Raavan Redux

This anti-hero's many dimensions have resisted the imposition of a singular narrative of him.

- Chinki Sinha

THERE was always a kind of sadness that lingered after the effigy of Raavan turned to ashes. His name Raavan means a 'bluebird' in the Gondi language. And his own story got lost in the politics of appropriation meant to serve vested interests. This includes those who assert that the king vanquished by Ram, another mythological figure who has almost become a historical entity, exists in a country that has seen a surge of Hindutva since the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992 and the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya earlier this year.