Foreword
I felt honoured by my scholar-friend Dr. Mathoor Krishnamurti's suggestion that I should write a foreword to his Kannada book, Nammellar: Sri Rama'. It is an honour to write a foreword to the Ramayana, and an honour to write a foreword to Dr. Mathoor Krishnamurti's book. He suggested that I should translate the book into English. I agreed. I have found the task a pleasure. Now the work is ready and I would like to share some of my thoughts about this book. "The Universal Rama" with the reader.
Any ancient epic is a gold vessel preserving the nectar of the culture of the community which produced it. The community's vision of life and its fulfilment illuminates it. The poet who composed an epic in ancient times would be at the highest point of the consciousness of that particular civilization. He was the inner eye and the voice of his community. Such was the place of Valmiki and Vyasa.
It is believed that the Ramayana was composed in the eighth century BC. Some historians believe that it dates back to the 26th centrury BC. This epic has won popularity and affectionate pride in countries beyond India, like Camobdia and Indonesia. Even in countries where Muslims are in a majority, dances based on the story of the Ramayana are performed. To us, of course, Valmiki is the First Poet and the Ramayana the First Poem. Probably Valmiki made use of the folk poems of his own age and earlier times. No authentic version, free from interpolations, survives. Any version contains interpolations. Dr. Mathoor Krishnamurti has given us an abridged translation.
The important thing is that, in this simple and abridged prose rendering. Dr. Mathoor has captured all that is significant in the original and also its excellence.
Valmiki, who comprehended the quintessence of an entire civilization, was also a great poet. He understood human nature, he had entered the very hearts of his characters. Only a poet of his stature is capable of certain touches in the epic. Note Sri Rama's words when he tells his mother that his father had decided to crown him:
अम्ब पित्रा नियुक्तोस्मि प्रजापालन कर्मणि
amba pitra niyuktōsmi prajapalana karmani
'Mother, my father has commanded me to engage myself in the task of looking after the subjects'. He does not say, 'My father wishes to crown me' or 'he wishes that I should ascend the throne'. He says, 'He has commanded me to engage myself in the service of the subjects'. To Sri Rama, kingship means serving the people. When Ravana abducts Sita by force, Valmiki says, 'He seemed to be carrying his own death'; in one simile he indicates the disastrous consequence. (Moreover, Sita, the treasurehouse of all auspicious happenings, here becomes the symbol of Death. The poet is hinting at the frightful transformation of the auspicious at the touch of evil.)
He describes Sitadevi surrounded by the rakshasis as 'fire surrounded by smoke'. Fire suggests brightness and purity. Mathoorji has retained these significant touches. Only if the author's mind is saturated with the study of the original and if the springs of aesthetic enjoyment in it have become a part of his literary experience can he retain such details even in an abridgment of a vast epic.
Vedas (1260)
Upanishads (527)
Puranas (641)
Ramayana (782)
Mahabharata (388)
Dharmasastras (174)
Goddess (545)
Bhakti (252)
Saints (1879)
Gods (1321)
Shiva (418)
Journal (181)
Fiction (71)
Vedanta (395)
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