Many avatars of Ramayana

The timeless classic has kept me enthralled through the years

As I was watching the consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on television, I recalled my mother’s words. She would often recount that I used to sway, sitting on an old metal trunk, clapping along with my maternal grandfather Balaguru Desi, for the bhajan ‘Raghupathi Raghava Rajaram/Pathitha Pavana Seetharam/Sundara Vigraha Meghashyam/Bhadra Gireeshwara Seetharam/Bhaktha Janapriya Seetharam... Of course, I have no recollection of this. I was born in 1973, and my maternal grandfather, Balaguru Desi, died before my first birthday. 

My maternal grandmother, S M Rajamma, was a good storyteller, like many of her generation. As was common in most households back then, she used to narrate stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharatha after dinner. Sometimes it used to be a series on Ramayana or Mahabharatha for days together, in fact nights. To listen to the stories, we used to have an early dinner and nag her.

During high school days, Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan serial on the Doordarshan TV channel had us completely hooked to the screen on Sunday mornings, despite its quirks like the lag in the speed of arrows. But the episodes, as a whole, were engaging. Soon after Ramayan was over, B R Chopra’s Mahabharat had us engaged on Doordarshan. Its filming and picture quality were better than Ramayan.

Neither Ramayana nor Mahabharata stories were new to us. We had heard them a number of times. Besides, we had read children’s versions of both epics in both English and Kannada. We had also read about individual characters in the Amar Chitra Katha comics series, again in both Kannada and English.

We watched the initial episodes of the Ramayan serial on a black-and-white TV in the official quarters of then-Mandya Municipal Commissioner Mr D H Mulla. When we bought a colour TV, children from Mulla uncle’s house too would watch the epic at our house. We continue to hear anecdotes from Ramayan and Mahabharat in all walks of life.

As a Sanskrit student in high school, I enjoyed the songs taught in the summer camp organised by Rohini Mahila Mandali at Bal Bhavan on Vani Vilasa (VV) Road in Mandya. ‘Mrudapicha Chandana Asmin Deshe, Gramo Grama Sidhavanam, Yatracha Bala Devi Swaroopa, Bala Sarve Srirama’ is my all-time favourite song and still rings in my ears.

Despite being an ardent fan of writer S L Bhyrappa—I read his novel Gruhabanga during my 4th standard summer vacation—I had not read his Mahabharata adaptation Parva till 2006, almost 27 years after its publication. After reading Prava, I wished Bhyrappa had penned his version of the Ramayana. When his Uttarakhanda was released in 2017, I grabbed it. But to me, it was no match for Parva.

The next encounter with Ramayana was the Ramachandra series by Amish Tripati, when more time was available during the Covid lockdown and
restrictions.