“To me this style of narration was unique and totally gratifying.”
Apr 25th, 2008 by Ashok
Posted by Sundarb on his blog Thought
After Hawkeye’s sharp reviews of Ashok Banker’s Ramayana [part 1, part 2, part 3], I was highly motivated to read the epic. The first place that struck me to find them was Amazon and I noticed that in the reviews section, Ashok himself had strongly discouraged people from buying the UK/US editions because of the publishers classifying the book to be in Fantasy/Science Fiction! It must have been a long, vividly imaginative and more importantly an extremely personal odyssey for the author and his persuasion about this in particular is quite understandable. I chanced to get the omnibus editions themselves and so my journey with Rama, through Ashok’s mind had begun. Before I start to present my perspective about the book, I wish to outline briefly on the religious background surrounding this great epic.
Vedas form the root of the Hindu religion. As Swami Vivekananda details elaborately in his paper on Hinduism [here], “Hindus hold that the Vedas are without beginning and without end. It may sound ludicrous to this audience, how a book can be without beginning or end. But by the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery, and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual world.” Upanishads are a part of Vedas and they bring out the essence of them, hence also referred as Vedanta (culmination of Vedas). Great sages such as Adi Sankara, Ramanujacharya and Madhavacharya commented on these Upanishads to their disciples thus forming three schools of thought- Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita respectively. These ancient works of wisdom can be perfectly understood only under the guidance of a spiritual guru and it also requires the disciple to be receptive of the to-be-imparted knowledge.
The mahakavyas, Ramayana and Mahabharata composed by Valmiki and Veda Vyasa are two classics of ancient Indian literature. Through the lives of the people in the poems, the sages brilliantly bring out the essence of the hindu spiritual truths for the ‘common man’ (during that time - this term would refer to everyone except brahmacharyas who have devoted their life to spiritual exploration). These works stood the test of time. They have been annotated, modified, re-modified and presented by several other poets so that they would convey the essence, the underlying themes of dharma, karma, artha and moksha effectively during their time. After reading the 6 volumes of Banker’s version of Ramayana, I thought how great was the original composer of the epic! The actual details of the historical events can be altered according to the presenter but the basic philosophy of the poem will always remain intact. Banker accomplishes the task elegantly and conveys the theme in several profound ways.
Dh(arma) encompasses Rama: He is the perfect being. Throughout his life, Rama stood as a synonym for dharma. Rama’s unflinching adherence to what is right is astounding. At every critical moment in this book, Banker brings out Rama’s reasoning behind his decisions with clarity and simplicity. What is more important to note and which Banker emphasizes throughout the story repeatedly is that he is a mortal. Just like you or me. But still he is always capable of sensing what is right. This is the strength of his effort. By portraying him to be a mortal who suffers continuous conflicts, confusions, dilemmas in his mind and still somehow sees through the clouds- Banker strikes it up close and personal to us readers thereby winning on relating the reader to Rama.
The force of Brahman: When Hawkeye mentioned about this in his review, this is the factor that compelled me to read the book more than anything else. All the supernatural powers that Rama, Lakshman, Hanuman and several others demonstrate is linked to Brahman, the all-encompassing One, Sat (Existence) Chit (consciousness) Ananda (Bliss). By this interlink, Banker weaved in the most comprehensive Hindu philosophy (Aham Brahmasmi) seamlessly, at the same time establishing a sense of logic to everything that is supernatural in the story. A masterstroke.
The suffering of Sita: A very integral part of the story is the agony that Sita goes through because of the separation from her Rama. If Rama destroyed evil by following the path of righteousness, Sita played her part in destroying the same evil by suffering. Because by suffering and not returning the torture, she converted the evil itself to nothing. It is deeply moving, the way Banker brings out the emotional war she had to undergo.
The four paths of self-realization: It is known in the Hindu religion that there are four paths towards realizing Brahman, viz. Jnana, Raja, Bhakti and Karma Yoga. There are several characters in Ramayana who tread along these different paths. Guru Vashishta and Vishwamitra have mastered Jnana (deep contemplation) and Raja (control over senses). Their disciples are learning on those lines. Hanuman stands out as the most devout bhakta of Rama, the deep love towards Rama that leads him towards his realization. Rama himself, is dharmic duty(Karma) personified. As in the real world, even in the story, people are at different levels of spiritual awareness and they chose the path that fits them the most. Each of these paths that these characters walk - are traced neatly by Banker. I wish there was more of ‘Prashan Uttar’ of Rama and Lakshman with Guru Vishwamitra. I thought the entire interaction between the two and the Guru was an absolute delight of a reading.
Alternative Narration: I don’t really know the technical name for this style of writing, but towards the end of each book Banker switches to this mode where he has two or three threads of the story running in parallel, each one surmounting in excitement of its own and he keeps alternating between these threads, leading the reader to an unputdownable state. To me this style of narration was unique and totally gratifying.
Overall, it is an outstanding achievement. But at the end, certainly I was left with an earnest desire to learn more - especially about Ravana. Because after all that great, but short dialogue between him and Rama, I yearned to glean more about Ravana. I am glad that the next two books are going to come out in the future.
