130,/7he Collected Essays AK, Ramana oir: wit he practice of ansaon asa paces of tml ater {Rin veal minty. om nately, heap poetic magia nally, From Clasico to Bt am essiy that Ramanan sutra Ceres pt at se Ta xy and alte merging onthe periphery ofthe epi andes ‘Cerlds or Sansa north India, Rstorialy shape the subsequent pony and claro! Bai onthe ter apears nthe works lhe Si Tiss ars especly Nanas, Tekentogeher with sys Uise Ramavuna ata the Marat, an he her hex e559 09 stuck Tart ume nla ere, this essay inestes why, een in the istilleiuin tthe common ether can temo simple formula Tor-unty” or ners -oror"uny in Siversiy—in tein sub Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation How many Romayonas? Pee hundred? Thee thousand? At the end of some Ramavunas. question ssometimes asked: How many Ramavanas have there been” Andzhere ae stones that answer the question Here is (Ope day when Rama was siting on bis theone ising ell of. When it touched the eat, itmadea hoe inthe ground and disappeared moi. was gone. His asi Henchman, Hanuman, was this eet, Rama said 10 Hanuman, ‘Look. my rng i lost. Find i for me Now Hanuman can enter any ole, no matter how tiny. He a the power to become the smiles ofthe small an larger than the largest thing. So he took on any forma and went down the hole He ent and went an went and Stddenly fel into the netherwold ‘There were women down here, “Look, a tiny monkey! I fll fom above!” The they caught him ad placed fim 0 platter (ha. The King of Spits bhi). who lives nthe netherworld, ies 0 eat animals ‘SoFlanuman was sen ohn as pat of his diner long With his vege. lables. Hanuman sat onthe pater, wondering what to do. While this was pong on nthe netherworld, Rama satonhisthror eon theearth hove, Thesige Vasistha andthe god Brahm came see hit ‘Tey said to Rama, We wan! ota privately with you We det want anyone to her hat we sy or interrupt Do we agree? “All ght said Rama, well lk Thenthey sit, Laydowna ule. Hanyone comesinsweate thing his head shouldbe eto1321 The Collected Essays of AK. Ramanan twill be done” sa Rama, Who would be the most tustworthy person to guard the door? Hanumanhad gone downto fetch hein. Rama trested no onemorethan LLaksmana, so he asked Laksmana o stand by the door. ‘Don't allow anyone to enter he ordered [Laksmana wasstanding atthe door when he sage Vigvimita appear ced and ssid, “I need to see Rama at ace. I's urgent. Tell me, where is Rama” [Laksmapa sad, ‘Doo’ go in now: He is aking to some people I's import” "What is ther that Rm would hide from me” said Visvamita ‘st goin ight no [Laksmana sad, TM have to ask his permission before Team et you ‘Go in and ask then .ean't gon til Rima comes out, You'll have fo wait” ‘fyoudon'tgoinandannounce my presence, Mburthe entireking- dom of Ayodhya with a curse, said Visa, ‘Laksmana thought, IFT go ia ow, I'l die Buti don't go, this ho ‘headed man will burn dowa the kiagdom. All the subjects, all things living in, wilde I's Better that alone should die” Sohe went diht in Rima asked him, "What's the mater” “views s het “Send him in So Vieira went in. The private alk had already come to an end [Brahma and Vasgtha had cometo see Rima and say toh, "Your work inthe worldof human beingsisover, YourincarmationasRimnamus now be given up. Leave his bod, come up, and rejoin the gos That's all they wanted to 53 ‘Lakomana sad © Rims, ‘Brother, you should cut off my he.” Ramasaid, ‘Why? We had nothing nore to say. Nothing was le. So why should Tut off your head” ‘Laksmana sid, "You can’tdo that, Yu cant let me of because Fm ‘your brother There'libe blot on Ramis name. You dint spare your Wife, You sent her to he jungle, I nus be punish wil leave LLaksmana wasn avaarof Ses, the serpenton who Visi sleeps. Hisiime wasup too He went directly tothe river Saray anddiappeared inthe owing waters Three Hundhed Ramayanas 1133 When Laksmnanarelinguished his hoy, Rima summoned all his followers. Vbhisana, Sugrva, and oers and atranged forthe corona tim of is ein sons, Lava and Kus, Then Réma oo ener the river San Allthis while, Hanuma was in he neterworkl, When he was ill taken to the King of Spins, he kept repeating the name of Rama. Rims ima Rama. “Then the King of Spints asked, “Who ae you? ‘Hanamsa “Hanuma? Why have you come ere? "Rma’s rng fell int aoe. ve come to fetch it” ‘The King looked stound and showed him pater. On it were ‘thousands of tings. They were all Rims rings, The hing brought the pater to Hanuman, set down and said, Pick out your Rina ing and take ‘They were all exactly the same I don't know which one i sat Hanuman, shaking his ead "The King of Spirits sai, "There have been as many Rimas as there are ingsonthis later When youreturn gear, you wil tind RS, ‘Taisincarmation of Rima snow over. Whenever anincarmaton of RA isaboutiobe over, his ring allsdown Icollectthemandkeepthem. Now youcan go" ‘So Hanuman left! ‘This story i usualy tld co sugges that for every such Rima there isa Ramayan, The numberof Ramayana ad the range of her influence ‘in South and Southeast Asia ovr the pasttventy-five hundred years or ‘more at astonishing Justa ist languages which the Rima story is Found makes one gasp” Annamese, Balinese, Bengali, Cambodia, Chinese, Gujarati, Javanese, Kannada, Kashi, Khotanese, Lacan, ‘Malaysian, Marathi, Oriya Praknt, Sanskrit, Saba, Sinhalese, Tami Telugu, Thi Tibetan-to say nothing of Wester Ingvages. Through the centuries, some ofthese languages havehosted more thanone ling ofthe Rima story. Sanskrit fone conlains some twenty-five or more telings belonging to various narrative genes (epics, Aatyas or ornate poetic compositions, purdeus or old myihologial stones, and o forth). Tfwe add plays dance dramas, ander performances, noth the cls ‘Sealand folksradions.thenamberofRdnayanasprowseven ager To ‘hese st headed sculpture and bas-eliels. mask plays puppet pays134. The Collected Essays af AK Ramanyion snd shadows plas. nalthe many South and Southeast Asian culures* Camille Bulcke (1950), a stadent of the Ramin, counted three hdtedtllings H's no wonder tha even a ong ao as the Fourteenth century, Kumdravysa, a Kannada poet. chose fo wnte a Mahabharat because he heard the cosmic serpet which uphols the earth rosning tinder the burden of Ramayana poets (unkidanu phanniyardmavunada