Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana (2 page)

Introduction
Vandana Singh

I first heard the
Ramayana
when I was very little. From time immemorial, the epic has been carried down through the generations as an oral tradition. I heard it from my mother and my paternal grandmother; the
Amar Chitra Katha
comic books came much later. My grandmother
was particularly fond of the Bal Kand in the
Ramcharitmanas
of Tulsi das, which describes in beautiful verse the childhood antics of the young hero, Ram, and to this day I can sing or recite parts of it.

It was my grandfather—a man of great intelligence, sensitivity and integrity, who first gave me a hint that there were multiple Ramayanas. He loved many aspects of the ancient texts, particularly
the Upanishads, and was the first person to inculcate in me an appreciation of the
sounds
of poems in Sanskrit, especially the
Geet Govind.
Yet he did not hesitate to criticize when he had good reason to do so. (One of the great freedoms of Hinduism is surely the lack of a Big-Brother-style religious police to prevent you from having your say). I remember him raging about some sections of the
Manu-smriti,
or pointing out an absurdity in the
Vishnu Purana.
Once he told me that there were many versions of the Ramayana, and that some versions contained interpolations that were clearly anachronistic, containing references that belonged to times later than that of the original story. I didn’t think much about it then, being in
my pre-teen years and distracted by cricket and climbing trees,
but I remembered this later when I came across references to Ramayanas from the point of view of the villain, Ravana, and from Sita’s vantage point as well. Now I think of the Ramayana as a kind of palimpsest, a tapestry in multiple layers, a creation of many voices through the ages, an entity always in the making, and thus always alive.

Even as a child, I had, in a sense, encountered many
Ramayanas already, because my mother’s version and my grandmother’s version, although both derived from the one written by Tulsidas in the late sixteenth century, were embroidered by their own interpolations and interpretations. During the Ramlila festivities in Delhi we would watch the great effigies being erected, and the young Ram, much painted and made-up, draw his great bow to let loose a flaming
arrow. Straight to the navel of Ravana it would go, and the firecrackers inside the giant would burst into a great and noisy conflagration. Then there would be enactments in neighborhoods, and Ramayana ballets on TV. The characters in each were transformed, made alive, each in a different way. I still recall the great death-dance of Jatayu, felled in battle with Ravana when Jatayu attempted to
prevent the kidnapping of princess Sita.

It was my grandfather who told me that the Ramayana is not simply a story of the victory of good over evil, but like that other great text, the
Bhagavad Gita,
it is also a metaphor for the battle in the soul. This stayed with me, as did my grandmother’s unexpected radicalism. She loved the Ramayana, and as a young woman she left home during the freedom
movement to join the Salt Satyagraha, something quite unexpected for a girl from a good family in the India of the day. She loved the Ramayana and she hated the caste system. It was only later that I understood that the vanquishing of evil takes place as much in the soul as in the battleground.

