Sethusamudram
Under Emotive Waters
By Ram Puniyani
14 September, 2007
Countercurrents.org
The
leadership of Congress has apologized for the affidavit filed in the
Supreme Court in the case pertaining to the Sethusmaudram project. This
project which was set off by BJP led NDA regime, aims to make a canal
from Palk straights to gulf of Munnar. It involved dredging of Adams
Bridge, also called as Ramar Setu. The affidavit mentioned that the
said bridge is not a man made structure and also the Ram is a mythological
not historical figure. This affidavit set the emotive political streams
rolling their political chariots, and hue and cry that this statement
of the Government is an act of blasphemy.
Different agitations were
already planned at an RSS meet to oppose Sethusamudram project. Dharam
Sansad (religious Parliament, a VHP initiative) has been mobilized around
?faith?, on the ground that this project will destroy Ramar Sethu, the
one which was built by Vanar Sena (Army of Monkeys) to help Ram cross
over to Lanka to rescue Sita. The project was supported by most of the
political parties in the past, and cleared in particular by BJP led
NDA, which is at the forefront of making a political capital out of
the issue now. The case of worst abuse of faith for political agenda
is on display! This project when complete, will cut short the long journey
of the ships from east coast to the west coast, and vice versa. Like
Panama Canal it has been conceived to promote the transport, employment
and trade. Half way now, it has been facing two oppositions. The one
is from the environmentalists, who are worried about the destruction
of flora and fauna and the dangers of silting in the canal. These are
the arguments which need to be taken seriously.
The other ground, the one
based on faith need to be dealt with at another ground. RSS and its
affiliates are promoting a view that building this Sethusamudram will
involve be destruction of Ramar Sethu which will be detrimental to our
faith. The story goes that Ravan; the King of Lanka had abducted Sita
to avenge the insult meted out to his sister Shurpnakha, whose proposal
for marrying her was turned down by the Lord Ram. Assisted by his loyal
devotee Hanuman, the Lord mobilized monkeys and built this bridge. It
is claimed that this bridge is a marvel of engineering achievements
of the Indian engineers of that time. The assertion is that it shows
the acme of technological achievements of this land, and that there
are other noteworthy achievements like the advances in aeronautical
technologies like aero planes, missiles to name the few.
How do we understand these
claims, how do we comprehend this peep in to the past? How do we distinguish
fact from fiction, history from mythology? To reconcile history, science
and mythology are the complex questions in our public life. To begin
with history of events has some definitive characteristics, though their
interpretations do vary with the political ideologies. But what about
mythology? Here these accounts have been put forward as the fictional
accounts of the past. Some of these accounts have been associated with
faith. Faith to some extent is natural and sometimes it is being manufactured
and asserted for political goals.
As far as Lord Ram?s story goes there are several versions of Ramayana,
(Many Ramayanas, Richman, OUP). Some of these are very popular like
Valmiki Ramayana and Tulasidas Ramcharitmanas. Surely the most popular
one currently is the one from Maharashi Ramanand Sagar?s mega serial
which captivated the nation for couple of years. There are other versions,
which have been undermined and attacked mostly for political reasons.
Sahmat exhibition on different versions of Lord Ram?s story was attacked
few years ago. Some politically motivated people could not bear one
of the versions presented in this exhibition. It showed that according
to Jataka version of Ram Katha, in post Brahminical Buddhist Dashrath
Jataka Sita is both as sister and wife of Ram. As per this version Dashrath
is King not of Ayodhya but of Varanasi. The marriage of sister and brother
is part of the tradition of glorious Kshtriya clans who wanted to maintain
their caste and clan purity. This Jataka tale shows Ram to be the follower
of Buddha. Similarly in Jain versions of Ramayana project Ram as the
propagator of anti-Brahminical Jain values, especially as a follower
of non-violence. What do both Buddhist and Jain version have in common
is that in these Ravana is not shown as a villain but a great soul dedicated
to quest of knowledge and is a spiritual soul, with majestic commands
over passions, a sage and a responsible ruler. Popular and prevalent
?Women?s Ramayan Songs (of Telugu Brahmin Women), put together by Rangnyakmma,
keep the women?s concern as the central theme and present alternate
perspective. These songs present Sita as finally victorious over Ram
and in these Surpanakha succeeds in taking revenge over Ram.
Prof. Victor Raja Mannikam, of Satara University points out (Times of
India 14th Sept 2007) that this epic dates back to 5000 years while
Ramar Setu is over a lakh years old. Prof. V.S. Sahay of Anthropology
Department of Allahbad University says that the society described in
Ramayana represents Metal age (5000-6000 BC) and Ram?s Vanar army has
not constructed the structure as it belongs to Pleistocene Age which
shows emergence of stone tools.
Marine experts tell us that the setu itself is a marine structure over
a lakh years old and not man made. It is a natural occurrence of the
continuity of sandstone sedimentation which stretches below Dhanushkoti
and isotope dating indicates that the deposition is over a lakh years
old (Prof. R. Mannikam). Thus one can conclude that Ramar Sethu is a
much older structure, called tombol, a sand deposition due to natural
process, connecting one land with another, and that it is from times
when human habitation is doubtful. The Geological Survey of India has
also ruled out its being the manmade (or monkey made!), construction.
Same way the inference from NASA satellite pictures is that it is due
to sedimentation of clay and lime stone.
Many people dispute that
the Lanka mentioned in Ramayana is not the current Sri Lanka. Since
mythology does not require any proof it can be modulated and constructed
in to a faith for political purposes. Recently in the Shabri Kumbh held
in Dangs in Gujarat, the mythology was modulated in to the service of
politics. It was said, and that too with great amount of precision,
that a particular hillock, which was earlier called Chamak Dongar, which
adivasis used to worship as Shivar Deo (protector of crops), was the
precise place where Shabri had offered berries to Lord Ram. It was rechristened
and a Shabri temple was built on the spot. Nearby, a river six kilometers
away, Purna was named as the one where Guru Matang rishi use to take
bath. On the mountain on the stone there were three marks which are
being presented as the marks where Laxman had sharpened his arrows.
The one step back of Congress leadership, Sonia Gandhi in particular,
is to try to prevent giving an emotional handle to RSS combine, who
are desperately looking to build up another emotive issue the way they
constructed the politics around Babri Mosque. The search for an issue
is desperate as the Ram temple issue is no longer en-cashable in the
electoral arena, the primary concern of BJP. The attitude of Congress
leadership can be understood only in this light, else the affidavit
filed by Archeological survey is on the dot and scientific to the core.
One witnessed the similar display of retreat when Sonia Gandhi was to
become the Prime Minister. Faced with the threat of some BJP leaders
shaving their heads and eating just gram, and the emotive hysteria which
had the potential of engulfing the national politics, Mrs. Gandhi decided
to give up the post, deflating the whole game, depriving them of a issue
and depriving the nation of the sight of Sanyasin like leaders, with
bald head etc. One is not sure whether even now such a process of deflating
the issue in the initial stages is possible.
It is easy to construct a
fly over to the future but difficult to prevent the formation of mythological
bridges of the past. Mythology can easily be constructed and planted
in the people's psyche as it is driven by political goals and rides
on horse of emotion. Reason and logic have no place in this scheme of
things. One knows that some Mullahs, having faith in the infinite power
of djinns advocated their rulers to invest in the research for making
more djinns so that power crisis can be solved. Also with the resurgence
of fundamentalism one is hearing that Creation science is back in the
race to compete with the theories of evolution. The question is, should
we misuse faith, faith which can be an assuaging balm, for building
political agendas?
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