vig haradti In tis paper, indebted for its data fo numerous previous translatorsand scholars 1 wouldlike 0 sor out for myself and Thope forother, bow these handeedsoftellingsofastoryindiferent cal ‘ures languages, and eligous traditions relate to each other: what gels lranslated, wansplanted, vansposed VALMIKI AND KAMPAK: TWO AIALYAS. Obviously, these hundreds of telling dtfer from one another. {have ‘come 1o prefer the world lings to the usual rms versions or variants because the later terms can and tically do imply that there is an ‘invariant, anoigial or Ur-text-astally Valiiki's SanskritRamavana, the earliest and most prestigious of them all, Butas we sbll see iis not always Vallikisnarative thats cared fromone language to anoher. Tt would be useful to make some distinctions before we begin. The tcadtion self distinguishes between the Rama story (ramalaih) and texts composed bya specific person Valmiki, Karapan or Kriss, {orexample. Though may ofthe later are popolaly called Ramayaras Alike Kanpardmayanan), few texts actually ear the tle Ramayana: they are piven tiles like dmvatiram (The Incarnation of Rima), ‘Ramcarioaias (The Lake of the Acts of Rima), Ramakien (The Story ‘oF Rima) and 30 on. Theieltions to the Rama story as told by Valmiki also vary. This traitonl distinction Between kar (story) and kiya {oem parallels the Peach one between suet and rit ot the English ‘one between story and discourse (Chatman 1978), Is also analogous to ‘he distinction betweena senlenceandaspeechact-Thestory may beshe Same in two lings ut the discourse maybe vastly different Even the strocture and sequence of events may be the same, br the sivle details tone, and textore—and therefore the import—may be vastly differen. ere are tworeling ofthe same” episode, which occur atthe same point im the sequence of the rate. The fist from the Fest book (Balaton of Wabih's Sanskrt Ramatvanu: the second from the ist tanto (Palaknram of Kantpan'sPios@tavam in Tams Both marae the sory of Aaya Thvee Hundred Ramayanas 1195 Seeing Mi. Sanka’ white ite dirsng hy. he ages igh, sighing on he outskins Mii anata, aie, spooled and ovely asked the sue "Whale aly place sole un astra bt without hermit? ‘str ike so ear whose was Hearing Raghva's won the great sage "vsvamia, no re, expert in Wor nvwered Listen, ‘Righava, Tel you whose ashram ‘ya eatman in anger vas great Gautam’ hs ashram that seninds you of hewen, worshipped even bythe pas Lang ago. with Aas practised tye for cous years. Once, knowing tht Gata | was ana Ina (aed Thowsad Eyes) Ssershshand, tok onthe eves ofthe ape, an sat Abaya “Men pring hie dese dont ait ‘orth proper season. O you who haves prec dy Making ve ‘oth yoo that's what at ‘That wais of yours is lovely. ‘She knew st as nde fhe Thousand Byes {nthe gue othe sage, Yet she wroghenies woman nade ws her mid ofthe rs. As then er er being satisfied, she said othe gad.“ sated, ng ‘ofthe gods Go uch om here136, The Collected Esse of AK, Ramat ‘And Indra sid a i Ab ofa hr me eaves And O iia, ae uri a. nervous abt Gatun and sere, he caught sigh of Gata cag in the prea age unstable by gods ad wg compere bys tapas sl wet eats blazing ke te, with dado grace nd Kinng Tevtorsiack, hs fice dined of caou. “The sge facing Thousind Eyes dressed yo an i eh th shold ever bene Thoefre yo wil se your testicles "Atonce, they elo the rou hey ll “ving cursed Ida te then cursed Analy "Yo. you ul el ete sd burning visible al creates ‘oF Dasara comes this eile willeress. you wl ecm pre, Yeu wi elesned of int an conisn ed i who. aaa uring Gator stunned ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas/137 ‘Spoke othe gs ed by Apsi ended by he sagen ‘nd the celestial singers 1 only done this wok on hal of the gous puting ret Gautama He hus emasculated me a ejected he in anger fears. ve rhe hin ‘fis opus These reat ods sages, nd celestial singers Help me, helper of the sos, ofthe Hunted Succes and went “Some ime In, nate ‘and wus hen emusclated bythe sage's ese Ine, ‘nom angry withthe pos, "This um hs testis bu gea Ina has est uch ef hem oI. People who oer il ave endless to138, The Collected Essavs of AK. Ramanan vce Hunted Ramasanas 1139 spe ofthe ram's testes tapped them then lta ‘the Thousund Eye. Saeed Since then, the divine Ancestors Formed and eeu ates esata again sbe once was. (S48 an nde a testis ‘tbe eas troup he power of reat Gastar pos. [Rama then asks Visvimitea why tis lovely woman ha heen turned to stone. Vise replies: ‘Come the, Rims, othe asm "iste, Once nda “tthe holy sage and save APS | Londof he Damond Ase, who haste beauty of oes. ‘ted on he absense Righava hears Visvamia's words of Gautams, sage sl sin. sn flloned im int the asa sth aksmana thee esa aly shining with a ine gh ‘aed eu Nerpenaces forme oe) oest | erabeyed ahaa nis ie (515 Ds ein rm tse Harb oe aon ‘ pasersy even ts asi (Sasngl and Si 958 Landa, sages 47-8 ‘rane Dav Shun ad Rama) hot by te ok ner eyes Aha perce him ike peu, ata ‘woe and eat abou forstatagens one day overlie THE AHALYA EPISODE. KAMPAS Shdmindoss be wots these, ana sneaked tno te terme sean he ert body of Gastar “They came to many towered MIE {nd won tide he ots Cmte towers were many Map. Ther, high on anon fel whose rat kw wo falebonds, [382] Stood bck nk Sekine oe Ably arwasoce Atay Coupled, hy Sk deep the great sage's wie ho fell of istaigh weangs ‘emu of mariage nahosse. (Verse 547} snd she knew Ramses fel one sk Yeon eaiatornatec Aaput aside wha at ut bere Shon she dated ier ut the sage Ud notary. hecame backs very Sra Stet yeaa hs he (S831307 The Collerted Essa of AK, Ramanan ‘Gautama, who wed 0 ay Trams could se are mescupble Frere of cure an Besse stunned, bearing the she faded ‘ha wil ot end in th nse word ine Henens tat (554) Eyes dropping fre, Guotama ss what nas done, nds words ew lke the burning eos st your hn May you be covered bythe opine of thosand women hey came and ever bi 555] Covered with shane, lahigstock of he mon, ‘O ought woman May you tun stone” tnd she fll uroace 2 rough hing Sf blaek rock (556) Yer she ell he Hepes seals the mayo cles. O Silke lon of mine sl come, wearing gaan ta bing the hum of bes with tem ‘When he dt of et alls cn you ou wale fleas rom the of tone" SS Three Hundred Ramavanas 141 aed cume doen atone to Gaara ina delegation