The just-concluded , three-day World Ramayana Conference was a canopy that sheltered countless topics where related issues found expression, relevance was forged if there wasn’t one, comparisons and parallels drawn to churn up discussion and a stamp of religiosity bestowed just in case the sacrosanct Ramanyana be thrashed inside out in wild enthusiasm on the dais. Speakers were drawn mostly from Kannada background with a sprinkling of scholars from across the country to keep up the national character of the conference. If there was a religious seer to appease the public and lend an aura to the meet, there was also a national politician of repute to add a touch of the VVIP. Glamour quotient in the form of classical dancers like Shobana and Nirupama-Rajendra did full justice in making for a wholesome treat.
The morning to evening sessions had any number of speakers, almost all scholars in their respective academic fields presenting their points of view; there were some very interesting, illuminating points that came across, enlightening the audience’s limited knowledge of the great epic. While most speakers digressed into a vociferous counselling against the West Leviathan that is eating up our culture, there were few who stuck to the subject expanding the intricacies and less known facts of Ramayana. One such speaker who deserves a mention is Dr. Satyadhyana Acharya Katti whose talk opened up new realms hitherto unknown to most who have not read the original Sanskrit Valmiki Ramayana. Dwelling on Rama’s exquisite noble qualities that Valmiki so carefully mentioned, Dr. Katti drew attention to the genealogy of Rama where his ancestors, the kings of Suryavansh like Dileepa, Aja, Raghu, Ishwaku, Dasaratha, lived by high royal ethics wherein the king opted to marry to beget progeny that would serve his ‘praja’ (people) and not for marital happiness, thereby adhering to the ancient law of ‘grihastha dharma’. The kings of this dynasty were gems of the purest rays with flawless character, full of wisdom, spotless justice, untarnished reputation, devoted to truth and silent in being. Their governance was such that even a common man spoke only the truth and the royalty never encouraged sycophancy or praises of their glory. There was never a mistake done in any walk of life. So, there was nothing surprising that lord Rama was a perfect, ideal man (maryada purushottama ) and king as he inherited these noble qualities which were running in his bloodstream.
A few talks were on purely academic lines like the ‘mind of Bharatha and Shatrughna’ or the importance of Hanuman and Sanjeevini, the Botany in Ramayana, the economics and management theories one can cull out of the great epic and so on and so forth. Politician and ace speaker Subramanian Swamy gave us a glimpse of his scholastic side with his talk which was full of testimonials from the Valmiki Ramayana itself countering the fallacies we have about certain characters and incidents in the Ramayana. For instance, he laid bare the fact that lord Rama lived up to his name as ‘maryada purushottam’ (one who could be emulated ages later by anyone in any generation). And the fallacy about turning Sita into the forests is a totally baseless, false propaganda created by translators of the epic. “It is Sita who volunteers to go into exile, post her return so that her husband’s reputation need not be tarnished,” he emphasized. Citing another instance, Swamy said, “He did not war for her sake but for all the women who were in bondage at Lanka. Sita too knew this.” He also pointed out to Rama’s universal oneness in the eventuality of having to raise an army to fight the mighty Ravana, lord Rama refutes Lakshmana’s proposal to call an army from Ayodhya by saying that one should trust the locals (Sugreeva, Hanuman) who offer unconditional support and not put them to trouble by having to feed an alien army. He testified that lord Rama was not a ‘mythical’ character as is being touted by certain lobbies, but a king who had existed 9000 years ago. Laying bare rare truths, he even interspersed it with a jibe or two for his political opponents in the typical Subramanian Swamy style.
The much-awaited debate proved a damp squib with the moderator Haridasa Bhat going overboard with unwarranted twists to Ramayana events which cut into time limit, while scholars like Mani Dravid enlightened the audience with gentle, yet unparalleled knowledge of the text of Ramayana. Likewise, Dr. Bannaje Govindacharya kept the discussions alive within the opportunity given to him. Reverence to Ramayana is one thing and relating it to the welfare of the present day is quite another. The organisers should bear this in mind for their next step to make an impact on modern day young minds.
