Rediscovering Hindu Mythology : A Literary Perspective

Belonging to a generation which is now parenting the new e-gen, we were fed the regular potions of stories from mythology as part of growing up. A righteous son,  brother, husband, prince and king, Lord Rama was portrayed as being  anukaraneeye (ought to be followed) whereas Lord Krishna became vandaneeye (ought to be prayed) as his trickeries, manipulations, friendship with big gang of gopies were definitely some of the actions which should just be revered as Lord's special tricks. During the schooling years the magna stories got adorned with regal illustrations, thanks to Ramananda Sagar and B.R.Chopra for bringing these grand epics to our homes.  Those slotted times over the weekends, the small screens, the places in the drawing rooms (yes, those were the times when idiot boxes embellished the beauty of most of the drawing rooms in the homes) assumed the significance of a shrine and the characters mouthing the dialogues of our Gods became real life Gods. 

Opulent mythology on screen became an in thing and many followed suit and still do but the charm of 'first' is always unique and can never be replicated.

The literary field followed a similar trend. Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhaagwat and many more were supposed to be read and recited directly from the religious scriptures, the holy books, neatly wrapped in bright red cloth. However, C.Rajagopalachari was among the prominent names who brought the grand epics in easy to understand language making reading and understanding these scriptures more accessible for all. Such books became official retellings of the epics.

Generations changed, the new breed of authors took another big leap and made an attempt not only to understand but to analyse various towering personas of the epics from their individual perspectives. The first in this category which captured the attention of many and mine too was - 'The Palace of Illusions' by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. She made the voice of Draupdi audible for the first time, a woman who does not feel shy of verbalizing her fantasies, desires, aspirations and more importantly her dislikes too.  With liberal fictional support throughout the narrative, it succeeded in bringing a very fresh perspective.

Gurcharan Das, a fine author, a public intellectual  and a well respected commentator on social, economic and political fabric of the country extrapolated the events and reactions of those existing in the era of Krishna to the situations today in his 'Difficulty of Being Good'. He introduced and taught the world the wisely worded definitions of sadharan-dharma and sva-dharma. Former being associated to caste/varna/society and the latter defines the innate nature of an individual and how the work of these two in unison or otherwise defines and dictates our actions.

Devdutt Pattanaik, has accumulated a great body of work in lore writing. His 'Jaya' is a fine version of Mahabharata originally called 'Jaya' only.  Devdutt works on the premise that since this ancient epic has been written, retold, translated and interpreted by many, there are many variations in the main story as well as the tertiary stream of stories that join the main saga. He has written books on Shiva, Kali, Ganesha, Rama and many more. He has penned some interesting short stories for children too with some contemporary twist.  

When we talk about the names to reckon with, in the genre of mythology, Ashok K. Banker's name is surely among the front runners. He has made an indelible mark on this literary space through his much acclaimed - Ramayana series, Krishna Coriolis and now ongoing series on Mahabharata. He has presented the heroes as ordinary humans going through similar vicissitudes in life as we do.

Not just of the abovementioned seasoned authors, mythology has caught the fancy of many new entrants on the literary firmament too. Nilanjan P. Chodhury (Bali and the Ocean of Milk) and Amish Tripathi (Immortals of Meluha) are a couple of names who have taken cues from legendary stories and have fabricated their own tales around them with a lot of fictional element in the narrative. They have showcased their wit and creativity in spinning a completely new yarn out of the raw material. It is impressive how they so seamlessly conjoin the historical and mythical facts with contemporary terminology so that their pieces of writing take modern look and feel.

For instance, Nilanjan integrates the setting of ocean churning with scientific facts like Big Bang while astutely incorporating political references and peppering the whole medley with some extant lingo - facebook, mobile phone cameras, animal rights violation, low fat milk and likes of these.

Highlights of Amish Tripathi's writing are - the introduction of duality of life and their coexistence, and the definition of Shiva(God and goodness). He mesmerised the readers with his belief when he writes thus - an ordinary man can become Mahadev and that is possible only when he fights for good. Har Har Mahadev - All of us are Mahadev.

