RAMA CONNECTION
Ramayana builds cultural bridges
The Ramayana and Ramakien have long served as reminders of the deep cultural bonds between India and Thailand. Now scholars and other experts on the two epics are looking at ways to use them in the context of cultural and historical, tourism and economic connections between the two countries. The Indo-Thai Ramayana Forum was formally established at the World Ramayana Conference held from Dec 21-23 in Jabalpur, 900 kilometres southeast of New Delhi.
To be jointly coordinated by Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and Rani Durgavati University in Jabalpur, the forum will provide a platform for scholars, writers, artists and others associated with the Ramayana to promote the message of right conduct and happiness and raise awareness of the various versions of the epic. It will also organise seminars, performances and other cultural events to disseminate information about the life of Rama.
Nineteen members held their first meeting on Dec 22 and have already set up a Facebook page. Since Thailand continues to mourn the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the second meeting is also expected to be held in India this year, with potential venues in Delhi, Bodhgaya in Bihar, or Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh.
The convener of World Ramayana Conference, Akhilesh Gumashta, an orthopaedic surgeon, told Asia Focus that apart from strengthening cultural ties, the forum would work on enhancing educational exchanges and creating employment opportunities for youth.
Gumashta, who has written Ramayan, the Hymns of Himalaya, a poetic version of the epic, said the forum came into being after several months of deliberations.
Participants at the conference discussed the influence of the Ramayana across the globe, from North America to the United Kingdom, Thailand, Trinidad, South Africa, Mauritius, Indonesia and Fiji where large Indian expatriate communities exist.
Thailand sent the largest delegation with 10 Hindi and Sanskrit scholars from Chulalongkorn, Silpakorn and other universities, who also presented a half-dozen research papers on the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Hindu epic.
One paper was presented on Mon Ramayana, which considers Lord Rama as a Bodhisattva. Other papers explored how different forms of Ramlila (folk re-enactments of Rama’s life and his war with Ravana) are performed in different parts of the world.
In total, 55 papers were presented. One shed light on Rama’s influence on Mahatma Gandhi and the latter’s emphasis on Ramrajya (the rule of Rama) during the Indian freedom struggle.
Thai researchers also submitted a report titled “In the Footsteps of Lord Rama in Thailand” to YP Singh, director of the Ayodhya Research Institute (ARI) which funded the project.
The institute is located at Ayodhya, a city in Uttar Pradesh considered to be the birthplace of Lord Rama. The Thai group comprised Chirapat Prapandvidya, adviser to the Sanskrit Studies Centre of Silpakorn University; Sushil Dhanuka, director of an embroidery company; and Chaniya Thamboon, a fine arts lecturer.
There conference also featured discussions of the spiritual, cultural, historical, environmental and academic aspects of the epic and associated arts. These were followed by discourses by religious leaders and dance and drama performances of the Ramayana in the evening.
Mr Singh of the ARI believes the Ramayana travelled to Southeast Asia after the Kalinga war (261 BC) between the Mauryan king Ashoka and ruler of Kalinga where hundreds of thousands of soldiers were either killed or taken prisoner. After the war, Ashoka renounced violence and turned to Buddhism.
He said people from Kalinga, in what is today the northeastern Indian state of Odisha, migrated to Siam, Vietnam (Champa), Malaya, Burma, Cambodia and Indonesia after the war. He said the persistence of Ramlila in Southeast Asia despite a majority of people being Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia and Buddhists in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, proved that “religion is personal and culture is public and both can be developed simultaneously in any country”.
The story of Rama was also carried abroad by indentured labourers sent by the British from India, mainly to grow sugarcane in Africa, South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago, Surinam, Jamaica, Guyana and other Caribbean nations.
In the case of the United States, the United Kingdom and other European countries, the presence of a large Indian community is responsible for the popularity of the Ramayana there.
Quoting an inscription in Sanskrit engraved during the reign of King Bhavavarman I, from the seventh century AD in Cambodia, which records the earliest daily recitation of the Ramayana, the Thai researchers concluded that the epic reached Southeast Asia sometime in the sixth century AD.
It cites pictures dating from the 12th century in northeastern Thailand at the Phimai temple, Wat Sa Kampaeng Yai, a book titled Hua Khon on masks used in performing the Ramayana, and another book on mural paintings to prove its presence in the Thai kingdom around 800 years ago.
There was even a belief among many Thais that the events depicted in the Ramayana took place in their country. The research report refers to statues of Hanuman on Sapphaya and Khao Samokorn (near Lop Buri), suggesting that Hanuman carried Sanjivani herbs to Sri Lanka from Thailand.
The report also notes a sequence of events depicted on stucco around the vihara of a huge Buddha image in Wat Phanan Choeng in Ayutthaya, matches those in the mural of Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok. As well, the report offers stuccos of Phra Lak (Lakshman in India) cutting the nose of Sammanakkha (Shrupanakha) and Thotsakan (Ravana) abducting Sita in support of its theory.
“Religion is personal and culture is public and both can be developed simultaneously in any country” YP SINGH Ayodhya Research Institute