There are hundreds of different versions of the Ramayana in various geographical locations. Even though the main characters stay consistent most of the time, their themes, actions and motifs often vary, which gives different groups of people multiple interpretations of how to use these stories. This is especially true for Rama because many people view him as the Supreme God, especially Ghandi and the RSS, although they have differing opinions on Rama’s image.
Mahatma Ghandi was arguably one of the most prominent figures during the 20th century due to his views about the assimilation of religions in India, rebellion through nonviolence, and eliminating British rule in India. Some Hindus, especially the RSS, wanted to get rid of the Muslim population in India, but Ghandi believed that the introduction of foreigners did not necessarily destroy the nation: they merge into the nation (Gandhi in Mukherjee 1993: 26). Ghandi believed that everyone, including Muslims, were his brothers, and that everyone should even love their enemy. He wanted everyone in India to band together against the British to gain their independence from them. However, the only way to do this was to through a nonviolent protest, because Ghandi firmly believed that in order to gain their independence, they should attain it in a nonaggressive manner. Many were afraid to fight the British because they had better weapons, and they were a larger country. However, Ghandi didn’t even want India to have their own army, or to fight at all. A country that is governed by even its national army can never be morally free (Gandhi in Mukherjee 1993:82). Ghandi firmly believed in ahmisa, which is non-killing, and is why he didn’t want India to have a national army.
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...arked so many riots. The Hindus feel it is in their dharma to follow Rama, follow his narrative, to vanquish all evil, and to protect themselves from others.
In 300 Ramayanas, A.K. Ramanujan explains how there are hundreds of different versions of the Ramayana everywhere. Therefore, there are hundreds of ways to interpret to motifs, themes and actions of not only Rama but the other main characters as well. There is a common core to the Rama stories, except the most skeletal of relations like that of Rama, his brother, his wife and the anatagonist Ravana who abducts her. (Ramanujan 1999: 156). This is why the Hindu nationalist and Ghandi have a very different view of Rama and how to mobilize people. They receive very different morals from them, they use the Ramayana narratives in very different ways, and they help to mobilize many people using very different ideas.
Through Imperialism, Britain oppressed many countries, including India. British influence stripped Indian culture and in some way, civil rights. As a result, a civil rights activist by the name of Mahatma Gandhi refused to replace his culture with that of the British. He also refused to accept that violence was the only way to gain independence. Throughout his philosophical journey, Gandhi went through trial and error to accomplish his ambitious goal. Conversely, Gandhi successfully approached India’s oppressors, inspired his followers, and built a loyal community through nonviolent protests.
World wars, mass genocides, and violent revolutions have become unusually iconic in history. However, the efficiency of nonviolent tactics and political strategies is relatively ambiguous. There have been several pacifistic approaches to solve a particular problem, some much more successful than others. Gandhi is primarily known for his work in the Indian Independence Movement and his nonviolent practices. Born in 1869, Gandhi was to respect all religions and taught to treat all living things sacred. Growing up, he encountered several cases of racism and poverty, and from these experiences, he developed a unique lifestyle. Eventually, Gandhi earned the title of “Mahatma,” or “Great Soul.” England was a feared and well-respected country at this time, but Gandhi miraculously changed this prevalent opinion to accomplish independence. Gandhi’s incarceration, teachings of self-control, and altruistic attitude towards the English assisted in his crusade for an independent nation.
The epic hero’s journeys hold the hopes for future of ordinary people’s lives. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written in approximately 2000 B.C.E which is highly enriched with Ancient Mesopotamian religions, and The Ramayana was written by ancient Indians in around 1800 B.C.E. The stories were written in two different parts of the world. However, these two stories etched great evidence that show people from generation to generation that different cultures and religions are interconnected; they share ideas with each other. Both Gilgamesh and Rama traveled long journeys in these tales. These epic journeys played a role in the creation of different archetypes. We can clearly see that these two tales share similarities between these archetypes. Although
Both of these men had the same view on how the world around them was ran. They also both had the same goal of changing things. Gandhi wanted everyone to have the same rights as did Robespierre and both also wanted to do away with the idea of social classes. Robespierre and Gandhi also had many followers or people who supported them in the idea that they had to make the community better. However both of these very important role models had many people who didn’t like what they were doing to change things and help make fit for
“ First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win” (Mahatma Gandhi). Gandhi was born in 1869 in Porbandar. Throughout his life Gandhi helped those in need. He was taught that everyone and everything is holy. He married at the custom age of 19 and went to London to study law. The thing that helped Gandhi promote nonviolence is that he worked his entire life saying that violence didn’t change the way people acted. He lived his life saying that an eye for an eye only made the whole world blind. Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked because he had something to prove and everyone else in the world agreed with him.