A very recent entrant in the writing field, Ravi Venu retells the story of Ramayana - 'I, Rama' from the voice of the central character - Rama himself. The book has the potential of getting noticed and appreciated because of some unique points. 

There are some books written from Ravana's point of view too and I am sure time is not far when we would have these great tales presented from each and every characters' perspective.

But what is the need to retell or redefine the stories? As I understand it, there could be more than one possibilities.

"Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya, Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha,

Abhyuthanam Adharmaysya, Tadatmanam Srijami Aham."

Which means - "Whenever there is decay, of righteousness O! Bharatha And a rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself!" These words are believed to be uttered by the God himself in Bhagawat Gita. We grew up believing that we are in Kaliyug and we must await the arrival of the tenth incarnate of God who will bring semblance to the chaotic ways of life on Earth. Seeing all the research and analysis that is going on in order to understand and redefine time defying epics, I wonder, would some literary piece rise to reach the zenith to be an incarnate itself? Who knows, it might just happen this time. 

Or as the well acclaimed writer - Devdutt Pattanaik says - "In these modern times, we are eager to correct people, Rama (Gods) included, rather than understand them". So perhaps the critically analysing(rather fault finding) tendency of modern human is making us question our super heroes and eventually leading some of us to re-sketch them as per our tastes and sensibilities.

Or have we understood that the pearls of wisdom that get accumulated over the ages are the ones which can withstand any test of time? As a result a little bit of tweaking is done in order to package them as relevant and relatable for the contemporary generation.

Or is this because of the lack of any contemporary hero; because as Mc Henry says 'every generation needs its own heroes'. In the absence of any hero in our lives, we are trying to shuffle the pages of history and mythology to look for solutions to our current age problems.

I firmly believe that the way any story (epic or otherwise) is understood, analysed and presented has a lot to do with a myriad of factors - the time, and the prevailing mindset, customs and culture of that time. So when we experience almost complete metamorphosis of our society with time, perhaps redefining mythology is not wrong either. Some great endeavours have been made by comprehending minds and we must appreciate the same.

Interview with Ravi Venu

Ravi Venu is a debutant author of 'I, Rama' (reviewed here) - the first book of a trilogy on Ramayana. Ravi has keen interest in mythological and legendary subjects, and has done a lot of research on various great heroes and hero worship across multiple civilizations.

Here through this e-interview, he shares his experience of penning down his first book and his views on various other subjects.

           1.  What made you pick mythology as the theme for your first book? 

I am a history and mythology buff and I believe Myths have a starting point in history somewhere. Also, some of the greatest minds have written the epics of Mahabarat and Ramayan foreseeing the future and keeping in line with the past.

I also believe Mythology holds key to some of our critical lost links in evolution and thereby our future and when put together, it makes a fantastic meet for a progressive mind.

Having grown up hearing these great tales, it is essential that these epics be retold for the coming generations to make them associate with their roots. I felt the urge to talk Rama, my most favourite God, who knows what it is to run a life of a human and so it began.

2. What idea inspired you to retell Ramayana? What did you feel was missing in the earlier versions of this great epic?

Rama, is the need of the hour to many of us, although we brush it aside as a simple story with not much of drama enough, to be very dry with a lot of 'gyan', the tale is pregnant with several sequences that bring about the God in him or the lift to eternity by humans. 

Rama, unlike all the other Gods can feel what it is to be a complete human - he was a caring brother, duty bound son,  loving husband and a righteous ruler. He faces very strong road blocks on his way, which are not necessary for him to clear, yet, to uphold a cause, he walks the path, the reasons and consequences are the very core of the concept that pulled me to talk Ramayana.

And, I would not necessarily say missing but they can be arranged to make people relate and read to make some notes to their own lives. For instance, we all know Rama's guru was Vishwamitra, but "why" Vishwamitra is something that the epics don't spell out. Being a Guru, the great brahma rishi disappears after teaching. What happens then? 

Why does Kaikeyi not use the boons and pursue using with her husband whom she fought so keen to save? Knowing Bharata, the righteous one, very well, how did she think Rama's exile will be welcomed by him and the throne usurped? Several questions such as who is Shoorpanaka and so on, we need to connect.

