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Studies in the Epics and Puranas c7.s2: II. Rāmāyaṇa

Studies in the Epics and Purāṇas c7.s2

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II. Rāmāyaṇa

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The *Rām*, like the *Mbh*, has been deeply influencing the religious and moral thought of India as well as the literary production for over two thousand years, and has moulded the lives of countless generations in India. Both exhibit several features of similarity and difference. Being handed down orally from the earliest times both epics have undergone tremendous changes throughout their long career, and cannot lay claim to any definitive text. The same phenomena operated in the text-transmission of both, so that the method followed for the constitution of the critical text of the *Mbh* can be applied with but minor changes for the preparation of the Critical Edition of the *Rām*. Like the *Mbh*, the *Rām* is the property of the whole Indian people and the daily recitation of a śloka, a line, or even a quarter from either is said to confer religious merit on the reciter. Both epics abound in numerous Brahmanical myths and legends which frequently interrupt the thread of the narrative. There is a close resemblance not only in style, expression and descriptions as exemplified by parallel passages, identical similes and descriptions, but also in the mythology and philosophy of the epics. The economic conditions and social usages represented in the two epics are sufficiently alike, showing but few discordant elements.⁵⁰ Neither was recognised as epic before the late period of the Gṛhyasūtras, and neither was developed quite independently of the other. The Uttarakāṇḍa, which constitutes the latest part of the *Rām*, contains many tales of the Gangetic plains, and later didactic portions of the *Mbh* are generally laid in Kosala and Magadha, so that in their later development the epics grew up in the same locality.

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⁵⁰ Cf. Hopkins, *CHI*, I, p. 259.

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While the *Mbh* represents a mixture of popular epic and theological didactic poetry, the *Rām* is a popular epic and ornate poetry at the same time. The *Rām* is much shorter, having the extent of nearly a quarter of the present *Mbh*, and is still a fairly unified epic poem in its extant form. Unlike the *Mbh*, which speaks of its three editions, the *Rām* has no statement about its amplifications or revisions. Whereas the authorship of the *Mbh* is in dispute, it being ascribed to several authors, Vālmīki is practically accepted as the author of the *Rām*. What the *Mbh* is for the Aryan kingdoms of the West, the *Rām* is for those of the East. In the *Rām* is reflected a greater simplicity of life among the Aryans, and it shows absence of acquaintance with the Mlecchas, meagreness of reference to advanced states, absence of elaborate military tactics in the form of the vyūhas, existence of small kingdoms, abundance of forests and forest life in the country. The *Mbh*, though showing considerable advance in civilisation over the Rāmāyaṇic period in war, diplomacy, and in various phases of society, displays some archaic features such as polyandry and *niyoga*, and belongs to a ruder, more warlike age. The nucleus of the *Mbh* creates a much more archaic impression than the *Rām*. If the *Mbh* emphasises the practical aspects of life, the *Rām* preaches the highest ideals of it. The *Mbh* owes its sacred character not so much to its heroes as to the didactic sections added to it later, while it is the inherent purity of its hero and heroine that give sanctity to the *Rām*. The characters in the former strike us as human beings while those in the latter appear to be idealised.

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With these prefatory remarks about the common and contrasting features of the two epics, let us turn to the study of the *Rām*. Macdonell rightly remarks that probably no work of world literature, secular in its origin, has ever produced so profound an influence on the life and thought of the people as the *Rām*.⁵¹ Tradition ascribes the authorship of the *Rām* to Vālmīki, the *ādikavi*, also known as Bhārgava and Prācetasa, who had his hermitage on the banks of the Gaṅgā. Tenth in descent from Pracetas, he is also represented as Cyavanaputra. Originally known as Ratnākara, Vālmīki has narrated his past history in the *Adhyātma-Rāmāyaṇa*, describing how he was transformed into a devotee from a robber. According to the Uttarakāṇḍa of the *Rām*, Vālmīki wrote the main story and Bhārgava added the episodes at a subsequent period.⁵² The story of how the poet's lament (*śoka*) on seeing a hunter killing the male krauñca bird was turned into a stanza (*śloka*) is graphically described in the introductory part of the *Rām*. Vālmīki is highly praised for his excellence of thought and expression, and throughout the length and breadth of India, from the peasant's hut to the lord's parlour the story of Rāma is familiar and is listened to with devotion and pleasure. Truly prophetic were the words of Brahmā who assured Vālmīki that

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⁵¹ ERE, X, p. 574.

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⁵² Rām (NSP), VII.94.25. H. P. Sastri, Des. Cat. of Skt MSS, A.S.B. V, Intr, p. xii.

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As long as in this firm-set land
The streams shall flow, the mountains stand,
So long throughout the world, be sure,
The great Rāmāyaṇ shall endure.⁵³

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⁵³ Rām (NSP), I.2.36-7. Trans. by R. T. H. Griffith.

