Posted:
@ Rita C...I find your responce v interesting...There are many aspect I would like to discuss further...time ristraints being such I will start with the 1st para of your responce...I have always found the origins of the Ramayan intereisting...now you say it was shruti written only in 4ad...by Valmiki I presume did he then just pen down folk lore...but he did include himself in the later part of it...so would love to know the time line...also there is Kambars version of it which then lobsides the geographic and racial pretext...also the versions of the ramayan followed in the east...Bali and thailand... Also a question a bout the gods ...IndraLokham is it the gods of the indus or pre indus civilisation.?...
Hinduism...as you refer is a term given in v modern times...it is a grouping of very many groups of similar thinking sharing of texts but culturally diverse...and the many gods that exist within sm communities are sometimes a throwback to a bygone era...I concur on what you say about discussion I think further ubnderstanding and thinking only come from healthy debate...comparison of such to modern day writing is not wrong as inspiration comes from these vast texts open to multitudes of interpretation,,...which ofcourse 'hinduism' allows for...and infact discussion is encouraged...what further elevates this discussion is the platform which allows people who might not have been able to come together otherwise and also the ave age group...I love that religion (in its broad term) is reaching far even in this day and age...
Hi
Thanks for the thoughtful questions. Valmiki is indeed the creator of the story (as per tradition) in 900 BC (scholars do argue about whether it is 500 or 900 BC but during my time, in Univ which was pretty long ago, it was decided to be around 900 BC but I notice later works put the date to be closer to 100 BC) but he does not write it down. It was actually written down only during early Gupta Period. It was shruti till then. So one does not really know how much it changed (like Chinese whispers) due to changes in the social climate in the intervening years.
Regarding Kambar's Ramayan, unfortunately, though I know of it, in my masters course, but did not really study it. the most obvious explanation of course is that during the course of migration, and the movement of the natives (harrappan and pre-aryan tribes) towards the south, there was greater dissemination of the original tale which then was re-written in a v different and original way by Kambar. My father has read the translation and swears by it.. I wish I knew Tamil from what I have heard of it.
regarding Indralok, I have not come across any scholarly works specifically on it, but Indra lok is definitely post Aryan and of Indus civilisation. As per most studies, the pre-Indus/ Aryan civilisation was much more earth oriented and did not have so much of a large pantheon or an organised one. you can see much more order and heirarchy in the Indus civilisation, though of course one can argue that there was enough order in the 90 degree road works in Harappa or the v organised city planning.
One can draw an analogy with the Greek Mythology which again speaks of the heavens on Mt Olympus - which again was the abode of their 12 major gods. Some of you might know that it is deduced by the historians that the Aryans came from the region near the Ural mountains split into two, one branch went to Europe and the other came to India. hence the similarity in the mythology of both.
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