Ramayana, Mahabharata & the need to revisit Indian History
Like millions of Indians, I sat down during the lockdown to revisit the nostalgia of Doordarshan when Mahabharata and Ramayana aired on Indian national television again after three decades.
In 1988 when they were first aired, they brought most of India's population together. Three decades ago few homes had television screens, now most individuals had to be enticed to look away from their personal screens. The medium of storytelling has come a long way in India — from Harikathas at temples, Natakas, Yakshaganas, Gamakas, Radio, Television to OTT.
But have the stories of Ramayana & Mahabharata also changed? Surprisingly, yes. Let us take a look.
The Mahabharata has had many retellings over its 4000+ year history. The story remains essentially the same: two warrior clans fighting for power. In the specific case of Kannada, my mother tongue, Mahabharata has been mainly retold thrice by three great poets in a span of 1000 years.
Three Retellings Across a Thousand Years
Pampa (1000 years ago) — In the court of Arikesari II, Pampa wrote the Vikramarjuna Vijaya as an epic tale of warrior splendour and military conquest. It was the Age of the Kshatriya when Veera — Courage — was the Pradhana Rasa. Death on the battlefield was celebrated with Veeragallu, the Hero's Stone.
Kumara Vyasa (500 years later) — In the Vijayanagara empire, Kumara Vyasa wrote Karnata Bharatha Manjari as a story of Krishna Bhakti and devotion. External forces were threatening cultural, economic and mortal existence. This called for Dharma to take the front step.
S.L. Bhyrappa (a thousand years after Pampa) — Bhyrappa gave the world his Parva — the Mahabharata as a human story in which Krishna is no longer God but a mere mortal, albeit a wise one. It was the late 1970s; a young independent India looked at emergency and political turmoil.
The telling and retelling of our stories have always been subject to the challenges of the current time. We need to revisit Indian History because the challenges of today's world are completely different.
No one makes this point better than Rabindranath Tagore in his Bharatbarsher Itihas: "On a stormy day, the storm itself is not the only event of the day. For human beings, the events of births and deaths, joy and sadness taking place on that day are more important. But a foreigner sees only the storm because he is outside the houses, not inside."
Innovation & Indian History Series from The Saranga Project is an attempt to look at how India coped with global disruption — from an Indian perspective.