Living Ramayanas: Exploring the Plurality of the Epic in Wayanad and the World

Description

There is no single Ramayana, just as there is not just one kind of people. The epic that Valmiki first wrote has changed across space and time to reflect the cultural consciousness of a diverse cross-section of humanity. These widely different social contexts—in India, in Southeast Asia and the world at large, and in different faiths and castes and tribes—have produced an immense variety of Ramayanas in the oral, textual and visual mediums. Azeez Tharuvana was powerfully drawn to the oral tribal Ramayana tradition in Wayanad, Kerala. He tells us that the locals believe Wayanad to be the site of all the action that took place in the Ramayana. So, in their version, the hermitage at Ashramkolly near Pulpally is Valmiki’s ashram, and Jadayattakavu is the place where Rama held Sita by the hair to keep her from falling into the earth. Tharuvana’s research into this tradition led to a deeper immersion in the many forms and shapes that the epic poem has taken. It illustrates how human societies reshape narratives as a way of expressing and asserting their unique identities and their moral and social codes. In this light, the Ramayana is not only a religious text, but the very symbol of plurality, replete with interesting divergences. It is an ever-changing work that will never be a thing of the past. The many profound, often entertaining, versions of the epic discussed in this sharp, illuminating work bear testimony to the fact that the Ramayana must not be talked about as a mythological text of yore but as something that is alive, polyphonic and pluralistic. Through the story of Rama, Azeez Tharuvana’s Living Ramayanas shines a light on a text inclusive like no other. TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT CONTENTS START READING FOREWORD ONE TEXT, MULTIPLE ORAL NARRATIVES PREFACE WHY MULTIPLE RAMAYANAS? PART ONE WAYANAD AND THE RAMAYANA THE ADIYA RAMAYANA THE WAYANAD CHETTI RAMAYANA THE WAYANAD SITAYANAM THE AREAPALLY CHETTIS AND THE MARRIAGE OF LAVA AND KUSA RAMAYANA CHARACTERS AND NATURAL PHENOMENA IN WAYANAD THE RAMAYANA AND TOPONYMIC TALES OF WAYANAD RAMAYANA TALES AND THE HILLS OF WAYANAD RAMAYANA INFLUENCES ON THE WAYANAD COSMOGONIC TALES RAMAYANA CHARACTERS AND THIRUNELLY RAMAYANA TALES IN THE FOLK SONGS OF WAYANAD WHY WAYANAD RAMAYANAS? PART TWO THE POLYPHONY OF THE RAMAYANA FOREIGN RAMAYANAS BUDDHIST AND JAIN RAMAYANAS MUSLIMS AND THE RAMAYANA THE ADIVASIS OF INDIA AND THE RAMAYANA STORY THE MANY VERSIONS AND VARIATIONS OF THE RAMAYANA CONCLUSION NOTES GLOSSARY SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY