‘Ramayana is like chaat, savour it!’

“Mythology is nothing but cultural truths,” says Devdutt Pattanaik, acclaimed mythologist, in a conversation with Dileep Padgaonkar on Day 2 of the Times LitFest in Delhi on ‘Myth in our daily lives: Answers from the scriptures’. He went on to say that there is no one truth but many truths — we have umpteen versions of our epics like Ramayana, because “my Ramayana comes from the filter of my experience; it is my mother’s Ramayana, not Valmiki's!”
‘There’s no qayamat or Judgement Day in Indian mythology.There is no absolute right nor absolute wrong. Everything is contextual. Our problem is, because we follow the western model now, we don’t allow the other to have an opinion. We are judgemental. We want to see things in black and white. But curiosity, dissent, questioning is part of human nature and that is what allows us to grow, he says.
Talking of the Ramayana, he says Sita always took her own decisions. When Rama asked her not to follow him to the forest, she insisted on going along. Years later, when Rama wanted her to return to Ayodhya with the children, she insisted on raising them in the forest all by herself. “But we are made to see Sita as an ‘abla, bechari’ — helpless and vulnerable — when in fact she took independent decisions all her life.
“Ramayana is like chaat — you have the patriarchal version and the matriarchal one. When one perspective dominates, temper it with the other one, khatta-meetha! Balance it, enjoy the taste,” says Devdutt. To which Padgaonkar adds, that Mahabharata is a chaat bhandaar — what with Krishna cavorting with gopis on the one hand and on the other, being so serious and telling Arjuna to do his duty!
When asked what we learn about power-equations — echoing what is going on in today’s world around us — from the Mahabharata, Devdutt says, in the Mahabharata we see two Krishnas: A relentless warrior who wants Arjuna to perform his swadharma and another Krishna who takes a more philosophical, metaphysical approach to life. As a warrior, he tries to negotiate peace with the opposition, but “when people are not willing to negotiate, then war will happen. Some characters in the epic are not willing to take responsibility for their actions, but at the same time are ready to blame others…The Pandavas are projected as noble beings, but they too had flaws. They lost everything. Every action has consequences, that is the law of karma.”
Devdutt adds: “Though the scriptures teach us a lot, we have to see things contextually. For example, though Gandhiji was inspired by nishkama karma in the Bhagwad Gita, he did not agree with the concept of violence. We should understand that Gandhi’s conflicts were different. Mine is different. Yours are different. We are living in different times. So we should not be judgemental. There is nothing right or wrong.”
We tend to believe that ‘one day the world will be a better place, free of suffering’. Devdutt points out that the world will continue as always, with all its problems, and we need to accept that. There are no fullstops in life — only semi colons and commas! Life is full of ups and downs. You can ride the wave; you cannot create it. So enjoy the ride!
By Ranjeni A Singh & Priti Agrawal