A few days ago I happen to have some free time on my hand and invariably I ventured into the comments of a muted whatsapp group conversation. Like the case is with so many whatsapp groups, this inconsequential debate featured comments from a lot of people discussing how Dushehara signified the triumph of absolute good over absolute evil. Although people had put some good points about the good, but there was one unequivocal thought which resounded throughout the debate. It was about how Raavana was a truly evil person. It got me thinking, was Raavana really a bad guy or just a misunderstood one.
The cynical in me wanted to look at the sequence of events
that transpired. There was a king, who was enjoying hunting in a forest. That
may have been his era’s equivalent of hanging out at the mall, like many
youngsters do. He saw a girl, got intrigued and followed her around a bit. May
be he got mixed signals from her and maybe he just misunderstood them, as many
guys do. Then he saw that she was always surrounded by 2 hefty guys, who he
naturally assumed to be her brothers. He created a distraction to lure the guys
away from the girl, and when she was finally alone, he made his move. That move
was to kidnap the girl and bring her back to his kingdom. That move could
easily be construed as a little extreme form of sending a facebook friend
request and poking, of that era. Mind you, he did not even touch this girl the
wrong way. He brought her back to his kingdom and showered her with all the royal
comforts. Most people say this action was immoral since he was already married
and still wanted to be with this girl, but another way to look at it is that
maybe he just fell in love and was blinded by it. We forgive so much harsher
things done by the leading men in our films than this.
Then he found out that the ‘assumed’ brothers were actually
this girl’s husband and brother-in-law. May be he felt an “OOPS” moment. He
keeps waiting for a negotiation meeting with the guy, when suddenly he finds
out that this girl’s husband is apparently a God and is assembling an army to
march on to his kingdom. Next thing he knows, one of the God’s lieutenants,
comes to his kingdom and satisfies his hidden arsonist tendencies by burning
down Raavana’s beautifully curated garden. What’s more is that his own ‘power-hungry’
brother has joined the husband’s ranks and is adding fuel to their fire. And
then lo and behold, a huge army is at his kingdom gates. Doesn’t a man have the
right to defend his home against invaders? US constitution has second amendment,
just for this scenario.
War ensues and Raavana loses. The husband could simply have rescued
his wife and left, but no. He has to kill Raavana and establish the
power-hungry kin as the ruler. Maybe Vibhishan wasn’t a great ruler, maybe he
was like Joffrey from Game of Thrones. We don’t know as there are no sequel to
Ramayana.
Raavana was a very learned person. He composed 'Shiva Tandava Strota' which is a prominent religious text. He was a scholar, a great strategist and an intriguing illusionist. He was a
very devoted shiva-bhakt and if not for that one mistake, he could have gotten
his own hero franchise. May be he was like Severus Snape from Harry potter
world. The point is that we don’t know because no one really looked at him like
a normal human being.
Sometimes, all it takes is one mistake to unravel
everything you have worked for your entire life. Thousands of years later,
everyone still thinks of Raavana as an evil person. They create giant statues
of Raavana and burn them to the ground every year. All of this, just because he
fell in love. I see Raamayana as a tragic love story instead of the “triumph of
Good over Evil”. But don’t get me wrong. I neither sympathize nor do I absolve
Raavana’s actions. The point of this blog is to hopefully open some minds and
to illustrate that maybe we should look at the other side of the coin before
judging someone.
