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For a born cynic in his 70 there ought to be no more surprises that life can spring on him. At least that is what I thought till yesterday when I saw a news item that a union minister of my generation has come up with his own version of Raamayan, that too in verse. Not just a few but as many as 43,000 verses. Apparently he (MVM) took about a decade to complete his work in Kannada (translated into several languages). And he has been in the midst of Congress politics all this while.
It is said that he wrote one hour every morning and one hour every night. And composed almost twice the number of verses that finally went into the tome (2 volumes, 1522 pages, 2.7 kg in hardbound, @ $75 for the English version). The dumping of the other half of verses is attributable to his better half whom he deems his critic, editor, and perhaps dedicatee.
The author apparently gives a contemporary flavor to his work. No doubt it is risky to do so as is conveyed by this headline:
But that is ok since politicians thrive by controversy and any new interpretation of old epics is welcome. It seems MVM wanted Lakshmana to be the real hero of his version of the epic and went to the extent of calling it:
"Lakshmanayana"
Perhaps wiser counsels prevailed in the form of his critic and editor.
Raam is a gripping figure in Hindu mythology whose divinity is perpetuated till today not only by his modern army of deconstructors but also by the common man. Recently an MLA of a certain community was jailed in our state because the speeches he made in public were perceived to be inflammatory, derogatory, and outright insulting to the practitioners of the majority religion. And when the MLA was brought to the Court, the Judge is said to have observed that, although the complaint against him was making a hate speech against the majority stakeholders, he had to employ defense lawyers both of whom had Raam in their names.
Curious!
There was a near-contemporary of Gandhiji born in a non-brahmin community in South India who was against the domination of Indo-Aryans and wanted to create a separate state called Dravidastan comprising all the South Indian states. And started a party called Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) which begot the present-day DMK and AIADMK and MDMK and a few others in TN. He surely must have hated Lord Raam since he was no lover of North Indians.
But, yet, his given name had Raam in it alright.
And recently a senior advocate called Raam 'a bad husband' and got into trouble with Raam Bhaktas baying for his blood.
Look, now...he has Raam as his first name!
My first brush with Raam was at age 3 when my Father was telling us bed-time stories. Raamayan was his favorite story and his ultimate devotion. He used to recite the hundred poems of Dasarathi Shatakam every afternoon aloud till just before his death. And he used to tell us the story of Raamayan in small installments.
And I did the same to my son during that age when I was giving him his daily baths. No doubt, as a kid, I wasn't so much interested in Raam, Sita and Lakshman but the heroics of Hanuman. And his exploits like turning himself into a fly and entering Lankini's open mouth and then expanding till she bursts her belly were infinitely repeatable. Maybe in a few years, touch wood, I will continue the oral tradition of Raamayan with Ishani. But that's about all the devotion I have to Raam, sigh!
Bengal was curiously indifferent to Raam or Sita. I don't think they wanted an independent Bangostan against the Aryans so far...we can't say what's in Didi's mind though. But there were very few at our IIT KGP with Raam in their names; ok, there was Dr Ram Gopal Chatterjee (Raamda, born and brought up in Alahabad) and Dr Ramchand Bhuniya (he was said to be of a kingly clan) but that's about all.
And none of my Bengali students had in their names the characters of Raamayan...there is this Indrajit but he would contest alright...since neither our own Indra nor the celebrated son of Raavan, aka, Meghnad (Saha), is a staunch devotee of Lord Raam...on the other hand...he was the son of his arch enemy who abducted his (Raam's) wife.
...Posted by Ishani
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It is said that he wrote one hour every morning and one hour every night. And composed almost twice the number of verses that finally went into the tome (2 volumes, 1522 pages, 2.7 kg in hardbound, @ $75 for the English version). The dumping of the other half of verses is attributable to his better half whom he deems his critic, editor, and perhaps dedicatee.
The author apparently gives a contemporary flavor to his work. No doubt it is risky to do so as is conveyed by this headline:
Moily rewrites Ramayana with Maoist tilt
"Lakshmanayana"
Perhaps wiser counsels prevailed in the form of his critic and editor.
Raam is a gripping figure in Hindu mythology whose divinity is perpetuated till today not only by his modern army of deconstructors but also by the common man. Recently an MLA of a certain community was jailed in our state because the speeches he made in public were perceived to be inflammatory, derogatory, and outright insulting to the practitioners of the majority religion. And when the MLA was brought to the Court, the Judge is said to have observed that, although the complaint against him was making a hate speech against the majority stakeholders, he had to employ defense lawyers both of whom had Raam in their names.
Curious!
There was a near-contemporary of Gandhiji born in a non-brahmin community in South India who was against the domination of Indo-Aryans and wanted to create a separate state called Dravidastan comprising all the South Indian states. And started a party called Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) which begot the present-day DMK and AIADMK and MDMK and a few others in TN. He surely must have hated Lord Raam since he was no lover of North Indians.
But, yet, his given name had Raam in it alright.
And recently a senior advocate called Raam 'a bad husband' and got into trouble with Raam Bhaktas baying for his blood.
Look, now...he has Raam as his first name!
My first brush with Raam was at age 3 when my Father was telling us bed-time stories. Raamayan was his favorite story and his ultimate devotion. He used to recite the hundred poems of Dasarathi Shatakam every afternoon aloud till just before his death. And he used to tell us the story of Raamayan in small installments.
And I did the same to my son during that age when I was giving him his daily baths. No doubt, as a kid, I wasn't so much interested in Raam, Sita and Lakshman but the heroics of Hanuman. And his exploits like turning himself into a fly and entering Lankini's open mouth and then expanding till she bursts her belly were infinitely repeatable. Maybe in a few years, touch wood, I will continue the oral tradition of Raamayan with Ishani. But that's about all the devotion I have to Raam, sigh!
Bengal was curiously indifferent to Raam or Sita. I don't think they wanted an independent Bangostan against the Aryans so far...we can't say what's in Didi's mind though. But there were very few at our IIT KGP with Raam in their names; ok, there was Dr Ram Gopal Chatterjee (Raamda, born and brought up in Alahabad) and Dr Ramchand Bhuniya (he was said to be of a kingly clan) but that's about all.
And none of my Bengali students had in their names the characters of Raamayan...there is this Indrajit but he would contest alright...since neither our own Indra nor the celebrated son of Raavan, aka, Meghnad (Saha), is a staunch devotee of Lord Raam...on the other hand...he was the son of his arch enemy who abducted his (Raam's) wife.
Every other name in the South India of my generation of forward castes is taken from Raamayan alright.
The other is Krishna.
Oh, I forgot...our Secretary in the Dept of Physics at IIT KGP was:
"Ramakrishna Saha"
But that Ramakrishna is a totally different fish...
'Victory of Meghanada', Painting by Raja Ravi Varma.
wiki
...Posted by Ishani
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