led by raha tnd begzed of Gata ele, ed cooled. He changed the make on Ineo hoesand eyes dhe pode went ck thet words tiie se ay thre hing oe [SSE “That was the way it was From now on no moe misty ‘nly release. tral things 0 cout ack od who buts with that ogress Tack ae sot saw there the vine of your ands tnahere the vine of your fet” (539) Let me rapidly suggests ew differences between the wo telling In ‘Valmiki, Indra seduces a willing Abaya. In Kampan, Aaya realises she is Going wrong but cannot let 0 ofthe forbidden joy: the poem bas also suggested eater that her sage-husband i all spit, deals which {ogether add ceniin psychological subtlety tothe seduction, Indra ies tostel away in the shape of a ea, cleasy a foilore motif (also found Forexampl, inthe Katasaritsdgara aneleventh century Sansknitcom pendium of folktales se Tawney 1923)-He is cursed with a thousand ‘apinas which are later changed into eyes, and Ahaly is changed into Frigid stone, The poetic justice wreakedon bothofTendersisitedto their wrongdoing. Indra bears the mark of what he usted for, while Aalyas Fendered incapable of rspondingtoanything. These motifs, netfoundin Vili, are atested in South Indian folklore and other southern Rima Sores, inscriptions and earier Tamil poems. as well as noa-Tamil Sources, Kampan, here and elsewhere, not only makes full use of his Predecessor Vaiik's materials but old i many tepionl folk trad tions Ie is often through him hat they then become pat of other Rand nas Tr technique, Kampap i also more dramatic than Valmiki. Rama’s feet transmte the black stone into ARaly8 fis; only afterwards + het story told. The Bick stone standing on a high place, wating for421 The Collected Essays of AK. Ramanujan ima, is itself a very effective, vivid symbol Ahalys revival. her ‘waking fom cold stone to Mleshly human warmth, becomes an oveasion Fora mening Dhaka (devotional) meditation on the soul waking ots ors ‘nod nally, te Ahayepisodeis related previousepisodesinthe poem suchas hatin which Ramadestroys the demonessTatak, Three was the destroyer of evil the bringer of steriity and he ashes of death ois tnemies Here asthereviverof Ahalya, heisacloud-dak goof fei. “Throughout Kampea’spoet Rimaisa Tamilhero.agenerousgiverand ruthless dessoye of foes, And the bhai vision makes the release of "Ahalyi fom er rock-bound sia paradigm of Rama's inesrmatry mis ‘Sin to release al souls from world bound misery in Valk, Rina's character isnothatof agodbatofagod-man who as to lve wih the mits of «human form wih all ts vicissitudes. ‘Some argue thatthe references toRima’s divinity andi incarnation for ‘he purpose of estoying Ravana andthe fist and ast booksolthe epic, inwhich Rama is clearly describedasa god wih sucha mission, are ater sddiions Be that as ay, in Kampan he sclearly a god. Hence a pas Sage like the above is dense with religious feeling and theological ima tes: Kampen, writing ite twelfth century, composes his poem under the influence of Tal bali. He ha fr his master Naracalar (noth ‘century’, the most eminent the St Vaisnava suas. So, fos Kampan, Rima is a god who i on a mission (ort out evi, sustain the good and. tring release foal living beings. The encounter with Aaya sony the fist ina series, ending with Rims encounter with Ravanathe demon himself For Nammalvar, Rama sa saviourof al beings from teow ly grass tothe great gods: ‘Why wold anyone want ‘oearn ying at Rama? dine teeing wh nak steer, ‘enehing sl Pio Hed Raman 183 he tk everthing veryting 8 fe lod ‘Four foes te ook them lt tothe very best of states Nama. (Raronyjan 1981.47 Kampaa’s epic poem enacts in detail and with passion Nammalvi vision of Rima. “Thus the aly episode is essentially the same, but he weave, the texture the colours are ves different Parco the aesthetic pleasure the Inter poet's ling derives from tsarssticuse of is predecessor's work, fiom ringing changes oni To some extent all ater Ramayonas play on the knowledge of previous ellings they ate mela Ramayana. {cannot fesistsepeating my fevounte example. Inseveralof he later Ramayanas (Guch asthe Adina Ramayona, sixteenth century), when Rima is eed, he does not want Sit to go with hits nt the forest Sit argues Wilt. At frstshe sestheusualarzuments'se shi wife, she sould Shure his suTfenings, exe Rese nhs eile and s0 on. When he stil fesisis the idea, she is furious. She bursts ou, "Countless Ramaanas have been composed before this Do youknow ofone where Sit doesn't {fo with Rima fo the forest” That clinches the argument nd she goes With him (Adlai Raveayana 23.77-8, see Nath 1913.39), Aas ‘othing in India occurs uniguels, even this motif appeats in more than fone Ramayana ‘Now the Tamil dmayana of Kampan generates its ov offspring its ‘own special sphere of influence. Read in Telugu characters in Telugu ‘ounty, played scram in he Malayalam aed as part of teple nial {Lis also an important lnk in the tansmission ofthe Rima story 10 ‘Sowineas Asia It has been convincingly shown thatthe eighteenth ‘century Thai Ramudion owes much tothe Tamil epic. For instance, the ‘ames of many characters nthe Thai work are n0l Sanskrit names, but leary Tami names forexarple. Rsyasnga in ansiribut Kalai in Tate ater borrowed no Toi. Tal's Hindi Ramcartminas andthe Malaysian Hikaru Ser Ramtov owe many detailstothe Kanan Poem (Singaravely 1968 Thus csiousy iansplamaionstake place though several nutes. I some lanpuases the word lor esis debved From a northem Chinese alec ann oters Hn southern dal thus some langues. ke146.1 The Collected Essays of AK. Ramanujan English and French, have some form ofthe word ea white others ke Hinds and Russian, have some fort a the word cha). Silay. the Rimastory seems tobaverravelled ling thee routes. according San tosh Desa 'By land the norte route luk the toy fom the Puna lind Kashmir into China, Tiel and East Turkestan by sea the southern, foute carried the story from Gujarat and South India into Java, Sumatra, “ind Malay andapainby land, he eastern route delivered the tory trom BengalintoBurma, Thailand, sndLaos.VietnarandCambodia bined, their stories pry rom Java ana pal rom Tada via the eastern ote’ (Desai 1970, 5). ‘When weenterthe workof in telling, he Rima story nolongercaries Hindu values. [ndced the Jin texts express the feling tha tbe