Schweers_ERH303_RamayanaEssayActual-1o4hszr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicholas Schweers

LTC Ticen

Ramayana Time Capsule

Help Received: Sources, class notes and discussions.

The Ramayana is one of Hinduism’s primary religious texts. Much of ancient Indian culture is contained in this ever changing text, and it even influences Indian and Hindu culture to this day. The story was for many years told by word of mouth instead of a single main text. This has resulted in hundreds if not thousands of different variations of the Ramayana, each with different messages and cultural ideologies held in their words. New renditions are being made to this day, resulting in the Ramayana being a sort of living document to guide the moral behavior of those who follow Hinduism and its tenants.

This time capsule is meant to be read in 4 years, or the Fall of 2021. Coincidentally, this is the same year that my rats may be taking this course (as firsts), which would be awesome. If you get this, “Hey, get your chin in, and congratulations on making it this far- Dad”. If you are not my rat, I am sorry, and I hope that this capsule gives you the tools to gain a basic understanding of the Ramayana and parts of its cultural significance. Below you will find my views of the Ramayana, links to two versions of the Ramayana, three scholarly articles about Dharma in the Ramayana and modern culture, and a link to a cultural reference in which the Ramayana is referenced or used. I hope this helps with your class. Drive forward. Rah 19!

Link to Naryan Ramayana:

http://dt.pepperdine.edu/courses/greatbooks_v/gbv-15/66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-      Narayan.pdf

Link to Paul Richman’s “A Diaspora Ramayana in Southall, Greater London”:

Richman, Paula. “A Diaspora Ramayana in Southall, Greater London.” Journal of the American   Academy of Religion, vol. 67, no. 1, 1999, pp. 33–57., www.jstor.org/stable/1466032.

 

Many people seek the knowledge of what is good and bad in life. They believe that if they live their lives in a manner that reflects this “good life”, that they will be rewarded in some way. This is part of the reason that people will do what is right instead of always following the easy, most pleasurable route. Following the just way of life is what allows society to work together in relative harmony. This concept is one of the main facets of Hinduism, which believes in a “universal order”, or a right way of acting, known as “rita”. Rita shows the struggle for the balance of the universe. To uphold this “rita” Hinduism gives a sort of guideline on how to live. It is called Dharma, and is understood to be the “embodiment of rights, duties, laws, justice, virtue, and truth” (Bilimoria 65). The Ramayana, one of Hinduism’s primary religious texts, sets the example on how to best achieve one’s dharma. Rama, the main character of the Ramayana, sets the example for people of all times and places to better themselves, and strive to achieve unity with rita.

While there is no single way to give the example of a person with perfect dharma, Rama is sometimes seen as “Dharma personified”. While Rama may be one of the “most perfect” examples of Dharma, the Ramayana is filled with countless other examples from countless other people. Two examples can be found in the work of John Brockington in his journal, “The Concept of “Dharma” in the Ramayana”. On page 659, he gives two examples of how to uphold Dharma that do not involve Rama. The first happened when Lakshmana was preparing to leave the comfort of the city to accompany Rama and Sita into the wilderness. Lakshamana’s mother tells him, “It is a universal principle among good people that the younger should be subject to the will of the elder, and the custom of this family has always been to give alms, to undergo initiation for sacrifice, and to lay down their lives in battle”. This excerpt provides a partial glance at the societal order of the time, largely focusing on respecting one’s elders and sacrificing oneself for the greater good. Another set of advice, but this time given to Rama’s adversary, follows a similar pattern. Marica, one of Ravana’s companions, said, “Therefore in all situations rulers are to be honored and respected; but you, not acknowledging propriety, have fallen into a mere delusion”.  This is another example of the Hindu belief in respecting one’s elders and superiors. This also shows the result of not following dharma closely.

When the social order is disrupted by the neglect of dharma, karma comes into action. Karma is essentially cause and effect, or what comes around goes around. There are countless euphemisms for karma, but one that is particularly relevant is, “If you play stupid games, you get stupid rewards”. This statement means that if you act without thinking, and do what is wrong and rash, you will be punished in one way or another. This is particularly relevant to the Ramayana, because poor choices are what caused the story in the first place. As a child, Ramayana made fun of and threw mud at an elderly, deformed woman. In return, when the god-like Rama was about to take the King’s throne, the deformed woman convinced the Kings wife to send Rama into exile for 14 years. Rama takes his punishment well, and leaves for the 14 years to find himself. His brother Lakshmana and his wife Sita accompany him. Together, they survive and thrive in the wilderness, running into many people that either become enemies or friends. At one point, Rama’s enemies, particularly Ravana and his company, kidnapped his wife, but that is not even the most important relationship in the Ramayana.

