EPICS STILL SPEAK

IN the ongoing holy month of Magh, and in recognition that Indian epics are deeply internalised and encoded at levels we may have perhaps lost touch with, I would like to share a few points about our epics this week.

- RENUKA NARAYANAN

A fascinating unity of purpose holds these epics together that you'll notice too whether you are deeply Hindu, nominally Hindu, of another persuasion, or an atheist. So, let’s review what constitutes an Indian epic.

Expectedly, its deep components are unique to India compared to other epics in the old universe of discourse. To take the three most famous epics of the western world, the Iliad and the Odyssey (Greek) and the Aeneid (Latin), the themes seem quite similar at first—men vs fate, with the jealous gods in the thick of it all, the warring heroes and villains, the patient women who endure, the women who are sacrificed to serve the larger male cause, the journeys, adventures, deaths, laments, victories and the life-code points made at great personal cost.

But while the old gods of the Greeks and Romans lost their devotees, as did the other old gods of Europe, the gods, heroes and heroines of epic India have stayed very much alive and are still loved by millions. The three foundational Indian epics remain the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Srimad Bhagavatam. They were written in Sanskrit and inspired retellings in many other languages.

Regarding the Ramayana, | like to stick with the root epic, Valmiki’s Ramayana, which others acknowledge as their official source, while adding, opposing, questioning or nuancing bits with their own ‘masala’. Moreover, I stay with the first six books, which officially end the epic with the hero’s homecoming and coronation and the phala shruti or list of listeners’ benefits.