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There is hardly any devout Hindu who doubts Vālmīki's words

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Whoe'er this noble poem reads
That tells the tale of Rāma's deeds,
Good as the scriptures, he shall be
From evey sin and blemish free.
Whoever reads the saving strain,
With all his kin the heavens shall gain.⁵⁴

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⁵⁴ Rām (NSP), I.1.98-99. Trans. by R. T. H. Griffith.

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According to tradition the number of verses in the Rām is 24000 divided into 500 sargas or chapters, each thousand verses beginning with a letter of the Gāyatrī-mantra. In its present form, the Rām comprises seven books. Like the Mbh, the Rām has not come down to us in its original form, Book VII and most of Book I being later additions to the main epic in Books II-VI. The later portion not only displays difference in language and style, but contains matter which has but very slight connection with the main story; shows Rāma as an incarnation of Viṣṇu whereas he is a mortal hero in the genuine epic; and gives premier position to Viṣṇu in place of the Vedic Indra who occupies the place of honour in the genuine sections.

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Interpolations, alterations, etc. account for the different versions of the Rām, which has come down to us in three recensions, (i) northern and southern, (ii) north-western, and (iii) eastern, which differ very widely among themselves to the extent that about a third of the verses contained in each do not occur in the other two. It is thus very difficult to speak of the original text of the Rām. These variations are no doubt due to the divergent forms the popular tradition had assumed in different regions of India by the time the three recensions came to be written down. The Vishveshwarananda Vedic Research Institute of Hoshiarpur has brought out the critical edition of the North-Western recension, and the M. S. University of Baroda has undertaken the preparation of the critical edition of the Rāmāyaṇa on the lines of the critical edition of the Mahābhārata. Gorrossio had brought out the Eastern or Bengal recension, but from the Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Asiatic Society of Bengal it appears that there were several versions of the Bengal recension.⁵⁵

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⁵⁵ Vol. V, preface, pp. ix-x.

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The story of the Rāmāyaṇa is too well known to need any reference here.

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Several scholars who made valuable contributions to the Mbh studies, such as Jacobi, Ludwig, Dahlmann, Hopkins, Lévi, Vaidya, Sukthankar, etc. have enriched the field of studies in the other epic as well. The Rām studies may be said to have been inaugurated by Lassen who discussed the problems of the Rām and pointed to the development of the Rāma story into four stages, suggesting that the Rām was an allegorical representation of the Aryan conquest of the south. According to Lassen, the first construction of the poem did not carry the narrative beyond the banishment of Rāma to the Himālaya and the circumstances which caused his wife Sītā and his brother Lakṣmaṇa to follow him into exile. The second changed the place of banishment to the Godāvari, and described the protection afforded to the hermits against the attacks of the aborigines. The third embraced the account of the first attempts to subdue the inhabitants of the Deccan. The fourth amplification, which resulted from the knowledge gained by the Hindus of the island of Ceylon, included the description of Rāma’s expedition against Laṅkā.⁵⁶ Lassen was followed by Weber, Muir, Freiderich and Monier Williams. Weber was the first to discuss in a comprehensive manner all the problems of the Rām, though his work has suffered oblivion on account of his unpopular and wrong theory of Vālmīki’s indebtedness to Homer, which was rightly refuted by Telang, Jacobi, Hopkins, Vaidya and others. Weber regards the Rām to have been composed to account for the spread of the Aryan culture to the south and to Ceylon.⁵⁷ His critical remarks on the Rām MSS will be of help to critical editors of the epic.⁵⁸ Jacobi’s Das Rāmāyaṇa,⁵⁹ however, contains the most systematic treatment of the subject. It discusses several problems such as the genesis of the different recensions of the Rām and their relation to one another; interpolations; origin and development of the Rām; Buddhistic and Greek influence; and the age, language, poetic art and the saga of the Rām. There is also a summary of the contents of the Bombay edition (Southern recension) and the concordance of the Bombay and Bengal editions. According to Jacobi, the Rām originally comprised only five books (II-VI), the seventh book is a later addition at the end, and the first book is similarly added at the beginning. Though the interpolations are but loosely connected with the original body they are pervaded by the same spirit as the old part and hence Jacobi does not regard them as due to a Brāhmaṇa revision intended to transform the original Kṣatriya epic. Though these additions were effected before the different recensions arose, the transformation of the original tribal hero into the national hero and his identification with God Viṣṇu indicate the passage of a considerable time between the composition of the original poem and that of the additional matter.

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⁵⁶ Ind. Alt., I, p. 505.

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⁵⁷ Über das Rāmāyaṇa, ABA, 1870.

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⁵⁸ Verzeichnis der Sanskrit und Prakrit Handschriften der Koniglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, I, pp. 118-123.

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⁵⁹ Bonn, 1893.

