"Ram Janmma-bhumi" Myth and Hindu fundamentalism
By- Avijit Roy
E mail : avijitroy@hotmail.com
Epic is not a history. Epic is always fanciful whereas history is plain informative. So searching historical truth in an epic is just a mere hypocrisy and disgrace to its literary value. For such reasons, nobody look for Greek historical evidences in Homeric epic Odyssey or Iliad though it is true that the two epics were written entirely based on contemporary Greek civilization and various contemporary popular beliefs on gods and goddesses. But in Indian subcontinent it has become a common trend to search historical truth in ancient epic like Ramayana or Mahabharata. The main reasons behind the deceitful quest is that both Ramayana and Mahabharata have successfully been portrayed as "holy scripture" now a day to the common mass by clever media ignoring its literary and poetic composition. The problem of considering an epic as "holy scripture" begins when a simple literary composition becomes "holy", the believers fail to accept a single word of it as imaginary, each and every sentence becomes irrefutable "Bed-bakkyo" (gospel truth) to them.
Ramayana is a very ancient literary composition. Probably most of the readers are not aware that there are several types of this epic exist. For example, in ancient Buddhist literature "Dashrath Jatak" Ramayana it was clearly mentioned that Shita was not the wife of Ram, rather she was a sister of Ram. Then again, "Adbhut Ramayan" described Shita as an abandoned child of Ravan and Mondodori- who was found in the ridge of agricultural land by the Royal sage, Nanak. At the same time a severe deviation in the story is observed in North Indian Ramayana and South Indian Ramayana, Addhatma Ramayana, Jogbashista Ramayana, Bhushundi Ramayana Ram-charaita Manash or Tulshi Ramayana and Krittibashi Ramayana. Besides these, there are a lot of fictional prose and alternative versions of Ramayana are available in other Asian countries outside India. Therefore, a lot of confusion raises about the main story of Ramayana. We however, will limit our discussion within Balmiki Ramayana.
Balmiki Ramayana is the "aadi" (original) Ramayana. Most of the scholars agree on the matter that Balmiki Ramayana originally consisted of five parts starting from Ajodhya kanda to Judhya kanda. Balmiki Ramayana described Ram NOT as an avatar but just as a mighty king who was eminently skilled in warfare. There was no supernatural phenomenon characterizing Ram that could be related to a deity. Bal-kanda and Uttar-kanda in Ramayana were the addition of later stage. Some of the stories dealing with supernatural events were added in that age, but according to L. Besham, the avatarism and supernaturalism of Ram was added mainly in Gupta age (around 4th-5th A.D). The avatar image of Ram was firmly established after the external attack of Turkey-Afghan.
In the year of 1988-90 we all know, Indian TV channel -"Doordarshan" shamefully broadcasted Ramayana and Mahabharata (the two most popular TV serials) from strictly religious point of view - focusing mainly on avatar image and supernaturalism which eventually created a massive sensation about "Ram-Janmabhumi" (birthplace of Ram) myth among the Hindu community in the subcontinent at that time. It is ought to mention that the story which was shown in the TV serial was not based on original Balmiki Ramayana, but entirely based on Tulshi Ramayana - commonly known as "Ram-charita Manash". Tulshi Ramayana, which came actually as a result of spiritual movement stimulated in middle age, portrayed Ram as Avatar, completely deviating from original spirit of Ramayana. The main purpose of Tulshi Ramayana was to establish Vishnu as the supreme God and Ram as an Avatar ! Doordarshan even being a government media, took a very deceitful strategy of spreading lies and blind belief among the Hindu community which excited fundamental and communal politics relating "Ram-janmabhumi" issue in later stage. When Ramayana was being broadcasted for the first time as a TV serial, a tremendous flow of upholding Hindu-myth was observed among the common mass.
In twenty-first century while the whole world is advancing in technical field using science and logic, the ignorant mass in our subcontinent are engaged in violence in Ajodhya and Gujarat inspired by their holy scripture. How can we hide our ignorance and shame from rest of the the whole world ? It is the high time now to dissect the religious scriptures from rational point of view and educate the common mass against all type of fundamentalism and communalism.