Everyone knows that the Mahabharata is an epic! The longest poem of the world! A great piece of world literature!
But how many of us actually know about the nature of the epic?
Apart from the core narrative of the rift in the Kuru family, the epic has several layers of content containing long discourses on politics and statecraft, several teachings for the common man to help him lead his everyday life, detailed descriptions on various religious doctrines and last but not the least, the crest jewel of Indian philosophy, the Bhagawad Gita.,,,,
Phew! That was a long list….Oh! Wait! Don’t forget the 67 sub-tales called Upakhyanas and hundreds of small and big fables, parables, folklore, myths and legends!
Because of its vast size and extreme complexity of its contents, the epic has even been described as a monstrous chaos!
So, is the Mahabharata something like this?
No! Say those who have studied the epic in-depth and seen its underlying patterns. They say, the Mahabharata is like the banyan tree….
Andal, the only female Alvar, is known for her two compositions – Thiruppavai and Nachiyar Thirumozhi.
While the central theme of Thiruppavai is devotion, her composition Nachiyar Thirumozhi brims with erotic passion for the divine. This kind of Madhurya Bhakti is rather unique to the Indian Bhakti tradition and the Alvars are believed to have pioneered literature based on Viraha Bhakti.
How do we understand Andal’s love?
This video attempts to explore what her expressions of desire and longing for her divine lover mean and what inspired her to compose these poems of love!
Andal was the only female to be counted among the 12 ardent devotees of Vishnu called the Alvars.
She is credited with two works that are hailed both for their expression of devotion as well as their erotic and literary beauty – Thiruppavai and Nachiyar Thirumozhi.
This video tells the story of Andal, her pining and longing to unite with her lover lord, and the final fulfillment of her desire. The video also includes rendering of some of Andal’s verses by a trained Carnatic vocalist.
Indian mythology is replete with stories where wives and lady loves undertake extraordinary journeys to save their beloveds from tricky tribulations and sticky situations, at times even bringing them back from the dead. The stories of Satyavan-Savitri, Nala-Damayanti, Arjuna-Ulupi show how women moved heaven and earth for the sake of the men they loved.
But, it’s not often that one finds stories of a husband or lover who is willing to walk the extra mile for the sake of his lady love or wife. In that sense, the story of Ruru and Pramadvara that finds mention in the Adi Parva (Pouloma sub-parvan) of the Mahabharata is unique for it illustrates that a man too is capable of as much love as a woman.
Ruru was born in the illustrious line of Sage Bhrigu. He was the son of Pramati, who was the grandson of Sage Bhrigu.
When Ruru was a grown man, one day he happened to see Pramadvara, the beautiful damsel born to the Apsara, Menaka and Vishvavasu, the king of the Gandharvas. Immediately after her birth, Pramadvara had been abandoned by Menaka on a river bank. A sage named Sthulakesha had found the girl child and had brought her up as his own. With time, Pramadvara had blossomed into a beautiful woman.
So, when Ruru first set his eyes on Menaka’s daughter, he was smitten. Soon, with the blessings of his father- Pramati. and Pramadvara’s foster father- Sthulakesha, Ruru and Pramadvara were engaged to be married. A wedding date was fixed and, the young couple started to look forward to their marital union.
However, it turned out that cruel destiny had different plans for them.
One day, when Pramadvara was playing with her friends in the forest, a venomous snake sunk it fangs into the body of the girl. As soon as she was bitten, Pramdvara fell down senseless on the ground. On hearing the news, Ruru rushed to see his beloved and was overwhelmed with grief to see the beautiful Pramadvara lying dead on the ground.
Unable to bear the sight of his dead lady love, Ruru wept loudly. He cried out loud saying if indeed he had remained true to his austerities as a Brahmin, had performed the prescribed rites, respected the elders and had selflessly given away alms, then his dear Pramadvara would have to rise from the dead.
On hearing Ruru’s lamentations, the messenger of the gods responded saying that no amount of bemoaning by Ruru could help Pramadvara, for once the mortal life of a person was over, there were no means of reviving them.
However, the messenger offered a consolation….there was one way by which Pramadvara could be brought back to life. If Ruru was ready to give up half of his life for Pramadvara, she could be brought back from the land of the dead. Hearing this, Ruru was overcome with joy. He readily agreed to give up half of his long life span for his dear, beloved Pramadvara.
At once, the permission of Yama – the lord of death was sought. Yama consented to allow Ruru to revive Pramadvara. Immediately thereafter, Pramadvara arose from the dead, lovely as ever, filling the grieving Ruru’s heart with untold joy. The lover couple was ecstatic to be back together again.
Ruru and Pramadvara were married shortly thereafter, and the couple spent many a wonderful year rejoicing in each other’s company.
Thus, Ruru stands tall among men, who are capable of as much love as a woman, and can even make the ultimate sacrifice of partaking their lives with their lady loves.
AK Ramanujan, the great folklorist from India collected a folktale in which a story and a song once escaped from the mouth of a sleeping woman frustrated that she refused to share them with others. The next morning, when she woke up, she had forgotten both the story and the song that she had kept all to herself.