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In Die Westliche Rezension des Rāmāyaṇa,⁶⁰ H. Wirtz, the pupil of Jacobi, pointed out the peculiarities of the western recension on the basis of a Gujarat MS written during the reign of Visaladeva. In the same year (1894), was published Alexander Baumgartner's Das Rāmāyaṇa und die Rāma Literatur der inder⁶¹ discussing the development of the Rāma story and the Rāma literature in several Indian languages, in addition to the problems of the Rām. Next came the discussion of the problem of the inter-relation of the two epics by Ludwig and Dahlmann, whose contributions to the Great Epic have already been referred to above.

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⁶⁰ Bonn, 1894.

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⁶¹ Freiburg, 1894.

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The turn of the century saw the appearance of Hopkins' magnum opus, *The Great Epic of India*,⁶² which deals, inter alia, with the relation of the Rām and the Mbh, and other problems connected with the Rām. *The Riddle of the Rāmāyaṇa*63 written by Bhāratācārya C. V. Vaidya is a very valuable contribution to the Rām studies. In a learned article on the history of the Rām where the various works which copy the Digvarṇana of the Rām (IV.41 ff) are critically studied, Lévi shows that the North-Western recension, as distinct from the Bengal recension, was in existence already in the sixth century A.D.⁶⁴ Books and articles on the Rām published subsequent to 1917 have been dealt with in the following pages (174-195), and particular reference, in connection with the Rām studies, may be made to D. C. Sen, Oldenberg, Winternitz, Maharastriya, Ruben, Sluszkiewicz, Sukthankar and Bulcke.

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⁶² New York, 1901.

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⁶⁴ JA, 1918, pp. 1-160.

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In connection with the age of the Rām, we can do nothing better than quote Winternitz who thus summarises the results of his investigations:—

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1. The later parts of the Rāmāyaṇa, especially Books I and VII, are separated from the genuine Rāmāyaṇa of Books II to VI by a long interval of time.
2. The whole Rāmāyaṇa, including the later portions, was already an old and famous work when the Mahābhārata had not yet attained its present form.
3. It is probable that the Rāmāyaṇa had its present extent and contents as early as towards the close of the second century A.D.

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⁶³ Bombay, 1906.

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4. The older nucleus of the Mahābhārata, however, is probably older than the ancient Rāmāyaṇa.

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5. In the Veda we find no trace of the Rāma epic and only very faint traces of the Rāma legend.

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6. The ancient Buddhist texts of the Tipiṭaka betray no knowledge of the Rāmāyaṇa, but contain traces of ballads in which the Rāma legend was sung.

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7. There are no obvious traces of Buddhism to be seen in the Rāmāyaṇa but the characterisation of Rāma may possibly be traceable to remote Buddhist influence.

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8. There can be no question of Greek influence in the Rāmāyaṇa, and the genuine Rāmāyaṇa betrays no acquaintance with the Greeks.

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9. It is probable that the original Rāmāyaṇa was composed in the third century B.C. by Vālmīki on the basis of ancient ballads.⁶⁵

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⁶⁵ HIL, I, pp. 474-5.

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The Rām, in its historical setting, represents the expansion of the Aryan culture over the Deccan and South India. It shows that there was a very close co-operation and harmony, and not discord, between the Brāhmaṇa and the Kṣatriya in effecting the Aryo-Dravidian cultural synthesis. The spread of the Aryo-Dravidian culture into the south originated from Kosala and Ayodhyā under the leadership of Rāma. The Aryan conquerors, being few, would have been speedily absorbed had the Brāhmaṇas not come. The Brāhmaṇa brought with him the Aryan civilisation and traditions and introduced the caste system. Brāhmaṇa missionaries paved the way; they accompanied the conquerors; converted Dravidian potentates and enabled them to intermarry with high-born Aryans. The Aryan spirit was kept alive by the Brāhmaṇa. With all this, however, without the protection of the Kṣatriya the Brāhmaṇa was powerless; and it was not Brāhmaṇa's "peaceful penetration" but the military exploits of the Kṣatriya that enthralled the popular imagination.⁶⁶

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⁶⁶ Cf. J. Kennedy, JRAS, 1915, p. 516.

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That the Dravidians or non-Aryans enjoyed a high state of material civilisation is evident from the Rām. It throws light on the methods employed by the Aryans against their rivals. They set up one non-Aryan chief against another, and were not always scrupulous in their methods of warfare.

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The Rām brings out the strength and weakness of the Aryan character. The superiority of the Aryans lay in the sternness of their character, their spirit of sacrifice, supreme regard for truth, love of adventure, and perseverance. Rāma is the embodiment of the high ideals of Aryan life. In him is presented the strange combination of a faithful and dutiful son, an affectionate brother, a loving husband, a stern relentless hero and an ideal king. Lakṣmaṇa and Bharata represent ideal brothers, while Sītā is a dutiful wife. In Daśaratha is brought out the weakness of the male for feminine grace which resulted in great disaster to him and to the kingdom. Prevalence of polygamy, and certain superstitious practices, evil effects of the caste system are some of the weak spots of Aryan life hinted at in the Rām.

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