Hindus, especially the brahmans,have maligned Ravana. made itn intoa ila, Hee is et of questions that Juin ext begins by asking: “How ean ‘monkeys vangush the powerful dksasa wariors ike Ravana? How ean ‘noble men and Jain wosthies ike Rvapaeat flesh nd drink blood? How ‘can Kumbhakara sleep trough six months of the year, and never wake “peven though boiling owas poured into sere elephanis weremade to trample over him, and Wat trumpets and coaches blown around hi? ‘They also say that Ravana captured Indra and dragged his handcuffed intoLanks. Who can do that nda Althis fooks abit fantasticandex tee, Theyare lies andcontrarytoreason,"Wilhthese questions mind King Seniks goes to ge Gautama wo have im tell the te story sna clearhis dovbs, Gautama says to hit, “PUtll you wha Jain wise men ‘say. Rivanaisnota demon, e's nota cannibal and a lesh eter Wrong thinking poetasters and fools tll these ies. He then begins 10 tel his ‘own version ofthe story (Chandsa 1970, 234), Obviously, the Jain Rama danaol Vimalasins called Poumacarxg(Drakstforthe Sask Padme ‘orta), Knows ts Valmiki and proceeds o correct its errors and Hind fextravagances Like other ain puranas.histoo isapriprdna, anant fr counte- puri. The peli pati meaning ‘ati of ‘count is favourite lain af ‘Vimalasi the Jin opens he story aot with Rama's genealogy and rouiess, but with Ravana's Ravana sone ofthe siiy-threleadersot Salakapurusas of the Jain ado. He is noble. learned, earn all hs magical powers and weapons through austeriies (pes) and is & {devotee af laia masters. Tu please one of them, Re even takes vow tal Dhree Hundred Ramayana 1148 te wll ot touch any enwiling Woman. In one memorable ineidnt, he Ips siege to an impregnable for, The queen ofthat kingdom sn ove Bohimandsendshimbermessenger-heusesherkeowledge othe fort Tporeach tad defen te king, ut as soonashe conquers he euros the kingdom tothe king and advises the queen o return oer husband, tr he is shaken to his rots when he hears from soothsayers that he til meet his end through a woman, Sita Is sucha Ravana who falls Tove with Sis beauty, abducts er, testo win her favours in ain, srscheshinself ll ad finally dies on he batlefielé. In these telling. Ieisa grt mansindone by & passion that he has vowed against but that be cannot resist In another tradition ofthe Jan Rananac, Sits sis daughter, although he does not know it the die of waged are loaded “against him forther by his oedipal situation. skallsay more cbout Sid's Birth inthe next section, In fatto our modem eyes, this Ravana is tragic gure; we are moved to uiaton and pity for Ravana when the Jans tell the story. Should mention one ore mos: according tothe Jain way of thinking. 2 pairofantagonsis, Vasudeva and Prativasudeva—ahero and ananihe- fp alost like self and Other—are destined wo fightin life ater lie Lasmana and Ravana are he eighth incarnations ofthis pai. They are bom in ape alter age, meet eachother n bate ater many vicissitudes, and in every encounier Vasudeva ineviubly hills his counterpart, his ‘pra, Ravana learns atthe end that Laksmana is sucha Vasudeva come {take his ie. tl, overcoming his despair aftr alastunsuecessfult- lemptapeace he faceshis destined enemy inbatlewithhis most power fil magic weapons. When finally he hurls hs discus (cara), it doesn't work rh. RecognisingLaksmina asa Vasudev i doesnot behead ‘im but gives itself overt is hand, Ths Laksmana sys Ravana with his own cherished weapon Here Rima does not even kill Ravan, ashe doesn the Hindu Rama )anas, For Rina isan evolved Jan soul whohascongueredhispassions {His ish ast bt so be i oath co ill anything leis lefttoLakgmana, ho goes to hell wile Rams finds cease aval ‘Onebaadly need uta the Pouca is illed with references 19 dain places of pilgrimage, stores aout Jan monks, and Jain homilies td legends, Furthermore, since the sins consider themselves ration aliatssnlike the Hindus, who, according to ther, are given to exorb lant and offen bloodthirsty fancies and riuals—they systematically ‘oi episodes ivolingairacolous iris (Rima and his bothers are tom in the normal wy), Blood ssciices. and the Uke, They even146 The Collet Essans of AK. Romana rationalise the conception of Ravana asthe Ten headed Denon. When the was born, his mother was given a necklace of nine gems. which he Put around his neck, She sw his Face reeced in them ninefok and sq alld him Dasamukha, ofthe Ten faced One, The monkey's to ae 90, ‘monkeysbutwclanof celestial (sdsadharasaceally related 0 R3vang tnd his family through their great grandfathers. They have monkeys ay temlems on their Fags: hence the name Vanaras or ‘monkeys {Let's ook at one ofthe South Indian folk Ramayana In hes, the story ‘sual occur nbs and pieces, Por instance, in Kannada, wea given Separte narrative poems on Sit set, her wedding. her casi tes, her evil the birth of Lava and Kuso, thei War with thet Taher Rama, And soon Bat we do hive one completetllingof the Rima ory hy rah tional hard eam dsc) sung with a ean repeated every two lines ty a chorus. For the following discussion Iam indebted the Manseriptonby Ramé Gowda, K-Rajes#karaandS. Bassvaiah(1973), “This folk narrative, sung by an Untouchable bad, opens with Ravana (bere called Ravula) and his queen Mapgodar. They are unhappy and cfuldless, So Ravaa of Ravula goes tothe forest, performs all Sons of Selismorficains like cling on the ground til ocd runs from his hack, and mets or holy mendicant, who oe oes than Siva, Siva gives hima magie mango and asks hi how he would shate ith his wife. Ravala says. "Of couse, giveherthe sweet leshof the frat andl lick the mango seed” The Jo! is skeptical, He says to Ravul, “You say oe tig tome. You have poison in your lly. You're giving sme butter toeat bt youmean something else Ifyou letomne, you leat the fuitofyouracionsyourell"Ravalatas onething in hisdresms nd another in his waking world, says the poet When he brings the mange home. with al sorts of lowers and incense for the ceremonial pi Mandodariis very happy. Aller arial pujand prayers to Siva, Raval is ready share hermango. But he thinks, I give her eft, be ‘nung. she Ilbe ll’ andquickly gobbles up the eshot the frit. giving Ineronly the seedt ick, When she throws nthe yard, sprouts and {rows ntoa al mangottee. Meanwhile, Rev himset becorses