This folktale illustrates the importance of story-telling for Indians. Stories have a compelling need to be told, listened to and shared. With time, as these stories get told and retold innumerable times in different formats, they evolve into a tradition.
Great epics were composed in Greek (Illiad and Odyssey) and Akkadian (the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh) too. But today, they remain merely as distant memories from a forgotten past. Whereas, Ramayana remains a living tradition and continues to fascinate and enrich the minds of every passing generation.
Ramayana, the first Indian epic
In the Indian culture, the Valmiki Ramayana, dated to approximately 3rd century BCE, is considered the Adi Kavya or the first poetic composition in Sanskrit of epic proportions. No other composition earlier had had the vastness or richness of the plot that Ramayana had. No other story had reflected the ethics and value system of a society as the story of Rama did. Everyone loves a good tragedy, as Aristotle’s idea of catharsis would tell us. The most enduring stories told, we often find, are either tragedies or love stories. Ramayana, brimming with karuna rasa, was both – a tragic love-story – and therein lay its eternal appeal. The message that God too was bound by the laws of destiny and suffered very human problems struck a chord with the common man facing societal pressures and challenges.
How the epic spread across the Indian subcontinent….
As Adi Kavya, Ramayana became the first or the basic template of a story for all future stories and epics. Several later mythological compositions and religious texts borrowed the textual template from Ramayana. The influence of Ramayana was so profound that almost all the Hindu religious literature ever composed including the Mahabharata and the Shaiva and Vaishnava Puranas narrate the story of Rama.
But imitation, as they say, is the best form of flattery. Valmiki’s composition set forth an explosion of texts, in Sanskrit, Prakrit as well all as the vernacular resulting in at least 300 different retellings of the epic. With every retelling, Rama’s story diffused into the local culture and gradually emerged as the common denominator that united people of diverse ethnicity and culture across the Indian subcontinent.
Ramayana presented the retellers with a staple story and a set of archetypal characters that were suitably altered to fit the milieu. The language changed, the names changed, the relationships between the cameos changed, but the key characters (Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman and Ravana) and episodes from the epic more or less remained the same. The mode of transmission of the Ramayana was not all textual.
In a sense, Ramayana, which literally means the path of Rama, is a travel story. Rama travels through a very long route called the Dakshinapath that ran from Ayodhya in the north to Rameshwaram in the south, on his search for Sita.
Even as Rama’s adventures took him down south, Valmiki wove into it previously unknown details of the geography, and flora and fauna of peninsular India, along with an account of the lifestyles of the smaller clans and tribes that inhabited these parts. In as much as these details added to the epic’s novelty value, they also widened the reach of the epic through associations of certain sacred geography with specific episodes from the epic.
Ramayana in Indian art
Apart from oral renditions, the story of Rama reached the largely illiterate audience in the form of folk and classical dances, songs, theatre, shadow-plays that used puppets, etc. The Ramayana was also presented as the theatrical re-enactment of Rama’s life (Ramlila) and through scroll painting traditions (that support oral story telling with visual props) such as the Phad tradition from Bhilwara, Rajasthan and Kalamkari painting tradition from Kalahasti, Andhra Pradesh.
These art forms borrowed the epic’s basic idea and adapted it to suit the local belief systems, social structure and values. Characters such as Lakshmana and Shurpanaka were assimilated into the native culture and embedded into the local tales, where they freely intermingled with other indigenous characters. For instance, in the Phad story telling tradition, the protagonist Papuji is believed to have been Lakshmana in his previous birth and had married Shurpanakha.
Architecture too developed around the characters and episodes from the epic. The relief at the Prambanan temple complex at Java depicting episodes from the Ramayana and the relief work showing Ravana trying to lift Mount Kailash at Ellora caves are some of the finest examples of story-telling in stone, that were inspired by the epic.
From classical to folk renderings, the story gradually travelled inlands and diffused into the mythology of the tribals too. Gond Ramayani and Bhil Ramayan are two well-known tribal versions of the epic. While Gond Ramayani narrates the story of Lakshmana’s hunt for a bride, in the Bhil Ramayana, Ravana does not battle Rama but returns Sita to him after realizing his blunder.
…….to be continued
Coming up!
Part 2 – How & Why the story of Rama spread beyond India, and other Asian versions of the epic
Check out the Jain version of the Ramayana by clicking the video link:
India’s Deccan plateau, that was formed out of a volcanic eruption millions of years ago, was the first place on earth where diamonds were mined.
In India, these precious stones were believed to possess miraculous powers. Flawless gems, it was thought, brought good fortune to the owner in the form of long life, good health and prosperity. Whereas, flawed gems brought the opposite effects.
Power and purity of these precious stones, thus become the most common motifs in our stories.
Watch the video to listen to interesting and intriguing stories about pearls and precious stones!
India, since ancient times, has been a gold-crazy country. For all the spices, silks and muslin it traded with the Roman empire, India received its payment in gold.
At a point in time, so much of gold was flowing out of the Roman empire for settling balance of payments with India that, a Roman senator feared that his empire would go bankrupt!
With so much love for gold, it is hardly surprising that jewellery had an important role to play in our stories.
Watch the video to find out how gold and jewellery have been used with great imagination and creativity in out stories!
Kulture Katha 