Epics in Imprints-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

RAMAYANA IN ORIYA LITERATURE ORAL
TRADITION
NILAMANI MISHRA
Rama in tradition
There is no place left in Orissa which has
not received the magic touch of Rama. It
has become a habit to associate places,
forests, hills and rivers with the incidents
of Ramayana. In the district of Phulbani
in Orissa there is a hill named Ramagiri
about which there are many legends
prevalent among the local people. It is
identified as the same place which has
found mention in Meghaduta of Kalidasa.
Koraput District abounds in such places
which have some connection with the
descriptions in the Ramayana. People
draw similarity between the existing
Chitrakunda Hill with Chitrakuta of
Ramayana and Malkangiri with
Malyavanta. People believe that
Ramachandra had offered puja to
Guptesvar during his forest-life; this is
near Jeypore, in Koraput district. The
rivers Taperu and Arkeil in Koraput district
still bear many memorable episodes of
Sita.
In Keonjhar district there is a place called
Sitabinji famous for Ajanta style mural
paintings. There, a small streamlet flows
by, which is called Sitapari and there is
also a hillock which is said to be the storehouse
of Sita.
At the foot of Ushakothi hills in the district
of Sundargarh there is a small village called
Lakshmanapa where Laksmana used to
live when Rama and Sita spent some days
on the hill-top. There are oven-shaped
marks and white lines on the hills which
are believed to have been used by Sita as
kitchen. In Southern Orissa there are two
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fruits which are called Rama-phala, Ramafruit
and Sita-phala, Sita-fruit. People
believe that these two were used mostly
by Rama and Sita during their forest-exile.
In the rural life, people draw a similarity
between a house-wife neglected by her
husband and Sita who had practically
suffered in her separation. People also
called a chaste woman Sita.
The sincerity and faithfulness of
Lakshmana towards his elder brother
Ramachandra is also reflected in the social
life of Orissa. Brothers in a joint family
living happily are termed as Rama and
Lakshmana. A step-mother or a woman
with quarrelsome bent of mind is named
as Kaikeyi who created havoc in the life of
Ramachandra. Twin brothers are named
Lavakusa after the twin sons of Sita. A
faithful follower is very often termed
Bharata or Hanuman. A lady who gets
married to her brother-in-law (the younger
brother of her husband) is nicknamed
Mandodari. The treacherous role of
Vibhisana is also not left out. He who plays
a dubious role in the family is named
Vibhisana.
Ramayana in Art
Khandagiri and Udayagiri in the outskirts
of the new capital have the earliest
representation of Ramayana-episode in
relief panels. Though no mention of Rama
has been made by the historians who have
dealt with it so far, we can safely attribute
the panel depicting a man with bow in
hand chashing a fleeing antelope to the
Ramayana-episode of Rama pursuing
Maricha.
(Extracted from The Ramayana Tradition
in Asia: Sahitya Akadami Ed.V.Raghavan,
New Delhi 1989.)