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perhaps have these issues in mind.
And that is also perhaps why, while
talking of epics, I have unwittingly
arrived at these odd examples.
Room for All Versions
In an epic culture, there is no
authoritative, sanctioned hierarchy of
epics. In it, Valmiki’s Ramayana,
because it is in Sanskrit, may
technically enjoy more respect than
the Ramayana of Tulsidas but only
technically. Few will claim for Valmiki
automatic priority over Tulsidas.
People love Tulsidas and enjoy the
right to believe that his Ramayana is
the one to live by. The answer to
Tulsidas, in turn, is both Valmiki and
the other Ramayanas which one may
or may not acknowledge as one’s own
but which one knows exist. Nobody in
Bengal has read Tulsidas but they have
read Krittibas Ojha, in whose
Ramayana Rama eats, on festive
occasions, Bengali sweets. If you ask
readers of Tulsi they will claim
primacy for their Ramayana over that
Epic Culture – Ashis Nandy
of Krittibas, though they might not
have read a word of Krittibas or even
heard of him. The readers of Krittibas
return the compliment. Without
having read a word of Tulsi they
believe that their Ramayana is better.
But they are reconciled to the
existence of both.
I sometimes feel that this attitude
towards others’ epics is a necessary
part of the culture of epics. The heart
of the Ramayana is not its distinctive
story line but the ability of the
different Ramayanas to carry our
burden of everyday sorrows,
disappointments, anxieties and fears
and give them a bearable meaning.
That is what makes the Ramayana an
epic. An epic has to be a flexible
metaphor of life. As experiences
change, its meaning has to change, too.
The different Ramayanas,
Mahabharatas and sometimes
Vishnupuranas of the different
language groups and regional cultures
of India are a second line of
An epic has to be a flexible metaphor of life. As
experiences change, its meaning has to change, too.
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