Devlok With Devdutt Pattanaik: 3 Read online

  What is the tradition in Assam?

  In north-east India, there is Mahakavi Kandali’s Ramayana. There’s a version by Raghunath Mahanta in which Sita goes to Patal-loka at the end and starts missing her children and asks Vasuki to get her children there. It’s an elaborate version of the Uttara Ramayana.

  What is the story in Nepal?

  Janakpur, where Sita is born, is in Nepal. There’s a big Sita temple there and also where Janaka’s kingdom lay. That’s Mithila in northern Bihar. In Gaya, which is also associated with the Buddha, people perform shraddha believing that Rama and Sita did shraddha for Dashratha there.

  Let’s go to Uttar Pradesh from Bihar.

  Across Gangetic plains, the Ramayana has its biggest tradition, the world-famous Rama-leela. It started in Benaras. Tulsidas wrote the Ramcharitamanas in the sixteenth century. It was written in the language of the stage with the idea of depicting it as a play. Sita swayamvar is described here which you won’t find in the Valmiki Ramayana. Swayamvar looks good in a theatrical presentation.

  Tulsidas loved his wife so much that he chanted only her name day and night. There’s one story in which she gets irritated and tells him that were he to chant Rama’s name as much he’d have achieved moksha by now. Once, a neighbour informs Tulsi that his wife, Ratna, has gone to her parents’ house for a few days because her father isn’t well. Tulsi gets restless. The neighbours ask him when he is going to tell them Rama’s story and he promises to do so soon. It’s a rainy night and Tulsi misses Ratna. In the downpour he goes to see her at her parents’ house. He breaks into her bedroom. She is surprised to see him. He had hoped for a more positive response. She tells him that she’s fed up with his constant attention, his uncontrolled lust. He is hurt and asks whether it’s wrong to love one’s wife. She says this is not love, just obsession. ‘You’ve lost your love for knowledge and writing because of this,’ she says. ‘If you had spent that much time thinking of Rama your life would have been fulfilled,’ she adds.

  In Madhya Pradesh there’s a Ramnami sect among the Dalits. Because they were not allowed inside the temples, they revolted through the medium of bhakti. They tattooed the name of Rama all over their bodies. This is a 100–200-year-old tradition. They read the Ramcharitamanas, the part where Rama speaks about equality. In fact the Uttara kanda speaks of equality between men, women, transgender people, animals and trees because they are all dear to god. These powerful ideas are seen in the political space as well.

  Is there any story in Rajasthan?

  Here, there’s a famous story about Lanka chadhai (the invasion of Lanka). This is a loka parampara sung by the yogis of Mewad. The people who sing are self-professed Shiva bhakts but they also follow Islam and sing about Rama. There’s a story about the first meeting of Rama and Lakshmana with Hanuman. They get into a fight and Hanuman eats Lakshmana. Rama and Hanuman fight so hard that Shiva intervenes and tells Hanuman that Rama is a Vishnu avatar. Hanuman asks for forgiveness and says he’ll do anything for Rama. Rama asks for his brother back and Lakshmana returns. Lakshmana has experienced Hanuman’s strength, so when Hanuman asks Lakshmana what he wants he asks Hanuman to serve them so that he can help them attack Lanka.

  Has the Ramayana been translated into Farsi?

  The Ramayana was written in Farsi for Akbar since it was the court language. It was called Razmnama, the book of war, a Persian translation of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It also had paintings since Akbar was illiterate. The stories were narrated to him along with the paintings.

  5

  Radha

  Krishna’s name always seems incomplete without Radha. We’ve been hearing stories of their rasa-leela for years. Who is Radha? And why is she such a favourite of Krishna?

