In the foreword of Many Ramayanas, Many Lessons, author Anand Neelakantan states how the impact of the Ramayanas on Southeast Asia has been the most profound. The Ramayana remains ‘a holy book for spiritual practice, a guide for value education, as well as an ever-popular source of entertainment’. The author also offers a disclaimer. He says this was not a research book, ‘but a mere collection of thoughts, tales and lore of a humble writer’. The book begins with how the thief Ratnakara meets Sage Narada and plans to rob his Veena. Sage Narada gets into a conversation with Ratnakara and asks him whether what he is doing is right.
Thereafter, they meet the family of Ratnakara, who say they don’t support his way of earning a living. A shocked Ratnakara goes into a meditative silence, murmuring Rama Rama, as instructed by Sage Narada, by the banks of the River Tamasa. Years later, he becomes a saint. Sage Narada named him Valmiki and asked him to spread the knowledge he had gained.
When asked how, Sage Narada says, ‘Write about Rama’, and then he vanishes. Valmiki is tormented by what and how he should write. One day inside the forest, he sees two birds making love. But in the moment of ecstasy, the hunter kills the male bird with an arrow. Valmiki felt anguish. And the first lines of the epic poem burst out of him: Maa nishada pratisthana tvamagamahsavati samaa yat kraunchamithaunamdekam vadhi kamamohitam (Don’t, brute! You will never have peace, for you have killed one of the two birds while they were in the act of love.)
The author mentions there were three major versions of the Valmiki Ramayana. There is one that is popular in South India, another in East India, and the third is the North-Western version. After each story, he offers insightful commentary on the tale’s meanings, quoting the Ramayana’s sages and saints. There are profound truths sprinkled in many parts of the narrative. Here is King Janaka of Mithila telling a yogi who visited his kingdom: ‘Who isn’t going to die? Life is a game from which no one comes out alive, yet we all live as if we will live for eternity. The difference between you and me is that I know this truth. I can die at any moment. There is no guarantee of the future, yet I act by living completely in the moment. I do not worry about my past; I don’t think about the future. I choose to live and act in the moment without worrying about the consequences... I want you to reflect on the fact that the next day, one can die at the next moment. Yet a wise man will live the moment. The only truth is now. The past is fiction, the future a dream. The truth is now.’
The author also tackles the concept of maya (illusion) interestingly. He writes, ‘What you are seeing as stars may not exist at all because they are many light years away and the light reaching you now started millions of years ago. The star may have died, but you see it, so for you, it exists. Is that not an illusion? You see what does not exist, has already died.’
As a surprise, the folk version of the Ramayana deals with transgenders, too. When Rama was about to go into exile with Sita and Lakshmana, he turned to the people waiting on the banks of the Sarayu River and said, ‘Men and women of Ayodhya, please go back. I will return after 14 years.’ When Rama returns, he sees the transgenders living on the bank, outside the city. When he asked them why, they said, ‘You said, “men and women”, but you, whom we consider our God, failed to mention us. We are perhaps the unfortunate people who even God forgets.’ An apologetic Rama said, ‘You will always have a special place in my heart and in society. Your blessing will be equal to my blessing.’
That is how transgenders come to bless a new-born or, on other important occasions. As the author writes, ‘This is how folk tradition has woven marginalised people into the social fabric, compelling those who would otherwise have shunned them to show them respect.’ The writing is simple, straight-forward, and accessible. This is a book that reminds us of the universal truths that have existed since the dawn of civilisation. It is definitely an important read to understand our roots. Go for it.