One of the most important relationships that Rama forms is with a diving monkey, Hanuman, and his king Sugreeva. After Sugreeva earned Rama’s trust, he had Rama help him kill his brother Vali. This is another example of Karma, for Vali had taken Sugreeva’s wife as his own, and had on many occasions attempted to kill him. After this, Sugreeva takes charge of the Kingdom and pledges to help Rama find his wife after the Monsoon Season is over. While Rama waits for the season to end, Sugreeva builds an affinity for the pleasures of life. When the season ends, he forgets to send Rama his armies, which almost resulted in Lakshamana destroying Sugreeva’s kingdom. Thankfully, others interceded for Sugreeva, calming Lakshamana down with their reasoning, showing another concept of Dharma, or temperance. Eventually, the armies arrive, and they search for, find, and rescue Sita from Ravana and his armies.

The Ramayana remains a foundational religious text for Hinduism, but its age does not make the messages it sends irrelevant. Many of the traditional messages promoted laws that are now seen as sexist or over-conservative. For example, the concepts of svabhava and svadharma had been largely relevant in India for many years. Svabhava, or the “inherent nature” of women is to distract or harm men, which is seen at several points in the more traditional renditions of the Ramayana. For example, Rama advises Sugreeva to watch out for women due to this same concept. Svadharma, or women’s “own dharma”, was also a very commonly held belief in India. An example of svadharma in traditional Indian culture would be the involuntary appointment of a wife to another man after her husband dies. This principle neglected to ever take into account the woman’s needs or desires. Many other examples may be found in traditional Hindu and Buddhist texts, but that does not make the stories wholly bad (Dharma pgs 160-172).

The Ramayana has been told and retold since its conception. Thousands of differing texts of the Ramayana have been produced, each largely pushing their own agenda. This is shown well by Paul Richman in his “A Diaspora Ramayana in Southall, Greater London”. In the Diaspora, Richman gives an account of one particular case where a group of oppressed minorities, particularly the women in the minorities, made their own telling of the Ramayana to send a political message. In their rendition, the women made Sita and other female characters more strong willed and important to the story, challenging societies pre-conceived notions of male dominance.

The Ramayana, an ancient religious text, is still being used to this day because of its useful messages, and its adaptability to every situation. The Ramayana is constantly being retold, with each rendition adding its influence to the telling. This has made the book a sort of living document, which means that the messages being spread today, while differing from the original, still coincide with modern Hindu beliefs and moralities.

 

 

 

Works Cited:

 

BILIMORIA, PURUSHOTTAMA, and LYKA SETHI. “Dharma in the Hindu Epics.” Key        Concepts in Modern Indian Studies, edited by Gita Dharampal-Frick et al., NYU Press,             2015, pp. 65–67, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt15zc7zj.29.

 

BROCKINGTON, JOHN. “THE CONCEPT OF ‘DHARMA’ IN THE RĀMĀYAṆA.” Journal           of Indian Philosophy, vol. 32, no. 5/6, 2004, pp. 655–670.,       www.jstor.org/stable/23497156.

 

HILTEBEITEL, ALF. “Dharma for the Twenty-First Century.” Dharma, University of Hawai’i   Press, 2010, pp. 164–172, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqszc.15.

 

Richman, Paula. “A Diaspora Ramayana in Southall, Greater London.” Journal of the American   Academy of Religion, vol. 67, no. 1, 1999, pp. 33–57., www.jstor.org/stable/1466032.

 

 

The three scholarly articles above were all carefully picked for the paper that I had to write for this capsule. The names of the articles are as follows: “Dharma in the Hindu Epics”, “The Concept of ‘Dharma’ in the Ramayana”, and “Dharma for the Twenty-First Century”. The underlying theme I used for my research was dharma. The concept of Dharma is one of Hinduism (and other belief systems such as Buddhism), which is the belief in maintaining the proper social order. The Ramayana gives many great examples of the tenants of dharma.

By using these sources, I attempted to gain an understanding of dharma, and also attempted to portray how the Ramayana has been used as a medium to teach dharma throughout time. Of course, an intensive study of this would take years and thousands of pages, so I give just a brief overview. I used “Dharma in the Hindu Epics” to gain a fundamental understanding of Dharma, its purpose, and some instances of its use in the Ramayana. Then I moved to Brockington’s article, which allowed me to find more in depth examples of dharma in the Ramayana. Finally, I used “Dharma for the Twenty-First Century” to learn how the Ramayana is being portrayed to stay relevant in the modern world.

 

 

http://painting.mittballs.com/contemporary-paintings-by-indian-artists/

Above is a link to a website that contains contemporary paintings from Indian artists. The pictures largely reflect religious leaders such as Sita and Rama. In these renditions, Rama is often found to be gentle, and is often found to be embracing Sita. In others, Sita, or Indian women are found to be joyfully playing the flute. I included this link because contemporary art often shows the ideals of a current society. This site reflects that Indian culture is caring, creative, but at some points harsh. For example, further down the page is a picture of a woman seemingly being mocked by three other women. While this may reflect public shaming in Indian culture, there could be any other number of meanings in the painting. These pictures all give those same little revelations of what is in the artist’s mind, and what their beliefs (including their beliefs in dharma) reflect.