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A Synopsis of
'Ramayana, the Poisonous Tree'
'Ramayana,
the poisonous tree' is the English
translation of the Telugu original, ‘Ramayana
Vishavruksham’,
which appeared in three volumes in three consecutive years: 1974, 1975 &
1976. Since then all the three volumes have undergone several reprints: the
first volume seven times, the second one for six times and the third four
times. Now all the three volumes have been brought out in a single volume in
English. Ramayana, the Poisonous Tree
is a critique based entirely on Valimiki's Ramayana. It proceeds in the same order
as that of the Sanskrit original: Bala kanda, Ayodhya kanda, Aranya kanda,
Kishkindha kanda, Yuddha kanda, Sundara
kanda and Uttara kanda. While Valmiki’s Ramayana is composed of about 24,000 slokas (poems), ‘Ramayana,
the Poisonous Tree’ consists of 16 stories accompanied by 11 links
(narratives that 'link' the stories) and 504 foot notes that show evidence from
the Sanskrit original in support of the critique.
The
Poisonous Tree consists of
four parts. Part one: Preface. Part two: Stories, links, foot notes and essays.
Part four: Some earlier critics of Ramayana.
Part four: Comments on the Poisonous Tree
when the Telugu version first appeared in 1974.
Part
1: The preface, which
constitutes part one, narrates the process of evolution of human society from
Ancient times to Modern times. It characterizes culture of Ramayana as predominantly feudal in nature with an admixture of the
remnants of primitive tribal culture. In her preface and foot notes, Ranganayakamma attempted to outline intermediate links
between the nature of economy and the culture in a given stage of society in
general and Ramayana in particular.
Part
2 begins with a ‘Prelude’
narrating the beginning of Bala kanda
of Valmiki’s Ramayana. The prelude is followed by 16
stories, 11 'link' narrations and 3 essays. The writer selected certain important
events and presented them in the form of stories. She presented other events
(which could not be presented in the form of stories) by way of 'links', which
took the form of 'general narration'.
The first
story is titled 'This is Ramayana!'
This story begins with Viswamitra's visit to Dasaratha for taking Rama and Lakshmana along with him with an intention to kill Tataka. Tataka, according
to Valimiki is a 'Rakshasha'
woman (demon) who obstructs the sacrificial activities of the sages. The
questions that Viswamitra put to Dasaratha,
according to the writer, show in a striking manner a particular social set up.
He put questions of this sort: "Are your tributary kings obedient to you?
Are you doing 'yagnas' and 'yagas'
(sacrificial rites) ? Are you offering charity to
Brahmins? Are you keeping warriors and scholars under your control by giving
them awards? I hope that caste admixture is not taking place? Are you sure that
Brahmins are not making Sudras perform rites and
rituals? Are wives obedient and subservient to husbands? Sons
to fathers? People to the king?" This
story ends with killing of Tataka by Rama and eulogizing of Rama by 'rishis' ('sages') as
'avatar' (incarnation/embodiment of God).
The first story is followed by a narration that
links the first story and the second story. In this link-1, apart from many other things about Viswamitra,
Dasaratha and Janaka, we
find Rama's marriage with Sita.
The second
story, "A Throne at the Mercy of the Sandals", exposes how Rama dishonestly aspired for the throne to which he was not
entitled as per confessions of Dasaratha. Rama tried to collude with his father for coronation. But
due to Kaikayi's assertion of her right, Rama went to the forest accompanied by Sita
and Lakshmana.
While he was in the forest, Rama expressed his
dissatisfaction and anger against his father for sending him to the forest. The
writer, at this juncture, draws the attention of her readers to 35 slokas (poems) in 53rd sarga
(chapter) of Ayodhya kanda
in Valmiki’s Ramayana
to know how disobedient Rama was to Dasaratha. Rama's inquiries about
Ayodhya when Bharatha
visited him in Chitrakuta represent the total feudal
ideas of Rama and Ramayana.
The writer asks her readers to see 79 slokas in the
100th sarga (chapter) of Ayodhya
kanda in support of her observations. This story ends
with Bharata taking Rama's
sandals, keeping them on the throne and ruling Ayodhya
as a custodian of the sandals.
The second
'link' that follows the second story is a short narration of mythical
supernatural powers of characters like Anasuya, Viradha and Agastya appear.
The third
story, "This is How it Happened!",
depicts the cruel treatment of Surpanakha by Rama and Lakshmana. After Lakshmana cuts her nose and ears, under the instructions of
Rama, Surpanakha tells them
that people in future would read Rama's brutal
history on her face and thus the story ends.
In Link-3,
Surpanakha goes first to Khara,
her cousin brother and Khara goes and fight with Rama and Rama kills Khara and his army of demons.
Story
4, 'Greater Guy than the Other", means that Ravana is
‘greater’ than Rama in humiliating women in the sense
that he abducted Sita in a false disguise and with
the help of Maricha.
Link-4 that follows the fourth story depicts how Jatayu tries to resist Ravana
while abducting Sita.
