THE  MODERN  RATIONALIST

(Continuation from the previous issue)

The Brahminical minority always collided with the alien invaders in order to retain the status-quote and every move forward from the side of the oppressed majority was nipped in the bud at any cost. Brahmins have never been patriotic. Expediency alone mattered to them. They would go to any extent in colliding with any foreign forces if that would serve their individual or community interest. The entire Indian history will be replete with such instances a treason if the annals of history are faithfully and honestly recorded. A recording and rereading of Indian History is overdue, as unavoidable must. Intellectually honest, impartial non-Brahmin reward to the present generation of historians and scholars can give to the posterity. One should unambiguously understand that Ramayana is an epic composed of mere- mythological episodes, not religion. It was made religion. Almost all the scholars agree that initially Ramayana and Mahabharata were mere epic stories, herocentric epic stories and that is the way they continued to be for a long time. Suddenly they were converted into scriptures by conspiracy by the reactionary Brahmin brains in order to perpetuate superstitions that were always effective tools of exploitation in the hands of the Brahminical upper caste in India.

Valmiki Ramayana has attained predominance and preeminence by virtue of it being written in Sanskrit language which was then the language of the Brahmins upper castes. Though ‘Pali’ was the popular and populous language,still Sanskrit was accorded the noble elite status as the language was confined to the so called scholarly Brahmin- upper caste class. This trend continue in our country and now a new conspiracy is being hatched to revive this language which is notorious as a tool of exploitation. If this dead language is allowed to be resurrected and restored to its ancient status, all the by now buried superstition and nonsense will be revived and strengthened at the cost of human progress and civilization.

There is an episode in Valmiki Ramayana which narrates a story in which ‘Shambooka’ the ‘Shoodra’ ascetic low caste ascetic) ventures into penance which practice was ‘forbidden’ to low castes and outcasts. This incident was brought to the attention of the so called god incarnate, Rama who got infuriated. At that point of time a young Brahmin died for ‘no reasons’ which incident was readily ascribed to the penance being performed by the low caste shoodra ascetic! Rama himself picked up the murderous sword, instead of issuing orders to the trained executioners, and travelled the long distance to the place where the shoodra low caste ascetic was performing penance (tapas) and chopped off the poor man’s head to the shame of the entire humanity. There are millions in the poor country most of which are illiterate or unlettered who are willing to immolate themselves for this inhuman, cruel, reactionary and obscurantist mythological character! What a shame! They are brainwashed by the Brahmin upper caste class into believing the utter nonsense that such self immolations are supreme, sacred sacrifices that will enable them to enter paradise situated in the high skies.

The varied versions of Ramayana in accordance with different linguistic dialectical hues and beliefs typical to different geographical regions need a proper study to reveal the truth of its origin. That was how, there three hundred or more versions were evolved into reality as noticed and revealed by A.K.Ramanujam. If it was of Indian origin, the number of varied versions would never have come into being. At variance with ‘Valmeeki Ramayana’ other Ramayana versions depict Rama and Seetha in different relational moulds. There are Ramayanas which depict Seeta as daughter of Ravana and Seeta as the sister of Rama! It is in Jaina Ramayana, that Seeta is presented as the daughter of Ravana.

There is a saying in Malayalam, among malayalees - Keralites: “After having read through Ramayana until dawn, the reader asked who is the wife of Rama” Eventually it may sound satiric, it assumes significance against this backdrop and is thought provoking. It is high time, all the secrets being ‘Ramakatha’ must be brought to light for the information of the common public so that all the superstitions and divine aura attached to them will vanish into thin air, effectively scotching he endless efforts of Hindutva forces (descendents of the old Brahminical cult) to exploit the Indian mass keeping them in utter darkness. All the more it is the duty of Dravidians to do this task, if there remains a medium of self esteem in them as the proud inheritors of Dravidian ethos, true Indian ethos.
Valmiki need not necessarily be the single sole author of the epic. There is every reason to believe that Valmiki produced the ‘original’ Indian version of Ramayana Katha and the first original has come from overseas. As new and new regions were subjected to the process of Aryanisation, the stories spread to those areas, which phenomenon took centuries to complete. Even though the common men were not encouraged to become lettered and literate, the stories spread by word of mouth. Kambarayanam, Thulasidasa Ramayana, Jain Ramayanam, Eshotha Ramayanam are a far different versions of Ramayana.

By the advent of Gupta rule, the centuries old Buddhist traditions were destroyed facilitating the resurrection of Hinduism. Ramayana was used as a knowledge tool as well as a political ideology for the resurrection. That same Rama’s journey is being reenacted by the “Radha-yaathras’ of today under the aegis of the modern Hindutwa forces for the realization of their political ends. Here it should be understood that ‘Ramayan’ means in Sanskrit, ‘Rama’s journey” . Rama’s Ayanam - means Rama’s journey.

