PRINCE IN EXILE (70 page)

He held out his hand in a Kshatriya’s greeting. Rama looked at it, then at Sita and Lakshman. Somashrava watched anxiously. Rama took the hand, clasping it close to his chest and clapping his other hand over the other man’s fist. Bearface did the same. A ragged cheer rose from the rest of the group. One by one they came forward to greet Rama and introduce themselves. Another small group of four arrived in the interim and were brought up to speed. 

A screel from overhead interrupted them all. 

Rama went out to the riverbank and looked up. A few arrows began flying at once, but they were half-heartedly aimed. The destruction of the bridge had shocked and disheartened the rakshasas. He saw Jatayu flying overhead. The man-vulture pointed upriver with its winged arm, then turned slowly, and pointed downriver as well. Rama understood. 

He turned back to the ragged gathering of allies. ‘The enemy has split into groups. Upriver as well as down. They will be building more bridges and attempting to cross again.’ He explained to them what Lakshman had been arguing earlier. ‘If we stay here, sooner or later we will be overwhelmed.’ He paused, looking at Bearface. ‘Unless you think your numbers will match theirs?’ 

Bearface snorted. ‘Nowhere near, friend. At most we can expect two or three hundred. And that includes women and children. Although you can count almost everyone old enough to walk as a fighter.’ 

Rama nodded. He wasn’t surprised. ‘Then we have only one chance of winning this war.’ 

‘What’s that?’ Bearface asked with interest. 

Rama looked around at the expectant faces of the outlaws, at the shining face of Somashrava, so eager to do right, at Sita and at Lakshman. ‘You understand that this war may not be ended in a day, or a week, or even a year? I cannot promise you how long it will take. All I can promise is that it will end some day, and we will win it in the end. If you can stand strong for that long, then we have a chance. If you expect to win every skirmish, every battle, then you may as well leave now.’ 

Bearface hawked and spat to one side. A rakshasa body happened to come in the way of his oral missile. ‘Friend Rama, we have been fighting all our lives. For some of us, who are older, the last asura war never truly ended; it is still going on. That is why we have no truck with your cities and your civilised rules. We know that those are only temporary. This enmity between mortals and asuras? This is for ever! We have fought all our lives; why should we be afraid of a few years more? Right, folks?’ 

‘Aye,’ they said in unison. 

Rama nodded, pleased. ‘Good. Then listen to me carefully. If we are to thwart the enemy’s attempts today, we must do the opposite of what he expects.’ 

‘Which is?’ Lakshman asked eagerly. 

Rama glanced back over his shoulder at the river, lit by the last rays of the setting sun. ‘He is trying to cross to this side, to attack us. We must go across the river, outflank him and attack from behind.’ 

Utter silence met his announcement. He cleared his throat and went on, ‘We will not break his back, of course. But if we strike hard and then melt away into the darkness, then strike again at another place and disappear again … we will draw the rakshasas back the way they came. When they think we are on that side, we—’ 

‘Circle round and attack them on this side, and keep outflanking them until they don’t know where we are and where we’ll strike next. That’s classic Vajra strategy.’ The voice that spoke these words came from the back of the group, where the shadows were too heavy now for even Rama to see clearly. 

‘That they are,’ Rama admitted. ‘Do you have a problem with that?’ 

The speaker shook his head. ‘Nay,’ he said. ‘I was once a Vajra Kshatriya. It is a good plan.’ 

A sound attracted their attention. A man came crashing through the undergrowth. He stopped short at the sight of Bearface, addressing his words alternately to the outlaw leader and to Rama, at whom he glanced with fearful admiration. ‘Their second bridge is ready,’ he said breathlessly. ‘They are about to cross soon. What are our plans? Stand and fight? Or flee?’ 

Bearface looked at Rama, then at the rest of the group that surrounded them, waiting anxiously. 

‘We do as Rama orders,’ Bearface said at last. ‘We cross the river and strike them from behind.’ 

The man’s face fell. ‘Cross … the river?’ 

Bearface waved to one of his associates. ‘Dharu, explain the plan to him. Get the word out. We have to move quickly, or they’ll all be on this bank before we’re on that one.’ 

‘How do we cross?’ Lakshman asked Rama quietly as the others began shooting last-minute instructions and orders, preparing themselves for the crossing

‘We swim. The Godavari isn’t very deep. The others already know that, as they must swim to and from fairly often.’ 

He nodded. ‘I doubt the rakshasas are taking much comfort in that right now.’ 

Somashrava came up. ‘We’re all ready when you are, Rama. You propose to move right away, don’t you?’ 

‘We must. For this to work.’ 

‘Good,’ he said. ‘Ratnakar knows a good spot a few hundred yards upstream form here. We can cross over in minutes, without the rakshasas seeing us.’ 

Rama nodded. ‘We’ll cross there then.’ He caught Somashrava’s shoulder. ‘You trust him, this Ratnakar?’ 

‘Who, Bearface? Of course, my prince. I trust him with my life.’ 

‘Then I will too. Lead on.’ 

