Contesting Narratives: Royalty, the Forest and Notions of Righteousness in

About

Kumkum Roy teaches ancient Indian History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her publications include The Power of Gender and the Gender of Power. She is interested in issues of gender in particular and social stratification in general, as well as in issues of pedagogy ranging from school to higher education.

Abstract

The discussion draws on two texts from ancient India, an excerpt from the Ramayana and the Rohantamiga Jataka. Participants will be invited to reflect on the ways in which the figures of the king/prince, queen, forest dwellers, and above all the deer are represented in these narratives, and what are the possible messages about kingship, gender relations, and wider categories of social stratification that can be recovered from these readings. Those who wish to do so may refresh memories of A.K. Ramanujan’s Three Hundred Ramayanas.

Report

This is a response to the talk delivered by Professor Kumkum Roy of Jawaharlal Nehru University on Contesting narratives: Royalty, the Forest, and Notions of Righteousness in Early India. The talk focused on two texts; The Valmiki Ramayana and Rohantamiga Jataka (Jataka 501); constructing narratives about kingship, gender roles and the forest in ancient Indian texts.

The Aranya Kanda in the Valmiki Ramayana focused on the story of the forest. A significant episode in it is the abduction of Sita by Ravana which happens because Rama was mesmerised by the beauty of a golden deer and had gone hunting it. Similarly, in the Rohantamiga Jataka, Buddha is born as a golden deer, who heads a huge pact of deer, who is to be captured for Queen Khema. Both these stories have similar motifs, which Professor Roy discussed in the talk. These include kingship, female desire, representation of the deer, and gender dynamics.

The first idea that is explored here is the idea of Kingship. The forest is a space that is outside the boundaries of caste and dharma. The rules of the Varna system don’t apply here. So then how is royalty still upheld in the forest? Professor Roy explores that idea through the imageries in these two texts. In the Ramayana, Rama is the ultimate symbol of virtue and righteousness. The fact that he refuses the advances of Surpanakha, Ravana’s sister, even outside the bounds of settled life is a means of underlining his image of both righteousness and away from the temptation of mere mortals. This is contrasted with Ravana, the Demon King, who disregards the varna-ashrama dharma to come and abduct another man’s wife. Therefore the forest plays an important role in establishing the kingship of Rama in contrast to the kingship of Ravana. Similarly in Jataka 501, Buddha the righteous King of the jungle who rules over a huge herd of thousands of deer, is contrasted to the king of Benaras. The King on the request of his wife Khema, sends a hunter to hunt the Buddha. The Buddha stands grounds along with his siblings Cittamiga and Sutanā. In the end, the hunter returns reformed. Therefore a binary in Kingship is portrayed in both these stories.

The second important aspect in both the narratives is the role of female desire. Female desire is central to both conflicts. In Ramayana, it is Surpanakha who wants to marry Rama while in Jataka 501, it is Khema who wants a golden dear. The deer is key to the desired question. And in both the instances, female desire fails. Professor Roy asks what does this narrative tell us about gender relationships and how it manifests itself in the forest. This talk thus adds to the dialogue about gender relationships and the binary between desire and piousness.

By Pratiti, Undergraduate Class of 2020