The Strait And The Narrow

“As birds are made to fly and rivers to run, so the soul to follow duty”

Emperors and conquerors abound in the pages of history. They were born, conquered, flourished, and died. Some were confined to local tales. A few travelled the world on the wings of victory. Others on the wings of notoriety. Quite a few have survived the ravages of the relentless march of time. But few have captured the imagination like a King who ruled a land which is now so different from its former Avatar, as to be unrecognizable. A God who lived the life of man or perhaps a man so great, that he aspired to Godhood. Whose life has captured the imagination of millions through the millennia. Who is inextricably woven into the fabric of Asia and who has hundreds of versions written about his life. A life which was distinguished neither by glorious success in every aspect nor by infallibility, but by an unflagging pursuance of duty. Ram of Ayodhya.

If Helen of Troy was responsible for the launching of a thousand ships during the Trojan war, Ram is responsible for launching the collective conscience of a people. His story, immortalized in The Ramayana, has floated down the river of time itself, disdainful and mocking of the changes which have tried to pull it off course by eddies and swirls caused by invasions, conversions and a thousand other types of destruction. It has been at the core of every Indian home, everchanging yet never changing. And it has been the ideal that millions aspire to.

His story has launched a revivalist movement of sorts, catapulted a change of regime and has been at center of several controversies and court cases which have run the whole gamut, questioning everything even remotely connected to Him, including his very existence. The slogan invoking him, ‘Jai Shree Ram’ has stirred not just minds and hearts but also unnecessary communal pots. It has awakened not only a spirit of brotherhood in some, but has been touted as ‘terrifying’ and ‘enraging,’ particularly in the waspish mind of a motherly, benevolent dictator (if Ram can be a myth, why not this mythical creature too?) who now rules, in reverse gear, what was once the beating heart of intellectual India. Tell us Indians to NOT do something and we WILL do it with unholy glee and thus the considerate dictator has been followed by mobs chanting Jai Shree Ram, until she has sought medical help for ringing ears. Not that it seems to have worked. Indiscriminate violence is sometimes the only answer when one’s ego is provoked, well depicted in The Ramayana itself and this easterly state has seen the same during Ram Navami celebrations.

If seen through the modern lens of unabashedly aspirational life, where ‘getting ahead’ whatever the cost is the only thing which counts, virtues be damned, you tend to agree with a famous Marathi music director when he describes The Ramayana as the greatest tragedy ever told. A series of disasters brought on by abysmal choices. Modernity may mock Ram’s obdurate stance on his unwavering sense of duty, which left him sadly lacking on the worldly front. He has always fought uphill battles whether against a foreign foe or against the enemy within.

Again, with times a-changing, black, and white has been imperceptibly merging to create a sordid grey mist which blankets everything moral in its suffocating tendrils. And thus, we see role reversals happening even in such a timeless classic. It has become the fashion, the ‘in thing’ to do. We have an entire cult of Ravan worshippers who tout Ravan as the aggrieved party, a righteous brother, provoked to action because of the criminal treatment meted out to his beloved sister (never mind sister’s shenanigans to deserve the punishment in the first place). In fact, there are those who justify the fact that he carried a woman away against her will because he ‘merely imprisoned’ her instead of ‘having his way’! Call it an open and shut case of a provoked ego and you have trolls coming at you waving pitchforks, clubs, nasty tweets (where is Elon Musk when you need him?) and unleashing the entirely new ‘Social-media-troll-Astra,’ a boon which had apparently been conferred on Ravan only now, not by the ancient Gods, but by the modern people, hell bent on playing God themselves.

Thus, the battle between Ram and Ravan remains one of inequality, of opposites. Of self- control versus recklessness, of ego versus altruism, of order versus disorder, harmony versus dissonance and put it very simply, of good versus evil. It is a battle which is as old as time itself and one which cannot be simply decided once and for all. Because, how can you separate the reverse and obverse of a single coin where one has no meaning without the other?

If struggle forms the basis of Ram’s life, it is heartening for us who live in modern times, to see it continuing. It is perhaps the one part of His life which we are still witness to, even if He is long gone. The Ram Janma Bhoomi case which dragged on for years and the Setu- Samudram project where His existence itself was the object of scrutiny are two of the latest examples. Jesus, denied thrice, by his disciple Peter is now a story in the Bible, teaching us human frailty and how redemption is possible with repentance. We can only wait for the several thousands of Indian Peters to have their epiphany on the way to Ayodhya. So far, however, it looks as if Italy still rules the ‘woke’ and everyone, a modern-day dynasty included seem to be travelling over the hills and far away to Rome, rather than the much closer Hindi hinterland which houses Ayodhya. Perhaps, their legacy is more Roman than Indian.

Whatever the case maybe, love Him, hate Him or be in denial, one cannot ignore or whitewash His presence from the Indian consciousness. Perhaps because His story remains relevant. Because truth, devotion, responsibility, and duty are universal tenets which makes us human. And thus, He continues to inspire, accepting all, rejecting none. Teaching us to stand up for what is right, even it means walking alone, whether on a strait or through the narrow.