Rama looked around one last time at the band of supporters gathered in the fading light. It was no army. Not even a company of PFs. But it was all he had. Lakshman and Sita looked at him expectantly, their faces more hopeful now that the odds were improved. After months of isolation it did feel good to be with others, to have the reassurance that you weren’t fighting alone, that the fight was for more than just one’s own self-defence. 

He raised his sword and led them through the fading twilight, across the river, into battle. 

The epic adventure continues!

THE RAMAYANA SERIES®

PRINCE OF DHARMA

PRINCE OF AYODHYA & SIEGE OF MITHILA

PRINCE IN EXILE

DEMONS OF CHITRAKUT & ARMIES OF HANUMAN

PRINCE AT WAR

BRIDGE OF RAMA & KING OF AYODHYA

KING OF DHARMA

VENGEANCE OF RAVANA & SONS OF SITA

only from

AKB eBOOKS

www.ashokbanker.com

Invocation

Ganesa, lead well this army of words

Dedication

For Biki and Bithika Banker, 

The Gemini twins. 

One saved my life, 

The other gave me 

Two new ones. 

For Ayush Yoda Banker, 

Friend, son, Jedi Master. 

When you were born, 

I was born again. 

For Yashka Banker, 

Devi, daughter, princess. 

You made me believe in luck again, 

And, more important, in love.

Epigraph

Om Bhur Bhuvah Swah: 

Tat Savitur Varenyam 

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi 

Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat 

Maha-mantra Gayatri 

(whispered into the ears of newborn 

infants at their naming ceremony)

INTRODUCTION

Adi-kavya: The first retelling 

Some three thousand years ago, a sage named Valmiki lived in a remote forest ashram, practising austerities with his disciples. One day, the wandering sage Narada visited the ashram and was asked by Valmiki if he knew of a perfect man. Narada said, indeed, he did know of such a person, and then told Valmiki and his disciples a story of an ideal man. 

Some days later, Valmiki happened to witness a hunter killing a kraunchya bird. The crane’s partner was left desolate, and cried inconsolably. Valmiki was overwhelmed by anger at the hunter’s action, and sorrow at the bird’s loss. He felt driven to do something rash, but controlled himself with difficulty. 

After his anger and sorrow subsided, he questioned his outburst. After so many years of practising meditation and austerities, he had still not been able to master his own emotions. Was it even possible to do so? Could any person truly become a master of his passions? For a while he despaired, but then he recalled the story Narada had told him. He thought about the implications of the story, about the choices made by the protagonist and how he had indeed shown great mastery of his own thoughts, words, deeds and feelings. Valmiki felt inspired by the recollection and was filled with a calm serenity such as he had never felt before. 

As he recollected the tale of that perfect man of whom Narada had spoken, he found himself reciting it in a particular cadence and rhythm. He realized that this rhythm or metre corresponded to the warbling cries of the kraunchya bird, as if in tribute to theloss that had inspired his recollection. At once, he resolved to compose his own version of the story, using the new form of metre, that others might hear it and be as inspired as he was. 

But Narada’s story was only a bare narration of the events, a mere plot outline as we would call it today. In order to make the story attractive and memorable to ordinary listeners, Valmiki would have to add and embellish considerably, filling in details and inventing incidents from his own imagination. He would have to dramatize the whole story in order to bring out the powerful dilemmas faced by the protagonist. 

But what right did he have to do so? After all, this was not his story. It was a tale told to him. A tale of a real man and real events. How could he make up his own version of the story? 

At this point, Valmiki was visited by Lord Brahma Himself. 

The Creator told him to set his worries aside and begin composing the work he had in mind. Here is how Valmiki quoted Brahma’s exhortation to him, in an introductory passage not unlike this one that you are reading right now: 

Recite the tale of Rama … as you heard it told by Narada. Recite the deeds of Rama that are already known as well as those that are not, his adventures … his battles … the acts of Sita, known and unknown. Whatever you do not know will become known to you. Never will your words be inappropriate. Tell Rama’s story … that it may prevail on earth for as long as the mountains and the rivers exist. 

Valmiki needed no further urging. He began composing his poem. 

He titled it, Rama-yana, meaning literally, The Movements (or Travels) of Rama. 

Foretelling the future 

The first thing Valmiki realized on completing his composition was that it was incomplete. What good was a story without anyone to tell it to? In the tradition of his age, a bard would normally recite his compositions himself, perhaps earning some favour or payment in coin or kind, more often rewarded only with the appreciation of his listeners. But Valmiki knew that while the form of the story was his creation, the story itself belonged to all his countrymen. He recalled Brahma’s exhortation that Rama’s story must prevail on earth for as long as the mountains and the rivers exist. 

So he taught it to his disciples, among whose number were two young boys whose mother had sought sanctuary with him years ago. Those two boys, Luv and Kusa, then travelled from place to place, reciting the Ramayana as composed by their guru. 

In time, fate brought them before the very Rama described in the poem. Rama knew at once that the poem referred to him and understood that these boys could be none other than his sons by the banished Sita. Called upon by the curious king, Valmiki himself then appeared before Rama and entreated him to take back Sita. 

