Ram
Sethu: Man Made Or Natural
By Ram Puniyani
12 September, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Different
agitations are on to oppose Sethusamudram project linking Gulf of Mannar
with Palk straight. Dharam Sansad (religious Parliament, a VHP initiative)
has been mobilized around 'faith', on the ground that this project will
destroy Ramar Sethu, the one which was built by Vanar Sena (Army of
Monkeys) to help Ram cross over to Lanka to rescue Sita. The project
was supported by most of the political parties in the past including
NDA alliance Government. When complete, it will cut short the long journey
of the ships from east coast to the west coast, and vice versa. Like
Panama Canal it has been conceived to promote the transport, employment
and to improve trade. Half way now, it has been facing two oppositions.
The one is from the environmentalists, who are worried about the destruction
of flora and fauna and the dangers of silting in the canal. These are
the arguments which need to be taken seriously.
The other ground, the one
based on faith need to be dealt with at another ground. RSS and its
affiliates are promoting a view that building this Sethusamudram will
involve be destruction of Ramar Sethu which will be detrimental to our
faith. The story goes that Ravan, the King of Lanka had abducted Sita
to avenge the insult meted out to his sister Shurpnakha, whose proposal
for marrying her was turned down by the Lord Ram. Assisted by his loyal
devotee Hanuman, the Lord mobilized monkeys and built this bridge. It
is claimed that this bridge is a marvel of engineering achievements
of the Indian engineers of that time. The assertion is that it shows
the acme of technological achievements of this land, and that there
are other noteworthy achievements like the advances in aeronautical
technologies like aero planes, missiles to name the few.
How do we understand these
claims, how do we comprehend this peep in to the past? How do we distinguish
fact from fiction, history from mythology? To reconcile history, science
and mythology are the complex questions in our public life. To begin
with history of events has some definitive characteristics, though their
interpretations do vary with the political ideologies. But what about
mythology? Here these accounts have been put forward as the fictional
accounts of the past. Some of these accounts have been associated with
faith. Faith to some extent is natural and sometimes it is being manufactured
and asserted for political goals.
As far as Lord Ram's story
goes there are several versions of Ramayana, (Many Ramayanas, Richman,
OUP). Some of these are very popular like Valmiki Ramayana and Tulasidas
Ramcharitmanas. Surely the most popular one currently is the one from
Maharashi Ramanand Sagar's mega serial which captivated the nation for
couple of years. There are other versions, which have been undermined
and attacked mostly for political reasons. Sahmat exhibition on different
versions of Lord Ram's story was attacked few years ago. Some politically
motivated people could not bear one of the versions presented in this
exhibition. It showed that according to Jataka version of Ram Katha,
in post Brahminical Buddhist Dashrath Jataka Sita is both as sister
and wife of Ram. As per this version Dashrath is King not of Ayodhya
but of Varanasi. The marriage of sister and brother is part of the tradition
of glorious Kshtriya clans who wanted to maintain their caste and clan
purity. This Jataka tale shows Ram to be the follower of Buddha. Similarly
in Jain versions of Ramayana project Ram as the propagator of anti-Brahminical
Jain values, especially as a follower of non-violence. What do both
Buddhist and Jain version have in common is that in these Ravana is
not shown as a villain but a great soul dedicated to quest of knowledge
and is a spiritual soul, with majestic commands over passions, a sage
and a responsible ruler. Popular and prevalent 'Women's Ramayan Songs
(of Telugu Brahmin Women), put together by Rangnyakmma, keep the women's
concern as the central theme and present alternate perspective. These
songs present Sita as finally victorious over Ram and in these Surpanakha
succeeds in taking revenge over Ram.
Many people dispute that
the Lanka mentioned in Ramayana is not the current Sri Lanka. Since
mythology does not require any proof it can be modulated and constructed
in to a faith for political purposes. Recently in the Shabri Kumbh held
in Dangs in Gujarat, the mythology was modulated in to the service of
politics. It was said, and that too with great amount of precision,
that a particular hillock, which was earlier called Chamak Dongar, which
adivasis used to worship as Shivar Deo (protector of crops), was the
precise place where Shabri had offered berries to Lord Ram. It was rechristened
and a Shabri temple was built on the spot. Nearby, a river six kilometers
away, Purna was named as the one where Guru Matang rishi use to take
bath. On the mountain on the stone there were three marks which are
being presented as the marks where Laxman had sharpened his arrows.
This Ramar Sethu has been
shown to be the pre human structure, called tombol, a sand deposition
due to natural process. The Geological Survey of India ruled out its
being the manmade (or monkey made), construction. Same way the inference
from NASA satellite pictures is that it is due to sedimentation of clay
and lime stone. It is tombol in NASA language, connecting one land with
another, and that it is from times when human habitation is doubtful.
It is easy to construct a
fly over to the future but difficult to prevent the formation of mythological
bridges of the past. Mythology can easily be constructed and planted
in the peoples psyche as it is driven by political goals and rides on
horse of emotion. Reason and logic have no place in this scheme of things.
One knows that some Mullahs, having faith in the infinite power of djinns
advocated their rulers to invest in the research for making more djinns
so that power crisis can be solved. Also with the resurgence of fundamentalism
one is hearing that Creation science is back in the race to compete
with the theories of evolution. The question is, should we misuse faith,
faith which can be an assuaging balm, for building political agendas?
(Author is secretary of All
India Secular Forum)
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