pres ‘ant is pregnancy advancing a month each day Inthe secon ws th sev hy tnderavigs bez or as. O Siva ow shall show my ie to the wood of OS Dace Handed Ramavunas 1147 ‘onthe hind uy 48 he hid mot Tove shall showy fae the wor © Siva, Ont out dey stay the Fae oh Five days and twas fie mont Oord eave given me hl 0 Siva Teantbear st Lear per. O ive How wil ive. ees Rav ner. Sin ays and sit mont one Ome. Inaeven days twas seven onthe. ‘Gwat shame, Ral nhie sevenih mont, landsoon cue the ith O Sve aval ws nis i all mon ‘And Ravel ames her Stam (Gowda etal. 1973, 150-1: my tanslaion) {In Kannada, the word sit means “he speezed'shecallsher Sis because seis bor fromasneeze Het name s thus givena Kannada folketyo- Jogy.as inthe Sanskitextsit asa Sanshitone-there she samedi ‘bectuse King araka finds her in a frrow (sta. Then Ravala goes to aszologes, who ell him hes being punished for not keeping his Word teSivsand for eating he es of the rut instead of ivng ita his wie, ‘They advise him to feed and dress the shld and lave her some place where she willbe found and brought up by some couple He puts her in ‘box and leaves her in Janaka's eld Ws only after hi story of Sis birth ha the poet sings the bin tnd adventures of Rama and Laksmana. Then comes along section on Siu's marrage contest, where Ravula appears and is humiliated when befalls under the heavy bow he hast it Rama ifs and marie Sit. ‘Aer that she is abducted hy Raval. Raima ays siege to Lanka with his ‘monkey alles, and inabriet section) recovers Si ands crowned ng. ‘The poe then vetus othe theme of Sis ras. Shei slandered and ‘led, but gives bin to tins who grow apto be warsors They te uP Rima’s sacri horse defeat the aries eno ad he Horse ait Foaly unite their paren ths tne Hor son ‘One sees herent only a diferent teste and emphasis: he elle is ‘reeywhere eave to rete to Sader ie her ith hee adoption her ‘edn. her ahductum and recovery Whove Sections. equal length (boven Rat nd Laksan rth ele ad war aims van ate188 (The Collected Essays of AK. Ramanan devoted w her banishment, pregnaney and reunion with hes husband Furthermore. er abnormal thas ve daughter bor directly tothe male Ravana Bangs the sory anew range of suggestions: the male envy of ‘wom and cildbih, which 3 frequenttheme in Indian irate, od Snlndian oedipal theme of fathers pursuing dauphters ard inthis case, Sdaughtercausing the death ofhericestwous father (see chap. 22. The Indian Oedipus, below) The motif of Sid as Rivara’sdauehier sat tnknown elsewhere, t occur in one tation ofthe Jain stories (or example. inthe Vasudevahii) and in folk traditions of Kannada ant {Telugu as well asin Several Southeast Asian Ramayanas: In some, Rivang inhisusty youth molests. young woman, who vows vengeance and isreboonashisdaughterto destroy him. Thusthe oral rations seem fo partake of yet another set of themes unknown in Valmiki “When we go outside India to Southeast Asia, we meet wih a varity of telling of the Rama stony in Tibet, Thailand, Burma, L208. Cambodia, Malayria, ava and Indonesia. Here we shall ook at only one example, the Thai Ramtatir, According 1 Santosh Desa, nothing else of Hind origin has affected the tone of Tai fe more than the Raz story (Desai 1980, 63) The bus-relits and pantings onthe walls oftheir Buddhist, ‘emples, the plays enacted in town and village, ther ballels—llofthem ‘rework the Rar story. In succession several kings with the name “King Rama’ wrote Ramayuna episodes in Tha: King Rama T composed 8 telling ofthe Ramayana nity thousand verses, Rama Tlcomposed new episodes for dance. and Rama VI added another set of episodes, ost {ake fom Valk Places in Thailand, chs Lopbur(Sanskpt Lava ‘ur. Kin (SanskotKiskindhs) and Ayuthia (Sanskrit Ayodhy§) ‘withits ruins of Khmer and That ae are associate with Rama legend “The That Remakir (Rama's glory) o° Ramakien (Rama's story) opens with an account ofthe origins of te three Kinds of characters ie ‘ory thehuman the demonic, andthe simian. The second part describes the brothers fist encounters withthe demons, Rama's marriage and banishment. the abition o Sa, and Rama's meeting withthe monkey clan Tt also deseries the preparations forthe war. Haruman's visi Linkaandhis boring. thetilding of he bge, the siege of Lanka. the allof Ravana, and Ram sreunion with ia. The hind pat descnbes insurrection a Lanks, which Ram depoteshis wo youngest bathers to quell Tis part also descnbes ihe hanisment of Sia che bh of her Thvce Hundred Romivanas (189 sons their War With Rama, Sits descent int the earth andthe appease nee ofthe gods reunite Rama and Sis. Though many incident ook the same as they do in Valk many things look diferent as wel For fasance, a8 the South India folk Rimayeas (as alo in some Ji, Bengali and Kishin ones), the bsnishment of Sits given a dramatic sew fationale, The daughter of Sarpanahh (the demoness whom Rams {nd Laksmana had mulated yeas earierin the forest)is waiting nthe trigstolake revenge on Si, hom she views finally esponstbe for her mother’s disfigurement. She comes to Ayauhys, enters. Sis serviceas maid. andinduces ero draw a pictur of Ravana, The dra ingis tendered indeibie in sometelings,stcomestolifeinherbedroom) and forces ise on Rima"s attention In a jealous rage. he orders Sk Killed. Te compassionate Laksmana leaves her alive inthe forest, though. and brings back the heart of «deer as witness tothe exceaon ‘The reunion between Raa and Sits als different. When Ramo finds cutshe ssilalive, he recalls Sita ohispalaceby sendingherword thathe isdead. She rushes o see him bu Mies into rage when she finds she as heen ticked, So, na ito helpless anger, she calls upon Maher aio ake her. Hanuma is sentto subterranean egions to bing her ‘ck but sherefusestoretur,Ittakesthe powerof Sivato reunite them ‘Agni as in the Jain instances and the South Indian folk poems, the secon of Sita’s births diferent from hat given in Valmiki When Dasarata performs his sevice, he receives iveball, ao the rice Por ridge (daa) mentioned in Valmiki. Acrow steals some ofthe rice and lakes ittoRivans's wile, whoa tend gives bith Sia, A prophecy ‘hat his daughter will cause his dea makes Ravana throw Sis io the Sea, where the sea goddess protects her and takes her t ans, Furthermore, though Rima san incamation of Vis. in