The New Lifetime Reading Plan

ca. 300 B.C.E. The Ramayana

Like almost ali ancient Indian literature, The Ramayana is shrouded in mystery. We have the poem itself, a masterpiece of narrative verse on an epic scale; we know of its enormous influence, through translations into dozens of languages, on the literature, dance, and art of South and Southeast Asia. But when, where and by whom this brilliant work was written are questions that will never be answered satisfactorily. Of Valmiki, its nominal author, nothing whatsoever is known. At most one can surmise that the poem was composed over a long period of time by storytellers and wandering bards who shaped historical events and legends from the early centuries of the Aryan invasion of northern нndia (around 1200 B.c.E.) into what gradually became a single narrative. The Ramayana seems to have been written down in Sanskrit around 300 B.C.E. The text acquired some stability in written form, though it con- tinued to evolve as it was translated into other languages and literary forms. It is one of the earliest works of Indian litera­ture to be written in the sloka form, which consists of four lines of eight syllables each (or, more precisely, two double lines of sixteen syllables each) and admits of a variety of rhyme schemes and metric patterns. The sloka became the principal stanza form for classical Sanskrit verse; see, for example, Kгlidгsa [23].

The Ramayana is a long narrative that combines a romantic tale of love and loyalty with warfare, adventure, and miracu- lous powers of good and evil. At the beginning of the tale, the noble King Rama wins the hand of Sita by being the only con- testant in an archery match able to bend the bow of the god Siva (this motif recalls the archery contest in the Odyssey [3] in which Odysseus defeats the suitors of Penelope; the motif is found in very similar form in the Mahabharata [16]). Soon Rama is treacherously deprived of his kingdom and forced to live in the wilderness with Queen Sita and his loyal friend Laksmana. In Rama's absence, Laksmana is distracted from his task of guarding Sita by a mesmerizing golden deer that leads him into the forest. The deer, it transpires, has been conjured up by the evil monster Ravanna, king of the enslaved land of Lanka, precisely to get Sita alone. Ravanna tries to seduce her, but is repulsed; finally he simply kidnaps her and carnes her off to Lanka. Much of the tale is devoted to the efforts of Rama and Laksmana to rescue Sita, which they finally do with the aid of the Monkey King Hanuman and an army of monkey warriors; Rama then reclaims his own throne. The story ends on a tragic note. When Rama brings Sita home to his royal city, the people reject her, because they doubt she preserved her chastity in captivity. She is forced to live once again in the for- est, where she gives birth to Rama's heirs; when at last Rama comes to find her, she vanishes into the earth. The tale is Homeric in scope but utterly un-Homeric in mood, though the enchanted lands and grotesque monsters of the Ramayana have something in common with those of the Odyssey.

The Ramayana is a wonderful tale to read for its romance and adventure. It should also be an important part of one's personal Lifetime Reading Plan because its influence on the literature of a large part of the world would be impossible to exaggerate; this is part of the world literary canon. Just as Greek theater drew on a body of stories about gods and heroes that every Greek knew (see our introduction to Aeschylus [5]), so the various adventures and travails of Rama, Sita, Laksmana, Hanuman and the other characters of the Ramayana, along with the tales and characters of the equally important Mahabharata, form an inexhaustible source of stories for South and Southeast Asian drama, narrative dance, shadow- puppet theater, and simple folk tales. Their influence has spread more widely than one might expect; for example, the heroic trickster Monkey King of the Chinese novel Journey to the West [36] is Hanuman in another guise. Moreover, today as in the past, for millions of Indians Rama and Sita are not only completely real historical figures but also manifestations of the divine—literally a god and goddess. Just a few years ago a Hindu mob in the grip of neo-nationalist fervor spent several days razing a mosque that had been built on the site of the supposed birthplace of Lord Rama at Ayodhya; this is living lit­erature with a vengeance.

The complete Ramayana is very long, and contains elements (such as lengthy recitations of the participants in various battle scenes) that are not much to our taste today. But there are sev- eral very good abridged translations that can be read with great pleasure; see the Bibliography for specific suggestions.

J.S.M.

16

Attributed to VYASA

ca. 200 B.C.E. The Mahabharata