If you read Ramayana as a text, you will understand Rama the Right, but do we comprehend how and why Rama "is" Rama the Right ? That is which we need to understand in today's world.

3. The women characters in your story come across as very strong and confident characters with thinking minds of their own. What was the inspiration behind these characters ?

Well, women are that, aren't they? They are strong and are capable of much larger things than what many believe in.

I always believe that there is definitely a woman behind every man, driving him. My mother of course was an inspiration for me to start appreciating women and they continue to fascinate me.

I have been a fan of several women characters in books, be it Hermione Granger or Kundhavai of Kalki's works. 

And as Rama says in the book "women are more powerful than all the celestial weapons put together" 

4. Are you satisfied with the way - I,Rama has shaped up and the response of readers for the same ?

Yes, for now, the book is just beginning to see the light. 

I am looking at a good number of younger generation reading and enjoying it. Rama's story is of two ways, the 'how to be good' and the 'Cause & Consequence' effect.

I have tried to conceptualize and portray the latter, as per the laws of nature. If you notice the epic well, Rama never judges any one nor does he hold a grudge and mostly takes an action based on a previous action.

He is a fantastic listener and a phenomenal management guru, these are some areas I want the future readers to understand and hence connect with the immortal energy by the name 'Rama'.

5. What all research did you undertake for I, Rama and now for the two subsequent books ?

Research wise - Mostly online and books of Stephen hawking, theories and documentation about human evolution and migration patterns and similar works. I do read Valmiki's version for cross reference. 

I also follow some 14th century works which give pointers into the epic.

6. How much time did the whole process take - from the inception of the idea to the final product in hand?

The inception was some 3 years ago, I penned the first chapter of the aged Rama introspecting, but then I could only write a few lines and more research and other domestic situations came to the front. Rama however, held me through the time and ensured that His book is done.

The book came up as a product in the month of May 2012. 

7. You must have gone through various stages of the process involved in getting a book in the market after you finished writing it. Could you please share with us your experience of this process, how easy or difficult it is for a beginner in this field?

Honestly, it is very difficult being a writer, publisher and distributor. The marketing is another giant, coming from the USA, with Amazon it is not very difficult to market / publish / sell one's product but then India is still developing in that area. I hope people encourage my work and more such authors. Creativity is born in writing, I hope there are a lot of creative writers coming up, especially Indians.

By the way, I am trying to launch a web portal to help people with a platform to show case their books and sell them online via some of the leading shopping companies. 

8. What next after trilogy? Do you plan to work on Mahabharata after Ramayana?

I am working on two stories apart from my next volumes, one is on Skanda and other is a super natural - historical thriller based on the Gajini plunder of Somnath and the Cholas at that time as a Pan-India book.

9. Among the contemporary authors, who inspires you the most? Who is your all time favourite author? Which are your favourite books ?

My favorite would be JK Rowling, Sidney Sheldon and Dan Brown. Among current Indian authors, I have read and enjoyed Mr.Banker's Armies of Hanuman. 

All time favorite and guru of my mind is Kalki R Krishnamurthy. 

Favorite books are a plenty, of course the great Indian epics. 

10. Why do you think so many people are working on retelling/redefining mythology these days? Doesn't every individual redefine a story and its characters in his/her unique manner and that is how it should be?

Depends on the individual, I believe most of the stories across the globe are broken down pieces from our epics, India is a country that wrote epics when the rest of the world was still working on cave drawings. But today, India is developing and most of the west is developed. A young India needs a connect with its roots and more towards the contemporary settings.

For instance, 20 years ago, a person from the west would ridicule an Indian for some beliefs, but if you observe evolution is best explained in these Indian myths, which the west found out with Darwin. By modifying a base gene FoxP2, animals and humans can communicate, today we do not know how it is possible but our epics show that cross species communication and mutation was very much there. Reptiles were born before birds and artificial insemination etc were found in these myths. Space travel and distance between planets etc is again talked about in these epics, which is still in research.

Today, armed with these epics, Indian younger generation has a future to face with massive clues to a highly creative world, all they need to do is look at the clues provided and there will be Steve Jobs and Spielberg in every town. 

