PROFESSOR’S TALES FROM RAMAYANA
US academician, Prof. Paula Richman, read the Ramayana during her college days in the US in 1974. For 25 years now, she is a human Wikipedia of sorts carrying hundreds of interpretations of the Indian epic across India. She feels Indian narratives are the richest in the world and they have been moulded by different communities and story-tellers to suit the needs of the era.
Prof. Richman, Danforth professor at Oberlin College, shared some of these interpretations at a session on the last day of the Hyderabad Literary Fest.
The 60-year-old researcher had everyone in the audience all attentive through her session. Prof. Richman is the author of Many Ramayanas: the Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia, Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition and Ramayana Stories in Modern South India, apart from other books
One of the texts by the noted city-based Telugu writer, Volga, suggests that Sita did not go to Mother Earth. Here’s her story: “One day, Luv and Kush gifted her some fragrant flowers. They told her that a woman without a nose gave them this. That was Surpanakha, she realised. So, instead of returning to Earth, she visited the flower nursery of Surpanakha and they became friends.”
In another interpreta- tion, Sita felt deprived of the “quality time with Lord Ram” because he was always surrounded by his brother Lakshman, Hanuman and his subjects and was immersed in his Kingly obligations. “So, one day, she asked Hanuman to fetch her hairpin which she dropped in Lanka, thinking that that would give her some time to be with her husband. To her dismay, Hanuman got her the hairpin without even moving from his place. He sent his tail instead to collect the pin.”
It’s not just the stories that kept the listeners engaged, but Prof. Richman’s fine art of storytelling. She looked as surprised as the listeners as she narrated them.
The story of Supranakha getting a makeover and dyeing her hair, black, with coal, to be able to attract a man for marriage generated a good amount of interest. The other story was when Ravana had to perform the duties of a Brahmin, by doing yagna for Lord Rama, before he stepped into the battle field.