Monday, April 04, 2016

Siya ke Ram: Why one shouldn’t watch it ?

Among the many things the Western world does to civilize us heathens is their effort to tamper with our Sanskriti. One of the important parts of our Sanskriti are the Puranas. As the name would suggest, Purana means something that happened at an earlier time.

That clearly means that it isn’t a work of fiction or imagination. While I wouldn’t get much into why and how here. There are many resources available on net about dating Ramayana that debunk the lies put out by Max Muller and co[1].

These thinkers consider Ramayana as a story written not by one (person) Valmiki but many, many people over a period of very many years.  They say Ramayana originated as the story of a King called Ram in the Jataka Tales of the Buddhists. The Brahmins then copied it from them and started using Ramayana as a tool for social oppression with the blessings of the Kings[2].  

The characters in Ramayana don’t have the power to think on their own, they are controlled and manipulated by powerful characters. For example, Rama is asked to go to the forest by Dasharata and without batting an eyelid he goes. He doesn’t reason it out with Dasharata which means that Rama is controlled by him and Rama can’t think on his own[3].

The other important thing they put forward is that Ramayana is the story about suppressing the “other”. The “Good” Rama kills the “Demonic”, “Other” Ravana. This is based on a Western thought called “othering” where you demonize the other person whom you don't like or want to fight against. According to these scholars, Ramayana and the cult of Rama didn’t exist in India (like today) before the Islamic invasion happened. So worshiping and celebrating Rama started only after the Islamic invasion as a tool to fan hatred against the “other” invader and encourage people to fight them the same way Rama fought Ravana. They project this theory on to the Rama Janmabhoomi dispute to show how the Hindu fundamentalists “other” the minorities[4].

There are other issues in Ramayana according to them, like oppression of the backward classes, women etc. Encouraging the fact that the ruler is god, he should be worshiped and he shouldn’t be questioned[5].

This sort of distortion of truth to infuse our literature with Western concepts and rewrite them in a "secular" or "sanitized" way is not just limited to Ramayana. This is done on all works Indian and all things Sanatana Dharma. The Western scholars call this secularizing Indian literature.

They want to remove all the oppressive elements from our literature, clean it and then give us back a sanitized, secular version for public consumption. So, Siya Ke Ram is one of the secularized versions of Ramayana which is being fed to us.

If you notice, there is a subtle women’s right, tribal oppression, regressive rituals, diabolic thinking of ancient Indians that is highlighted in the serial.

For example, to show Sita as the champion example of a free thinking, independent woman there is this promo I saw recently which shows her capturing a Asvamedha horse from Ayodhya and being shown as THE example of a progressive woman, a rebel.

If you know even a bit of Valmiki Ramayana, you will know that Dasharata performed ONE Asvamedha before Rama was born, Sita wasn’t born before Rama. And therefore Sita couldn’t have captured the Asva (horse) from that Yajna ? Logic, right ? The story has been distorted to show Sita as a rebel and an independent woman.

The next one is about the story of Shanta (Dasharata & Kaushalya’s eldest daughter who was adopted by the King of Anga, Dasharata's very close friend and his wife, Kaushalya's elder sister). Siya Ke Ram shows that Dasharata abandons his daughter in quest for a “Male” child.  And he makes Shanta sacrifice her youth and beauty (I have put it very mildly here. I’m sure those who watched the serial know how they show it) to go to the forest with Rishyasringa. All this in exchange for getting Rishyasringa to do a Puthrakameshti Yajya to beget a “Male” child. So you give away a "Female" child and pray for a "Male" child, a prime example for gender bias and oppression of women.

There are other things highlighted by many like showing the demon “Other” as a tribal. This is to create tensions among the people of India to get brother hate brother[6].

In essence Siya Ke Ram is nothing but an attempt by the Hinduphobic to discredit our Sanskriti. So that our kids (and even us) who watch this serial think that our Puranas are nothing but oppressive stories and start hating our own past and move to the more secular options that the Western world will provide.   

That is the reason why I say, Siya Ke Ram is pure poison that is best avoided. If you really want to know more about Ramayana, indulge in the Ramanand Sagar version that we saw as kids when we were growing up. That is a far superior version that doesn’t contain the many distortions that the current version has.




[2] Read The Battle for Sanskrit (2016, Harper Collins India) by Sri Rajiv Malhotra to know much more
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid

4 comments:

Translations in Tamil by Dr. S. Geetha .Fatima College -Major Research Project -English and Tamil (Interdepartmental) said...

How I wish we get started with projecting the West (I mean only the Colonizers and all those presently indulging in perpetuating all the nonsensical theories about all the Ancient cultures like African, Native American and the Aborigines) as the REAL MONSTERS, PREDATORS, AND THE TROUSERED APES as George Orwell rightly calls them... I read the History of Ram Srimad Valmiki Ramayan everyday.. It is Mantra. Just have the text at home and pray .... you find your wish granted.

In fact all this battle for Sanskrit to me is the prayer of my soul coming true.

When I met the African Americans and the Native Americans (who called the white race) their enemies have also been crying the souls bleeding for all the loss of what was native to them....

The Sun has to set in the colonized psyches of those educated mimic men and women who have been indoctrinated in their schools and other places of worship.

I do not watch these serials. In fact that bit on Aswa which you have rightly mentioned I happened to see and knew that there is going to be endless fabrication.

As long as Ramayan is there our Anjaneya will take care...

I liked your observations....

Anyway this is not the poisoning for the first time. The Organized Totalitarian religions which pride in Monotheism have been doing a lot of poisoning for ages.....Truth will prevail....

RajaB said...

Thank you very much Ma'am !! Completely agree with your views.

Aditi said...

Very well observed. Even now they are showing Seeta in Lanka and its been more than ten episodes they have not shown Ram and Lakshmam as if they don't exist. Sometimes, while watching, I feel Seeta is shown to be more feminist. Her torture in Lanka is too much stretched and looks like we are watching Ekta kapoor's serial. Those who have not seen Sagar's Ramayan may find it interesting but not us.

Anonymous said...

'the Western world does to civilize us heathens is their effort to tamper with our Sanskriti. '

-> As if, the people in the West have nothing better to do than try and change minds of people living in a Third World country haha