VOLUME VII: ISSUE 5&6 ASHIS NANDY CHANDAN MITRA G.N.

DEVY GULZAR INDIRA PARTHASARATHY JAYANTA MAHAPATRA JOY GOSWAMI K.B. SRIDEVI K. SATCHIDANANDAN KETAN MEHTA KUNWAR NARAIN LAL SINGH DIL MANEKA GANDHI MEGHNAD DESAI MEENA ALEXANDER N ABANEETA DEV SEN PRALAYAN PUDHUMAIPITHAN RAJEE SETH RAJENDRA YADAV RAM R AHMAN SHIBRAM CHAKRABORTY SITANSHU YASHASCHANDRA SITARAM YECHURI SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY SYEDA HAMEED VOLGA

RAM RAM!

Dear Reader,
Once again, India is heading into an election and the Hindutva groups are marching out with Rama for a mascot. But its not like the Nineties, when he had crowded everything else off the political gaming board. And after the election, he will be allowed to recede into 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, Ramas name works even in small, manageable doses. Between elections, Rama is routinely pressed into service. In the last five years, the god-hero has been invoked to justify the movement against the Sethusamudram project, the beating of affluent urban women in Karnataka by the Rama Sene and the witch-hunt against M.F. Husain for depicting Sita in the nude. These are only the most prominent in a rather long list of incidents in which the name of Rama was not taken in vain. Naked violence easily brushed aside opposition from civil society institutions while the State studiously kept out of harms 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 of freedoms and 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 no longer what it was an appealing, accessible, layered tale which travelled all over South Asia and Southeast Asia because every identity, whether Vaishnava or Buddhist, whether Chhotanagpur village woman or Sumatran prince, was free to interpret and adapt it according to local cultural needs. In this issue, we try to remind ourselves of the ancient, ever-alive, vibrant cultural phenomenon that fundamentalists are trying to replace with a new, soulless, authorised version of the Ramayana. Thus robbing us of our cultural heritage, an epic that offered a palimpsest so wide that anyone, anywhere, could write his or her own story into it.

D ISCLAIMER : The views presented in this issue reflect the diversity of opinion and the cultural pluralism in India and do not necessarily reflect the personal views of any individual or this publication.

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E S S A Y S 6 The return of the sacred After the age of secular ideologies, religion has defied the obituary notices and re-emerged. And there 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 to devalue it, writes Meghnad Desai 20 In defence of the Rama Setu Subramanian Swamy invokes the scriptural authenticity of the Ramayana in defence of the movement against the Sethusamudram project 24 Let a hundred Ramas bloom Respect those who believe in Rama, writes Sitaram Yechuri, but dont drag him on to the streets as a political mascot 29 The moving spirit Chandan Mitra traces the evolution of Rama from religious icon to political phenomenon 33 My Rama: Secular Hindu Divine Syeda Hameed recalls the poetry of Iqbal heard in childhood, which spoke of Ram, Jesus and Mohammad in the same breath 36 On edge Nabaneeta Dev Sen explores the many countercultural oral Ramayanas of the little tradition, sung on the margins of society 43 Not perfect, but close Kambans Ram reflects the triumph of fallible man over flawless god, writes Indira Parthasarathy 47 The Kunkna Sita G. N. Devy retells the delightful story of an Adivasi Ramayana from Dangs, Gujarat 52 Between sacred and secular Swapan Majumdar analyses the myriad adaptations of the Ramayana in east India, which freely interpret the text to fit local realities 56 Urban legend Seeking the English Ramayana, Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr finds that the modern translator cannot tell god from demon 64 Revisioning Rama M.F. Husains exile and the attack on women in Mangalore are the result of a process that began in 1993, writes Ram Rahman 68 The shadow of unreason Ketan Mehta reminds us of the the lawsuit against Raja Ravi Varma, the first fundamentalist assault on art in modern times 76 Ramanama Tridip Suhrud revisits the Rama that we have forgotten Gandhis personal God who was his strength during Indias freedom struggle 80 Rama Redux Arshia Sattar evaluates righteous Rama as a literary character trying to come to terms with the hand that fate has dealt him 85 The deletion of memory It is all too easy to overwrite history and create the illusion of destiny, writes Chandrashekhar Sastry, 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 of the Karaga, a syncretic festival which kept Bangalore safe from communal violence until recent times

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Serigraph by JATIN DAS

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H INDI / I NDIA

KUNWAR NARAIN

Ayodhya, 1992
H Ram, Life is a bitter truth And you are a poetic epic! You dont have it in you To vanquish the ungodly, Who no longer number in tens or twenties But are now million-headed million-armed, Besides, who knows whom Vibhishan Sides with now. Could our misfortune Be greater? Your empire has dwindled To a disputed site. Today, Ayodhya is not your warless kingdom It is the Lanka of yoddhas, of warriors The Ramacharitamanas is not about you It is just a call to elections. H Ram, how distant this time From your glorious Treta Yuga How remote the Best of Men From this political neta yuga. I humbly plead, dear God, that you return forthwith To a Purana or a religious text In good health, with your wife in tow Todays jungles are not the forests That Valmiki walked.

Translated from the Hindi poem of the same title by Pratik Kanjilal Many believe Kunwar Narain to be the finest living poet in Hindi. Strongly influenced by European literature, he is also firmly rooted in his own culture. His honours include the Padma Bhushan, the Jnanpith Award and the Sahitya Akademi Award. He lives in Delhi.

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