Lord Ram abducted Sita, says class XII textbook in Gujarat

The class XII textbook of Gujarat State Board of School Textbooks (GSBST) has got its basic facts from “Ramayana” wrong.

The textbook, instead of stating that Ravana, the king of Lanka, kidnapped Sita, states that it was Lord Rama who abducted Sita.

The error appears in a paragraph on Page 106 of the “Introduction to Sanskrit Literature”.

Th paragraph states, “...There is a very heart-touching description of the message conveyed by Laxman to Ram when Sita was abducted by Rama...”

Not just factual errors, the textbook is replete with grammatical errors as it seems to be a literal translation from Gujarati.

One sentence states: “This epic poem is not the best poem of Kalidasa only but it is the best poem of the entire Sanskrit literature.” If one is well-versed in Gujarati, they will realise it is worded exactly as it would be in Gujarati.

“As it is a similar kind of word, the proofreader may have missed the mistake. We will make the changes and if required shall blacklist the persons involved,” said Dr Nitin Pethani, executive president of GSBST.

The Opposition Congress did not want to let go of the opportunity to hit out at the ruling BJP.

“This is the true face of the government of a party claiming to be representing Hindus. It is an insult to Lord Ram and hurts feelings of crores of Hindus,” said Manish Doshi, Congress spokesperson.

The BJP, on its part, tried to defend itself, with party spokesperson Bharat Pandya hitting out at the Congress and asking it not to shed “crocodile tears”.

“What about their love for Lord Ram when they filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court questioning the existence of Lord Ram. They have no right to talk about respecting Lord Ram,” he said.