New Light On The Lord
Only SL Bhairappa could have pulled this off. After a rather misogynistic and indifferent book called ‘Kavalu’, the most celebrated Kannada writer has taken a woman-centric approach towards Ramayana. In his latest book ‘Uttarakaanda’, he shines a torch on our Lord Rama from a different angle leaving the readers wonderstruck. In the preface, Bhairappa stresses that he has relied almost entirely on Valmiki’s Ramayana for writing Uttarakaanda. Even then, the content of the book will shock and entertain the discerning reader and the unquestioning believer alike. It also brings into fore our failure to appreciate Ramayana in its entirety. Through his wonderful prose, Bhairappa demonstrates that Ramayana is not only a hagiography on Lord Rama, but also an exposition on the virtues of Lakshmana. In this version of Ramayana, Rama is not the infallible god but an persnickety individual who sticks to his version of Dharma which seems opportunistic and inconsistent to Sita.
If any writer other than Bhairappa had shown the temerity to write such a book which in essence questions the godliness of Lord Rama and pulls him down to the level of ordinary mortals, he/she would have been hauled over the coals. But many things what Bhairappa writes in Uttarakaanda have already been discussed before. In 1971, Viswanatha Satyanarayana, a well-known Telugu writer wrote Ramayana Kalpavruksham, extolling the virtues of the epic. As a riposte, Muppala Ranganayakamma, another famous Telugu writer with Marxist leanings came up with Ramayana Vishavruksham in 1974. In this book, she relied completely on Valmiki Ramayana to explain and demonstrate to the reader that all was not well in Rama Rajya. (Banjagere Jayaprakash has translated this book into Kannada). Just to quote a few examples: after agreeing to go for ‘vanavasa’ for fourten years, Rama loses his composure in the forests and curses his father Dasharatha for sending him away from the comforts of the palace and blames him for his carnal weakness towards Kaikeyi. In another instance, when Bharata goes to the jungle to persuade Rama to return to Ayodhya, Rama refuses and advises him how to be a just ruler. He tells Bharata, ‘women are never trustworthy. If you don’t keep a careful watch on the ladies of the palace, they may peep at other men from their zenana’.
Sita is the soul of this book who on several occasions thinks that Lakshmana is more pragmatic, understanding and just. During the Vanavasa, it is he who takes up the hard labour of setting up of camps, building huts, cultivating wild crops, collecting fruits and roots while Rama spends more time in appreciating the beauty of nature and discussing matters related to Dharma with Sita, Lakshmana or the sages they come across. Lakshmana prevents Sita from ‘agni pareeksha’ after Rama conquers Lanka and upbraids his brother for doubting his wife. After Rama makes him to abandon pregnant Sita in the forests, Lakshmana vows not to live in ‘Rama Rajya’ since he cannot understand Rama’s definition of Dharma and prefers to stay with his wife Urmila as a chief of a village outside the boundary of Ayodhya.
Sita is the quintessential daughter of mother earth - found abandoned on a ploughed field by King Janaka - and she characteristically takes up the rigours of agriculture during Vanavasa with help from Lakshmana. Later, after Rama deserts her, she again finds solace in farming near the ashrama of Sage Valmiki. When Rama shows willingness to accept her back, she chides him in the open court of ‘Dharma Sabha’ by asserting that he wanted her now as his wife only because of the requirements of Ashwamedha Yaaga. She walks out of the court saying that she can never accept him as the father of their children as he never fulfilled the duties of a father.
Indeed, this book needs to be read with an open mind and gradually savoured. It is heartening that Bhairappa does not hesitate to question the godliness of Rama through the words and actions of Sita and Lakshmana. After all, isn’t ours the land of Charvaakas?
Hasta Shilpa: A Cultural Marvel
The website of Hasta Shilpa Heritage village says that it is ‘a multi-dimensional cultural project which aims to restore and conserve nation’s cultural wealth in the form of traditional buildings and objects of art, craft and other artefacts of aesthetic interest’. I first read about Hastashilpa and its creator Late Sri Vijayanatha Shenoy more than two decades ago through an article in a popular Kannada magazine ‘Taranga’. At that time Sri Shenoy had built a new house in Manipal, aesthetically using the artefacts he had collected from all over Karnataka. His house became a big draw for tourists and his dedication towards conserving traditional buildings of yore attracted the attention of foreign embassies in Delhi. As accolades poured in, he was advised by his friends and well-wishers, including the then District Collector of Udupi, to develop a heritage village in a much larger area. The ambitious project is now on the verge of completion and has been thrown open to public. Spread over six acres, this cultural marvel is an ode to the relentless efforts of Sri Shenoy in bringing together the jewels of diverse heritage of Karnataka studded into a priceless crown in the form Hastashilpa. The emphasis is on the cultural heritage of Karnataka while there are a few exhibits from other parts of the country as well.
The royal court of Mudhola rulers, the last remaining wooden structures from the Vijayanagara empire, Kunjur chowki house of Brahmins, Raja Ravivarma’s efforts at printing of calendars, Mangalore Christian house, Harihara mandir where the wooden carvings are more than 700 years old, all recreated with such care and authenticity that it takes your breath away. Then you realize that this magnificent cultural heritage has survived in all its splendour just because of the conviction and devotion of one man. The guides of this facility, Mr Thomas and Ms Shanti make your journey through this wonderland complete with enthusiastic and anecdote-laced explanation for each exhibit. It was a great journey of discoveries for us to know that it took more than fifteen limestone slabs to print one calendar picture of an Indian god or goddess in pre-independence days. That the wooden structure from the Vijayanagara period has ten layers of assembly without any hinges or screws, which needs to be locked and unlocked in a particular sequence. That cool breeze is sucked in through the wooden window grills in the first floor of Kunjur Chowki house because of the design of the central courtyard. Just visit this place and be amazed. A word of caution. You need to book online in advance and the guided tour takes two and a half hours. There are only two slots in a day-one session in the morning and another in the afternoon. But it is worth every penny and every minute spent.