There are many retellings of the Ramayana but where this book de parts is that the stories are not
retellings. They are distributaries of the great network of rivers, that is the Ramayana tradition; they are modern additions to the
Kathasaritsagara
— the ocean of streams of stories—of the Ramayana. They are unique in that, as befits the imaginative scope of the ancient storytellers, the setting is not limited to earth but might be the cosmos itself, and the actors and tellers are as varied as
a single mother in present-day India and a time-traveler from the far future. Speculative fiction, I believe, comes naturally to us Indians, since we have a tendency to embroider and prevaricate, to let the imagination run riot, and to argue incessantly. To me speculative fiction has a great revolutionary potential—merely by asking the question “what if?” we might overturn the established order,
the conventional point of view; thrones may tremble and the mighty fall. Thus speculative fiction allows the alien (sometimes indistinguishable from the female, or a member of the
other
race) to tell its story. And in doing so, speculative fiction, as a new form of fiction, is completely consistent with a very old way of looking at things. Let me explain by telling a story from the ancient Upanishadic
traditions. The divine principle, the story goes, was once undifferentiated. Nothing else existed but itself. In order to know itself the divine entity divided itself up into planets, rocks, stars, trees, humans, birds, all that now is. The great dramas of existence, including the war between good and evil, are all part of the attempt of the divine to know itself. The Sanskrit word ‘leela,’
which means “play” in both the serious and the playful sense, refers to this cosmic drama. This idea is a wonderful metaphor for writers, who create worlds in order to know the world. In that sense, then, these stories that take inspiration from the Ramayana tradition both depart from it and are part of it. They are attempts at “play” in the sense of “leela,” with the cosmos itself as the grand
stage. Through characters
as complicated, intriguing, layered and flawed as those in the original streams of story that form the great Ramayana tradition, they explore what it means to be human in this universe. They are testament to the enduring power of the great epics. When Anil Menon first broached the idea of the anthology to me, as it emerged from the unforgettable first SF workshop at
IIT-Kanpur in 2009,I was immediately enthusiastic. Anil did a great deal of the work in making this project a reality, including soliciting and screening stories. It was a great pleasure collaborating with him on the editing of the final stories; his instinct for fine storytelling, his acuity as an editor and his good sense and friendship are things I cherish. I should mention also that Anil insisted
on a previously published Ramayana story from me, to which, after multiple hesitations, I agreed. Equally I am grateful to the intrepid team at Zubaan for their enthusiasm, creativity and courage, and for putting up with the vagaries of my schedule with unrivalled patience. And I am grateful to the authors whose stories I had the privilege to read and edit—they taught me a lot about writing. Since
many of them are newcomers, I am both ecstatic and humbled by the great store of story-telling talent so evident in the India of today—another way in which an old tradition remains alive.

The Ramayana as an American Reality Television Show
Internet Activity Following the Mutilation of Surpanakha
Kuzhali Manickavel

Statement on Surpanakha’s Blog to Fans

Hi everyone. I just want to thank all my fans out there who have been so supportive of me during this very difficult time. The
doctors say my ears are going to be ok but it might be a while before my breasts and my nose grow back completely. I can’t even begin to tell you how traumatized I am over this whole incident but I want my fans to know that your love and support means so much and is really helping me get through this. I am thankful for each and every one of you, love you guys.

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Invitation
to Join ‘Legal Action Against Lakshmana Now!’ Facebook Group

On last week’s episode of
The Ramayana,
millions of viewers were shocked and outraged when Lakshmana cut off Surpanakha’s ears, nose and breasts on live television. Lakshmana has some serious anger management issues but we feel he has clearly crossed the line here. Take a stand NOW! Lakshmana needs to
be held accountable for his
actions! Show him that it’s NOT OK to cut somebody’s body parts off, even if that somebody is just a rakshasi! Join NOW! We are starting a petition to send to the network and we need EVERYONE’S SUPPORT!

Invitation to Join ‘Surpanakha is an Ugly Rakshasi Bitch and I’m Glad Lakshmana Cut Her Tits Off ‘ Facebook Group

Join this group if you agree that Surpanakha is a fucking rakshasi and
rakshasis deserve to get their tits cut off ! Full video clips of Lakshmana’s awesome sword skills in H-D now posted! Also join the We Love Lakshmana! Group to show your support for a homeboy who isn’t scared to DO SOMETHING when people he cares about are threatened! Show some love for his awesome initiative that finally got that bitch off the show! YAY!

The Real Rama’s Twitter Updates

My beautiful wife is doing fine now. Sure feels great to have such a beautiful wife! Hope everyone is having a great day!

Had a nice, long talk with L about what happened. Sure feels great to have such a great brother! Hope everyone is having a great day!

Just want to say that I totally support L’s actions. I love my brother and my beautiful wife. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Fans who want to buy a sword just like the one L used on the last episode, go to my website! Hope everyone is having a great day!

So thankful for my beautiful wife and my brother and all you great fans out there, hope everyone had a great day!

