The King of Counterculture

Rejecting the notion of Raavan as a villain signifies a persistent need to challenge the dominant narrative while remaining part of it s

- Rakhi Bose

ABOUT 170 km from Punjab's capital, Chandigarh, lies the small town of Kapurthala, where every Dussehra, a group of young men wear black armbands to protest against "Raavan Dahan", the customary practice of burning effigies of the 10-headed "demon king" from the Hindu epic Ramayana.

Lakhbir 'Lankesh' is usually at the forefront of these protests. He belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) Valmiki community that claims descent from the legendary author of the Ramayana and heads a civil society outfit called 'Ravan Sena Bharat'. For Lakhbir, Raavan is a "Mahatma".

"He is the ishth (patron deity) of our community," he asserts, adding, "On Dussehra, Dalit and Bahujan groups in the region come together to mourn his death."

Lakhbir feels that the annual dahan (burning) of Raavan is an unnecessary ritual meant only to concretise the "Brahmanic version of Ramayana based on interpretations by the dominant classes and castes that leave out the marginalised". Adherents of Raavan, like Lakhbir, feel that the 'indigenous king' has always been mistreated in popular retellings and adaptations of the Ramayana.

"Raavan is shown as the criminal, a nasty kidnapper and abuser of women. But he only did what he did to avenge his sister Surpanakha's dishonour by Ram's brother Lakshman," he states, adding, "He (Raavan) never touched Sita and treated her with the utmost respect, despite keeping her hostage." Living near a Valmiki temple, Lakhbir grew up listening to priests recount tales from the Ramayana, specifically the version by Valmiki, the patron saint of his community.

Reminiscing, he recalls, "As children, some of us used to perform 'Valmiki-Leela' as part of travelling shows. I even wrote a play." The stories they depicted differed from those in Ramanand Sagar's popular television adaptation.