Thalandhe ‘subordinate o Siva. By and large i seen as human eto, andthe Ramat snot regarded 25a teligios work of even as an exemplary \orkon whichmenand womea may palterthemselves. The Thaisenjoy "Mos te sections abou the sfiction of Siti andthe war Patings and "eunions, which are the heart the Hindu Ramayana, re nots impor tanias the excitement andthe detail of war. the technigues, he fabulous ‘weapons. The Yuddhakanda othe War Book is more elaborate than in Ay ahertelng. whereas is of minor importance i the Kannada folk (elgg, Desa sys this Thai emphasis un Wari significant early That sory is ful of wars-theirconcern was survival The fcusin the Ram snoton family values and spray. Tha audiences aremorelnd Of Hanurin than of Rima. Neither ceshatenor devout xi he Hinds1501 The Cotterted Essays if AK: Keamanajion Ramana hove Hanuinin nite lies’ an, whodoese'tatall mind looking note bedrooms Lanka and doesn tconside seeing ane ‘nan’ sleeping wife anything immoral. as Valmk's os Kampan’ Hanuman des. Rvang to is different here. The Romokivti admires Ravana's ve sourcefulness and leaing:hisabduetionof Sassen asan aetof ve fndisviewed withsyraputhy, The Thisare moved by Rvana’ssacrifice OF family kingdom and Iie sel forthe sake of @ woman His dying words later provide the theme of «famous love poem of the nineteenth entry, an inscription of Wal of Bangkok (Desat 1980, 85) Uae ‘Valoakisckaraters, the Paiones rea fallible. heman mixture of go andevil The fallof Ravana here makes one sod Ttisnotan occasion for Snambiguousfejoiing. as ii ia Valmiki “Thus. not only do we have one story told by Vali in Sanskrit we have variety of Rima tals told by thers, with radical differences among ‘them. Let me outline a Tew ofthe dferences we have not yet encoun tered, Porsnstance, in Sanskrit and in the other Indian languages there retwo endings tothe story, One ends wih the return of Ram and Sits to Ayodhya. their capital to be crowned king and queen ofthe ideal ‘Kingdom. In another ending often considered alate addition a Valmiki and in Kampan, Rama ears Sia slandered asa woman wh lived in Rvana's prove and in the ame of his reputation asking (we wold callitcreitlity, suppose) hebanishesheriothe forest, whereshe gives birth totwins, They grow upin Walmiki's Hermitage, learnthe Ram) as well asthe arts of War fom him, wina war over Rama’ army, andi poignant seene sng the Rayna their own father when he doesn't {uit know who they are, Eachof these twoendinas gives the whole work aditfeenteast The firstone celebrates the retuenol the royal exiles and Toundsoutthetale wih reenson, coronation and peace. Inthe second one. teirhappiness bre, and they are separated gun. making separation fof oved ones (vpralambla) te ental mood ofthe whole work. team even be called tragic. for Sits finally cannot beat it ay more snd enters alissureintheesth themother from whom shehador ginal’ come—ss ‘wesw earlier ername means "Turrow”,whichiswere she wasongin ally foundby Jaks, alu enscls, nthe iseol Sit rm thefurtow and hervetuen tothe earth, «shadow ofa Proserine-like ny. a vegetation cycle: Sid ke the seed and Rama with Mis club dark aly thera Pivee Hunde Ramis AS1821 The Collected Escavs of AK: Ramanan unprotected: this allows Ravana to abduct Sia. Even as Ravana caries heroffc he is opposed by an ancient bird which be slays with his sword Furthermore, the death of the bird. im the opening section, andthe cy of the surviving mate set ihe tone forthe many separations throughout the ‘work of brother and brother, mothers and fathers and sons, wives and sands, “Thus the opening sections of each major work set ilo motion the harmonics ofthe whole poem. presagingthemes anda patem of mazes ‘Kampan's Tamiltext begins vey differently. One can convey itbest hy iting 2 few stanzas “The lad, wearing white ssthe face ofthe Lard ‘sho weats wath pride fis ign me Goss ‘be cea beat 2) fora ange of goa the cloud le don cine ad cain of sleaming rai Femembecing and eckoing athens (15) fscominets ice he fae ofa great king pri, inatte,egnng byte Cans der coo roel ure [16] CConcaines stessng thew overs hu er ves bosies. thei loves ib take aay whole ils ft weath et ee ste ‘nthe senha ans Diree Handed Ramavanas / 183 The fd earn al fore it leaded wth 2d pers peacock fester om Fw sk and fragt woods (28 ending os cure. thee, furfce coloured by petal ol ellow pen ore. the etre flow of elephant st Hooked much ike suit, 19] Ravating lle. proting ees, vere wth allen eave al oer, tte water cae tie aman lan Teoking fora brige 120) “Thik ace proud elephants aged with foaming aver orses ‘ig he a with tense of wat sfora tate with he se. (22) ‘Stream of eumbeles kings inthe ine ofthe Stn theriverbrances into dels smothers lh oa hives ‘he sal se serunded land (21 ‘catering aber arom the bls wa rn of arom the scared women esting thei bles nd gathering ow and arom se) the water asa villages Tete armies of xn]1540 The Collected Exsavs of AK. Raman fueling on war ges und baer Sug om the ps ohe ropes. eating the mara te the uri Chttying tway te clothes und acl ‘ gouterd psu water games, onthe spted sake, ‘he tere ave nae (26) ‘Tomning forest io sore el it wilderness, ‘ashore it ete nd, ‘ching andcapes, "hat ay close on he ees olives [28] Bom of Himaliyan stone and mingling wit the eas ‘spreads ceases aos, one and any atone, tren the mexsrles Vedas ‘Stanormeasite wih words 20} “Trough pollen depping erves chumps of champak Tots pos, seater places with new sands, Towering elas croseenced tke wife ine and etyne ‘vane of oss the aver ows. (31P ‘This passage is unique to Kumpan; i 8 nt found sn Val, 1 describes the waters 45 they are gered by chads From he seas and Punee Handed Ramana £158 come down n rain an ow as ood ofthe Saray river down to Ayo: {yasthe capital of Rims kingdom. Throat. Kamponinroduces bisthemes and emphases. even his charters, his concern with feriity tGemes (implicit in Valmiki. te whole dynasty of Ram's ancestors, fad his vision of hat though the Ramya, ‘Note the variety of themes introduced through the simile and alls sions, eich aspect ofthe water symbolising an aspect ofthe Ramana story isell and representing a potion of the Ramayana universe (for {xample, monkeys), picking up as it goes slong characteristic Tamil traditions aot be foundany