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It's amazing to see the way the surroundings change at the onset of the rains- The earth tired by the hot sun of April- May slips into her lush green coat with a sigh of relief. Puddles are formed here and there. The entire atmosphere turns damp. One can't help appreciating the freshness in the atmosphere and the Wodehousian laziness it imparts. Kerala has a tradition of making this month a season of revival- for both body and mind.
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I think the most unique characteristic of Kerala's monsoon 'celebration' is the recital of Thunjathu Ezhuthachhan's
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Ramayana as a literary work has always fascinated me. Written by Valmiki, it is considered to be the first book of verse in India – ‘Aadikaavyam'. If you look at it now, you will find all ingredients of a modern-day masala movie in it - A hero who is the embodiment of all virtues, a villain who is mighty in every sense, love, separation, tears, lots of family drama, the clash of Good and Evil and triumph of the former. Add to this, locations spread across India and abroad, not to mention the scope for extreme makeup and special effects. Though lifestyles have undergone a sea change since, still when we look for a benchmark to compare a contemporary work, we stumble upon this. Lord Brahma told Valmiki, about the Ramayana, "As long as the Himalayas and the great rivers in it exist, your work will remain here." Prophecy or blessing - it has happened. Expressions like 'Timeless Classic' become meaningless here.
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One will be amazed at the extent 'Ramayana' has influenced our literature, arts and value system. I choose to ignore the 'Rama- Ayodhya' effect on Indian politics, because I find it so 'un- Ramayana'. Across India, there are art forms with just Ramayana as their theme. A segment of the Soorya festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram has each 'kaanda' (chapter) of the epic presented through a different art form. It's difficult to assess how much the Ramayana has crept into literary works across Indian languages over the past millenniums. There have been inspirations, adaptations, interpretations, symbolic references - everything...
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The above examples may be too superficial to explain the impact of 'Ramayana' in Indian art and literature. Recently, I found something quite striking in this regard. It was in 'Omkara', Vishal Bharadwaj's Bollywood adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Othello'. There is a situation where Desdemona (Dolly in Hindi) asks Othello (Omkara) to forgive Cassio (Keshu). The challenge was how to make Omkara yield to this almost impossible request. Vishal did it with the help of a lovely song by Gulzar- 'Jag Ja Re'. In the song, the hero gives the heroine his word and claims it to be as strong as 'Dasrath ka waada'. The phrase got me thinking. Omkara has made a promise which he can't renege at any cost. I wonder whether any character in literature across the world has made a stronger promise than this. This is a luxury an Indian writer gets - one reference to the epics saves pages of explanation!!!
Coming back to Kerala, Karkitakam and 'Adhyatma Ramayanam',
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What is 'Adhyathma Ramayanam' to me? Certainly I won't like to attach to it solely a religious aspect, though I consider it sacred in many ways. It reminds of me how rich our culture and language is. May be it's the literary beauty that attracts me more- the genius of Ezhuthachhan that combines different words to get the most apt one; the images he creates that are incomparable to those by any artist or film maker; the way he maintains the rhyme and meter within different chapters. It is a true classic, the way we find the story interesting even though we know it completely. As Arundhati Roy said, "You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don't... you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn't. And yet you want to know again." This 'mystery and magic' gets more charming in the 'Ramayana'. Here the characters themselves know what is going to happen next in the story, but act as if they are totally unaware of it. They switch between their 'know-all' immortal and 'ignorant' mortal identities. A portion that makes me smile each time I read it is when Sita pleads with Rama to take her to the forest. Rama keeps giving excuses. At last, Sita ends the argument saying, "I have heard numerous Ramayanas from poets. In which of them has Rama gone to the forest without Sita? So take me with you."
Once when the people whom we elected to rule us were talking about 'Ramajanmabhoomi' and trying to reoccupy the land which claimed 'the presence of Rama',
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After many years, this monsoon I spent quite a few days at my native place. I started the 'Ramayana month' with my grandmother. As I stood securely on the neatly tiled floor listening to the muted pitter- patter of rain on the concrete roof, I remembered the days when the rain used to drum down noisily on the PVC sheet roof. We used to keep a lot of small vessels to collect the rain from the leaking roof. All of us children would gather together playing and chatting. I found that though lot of things have changed, some have resisted change- the smell of the soil on first rain; the sour, yet comforting taste of the medicinal kanji; the rhythmic recital of Ramayanam.
A great Malayalam poet has written a verse in praise of 'Adhyathma Ramayanam' which can roughly be translated as:
"The verse so lyrical;
Telling the story of Raghava;
Authored by the wizard at `Thunjathu' (Ezhuthachhan);
Rendered in such a devotional tone-
What else do you need to attain bliss?"
Telling the story of Raghava;
Authored by the wizard at `Thunjathu' (Ezhuthachhan);
Rendered in such a devotional tone-
What else do you need to attain bliss?"
I would add to the list, the rain in Kerala. I see a strange similarity between the monsoons and Ramayana- both of them sweep over the whole of India across barriers.
[Thoolika- July 2007]