My task with I, Rama, at least, was to to help propel the thought process of youth in a progressive way, to see these epics with an eye to the world ahead, after all, imagination is the key to evolution.

Thanks Ravi!! 

Book Review : I, Rama

Title : I, Rama

Author : Ravi Venu

Publisher : Cratus Media

ISBN : 978-0615582504

'I, Rama' by Ravi Venu is retelling of the epic Ramayana in the voice of the central character - Rama, himself. So it is a first person account of how events unfolded, how history got written and how his name Rama became synonymous to that of the perfect being - the almighty. The first volume of this trilogy begins from the time when Rama is in his post-prime years and in his reflective mood begins to  narrate the story of his life to his children, brothers and friends. Rama knows that the time is fast approaching when his act on Earth is coming to an end and he would be reunited with his better half soon.

The story is well known to almost all the readers already so I am not going into the story here. I would rather focus on what is it that this book offers which is unique. Yes, there are some unique points.

Through his writing, Ravi Venu has managed to slice through the awe factor surrounding the character of Rama and has attempted to bring him closer to the readers. It’s a wonderful attempt to bridge the seemingly unfathomable gap between Nara and Narayana, in order to make the character more reachable, relatable and relevant. Rama is portrayed as a human prince experiencing the complex human emotions who does not find it inappropriate verbalizing them too  -  "Clearly, human life was not easy, peppered with bonds of love, laced with a tug of war between trust and vanity."

Some may argue that it is blasphemy meddling with the epic but for me it was reassuring to see God going through similar human emotions as we all humans do every single moment of our lives - apprehensions, self doubts, love, affection and likes of those.

So I would say it is a clever way of approaching an epic and subtly conveying the message that whether it is Nara or Narayana, every one comes on Earth to fulfill some preordained goals in the bigger divine scheme, so must work sincerely towards furnishing those duties while in that role.

There are much more details on the lives of the seers (as the title of the story aptly mentions) - the clan guru Vashista, guru Vishwamitra and guru Parasurama. The author has done serious research on the stories of these sages. There is a significant portion of book devoted to Rishi Vishwamitra's confessions about his own life and the time when he was besotted with Meneka - the celestial dancer. Again a great way to bring home the point that no one, not even the great prophets could be immune to human emotions and perhaps there is no need to be immune to the same when in human form. 

Guru Vishwamitha's teachings on essence of life and universal connect make for an interesting read.

The author has taken the liberty to redefined some of the characters in the book. I specifically liked the way character of Kaikeyi is sketched, not making her to be an evil person, rather she is portrayed as an extremely intelligent warrior queen with fine acumen for politics and warfare. And Sita is not presented as a weak follower either. She is characterized as a multifaceted person who is a brilliant cook, a visionary, a philanthropist, a well read person and well acquainted with the workings of kingdoms. Interestingly Meneka's character takes a completely unique and unimaginable turn too.

Ravi Venu intelligently weaves the contemporary scientific concepts in the narration to arouse the interest of those who look for logic in mythology. The terms like inter-galactic travel, energy conversions, astral world, portals from other galaxies for travelling to Earth and vice versa, find their mention here and there. I would say this is a clever trick to woo the readers with scientific minds to read this book too.

The narrative is fast paced and interesting. Part I ends when Rama accepts his destiny and gets ready to follow his line of duty to take on Ravana in his territory.

I firmly believe that the way any story (epic or otherwise) is understood, analyzed and presented has a lot to do with a myriad of factors - the time, and the mindset, customs and culture of that time. So when we experience metamorphosis of our society with time, perhaps redefining mythology is not wrong either and the manner in which Ravi handles the above mentioned variations in his book is almost like taking a firm step towards that initiative.

Overall, I am enjoying how various thinking minds are working towards appreciating, comprehending, redefining and presenting the grand sagas with their unique fresh perspectives.

However, I would have preferred if there were more of Rama's observations, perceptions and interpretations in the narrative than the story itself which we all are well versed with.

There are a few editing mistakes too, just a few, but sufficient to go unnoticed.