Ekadashi day. One more programme for Swabod satsang seva parivar. It was discourse by Brahmchari Vivek Chaitanya of Mulund center of Chinmaya Mission. The topic was a pert of Tuls Ramayan. How Sage Vasishta baptised four siblings of King Dasharatha. Today's topic of blog is inspired by comparison between Rama & Krishna.
We Indians believe in abundance. Most of the civilisations can not name a single epic to their credit. Some like Greek can name one for it's credit. We have two equally popular and ancient epics. Ramayana and Mahabharata. Both continue to attract masses and classes alike. Old Sanskrit theatre derives plots and texts from both in almost same measures. But then old Sanskrit Hero of drama was required to be noble. People like barbers, fishers had their parts but not as hero. That is contribution of modern literature. Every century can boast of an outstanding poet who has composed on either of these epic tales. No Indian language is devoid of literature derived from them. Thankfully both belong to Vaishnava cult or we would have wars like wars between followers of Shiva & followers of Vishnu. Their influence on Indian minds is nonparallel. Majority of Indian names find their origin in either of them. It would not possible to tell which one is more popular. Both tale story of a dynasty. More than half dozen of generations are described before embarking upon the heroes. The stories don't end with their ends. Following generations are equally important. Both tell tales of a fierce war and its after effects. Both attempt to include Vedic philosophy in story telling. The Ramayana is older of the two and puristic in nature. Mahabharata comes from later period is more humanistic in nature. Ideal king is Rama. The best King's rule is Ramraj. The ideal brother is Bharat. Mahbharata in contrast tales about currents, sub-currents within family, intricacies of relations etc. The author makes a tall claim that nothing exists in the world which is not found in Mahabharata. Such a big canvas. But then that is minimum qualification to be called as Epic.
This tale has possibly no end.
Arvind M khare
khare_am@yahoo.com
9820701210
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment