the Rama that we haveforgotten — Gandhi’s personal God who was hisstrength during India’s freedom struggle
80
Rama Redux
Arshia Sattar evaluates righteous Rama as aliterary character trying to come to terms withthe hand that fate has dealt him
85
The deletion of memory
It is all too easy to overwrite history and createthe illusion ofdestiny,writes ChandrashekharSastry,but the results are not easy to live with
89
Kings of the heart
Rama and Jesus are similar figures,offering salvation through personal faith,says A.J.Philip
93
The curse of Draupadi
Veejay Sai traces the history ofthe Karaga,asyncretic festival which kept Bangalore safe fromcommunal violence until recent times
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