In Valmiki Ramayana, in a particular context, Rama calls Buddha a thief! It happens in ‘Ayodhya Kaanda’ (Ayodya canta) division 109 34th verse. When ‘Jabali’ the Buddhist ascetic advises Rama that ignoring his responsibility as a ruler to the prajas , people, it is adharma i.e. unrighteous to undertake the self prescribed jungle journey (Vanavasa) for honouring a personal private commitment, Jabali was abused using the choicest pejoratives. Buddha himself was several abused by Rama to the extent of calling him a thief, which are all proof enough of the extreme intolerance and indignation of Rama and his obscurantist ideologies towards otgher ideas and ideals. The same trend and tendency are at work in today’s India at the behest of the Sangh parivar and their outfits and accessories. These Hindutwa forces are the greatest danger and threat to the unity and integrity of this great action.

A careful impartial reading of history will unravel many shocking truths to the intellectually honest seeker. In the ‘Sundara Kaanda’ (Sundara canta) of the Valmiki Ramayana a detailed description of Hanuman’s mission in Lanka (today Sri Lanka) is narrated. The beautiful garden called ‘Ashoka Vaadika’ which Hanuman destroyed was a unique garden of rare plants and trees in the name of the great emperor Asoka. (Ashoka-Vaadika means garden of Ashok).Apart from this, Hanuman razed to the ground many edifices called Chythya Mandira as part of his mission in Lanka. Buddhism was already prevalent in Lanka thanks to the arrival of the great Ashoka and hisson Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra in Lanka (in BC300). Like Ayodhya in India, Sri Lanka was also a centre of Buddhism then. As a matter of fact, virtually all the place names mentioned in the Ramayana indicate that they were all centres of Buddhism once. The history of this era is the history of the heinous conspiracy of the Brahminical reactionary forces to wage relentless war against Buddhism using Ramayana as a weapon of destruction. They wanted to erase the very memory of Buddha and Buddhism as they were worried that Buddhism in it’s pristine purity was a real threat and stumbling block to their dogmatic, obscurantist. reactionary Aryan views. Here it is to be noted that it was after Buddha that the Valmiki Ramayana was written.

The Kishkinda Kanda of Ramayana describes the various places to where Sugriva sent messengers in search of Sita. They include the Chola, Chera and Pandya countries. These countries were in existence during the first centuries of the Christian Era and lasted upto 12th century AD. No one can say that these countries belong to the ‘Threthayuga’ of Rama and Sita. The ancient Sea Port in Kerala (then Chera Nadu) called Musiris, modern Kodungaloor, is also mentioned in the Ramayana. The name Mahendra would be of Mahendra the son of Emperor Asoka. Hence it is of Buddhist tradition. In the Ramayana it has been that Hanuman jumped into Lanka from this mountain. This can be considered as a crooked attempt to Hinduise the Mountain which had been of Buddhist tradition associated with Asoka and Mahendra.

It has also been confirmed that ‘Balmishki’ (Valmuk) the great poet, who lived in the court of the Egyptian King Ramse, is the fundamental source of Ramayana. Balmishki’s poetic work contains, the stories of heroism of the king. The generic name ‘Shashaank’ is applied to the 22nd, 23rd generation of the pharaoh’s regal lineage of Egypt. It resembles the Sanskrit of Egypt that graphically narrates the heroic stories of the king Ramsae was brought to India by the Aaryan in BC 1580-945. It was these Egyptian stories of heroism, there is very reason to believe that spread in India in the name of Ramayana culminating in the three hundred or more versions as the scholar Ramanuja has stated in his well studied essay entitled “Three hundred Ramayanas, five examples and three thoughts on translations” which has become a cause of controversy in Delhi University and among scholars in general. It is a shame of unprecedented dimension that knowledge, succumbing and surrendering to the whimsical view of Hindu fanatics who had dare devilry to vandalize the University History department, to protest against the teaching of this celebrated essay of Ramanuja, widely held in esteem as an intellectually impartial scholar and thinker. He was one of the most revered faculty members of the University of Chicago. This obscurantist Hindutva student body, called the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad is a shame and black mark on the face of the nation. They perpetuate these dastardly crimes without the slightest compunction and get off scot free! They think they can take law into their hands while the authorities are mere onlookers. The Delhi University’s retrograde decision to drop the essay is nothing but a pusillanimous surrender of academic freedom in the face of ugly communal policies! Shame to Delhi University and it’s academic council.

Various Ramayana versions, mostly their own, are being taught as texts of culture in South East Asian Universities and institutions. It is fundamental part of the Ramayana story in many versions in south east Asia that Sita is the daughter of Ravana and Ravana does not know it, because she was separated away. Now, are these Hindu fanatics and obscurantist Hindutva anarchists going to vandalize the universities in Jakarta and all the other because they are teaching these versions?

Based on these kinds of obscurantist, reactionary ideologies, if they could be called an ideology at all, a nation cannot survive and stand the test of time. At best such a group of people can produce a country of fanatics who will destroy the human civilization itself. Needless to say that it is a self-annihilating process too. If your move is to make Hindu faith and worship on the basis of this hotchpotch called Ramayana- full of reactionary ideas and superstitions - you are only going to perish, perish beyond redemption!

(Concluded)