Category Archives: Culture

Rama’s story has been told in many religions. Although the Rama story is not, as such, a Hindu story, the Hindu versions are very ancient. In this article, I’d like to stress upon one thing- The characters and happenings of Ramayana can be looked from a variety of religious traditions including, and not limited to, Hinduism. Continue reading →

In my previous post, I had mentioned that there exist many versions of Ramayana, and confronting one over the other will only narrow down our perspective and eventually lead to great cultural loss. Continue reading →

January 25, 1987, to July 31, 1988- the period when Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana was aired on Doordarshan. This show rose to hold the world record of being the world’s most viewed mythological serial. It was primarily based on Valmiki’s Ramayana and Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas. It is also partly derived from portions of Kamban’s Kambaramayanam. The televised Ramayana did, however, disturb some observers, who worried that the Doordarshan version might come to dominate other tellings of the story. Among them was Romila Thapar. Continue reading →

Have you heard Aristotle’s story of the carpenter’s knife? When asked to an old carpenter how long he had possessed his knife, he answered- “I’ve had it for 30 years. I have changed the blade a few times and the handle a few times, but it’s the same knife.” Similar is the case with the epic Ramayana. Continue reading →