where ele, ike the five landscapes of clas ‘Seal Tami poetry, The emphasis on water isl, the source of ie and Feri, 8 also an explicit pat of the Tamil iterary tation, The ‘arate so-called Bible of the Tamil, adidacicworkontheends an ‘means of the 200d ife—opens wi passage on God and follows up immediately with a great ode in celebration ofthe rains (irra 2). ‘Another point of diferece among Ramavanas isthe intensity of {oeus ona majr character. Valmiki focuses on Kama and his history in his opening sections; inalasdri's Juin Ramayana and the That epic oeus not on Rima hut om the genealogy and adventures of RSvana: the Kannada village ling ocvseson it, he birth er wen, her tls ‘Some later extensions like the Adbhuts Ramayana and the Tari story of Satakanthardsana even give Sih a heroic character: when the ten headed Ravana is illed, another appears witha hundred heads: Rama ‘cannot handle this new menace, so itis Sita who goes to war and slays {he new demon (see Shulman 1979), The Santas, a tribe known fortheir extensive oral traditions, even conceive of Sita as vafaithlul—to the ‘hockand boro of any ind bed on Valmiki or Kampan,sheissedue ‘edbothby Ravansand by Laksmana laSouthesi Asianlets. as wesaw cauler, Hanvmin sno the celibate devotee with 4 moakey Tage bt & ladies" man who figures in many love episodes. In Kampan and Tuts ‘Rima iss god: inthe Juin texts he isonly an evolved Jin man who sin his ast ith and so doesnot even hill Evans lo the late, Ravana ‘noble hero ftedby hiskarmato all for Sitsand bring death upon bimsel hile heisinoier texts an overweening demon. Thusin the conception ofevery majorcharaterhere ae radical diflerences, souiferentindeed {atone conception site abhorrentto tose who oldanother Wemay _ad.othese many more elaborations onthe reason why Sit isbanished the miraculous creation of Sits second son and the fil reunion of ‘Ramaand Sits Every one of these oecursim more than anetext, more156) he Caleta Estss of AK Ramanson than on tent ovny Hind, io Busan, ore an ote "Nom, ee common creo hs Rima storie, excep th mos sical sto lens aco ns, his rer is wile an he tougonn vagal? Arc stresbound ete cly by cemaie ly cele. s+ Wineencn might say? Grice ‘risa’ s ck taife When pilsopherskedanoldcapeterow fhe befiadhahis af, te laters, ‘Ob.'vehad forty year Te change he Made few ins anh url ae ines, bus the same knife.’ Some shadow of a relational structure claims the name Rime fr ian elings bs on loner ok ones na ceces ee Ngee 8 ace of pople with he same rope nue, they make sls nna alone THOUGHTS ON TRANSLATION ‘That may be too exteme a way of pting it. Let me back up and say it differen naway thatcovers more adequately ihedierences between ‘hetextsandibelrrelaonsoeach other, forthe are related. One ight think ofthemasa seiesof translation clustering around one or anther ‘nafamily of exis: anumberof them caster around Valmiki another set round the ain Virals and 0 on ‘r these translaton-relations between texts could be thought of in Pegcean terms at east in thee ways? ‘Where Text | and Text 2 havea geometrical resemblance teach ‘es a8 one triangle fo another (whatever the antes, sizes, oF colours ofthe ines), wecallsueh a relation conic Inthe Wes, we generally ex ctraslations tbe“, isnic. Thus, when Chapman ans Intes Homer, he not only preserves basic textual features such as characters, imagery and order of incidents, bul tiesto reproiues hex imeterand retain the same umber of lines inthe original Greek ony thelanguage s English nthe idiom Elizabethan. When Kapa eels ‘Vaiss Ramayana in Tale slrgely ath n keeping tothe der and sequence of episodes, the siutural relations between the characters of fuer, son brothers, wives, rend, and enemies. But the Seon islimied to sch tctura relations. His work mc longer than Valmiki’ for example, and ii composed in more than twenty differen kinds of Tamil metres, while Val’ is most in the Sok Very ofen although Tet stands in anionic lationship to Tet | ‘Tivee Hundred Ramavinas 15) Bis Basic edi sch ox pot, fed wih tsa et Hitre post traditions, imagery, and so forth—asin Karnpan's telling the Berga Kiva Te ine Bengal Ramcone: Rama's wee fe vecrmuchs Bengal wedding wit Bengal castors and Bengal Sen 1920), We nay call sucha text indeseahe text seb fea colte fers toievensgiisiy and vouldeatake Sense without Here, one may the Ramayana nt merely Benita tris, ut eore witha variety of sane Ee ad ten as we have seen, Test? west load haters Bes of ers ini andusesthem sy entcely tings, Brot subver be predecsso by peor timer Fpay elles onaon slic Tt ert ena hes Bee err maker at seas or eee ee ot ovo ance pane or snother sync system When isha ie Rina story hasecome alnosts ecod language of te whe fre, shared eor of names, caracer,incens and mo, Peis lunges in ck Tet in yf bi TED ings vente enatoppoite, Vals and Vivalass Bisa indore Thl mall a Souteast AS -ate sch pl wantin ofeach ther must not forget ato some exten il ranslao eve te bo {autfl conic ones, inviably fave all vee Kind elements, Goldman (1984) and his group of scholars produce & moder lation of Vals Ramayan, hey ae eon ansteration trates, the umber and sequence of vere, the onde of be sods andor Bute ae alsondescl, nia the ansaion agish om and comes equipped wih nactons and expla pp eences, wich irl onan went emu tes and ost symbiohat hey cant vol conveying tough Meatslation modern understanding proper er rxdingafihetex. the proportions betwen the the Hinds oF elatons die any gn Kanpan and Goldman. And we accordingly read thers for en resons and with iflerent eshte expectations We fad the ply nodes English translation argay gain a sense ofthe rg Vain and we conse i sucesfal to beexen hat resebles original We cad Kapaa wo read Kapa, and we jue hon is term—notby hs resemblance o Valli bt ayting byte Ua he ciferftom Vln hone we jie esi inthe eh, we cherish and savour he difeteces Poesy gofurer andy tat be clr stan which Ramdyonas198, Phe Cece Essays of AK: Renna Ses Rance erp eens eatin Sel eormancewadians rates prover ten oa cote Rasy Wren someone carn Sonar noma nan ee tne sisted pron Aer aati be askehow Raab relted 0S aoe irons ern ae asked or te simen sae eof al Hans ere hs Broken seen eh Andethese mate sed marge snes Sen een enemys punting clr od the many performing as. These