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Plant and Animal diversity in Valmiki's Ramayana

Book · May 2013

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PLANT & ANIMAL DIVERSITY
IN VALMIKI’S RAMAYANA

M. Amirthalingam
and
P. Sudhakar

published by
C.P. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE
1, Eldams Road, Alwarpet, Chennai 600 018.
E-mail : cpreec@gmail.com
Website : www.cpreec.org

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© 2013 C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre, Chennai
All rights reserved

ISBN : 978-81-86901-20-5

Layout & Cover design : R. Sathyanarayanan

Maps by : Y. Venkatesh

No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission from

C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre

The C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation
1 Eldams Road, Alwarpet, Chennai - 600 018.
Phone : 91-44-24346526 / 24337023
Fax : 91-44-24320756
Email : cpreec@vsnl.com
Website : www.cpreec.org / www.cpreecenvis.nic.in

This book is printed on paper made of bagasse, an agricultural waste.

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 MESSAGE

Plant and Animal Diversity constitutes the foundation for sustainable livelihoods
and human happiness. The Sage Valmiki has described beautifully the value and wonder
of biodiversity in his epic, The Ramayana. I am happy that the C.P.R. Environmental
Education Centre has captured the spirit of Valmiki’s Ramayana in this timely and
wonderful book. I congratulate the authors and I hope the book will be widely read.
It will become an important stimulus for spreading the conservation ethos among the
younger generation.

Chennai Dr. M. S. Swaminathan

Chairman
C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre

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 PREFACE

The Ramayana is a great epic which knows no boundaries of religion or nation.

It has taught the values of life and behaviour to men and women over centuries, across
India and South-East Asia. There is no finer example in the world of a multi-religious,
international culture than the Ramayana. Scores of generations of adults and children
have watched performances and listened to narrations of the great epic over 3,000
years, to learn the importance of an ethical life. This has been the cornerstone of life
in India and South-East Asia. Many kings in these countries have taken the name of
Rama, cities and islands have been named after persons and places in the epic and
symbols of Vishnu (whose incarnation is Rama) have been royal emblems across the
region. The story of the Ramayana is enacted more often than any other story of the
world. It is performed by Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims. It is the most important
cultural tradition of Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal and India.
It has also been widely prevalent in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. The Ramayana is
the great bond of culture which unites India and the countries of South East Asia.

In February 2013, the C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation organized

a RAMAYANA FESTIVAL to celebrate the role of the great epic in the culture of India and
South-East Asia. The Ramayana Festival included an exhibition of the FLORA AND
FAUNA OF THE RAMAYANA, organized by C.P.R. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
CENTRE (CPREEC) from February 1 to 24, 2013.

The Ramayana is geographically very correct. Every site on Rama’s route is still
identifiable and has continuing traditions or temples to commemorate Rama’s visit.
Around 1000 BCE, no writer had the means to travel around the country inventing a
story, fitting it into local folklore and building temples for greater credibility.

Valmiki knew his flora and fauna as well and he knew his geography. CPREEC
documented the many species that he had mentioned in the Ramayana and found that
the same still existed in the same places as the epic.

Valmiki mentions that Rama, Lakshmana and Sita were alerted to be careful
when they enter the Dandaka-aranya, which was full of lions and tigers. But there are
no lions in that area today. The tigers which were there a few years ago have also been
killed by poachers. However, at the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, we found a prehistoric
painting of a lion and a tiger together, which corroborates Valmiki’s text.

The Ramayana is a useful source of information, giving details not only about
mammals like monkeys, bears, etc., but also about insects and plants. The epic mentions
why some trees became sacred. Interestingly, if Rama describes the plants, Sita speaks

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 about the welfare of animals and against hunting for sport. She did not ask Rama to kill
the golden deer. She merely wanted to play with it. Who would not, if they found such
a strange animal? Valmiki the biologist speaks as Rama the botanist and Sita the
zoologist.

The panels that were prepared for the exhibition have been included in this
book. Students of schools and colleges came in droves to see and learn from them.
We have reproduced all the panels, providing information about the flora and
fauna, maps and various forest types like Chitrakuta, Dandaka-Aranya, Kishkinda,
Oshadhi-parvatam, Panchavati and Lanka’s Evergreen forests.

One of the events at the RAMAYANA FESTIVAL was International Conference

on “THE RAMAYANA IN LITERATURE, SOCIETY AND THE ARTS”.

M. Amirthalingam’s presented a paper on “ Plant diversity in Valmiki’s

Ramayana” at the Conference. It is of unique value, presenting the authenticity of
the Ramayana and Valmiki’s rich knowledge of local flora and fauna.

Dr. P. Sudhakar, the co-author, was invaluable in tracing the botanical and
modern names for several of the plant species, which are named in Sanskrit. It was not
enough to find the equivalents: he had to check whether the existing English/Latin
equivalents fitted Valmiki’s description of the plant. In many cases, we found that the
popular translations did not match the plant as it is known, and he had to find the
correct equivalents.

At this point, it is worth examining who were the Vanaras, popularly called
monkeys. According to the epic, they were the inhabitants of the ‘vana’, the cultivated
forests. The word for monkey in Sanskrit is ‘kapi’, not vanara. We are told that that the
armies of Vali and Sugriva marched with the monkey emblem on the flags. Even
Jambavan, the so-called bear, is called a vanara, or forest dweller. An author who knew
his flora and fauna so well could not mistake a bear for a monkey. Obviously, the
Vanaras – Vali, Sugriva, Hanuman, Jambavan and their people – were forest dwellers
who helped Rama in his war. Much later, they were designated as monkeys. But that
development was not bad either. At least it resulted in the protection of primates and
bears from human cruelty, a fate of several animal species.

We are happy to publish this book, a compilation of the panels and the paper
presented at the Conference. The scientific correctness of the epic should be sufficient
rebuttal for those who claim that the Ramayana is a myth and legend.

Nanditha Krishna
Director
C.P. R. Environmental Education Centre

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