Essay on Ancient India
Harsimran Singh
11/18/2012
22383572
South Asian 1A
South Asian 1A
The complexities of religion verses culture have been debated throughout the ages. Having such a diverse religious population, India has seen many arguments, debates, and parliaments questioning originality of the religions, the origins, traditions, similarities and most of all the differences of South Asian people. In his essay, “Three Hundred Ramayanas”, AK Ramanujan explores the vast range of Ramayana tradition in South Asia. He argues that there is not one Ramayana, but a myriad throughout South Asia. Despite counterarguments by other scholars, Ramanujan’s essay reveals how diverse India is in its traditions and the fact that argument sparked over his piece of work exhibits this. Although these religions are geographically and somewhat culturally related through language, customs and heritage, these religions have grown to become unique and separate in their own spheres. To unify or clump them together as one would lead to confusion and mystification. The religions and traditions of South Asia cannot be categorized under the pretext of having the same beliefs and practices. Each religion and tradition, be it Sikh, Sufi (Islamic Mysticism), Hindu, Buddhist or Jain, has similar thematic elements, which when studied in greater detail allow us to differentiate the slighter details between them.
Before looking at how religions have a common underlying theme, we must first examine religions that think their belief system only belongs to them. For this we look at Ramanujan’s essay, “Three Hundred Ramayanas,” which has caused considerable controversy in recent years. In his essay, Ramanujan offers a large number of tellings of Rama (an important Hindu God) in accordance with how different cultures or religions tell the story. For example, one of the more prominent tellings of the story, written by Valmiki in Sanskrit, the God Indra seduces a willing Ahalya and loses his testicles when Gautam,
11/18/2012
22383572
South Asian 1A
South Asian 1A
The complexities of religion verses culture have been debated throughout the ages. Having such a diverse religious population, India has seen many arguments, debates, and parliaments questioning originality of the religions, the origins, traditions, similarities and most of all the differences of South Asian people. In his essay, “Three Hundred Ramayanas”, AK Ramanujan explores the vast range of Ramayana tradition in South Asia. He argues that there is not one Ramayana, but a myriad throughout South Asia. Despite counterarguments by other scholars, Ramanujan’s essay reveals how diverse India is in its traditions and the fact that argument sparked over his piece of work exhibits this. Although these religions are geographically and somewhat culturally related through language, customs and heritage, these religions have grown to become unique and separate in their own spheres. To unify or clump them together as one would lead to confusion and mystification. The religions and traditions of South Asia cannot be categorized under the pretext of having the same beliefs and practices. Each religion and tradition, be it Sikh, Sufi (Islamic Mysticism), Hindu, Buddhist or Jain, has similar thematic elements, which when studied in greater detail allow us to differentiate the slighter details between them.
Before looking at how religions have a common underlying theme, we must first examine religions that think their belief system only belongs to them. For this we look at Ramanujan’s essay, “Three Hundred Ramayanas,” which has caused considerable controversy in recent years. In his essay, Ramanujan offers a large number of tellings of Rama (an important Hindu God) in accordance with how different cultures or religions tell the story. For example, one of the more prominent tellings of the story, written by Valmiki in Sanskrit, the God Indra seduces a willing Ahalya and loses his testicles when Gautam,
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