various tents no onl eat o prior texts directly. tobortowor Pituscommoncove orca ccftebutieyreaetocaer 08 foot Eve suo nema hacartameepodp nto anbrings eee etstzon, ae est th nsue texte ane omen the great texts evork the salons fo Tons ae made ok Sheep ae Valery sal Ad seep ae mde of ins 00: fl eend lyst tanumzewrtete og Riera aa ouasop at Sneprentwarandseteredthenarscrp weasiny tines ager thane hae ow. Valk seidtohave sapred ola apne iUsighisenenoetsnginl ezine eng a the try howe lsu atough ty be else ina text Te a smounSouheas Asnnoonecve teat Rimivonsote hibit forte ste The store are et, alas lea)” “Thisessay opened witha folktale abouthe many Ramivanas. Before we close, itimay be appropriate to tell another tale about Haroman and Rima ing Bot ths story is about the power of the Ratan, abou ‘what happens when you really listen to Ths potent story. Even a fool “Catt resist it hes eneanced ant caught op ste action. The sen an rolongerbeartobea bystander buifeelscompelledtoenterthe wrk tthe epic the ine Between fiction and reality is erased ‘villager whotadno senseo eulureand mo iteretinitwas marred to a woman who was very cultured. She ed various ways to culiva hi tste forthe higher things in hfe but he just wasn interestd ‘One day a great ecter ofthat pang epi the Romavena came w te village Every eveninghe wool sing rete adexpain he verses oe Three Handed Rameranas 154 epic. The whole vilage went ths one nan pefovmance as were The woman who wax marce the uncukused dot red 1 interest him inthe pertormance. She nagyed tinn ad asyed hin ying atonce him to go and listen. This time, he grumbled as usta but decid to humour, So he went inthe evening and tat the hack. I was anal ightperformance.and be justcoulda’theepawake. He slept ugh the ih. Early inthe rooening, whens canto hadended athe ecitersang the closing verses for ihe aay, sweets were disribued scconding 1o «stom. Someone put some sets ito the mouth ofthe sleping man He woke up soon ater and weat home, His wife was delighted that het hhushand had stayed though the night and asked him eapery how he enjoyed the Ramayana He said "It was very sweet. The wile was happy toner it ‘The nex day (00 his wife incised on his listening othe epic. So he ‘went tothe enclosure wheve the reciter was performing, salepaist 8 wal andbeforelong llfastaslep. The place wascrowded ana youne toy sa on his shoulder. made himself comfortable, and listened oper ‘mouthed tothe fascinating ster. Inthe morning, whenthe nights portion ‘ofthe story came oan end everyone got opars sod the husband. The boy had lef earlier. tthe man felt aches and pains rom the weight he hd bore ll night When he went home an his wife asked himeagety how itwas, he said “It got heavier and heavier by moming’ The wife sai, "That's the wath sory 8.” last beginning ofl the emotions andthe greatness ofthe epic Onthe third day. he satat the edge ofthe crowd and was so sleepy that he lay doen om the Noor and even snoved- Ely inthe mocning, a og ‘ae that way and pisse ino his mouth lle before he woke up and ‘went home. When his wife asked hin how twas, he moved bis mouth this way and that made a face and sai, “Terrible. It was 50 sally." His, wife knew something was wang. She asked him what exactly was happening sid did't let up tll he finally tod het how he had been Sleeping through the peeformance every nigh. ‘nthe fourth day. his wife wem with him, sat him down in he very first ow, and told ira sternly hate shouldkesp awake no mater wht righthappen. So esa duty athe eontrow and begantolisten Very soon, he was caught up in theadventures andthe characters ofthe great «pie story: On that diy, the recite was enchanting the suhence with + ‘eseriptionot how Hanuman the inkey hat leap across the ocean take Rims signet rng te Sia, When Hanami was leaping across the160 The Coltected Essays af AK; Ramanan can, he signet tng sipped fom his hand and fel into the ocean, Fhanuoan dit kiow what to do, Head gelthe ring Back quickly and aero sta inthedemon's kingdom. Whilehe was wringing hishands, the husband who was Bslening with rapt atention i the fst row said, Hanuman, don't worry. 1 etitfor you. Then he jumped up and veg imate ocean found he ingonthe ocean lor brought back, and gave ‘tio Hanuman Everyone was astonished. They thought this man was someone speci really blessed by Rama and Hanuin, Ever since, he hasbeen eopectedinthevilageasa wise elde.and he hasalsoBehaved like ove, “Thats what happens when you rally listen toa story, especially tothe Romina Repetition in the Mahabharata debe ‘No Hinds ever reads the Mahabharata fo he first time, And when he does goto read i he doesn't uvally read tin Sanskrit. AS one such rive, know the Hin epics ot asa Sanskrit (which Lam ae), but through Kannada and Tamil. mostly trough the oral wadions. 've Ieard its and pieces of tina tailors shop where a pundit used to regale 98 with Mfahabharara stores and lage sections of a sisteeth-centry Kannada tet from braanc0okS inthe house from an olderboy who loved to Keeps spellbound with st (andthe Kanan Arabian Nights which he was reading inthe Orenial Library) after cricket, inthe evenings, under a large neem tee sn a wealthy engineer's compound: froma somewhat bored algebra eacher wh switched fom the binomial theotem tothe problems of Draupadi and her five husbands. Then there were profesional bards who ‘id the Hariktha Kalaksepa’, redeem Ingthetie withholy tales (and otalways bly ones). They were invited Into aneighboorhoot by group ora wealthy man, and they would recite, Sngandtelthe Muhbharata in sectons night nigh usually under 2 temporary canopy (panda it by petromaxlanterrs, with oating audience siting on res onthe street nd. the verandas of houses that lined the street no tured ina makeshtauditorium. Tey san songs ‘several langues, old folktales, sometimes danced, quoted Sanskait, lags as wel as the dily newspaper. and made the Mahabhdraw enter. taining, didactic and elev othe lstene's present ‘The Mahara provides materials nd allusions to every arstic gence from plays to proverbs irom folk petformances to movies and TV. Indeed, the Malubharuna and the Ramana have appeared as Serial, week alter weeh in popular Tas weeklies. C, Rajapopalachan lYeveicranstalesman who wasdedicutedobringmgirudiional wisdom