The Ramayana and Valmiki Abroad

(The Madras University)

Few works of literature can lay claim to so great an influence on the daily life and conduct of millions of men and women as the Ramayana of Valmiki. Even professed scholars steeped in the higher criticism of the Ramayana cannot, if they be Hindus, resist the temptation occasionally to surrender themselves to the rapturous melody of the Adi-kavya; at such moments they do not ask themselves if the two summaries of the story in the prologue contradict each other, or if the long epilogue of the Uttara kanda issued really from the author of the main epic; they simply enjoy the flow and the eternal freshness of the limpid verse, the beautiful imagery and the apposite figures of speech of the first kavya of our land. To the masses the story has always possessed an irresistible fascination, and the characters in it have served for ages as models or warnings for the guidance of their own conduct in daily life. And all the popular redactions of the Ramayana, most conspicuous amongst them the Ramcharita-manasa of the greatest poet of mediaeval Hindusthan, have directly aimed at harnessing this sentiment of the common folk in the service of morality. The appeal made by such a name as ‘Vanar Senas’to the little ones in the country is only a recent illustration of the educative influence of the tale of Rama's deeds.

It is equally wonderful, though not so well known as it should be, how powerful the influence of the Ramayana has been outside India. A considerable part of the cultural capital of most of the ancient States of Indo-China like Champa, Kambhoja and others may be traced ultimately to the Ramayana of Valmiki. And in recent years, so many forms of the Rama-legend have been discovered and in such diverse regions that we are just beginning to realise the wide sweep and the truly popular character of the appeal made by the Ramayana. Many scholars, from different countries, have made distinct contributions to this line of research; the most conspicuous among them are doubtless the scholars of the French School of the Far East at Hanoi. The Central Asian expeditions of Sir Aurel Stein have also contributed something to the study of the Ramayana problem. The popularity of the Ramayana in Java has been known for over a century. We may look at some of these versions in a little detail.

In Java, there seem to have prevailed two different versions separated from each other alike in time and space. The earliest Ramayana sculptures in this island are the bas-reliefs of Parambanan (Central Java) dating from the ninth century A.D.; these sculptures, which are markedly Indian in character, follow a version of the story very different from what we have in Valmiki. On the other hand, the later sculptures of Panataran (Eastern Java), fourteenth century A.D., which follow Valmiki much more closely are decidedly Javanese in form.

Everyone knows of the ancient Dasaratha Jataka of the Buddhist birth-stories which opens by making Rama and Sita brother and sister, and ends by making them husband and wife,–a story which knows nothing of Ravana or Lanka. A northern counter-part of this is seen in an early Chinese version dating from about 470 A.D. to which Prof. Sylvain Levi drew attention in 1903. In the following year, Professor Huber brought to light another form of the story, also from China. This occurs in a Jataka book translated into Chinese in the third century A.D. No names are given for the characters, but we can easily recognise in the story the exile of Rama and Sita, Ravana's abduction of Sita, the resistance opposed by the vulture Jatayu to Ravana's progress, the strife between Vali and Sugriva, the bridge to Lanka thrown by the army of monkeys, and the ordeal of fire by which Sita demonstrated her purity before the eyes of Rama. But there are significant differences from the story of the Ramayana. Not a step-mother, but an uncle ruling a neighbouring country and preparing to oust Rama from his heritage was the cause of the exile; Rama's excellence thus lay not in fulfilling his father's command and helping him keep his plighted word given to his wife in a moment of infatuation, but in avoiding bloodshed and civil war by renunciation. When he returned after his adventures, Rama found that his wicked uncle was no more and took charge of the kingdom. Vali again is the uncle, not brother, of Sugriva; and Rama did not kill Vali who fled at the sight of Rama. There is nothing of the story of the Uttara Ramayana.

Huber also discovered in 1905 an Annamite version of so late a date as the eighteenth century, the author of which localised the legend at Champa saying that the people of Dasaratha's kingdom were of a Simian race and that the Chams of the 18th century were their descendants. This story appears thus to be a distant echo of what must once have been a national epic of the Chams and is now lost. Cham epigraphy gives clear proof of the early popularity of the Ramayana and its author in Champa. Prakasadharman, a king of Champa in the seventh century A.D., built a temple dedicated to Valmiki. The inscription, which records this event, shows that the Ramayana in its present form, with the introductory story of Brahma's visit to Valmiki in his Ashram, was well known in Champa at the time. The same king built another temple to Kubera in the form of Ekakshapingala to which we find the earliest reference in Indian literature in the thirteenth canto of the current version of Valmiki's great epic. Kubera lost his left eye for having turned it on Parvati when she appeared before him in the company of her Lord, who was pleased with his observance of the Raudra Vrata. The verses of the inscription relating to the Kubera temple exhibit close verbal affinities to the slokas of the Ramayana narrating this tale. The Ramayana and the Bharata were read in temples in Indo-China, as in India, and endowments are recorded for the maintenance of this institution of popular culture. Themes from the Ramayana formed favourite subjects with the artists, sculptors and painters of Indo-China, and few archaeological finds are of greater interest than the numerous Ramayana sculptures and paintings pre-served in the museums of Indo-China, of which excellent descriptive lists are being published from time to time. Janaka finding Sita, Sita's svayamvara, the death of Vali and the grief of his women, the meeting between Hanuman and Sita, and the alliance between Vibhishana and Rama, are among the most favourite scenes depicted by these artists.

In India itself, there are in existence many fine examples of the sculptor's art devoted to the Ramayana that are not as well known as they deserve to be. The books give so little information on this subject; but the inquisitive student, who makes it a point to spend sometime studying the sculptured panels of the more ancient stone temples, of which there are luckily still so many that have not been renovated by the cruel benefactions of ignorant money-bags, will discover for himself many examples of really communal art depicting high themes from the life and deeds of Sri Rama and will meditate on the truth of Brahma's promise to Valmiki, that his great poem will be current among the sons of men as long as the hills and the rivers endure.¹