Ramayanam Vol I by Dushyanth Sridhar: Critical Review

Jataayu
4 min readSep 17, 2024

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“How do you find the Ramayanam book by Dushyanth Sridhar?”, asked a friend, some 2–3 weeks after the book was released with much fanfare and hype. “Totally disappointing, pathetic, a wasted opportunity”, I replied.

The very opening of the book put me off, as the author chose to start his narration with Sītā-Parityāga of the Uttara-Ramayana, the episode of the king Rama abandoning his pregnant queen Sita based on silly rumors of the citizens. It was bewildering to me as to what “lofty” appeal the author had in this highly contested and interpolated portion of the Rama-Katha that he chose this to introduce Rama and Sita, when the traditional opening of Narada-Valmiki dialogue itself is so beautiful. Still, I read many initial chapters and looked through the entire book with my eagle eyes of a Ramayana scholar. My overall opinion about the book is based on these three points.

First, lack of accuracy and traceability. The book is written in the style of a fiction, with Valmiki’s version, stories from the medieval Rama-Katha renderings in Sanskrit and other Indian languages and the author’s own imagination all completely mixed up. If the stated purpose is to really educate youngsters or the novice readers as the author claims in his preface, this was the worst thing to do, as it will confuse and mislead them thoroughly. Such a mixture may suit the traditional Harikatha discourse, the author’s mainstay, which has become more of performing art and a form of religious entertainment for the mass audience, rather than a medium of education. Employing this in a book, meant for the focused attention of the individual readers was not the correct approach. Either he should stick with one version or include multiple renditions, but give references to the source for each of them.

Second, the proliferation of unrelated Puranic stories scattered throughout, forming almost one-third of the size of the book. Even a novice Rasika of the Ramayana knows that its uniqueness and distinguishing feature is the straight-forward, linear narrative totally focused on the main characters, resulting in intensity and peak of emotions and drama, revealing the facets of the characters. This is how it is both the Itihasa and Kavya, very different from the Mahabharata and the 18 Puranas. And, placing some such story in the middle of intense moments, like Bharata meeting Rama etc. is an aesthetic disaster and kills the inherent Rasa, the essence that the great Kavi-Rishi has brought out in that moment in the story.

Third, the utterly non-inspiring and bland English prose, further jarred by the excessive use of Sanskrit words at unwanted places, and that too with diacritical marks, making the reading experience very unpleasant. This is instantly evident, when one compares this with the majestic, flowing, lucid prose of Kamala Subramaniam, the great writer in her renowned retelling of the Ramayana. Even the prose of C.Rajagopalachari is eminently readable compared to this. I would any day recommend these two evergreen books, both published by Bhavan’s to the readers of all ages. The present book by Dushyanth does not come even remotely near these books in terms of readability, the basic criteria.

With such basic flaws, all the additional paraphernalia like the sketches from the artist Keshav or the trivia and titbits about sculptures, epigraphs etc. do not help in lifting the book, though they are good and relevant independently as such.

This is what I had mentioned to that friend at that time.

I was pleasantly surprised to read a detailed critical review of the book in Swarajya magazine recently, titled Dushyanth Sridhar’s Ramayanam: A Modern Masala. It pretty much reconfirms some of my views stated above.

The review starts abruptly with a sentence “Dushyanth Sridhar is modern but not progressive”. Then without stating a premise or methodology, it directly jumps into the analysis of the contents of book, starting with the preface. But, inside, it is a brilliantly written review with meticulous details and cross-references, revealing the labour and rigour of the reviewer. It points out the factual errors, omissions and commissions in the book. The analysis of Dushyanth’s misinterpretation leading to the blemish on Dasharatha’s character making him a promise breaker is wonderful (Significance of Shapatha). The criticism on Dushyanth articulating the view about Sita’s age during her marriage to be six making it a child marriage, when there are credible traditional interpretations citing it as seventeen is well written (Age of Sita). The arguments questioning the scientific temper of the author, especially with respect to Ramayana chronology and supernatural depictions are robust (Scientific?). The danger of Dushyanth associating Vaishnava sectarianist views of much later period right into the Ramayana characters and events is pointed out gently.

I would highly recommend this lengthy review to anyone seriously interested in Ramayana studies. It is every bit worth reading. It offers a balanced and nuanced perspective on challenges and pitfalls in narrating and interpreting Ramayana properly in the present times, especially to the younger generation.

I personally know the author of this review Keerthivasan Ramachandran as a long-time learner of Valmiki Ramayana. The extent of breadth and depth of Ramayana scholarship that has come out in this review is truly amazing and impressive.

Sri Ramajayam.

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Jataayu
Jataayu

Written by Jataayu

Writes on Hindu Dharma, Hindutva, Tamil literature, Indian society, culture, history and arts. Technology Professional.

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