Later, Rama asked Valmiki to compose an additional part to the poem, so that he himself, Rama Chandra, might know what would happen to him in future. Valmiki obeyed this extraordinary command, and this supplementary section became the Uttara Kaand of his poem.

Valmiki’s Sanskrit rendition of the tale was a brilliant work by any standards, ancient or modern. Its charm, beauty and originality can never be matched. It is a true masterpiece of world literature, the ‘adi-kavya’ which stands as the fountainhead of our great cultural record. Even today, thousands of years after its composition, it remains unsurpassed. 

And yet, when we narrate the story of the Ramayana today, it is not Valmiki’s Sanskrit shlokas that we recite. Few of us today have even read Valmiki’s immortal composition in its original. Most have not even read an abridgement. Indeed, an unabridged Ramayana itself, reproducing Valmiki’s verse without alteration or revisions, is almost impossible to find. Even the most learned of scholars, steeped in a lifetime of study of ancient Sanskrit literature, maintain that the versions of Valmiki’s poem that exist today have been revised and added to by later hands. Some believe that the first and seventh kaands, as well as a number of passages within the other kaands, were all inserted by later writers who preferred to remain anonymous.

Perhaps the earliest retelling of Valmiki’s poem is to be found in the pages of that vast ocean of stories we call the Mahabharata. When Krishna Dwaipayana-Vyasa, more popularly known today as Ved Vyasa, composed his equally legendary epic, he retold the story of the Ramayana in one passage. His retelling differs in small but significant ways. 

Sometime later, the burgeoning Buddhist literature, usually composed in the Pali dialect, also included stories from the Ramayana, recast in a somewhat different light. Indeed, Buddhist literature redefined the term dharma itself, restating it as
dhamma
and changing the definition of this and several other core concepts. 

In the eleventh century, a Tamil poet named Kamban undertook his own retelling of the Ramayana legend. Starting out with what seems to have been an attempt to translate Valmiki’s Ramayana, Kamban nevertheless deviated dramatically from his source material. In Kamban’s Ramayana, entire episodes are deleted, new ones appear, people and places are renamed or changed altogether, and even the order of some major events is revised. Most of all, Kamban’s Ramayana relocates the entire story in a milieu that is recognizably eleventh-century Tamil Nadu in its geography, history, clothes, customs, etc., rather than the north Indian milieu of Valmiki’s Sanskrit original. It is essentially a whole new Ramayana, retold in a far more passionate, rich and colourful idiom. 

A few centuries later, Sant Tulsidas undertook his interpretation of the epic. Tulsidas went so far as to title his work
Ramcharitramanas
, rather than calling it the Ramayana. 

By doing so, he signalled that he was not undertaking a faithful translation, but a wholly new variation of his own creation. The differences are substantial. 

In art, sculpture, musical renditions, even in dance, mime and street theatrical performances, the story of Valmiki’s great poem has been retold over and over, in countless different variations, some with minor alterations, others with major deviations. The tradition of retellings continues even in modern times, through television serials, films, puppet theatre, children’s versions, cartoons, poetry, pop music and, of course, in the tradition of
Ramlila
enactments across the country every year. 

Yet how many of these are faithful to Valmiki? How many, if any at all, actually refer to the original Sanskrit text, or even attempt to seek out that text? 

Should they even do so? 

So many Ramayanas 

Does a grandmother consult Valmiki’s Ramayana before she retells the tale to her grandchildren at night? When she imitates a rakshasa’s roar or Ravana’s laugh, or Sita’s tears, or Rama’s stoic manner, whom does she base her performance on? When an actor portrays Rama in a television serial, or a Ramlila performer enacts a scene, or a sculptor chisels a likeness, a painter a sketch, whom do they all refer to? There were no illustrations in Valmiki’s Ramayana. No existing portraits of Rama survive from that age, no recordings of his voice or video records of his deeds. 

Indeed, many of the episodes or ‘moments’ we believe are from Valmiki’s Ramayana are not even present in the original Sanskrit work. They are the result of later retellers, often derived from their own imagination. One instance is the ‘seema rekha’ believed to have been drawn by Lakshman before leaving Sita in the hut. No mention of this incident exists in Valmiki’s Ramayana. 

Then there is the constant process of revision that has altered even those scenes that remain constant through various retellings. For example, take the scene where Sita entreats Rama to allow her to accompany him into exile. In Valmiki’s Ramayana, when Rama tells Sita he has to go into exile, and she asks him to allow her to go with him, he refuses outright. At first, Sita pleads with him and cries earnest tears, but when Rama remains adamant, she grows angry and rebukes him in shockingly harsh terms. She refers to him as a ‘woman disguised as a man’, says that ‘the world is wrong when they say that there is no one greater than Rama’, calls him ‘depressed and frightened’, ‘an actor playing a role’, and other choice epithets. It is one of the longer scenes in Valmiki’s Ramayana, almost equalling in length the entire narration of Rama’s early childhood years!