This is Rama’s first challenge towards becoming a hero, “I will carry out his wishes without question. Mother, be assured that I will not shirk. I have no interest in kingship, and no attachments to such offices, and no aversion to a forest existence” (Ramayana, pg. 45). Kosala Rama, Sita, Lakshmana are exiled and arrive in Godavari River’s bank. Rama sees a beautiful damsel named, Kamavalli, but Rama demonstrates good morals and control, “Rama understood her purpose. He realized that she had only an appearance of quality, and was really cheap and shameless.” (Ramayana, pg. 65). Ravana falls for Rama’s wife Sita and takes her after he seeks revenge for his sister Soorpanaka from her beating by Lakshmana. Rama battles and kills Ravana in battle but handles Ravana’s death with the utmost respect, “Honour him and cherish his memory so that his spirit may go to heaven, where he has his place. And now I will leave you to attend to his funeral arrangements, befitting his grandeur.”(Ramayana, pg.147) Rama killing Ravana showed Rama’s capability, strength, all characteristics of a
To begin our comparisons, we must first look at each character and recognize their separate journeys. Through summarization of the characters and their story, we will begin to see Rama's role and Sita's role. By this process, I will demonstrate how they correlate, differ and combine to form the Ramayana. Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, is a god known as Vishnu who has been reincarnated and sent to earth in mortal form. Rama must take an archetypal journey known as the "quest." During the quest, a hero must conquer obstacles to save the kingdom (Guerin et.al.154). Rama's obstacle is Ravana, an evil monster who is slowly taking over heaven and earth. Because Ravana never asked for protection from a human being, he can only be destroyed by a human being and this makes Rama's need for success especially important (Narayan 5). a the beginning of the narrative, Rama is forced into exile from his kingdom into the forest for 14 years. This exile begins his quest.
...a. Krishna takes advantage of grey areas of Dharma and his actions are more complicated to analyze. Dharma, however, is a simple concept and the readers of the Ramayana and Mahabharata can be pointed towards the Dharmic way of life by analyzing the roles of Rama and Krishna.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, a great Indian philosopher, wrote the essay “My Faith in Nonviolence”. His essay focuses on the use of nonviolence means on overthrowing the British rule of India. Gandhi’s main claim on this essay is that love is the higher law of life and that “every problem lends itself to solution” (p. 203) , if we followed that law.
The Ramayana is the most famous and well-known of all Indian epics, originally based on an epic poem it has taken many variations and forms over the centuries. Traditionally the story centers on the hero Prince Rama, who is the embodiment of virtue and perseverance, as he is wrongfully denied his birthright of being crowned king and instead is unjustly exiled into the forest where he encounters his fair share of dilemma. In R. K. Narayan’s condensed, modern version of The Ramayana the classic conflict of duality is a predominant theme, as Rama faces many instances of uncertainty and trivial chaos which are eventually balanced by order and goodness under the laws of karmic causation and dharma alike which he virtuously strives to uphold. Nina
Gandhi is motivated by religious means; he believes that everyone is equal in God’s eyes. He gets involved in several movements for equality, and he stresses non-violence very strongly. The Indians are very mad because British rule continues to limit their rights. They are supposed to all get fingerprinted, and their marriage laws are invalid. Gandhi’s followers vow to fight their oppressors to the death, but he discourages them from violence.
The Ramayana by Valmiki has influenced and shaped all aspects of Indian society. The Ramayana was written at around 550 B.C. in Sanskrit. The story is composed of twenty-four thousand verses, divided into seven books. The books are called kanda (Mack 576). Every Indian person knows the story of Ramayana. The story is read to all young children in India. Children are told the ancient tale in Sanskrit and boys are told to act like Rama and girls are told to act like Sita (Nair). The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are regarded as the cornerstone of the classic Hindu religion we know today. These two ancient Sanskrit texts together compromise all Hinduism beliefs and teachings. The Hindu religion effects all aspects of the political and social norms that exist in India.
In R.K. Narayan’s version of The Ramayana, Rama used dharma to represent the ideal qualities of kingship by adhering to the social conventions of constructs like caste, class, gender, and race, and set an example for all as to how to form a cohesive society.
The stories are similar in many ways, but they are also very different. This can be related to the relationship between the two religions themselves.
India has not been a free independent country for a long time. It had been under British rule from 1858-1947. India finally became independent on August 15, 1947 (Trueman). Many people credit India’s independence to Mahatma Gandhi because of the great role he played in helping India in its freedom struggle. Along with Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammed Jinnah and Jawaharlal Nehru assisted in making India an independent country. Gandhi’s main principle in India’s freedom struggle was based on non violence, which he called satyagraha, which means holding onto the truth, truth force, or soul force (Bondurant). Along with nonviolence Gandhi believe in passive resistance and swaraj or self rule. Gandhi thought that being violent would only get a bad response from the British, however passive resistance pushed the British to do something which would make them look bad To accomplish swaraj or self rule (Bondurant), Gandhi believed India needed 3 vital ingredients. The first thing India needed was to unify Indians with different religions, especially Hindus and Muslims. Second, India needed to remove its...