The title of the fifth story, "Did She Heed?",
tells the attitude of Rama to the abduction of Sita by Ravana. Rama thinks Ravana would not have
abducted Sita, had she remained in Ayodhya following his advice. In this story, Rama and Lakshmana find Jatayu in a near-death condition, listen to his last words
about the abduction of Sita by Ravana
and cremate him as per his desire.
In 'link-5',
the writer narrates the incidents connected with Kabandha
who tells about Sugriva and Sabari
who offers fruits to Rama and Lakshmana.
Story
6, "The Sex Pundit",
is an ironical reproduction of Valmiki's description
of Rama's sexual desires in the absence of Sita in the surroundings of the lake '
The seventh
story, "The Accomplices", exposes the way in which Rama colludes with Sugriva and
kills Vali deceitfully so that Sugriva
becomes the king and helps Rama in searching for Sita.
The eighth
story, “The True Colours of the Friendship!”, describes the nature of the friendship that Rama has with Sugriva. Lakshmana goes to Sugriva,
severely criticizes him, and reminds him of the promise to help Rama in searching for Sita.
The sixth
link narrates the beginning of the search for Sita
by the men of Sugriva.
The ninth
story, “Sita and Ravana”,
depicts the conversation between Sita and Ravana and Hanuman's secret entry into Ravana’s
garden, Asokam
and his conversation with Sita.
The seventh
link narrates Hanuman's destruction and burning of Lanka, when innocent
women and children were burnt alive.
The tenth
story, “The Gift that didn’t cost a Penny!”, is a
report of Hanuman about Sita and Lanka to Rama. After hearing Hanuman's narration, Rama publicly announces that he would give Hanuman a gift.
All people look with suspense and curiousity as to
what would be the gift but Rama hugs Hanuman and says
hugging itself is his gift to Hanuman.
Story
11, "How good I am! How
many hardships I face!", depicts how Rama is dependent on Sugriva and
his armies to wage war on Ravana. Rama
appears to be worried about the war.
The twelfth
story, "The Third Thief”, depicts how Vibhushana,
brother of Ravana is inclined towards Rama and finally joins Rama when Ravana banishes him from the kingdom. The two thieves,
according to Ranganayakamma, are Rama
and Sugriva while Vibhushana
is the third one.
Link-8 that follows the twelfth story is a narration
of constructing a ‘bridge’ over the sea by the Vanaras.
In the thirteenth
story, "Has Rama Passed Away?", Ravana and his
women-servants tell Sita that Rama
was defeated and killed in the war. But when Sarama, Vibhushana's wife, tells the fact, Sita
feels happy.
Link-9 that follows the thirteenth story is a lengthy
narration of the battle between Rama and Ravana, killing of Ravana and
coronation of Vibhushana in the place of Ravana.
In the fourteenth
story, "The Public Trial", Rama asks Sita to prove her "chastity" by entering into
'fire' since she lived in the custody of Ravana.
The tenth
Link is a short narration of Rama's departure of
Lanka to proceed to Ayodhya.
The fifteenth
story, "Rama in the place of Sandals",
depicts the coronation of Rama as the king of Kosala. In other words, Rama sits
on the throne in the place of his Sandals, which Bharata
kept earlier.
Link-11 is a brief narration of praises of sages for Rama for becoming King.
The last
story “The Beauty of Rama Rajya”
exposes the false notion of Rama's rule, which
assured justice to all, even to a dog. A
dog, hit by a beggar when it barked at him without moving from his way, goes to
Rama and complains against the beggar. Rama does justice to the dog. The writer draws the
attention of the readers to the fact that there were beggars in Rama’s kingdom and hence poverty. She also exposes Rama's desire for imperial expansion by means of conquering
other kingdoms. The story ends with the demise of Rama
at his old age.
After the last story, three essays follow. The first
essay, “What are the benefits of reading and listening to Ramayana?”,
exposes the fallacy of the notion that people fulfill their wishes if they read
Ramayana. The second essay, evaluates "Valmiki as
a poet". She observed that Valmiki was a poet
who composed Ramayana at a time when
arts like story telling and writing (literature) were still in their infancy.
According to her, all the mistakes that possibly occur in the writings of
historical childhood are present in Valmiki’s
writing. The third essay, “Why should
we reject the culture of the Ramayana?”,
emphasizes that we should reject Ramayana
because it supports rulers against the 'ruled', the rich against the poor,
superstitious beliefs against rational thinking, the upper castes against lower
castes, the civilized non-tribal communities against primitive tribal
communities, male chauvinism against women, father's domination over sons,
elder brother's domination over younger brother and so on. Ranganayakamma
observes that Ramayana is a symbol of
feudal culture in
Part 3: In this part the writer reviewed the criticism of Ramayana by eight earlier scholars including Periyar
E.V. Ramaswamy. She made the following concluding
remarks on the critics. “The critics who made scathing attack on the wrong
doings of an Aryan king paid homage to the Dravidian king. The critics who
projected Brahmins as culprits acquitted kings as innocents. The critics who
wanted to rescue women from the domination of their husbands kept those women
under the domination of other men.”
Part 4: This part contains some positive and negative Comments on Ramayana, the Poisonous Tree when the
Telugu version first appeared in 1974.
This book also has
an Index of names and themes found
in the Ramayana.
***
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