Reflections on the Ramayan connection

I've been thinking a bit about the IPKKND Ramayan connections and I remember there was one thread discussing this a few weeks back. It would be interesting to kickstart the discussion again.

In the Ramayan, Ravan was a scholar, a just but fearsome king who was undone by his arrogance

Ravan's great weakness was his sister Shurpanakha who's humiliation was what prompted him to kidnap Sita.

Ravan was deeply conflicted about Sita - though initially his aim was to kidnap her simply to extract revenge, he did end up developing very strong feelings for her and eventually lost his kingdom and his life to this single minded pursuit.

Now if you see the characters of Arnav and Shyam, it is evident that they are a mix of Ram and Ravan. Shyam on the face of has Ram like qualities of good breeding, wisdom, respect and affection and yet like Ravan is willing to destroy everything in pursuit of Khushi.

Arnav is Ravan like in his arrogance, generosity, love for his sister and belief in his own invincibility. He is Ram like in his love of his family, his sense of responsibility and alas the fundamental weakness of inability to trust his wife.

It's interesting that Ravan is perhaps the reviled and misunderstood character in Indian mythology. How every other positive aspect of his life is obliterated by the fact that he kidnapped Sita and held her by force. Perhaps not unlike how every good deed Arnav may have ever done has been undone by his making Khushi sleep outside.

What does everyone think? Is it a fair assessment to think of Arnav as a mix of Ravan and Ram?

I thought of the Ramayan connection when I heard about the title - Vaidehi.

But your analogy is simply superb..

Also, I was thinking - one of the upcoming tracks would be mami asking Arnav to write off all the property for Akash if she wants her to be nice to Payal..

And for Khushi, Arnav might give it all up.. !!

thanks for the post... 😊

PS when i read the Anagram bit i was like wow.. that is so true.. nice catch

Thank you so much. And thank you for reminding me of the other analogy that I had overlooked How Akash is exactly like a loyal Lakshman/Bharat hybrid with a Kaikeyi-like mother in Maami :).

Thank you so much - Ramayan is on the surface a fairly simple story - however there complex layers underneath, and the characters are very nuanced and a lot less black and white than what most people think they are.

I'm back 😊

I think you've captured it quite well.

You're right about Arnav and Shyam being mixtures of Ravan.

The other thing about Shyam and Ravan - they both coveted another woman despite being married, and now with Khushi being married... Shyam like Ravan is coveting another man's wife. The serial has reached a stage where now Shyam is more Ravan than Ram and the way I see it, Arnav will eventually vanquish him.

The Arnav-Anjali and Ravan-Shurpanakha connection is something I hadn't considered... but really valid. Good observation!

You know, before the CVs lost their grip on ASR's characterization, this is always what I thought about Arnav. Going by the disaster they are writing now, it is hard to believe that they had actually named this show as 'Vaidehi' at one time with perhaps the exact kind of analogy with Ramayan that you brought out so beautifully in your post.

But to continue with the character arc that ASR once was, I thought he was Ravan through and through. And that is because, to me Ravan was always the hero of Ramayan.

The force of Ravan's existence was such that every part of the story just happened as a reaction to him and his actions. He was all that you said - a scholar, a just ruler...but even more than all this, I think he was an antonym to all those "good girls/boys" who rarely make "history" on their own. I loved the character and I could even identify with his arrogance. In real life, if you have pulled yourself up to that kind of pedestal of "success" all by your own, you are bound to feel a little smug. That is natural and to an extent well-earned. Trying to suppress it, unless it goes beyond ethical realms, is actually dishonest. I liked how honest that character of Ravan was to himself. He knew he had done what he had to do but he also knew what was in his hands NOT to do. He DID NOT touch Sita. If kidnapping her was in line with his value system (sister's revenge), so was not maligning Sita's purity. And he was honest even in his death. He revered Ram for all the later's good qualities (true sign of an educated mind with a lion's heart) and felt no loss of self-esteem when he asked Raam himself to end his life after being defeated by him fair and square on the battlefield.

Raam does not exert his existence much although he is a fountain of personality and talents as well. There is, however, one crucial point that always distinguished Ravan and Raam for me.

Raavan's love and passion for Sita and Raam's love and passion for Sita.

Raam was the man who in the world's eyes was authorized to love Sita. (Like, many of us some times feel, Shyam is after all much more well-behaved around Khushi and he has the mellowness required of a married man...etc...).

Ravan, on the other hand, was her clandestine lover. ( Almost illegitimate like the current 'fake' marriage)

But, when it came to really living these roles, Raam failed miserably ( whatever be the reasons...there can be a whole debate over a ruler's responsibility towards state vis-a-vis his family...and I can go on and on but that is not the question here).

So, Raam let his love sacrifice herself to save his 'greater' skin. While, Ravan went against his 'greater' skin - the demonic world - to hold his passions and desires for Sita back so as not to cause her any further defamation. This despite the fact that Raam left his sister "unmarriagable" for life because he frivolously decided to punish Surpanakha for her overt gestures towards him by cutting off her nose.

I thought ASR's character was through and through Ravan before he started to physically hurt Khushi and before he started to think that his brother was a complete WIMP and had no life or mind of his own. This is where I now see glimpses of Raam in ASR - that Raam who did not think much about Laxman's wife and family life before he 'let' him accompany him to the forest where he himself was going to enjoy 'female companionship' before the 'eyes' of his s*x-starved brother.

And that Raam, who thought sacrificing Sita's fame for the greater good was the noble thing to do.

Sorry, for carrying on for so long but you have started on a very apt topic for discussion. Will be good to know various points of view on this.