  When we talk of Radha–Krishna we are in the sphere of love. Yogis and rishis used the medium of Radha–Krishna to explain the subject of love. In India, gods always come in pairs—Shiva–Shakti, Vishnu–Lakshmi, Rama–Sita and Radha–Krishna. All forms express different ideas. A restrained, dignified form of love is found in the Rama–Sita relationship. Vishnu is constantly trying to make Lakshmi happy. He looks after her, taking different avatars to do so. This expresses a different bhava. If Lakshmi is in trouble, Vishnu goes and solves the problem because he is Gopala and she is Gomata. That’s their relationship. Shiva is a vairagi who is brought into the household by Shakti. So various thoughts are expressed through the medium of these relationships. The subject of love and lust, the difference between the two and between love and desire, and the meaning of pure love—all are explored in detail in the Radha–Krishna relationship. So Radha and love are always spoken of together. Love is not an easy subject. It’s an abstract concept. How does one show it?

  Where did the name Radha come from?

  It probably came from Aradhana. Radha is hidden in Aradhana. Radha sits in aradhana of god. Aradhana means to adore, to worship, to celebrate. One is not 100 per cent sure about this origin though.

  Do we hear about Radha the first time we hear about Krishna?

  Our history is ancient. The 4000-year-old Vedas do not mention Radha and Krishna. The Upanishads mention Krishna and Devaki but whether these are the same figures as in the stories we know, we can’t say. Krishna is first mentioned in the Mahabharata, the 2000-year-old mahakavya. Here we hear about Krishna and his relationship with the Kuru clan. There is no description of him as a cowherd. Written as many as 1600 years ago, a poem, a mahakavya, called Harivansh first mentions Krishna’s childhood as a cowherd. In the Mahabharata, Krishna as Gopala is mentioned only in the defeat of Shishupala. In the Bhagavata Purana of the tenth century, Krishna sings and dances with the gopis. Here rasa-leela is first mentioned and described. Here, too, Radha is not mentioned. Radha first appears in prakritkavya. There’s a king called Hala who compiled an anthology of prakritkavyas called Gathashabdashati. It talks about the love of Radha and Krishna. Here, Krishna is a cowherd, not god. In the evening (godhuli), during a dust storm, a particle of dust enters Radha’s eye and Krishna removes it. That’s when the other gopis realize she is his favourite. Later, in the Sanskrit poem Gita Govinda, Radha suddenly appears in a big way. She becomes the central character. What is the difference between love and lust, prema and kama? There are similarities between Krishna and Kamadeva. Krishna is called Manmohan and Madanroop but he is not Kamadeva. So what is the difference between Krishna and Kamadeva? It’s the same difference between Rati and Radha. In kamavasana, it’s ‘main bhog leta hoon’, ‘I take pleasure’. In prema, it’s ‘main bhog deta hoon’, ‘I give pleasure’. In today’s society, you see male domination. The stalker boyfriend in Bollywood movies is thinking only of his own pleasure; he does not see the woman but only himself. I am hungry and I want. The woman exists for my consumption. Krishna on the other hand gives bhog to Radha and becomes god in the process. The question here is not whether bhog is good or bad. It’s about who gives it to whom. Till we understand this concept, we will not be able to understand Radha–Krishna. There’s a Hindi film song—woh kare toh rasa-leela, main karun toh character dheela. This sort of story indicates Krishna taking bhog. A person taking bhog is trapped in kamavasana. Krishna is not associated with kamavasana. Shiva destroys Kama with his third eye because he does not understand love. There’s love when you are giving bhog to another. In rasa-leela Krishna is not satisfying his hunger. He is a god and has no hunger. He looks at the other’s hunger. He makes the other beautiful, inspiring. That is the relationship described here. When Radha comes into Krishna’s life, she talks of prakriti, that he has a duty towards her too. In Gita Govinda, she asks Krishna to adorn her with jewellery. There’s a demand here. She is not servile. In fact, at one point, Krishna touches her feet. He tells her to put her feet on his head saying that in giving her bhog, he has realized his own prabhutva—I have discovered my divinity in serving you.

  Was Radha older than Krishna?

  Radha is a poets’ creation. The poets wanted to talk about love that is not bound by any r