Transcript of Interview with Lakshmana Posted at
lakshmanaloyalists.com

Comments Posted Below YouTube Clip Showing Lakshmana Cutting Off Surpanakha’s Breasts, Ears and Nose

The Real Rama’s Twitter Updates

Thanks for all the congratulatory messages, feels great to wipe out a rakshasa army single-handedly. Hope everyone’s having a great day!

Leading group of saints and sages thanked us for making the forest a safer place. Hope everyone’s having a great day!

You can order my booklet ‘How to Wipe out a Rakshasa Army’ from my website. Hope
everyone’s having a great day!

‘How to Wipe out a Rakshasa Army’ video tutorial now available for pre-order on my website. Hope everyone’s having a great day!

Message on Surpanakha’s Blog to Fans

Hi everyone. I didn’t really want to post this but I feel that my fans deserve to know a few things. By now you guys have seen what happened to Khara and Dusana. And I know a lot of people
are looking at it like a certain guy is so awesome for killing a whole army of rakshasas by himself. But the way I see it, I just lost my brothers who were trying to stand up for me. I’ve been dissed, teased, lied to and I’ve lost a lot of things in my life and every single loss has made me stronger. So I just want to tell all the haterz out there who hoped I would break down or cry or kill myself
or whatever, fuck you haterz. I just keep coming back, I keep coming back harder and stronger and the more hate you throw at me, the harder I come back. Haterz gonna hate but I feed off that hate. I’m a bad bitch and when I say bad, motherfucker you have NO IDEA how bad.

I know a lot of people have been saying stuff like I deserve to get cut and K and D deserved to die because we’re rakshasas
and we shouldn’t have even been messing with humans in the first place. I’m not even going to respond to that because I’ve been hearing that shit all my life and I’m so over it. If that’s what you think, fine. I don’t give a fuck.

If a certain guy really wasn’t interested in me, he could have been straight with me instead of being a player and lying. He could have been real with me like I was
real with him. But you know what? I’m so over him, I’m so over his perfect wife and I’m so over his psychotown brother. I really am. I think there are things that just happen and they are bigger than you and all you can do is take the lesson and move on. I’m about to head out and stay with my brother Raavana for a while. I’m very upset about what has happened and I just need to be with family right
now. Big love to my fans.

Comments

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Leaked Emails from
Surpanakha’s Account to
UltimateLoveGuru.Com
-Free Love Advice From Real People Who Really Care! Not Outsourced!

Hi. I have this friend who really likes this guy. And she told him she liked him and he didn’t really say anything. Like he didn’t tell
her to fuck off and he didn’t cut her or anything and that’s good, right? Anyway, she really likes him. She can’t stop thinking about him and she
thinks they would make a great couple and he’s got some issues he’s trying to deal with right now and my friend knows she can really help him out. The thing is, he has this wife who’s really pretty and perfect. I mean she kind of just sits there but whatever, he seems to like her a lot. And my friend is nothing like the perfect wife. I mean, I know my friend is awesome in a lot of other ways but
when people see her, they’re like whatever, you’re a fucking rakshasi, get the fuck out of my face, bitch. You know what I’m saying?

Anyway, this guy has a psychotown brother who cut off my friend’s nose and ears and tits because he thought my friend was disrespecting the perfect wife. And I didn’t even touch her! I didn’t even touch her and she was like all scared and screaming and shit. I
didn’t even touch her. And anyway I’m looking at her and I’m like, bitch please. If I had business to take care of, I’m thinking that I would want a bitch that’s got my back instead of a bitch that just sits there and screams, you know? But whatever. Anyway, after that there was a lot of drama and the guy, the guy my friend likes, he killed my friend’s brothers. And even though that’s like epic disrespect
she still really likes him. So what should my friend do? She has this plan which could totally work to get him to like her. I think it would work. I mean she told me about her plan and I really think she should do it but she would like your opinion too.