On my last trip to the Niagara, i happened to take a snap of a big squirrel .When i showed the photograph to my 77 year old granny her first reaction was :"See it has no stripes on the forehead given by Lord Rama during the building of the Ram Sethu".It was a very amusing remark and just went on to show how much ingrained the Ramayana and its events are in the Indian psyche.
Today the SethuSamudram project has raised a lot of smoke and set off a frenzy , with people debating, so as to even questioning whether the Sethu had been built by Rama or for that matter whether Rama really existed. While this debate continues, for millions of hindus ,Ramayana is incomplete without the Sethu ( also called Adam's bridge) and whatever the scientific reasoning behind its formation,it stands exactly where the epic Ramayana places it and symbolically represents a cultural icon.
History has always seen faith struggle against scientific reasoning and vice versa but still faith lives on. Lots have been written and discussed on this issue, but somehow this entire controversy makes one wonder how much we have done to protect or even project places of cultural /religious importance like the Sethu? Why not ? Take the Dome of the Rock in the holy city of Jerusalem.The site is revered by three important religions in the world: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. While Islam reveres the place, as the site where the Prophet ascended to heaven, it is also considered to be the site where Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac as per the biblical account in the Old testament . On all accounts the monument has been of great importance for all these faiths and was declared as a World heritage monument by UNESCO in 1981. Who's bothered on the historicity of the biblical accounts regarding this place or any other related site? Similarly Mt.Sinai ( where Moses is supposed to have received the Ten commandments, per the Holy Bible) is zealously guarded by the Egyptian government because of its significance. (Source: http://www.sacredsites.com/)
Nearer to home, Lumbini gardens in Nepal , traditionally the birthplace of Lord Buddha is also declared a protected monument by UNESCO.
To be included in the list of World heritage sites maintained by UNESCO , a site/monument must meet one of the 10 selection criteria (Source: http://whc.unesco.org/) of which 2 of the criteria would certainly match for the Sethu:
Criteria - iii)to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
Criteria - vi)to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
The Ramayana is a part of Indian tradition, belief and ethos and it is a literary work recognised universally . Events of the Ramayana and its characters have shaped the cultural consciousness of not only India but also South-east Asia. Not to mention the fact that the Ramayana and the Sethu finds mention in a host of Vedic literature.The Sethu holds a lot of emotional value to the hindus. To imagine the Ramayana without the Sethu creation is to imagine Christ without the crucification.The point here is irrespective of the Sethu being man-made or not,whether Rama existed or not , the Sethu still remains a part of our pantheon which must be protected for posterity. Coming up with an alternative approach so as to not hamper the Sethu seems the best solution now.
But can we expect controversies like this in the near future ? Maybe yes. Often in other countries , such places are protected and maintained not just as places of religious worship but also as places with historical value. Sadly in India , all our epics, traditions are considered mere figments of imagination without any historical value whatsoever.
The Trojan war was also considered to be pure fiction until the remains of Troy were excavated in Turkey.Back home people questioned the historicity of the Mahabharata and Dwaraka until the under water excavations in the early 1980's by archaeologist S.R.Rao proved that Dwaraka did exist.Not only that, the excavations have proved that the descriptions given in the Mahabharata and Puranas about the city is accurate. But the fact remains that the findings at Dwaraka never received that much attention from the West, as did the excavations at Troy and recently Atlantis. There were talks to include Dwaraka as a protected World heritage monument but nothing has happened so far.
Perhaps we need to take our epics more seriously.There are dozens of sites related to the epics all over the country.These places should be investigated ,protected and projected to the world as cultural heritage sites.The west has done it.For a change we can ape them for the good.
To quote: (Source: Marine archaeology and the study of the past - By Nanditha Krishn - newindpress.com).: "It is ridiculous not to correlate archaeology and literature. Mythology is, the science of primitive man, his manner of explaining the universe.Records of natural phenomena and historical events,invasions, migrations, etc, are stored as myths. If literature and archaeology had not been correlated, we would never have known the history of ancient Greece."
We might wonder what next? Any answers ? Perhaps only time can tell. In the meantime let us brace ourselves.
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