Ram Mandir Bhumipuja

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Those who say and write, The Ram (Janmabhumi) Mandir Bhumipuja (ground breaking) on August 5,2020 amid Corona chaos was deliberately fixed to add injury to insult to the protesters of Article 370 abrogation are braying off the mark. Whether the coincidence was fortuitous or willed the fact is, history was restored after a gap of 500 years of a cultural void. The Hegelian Spirit of History has now regained its self-conscious  Freedom. Hopefully this Freedom will determine its own pace  and course. The cultural dimension which is the primum mobil of history will now give  its clockwise push to make the culture a reinvigorated  entity, free to expand its pristine value structure. Therefore the Bhumipuja at Ram Janmabhumi to raise a grand temple should not be viewed through any political or sectarian lens. The Mandir is only an artefact, a visual wonder perhaps, to arouse the aesthetic sense of the devotees and visitors. What matters is the spirit, the essence, the symbolic value construct of a culture which in its mazy course is still the sustainer of a civilization. If Ram's Ideals, values his sense of moral governance are valid and dynamic the post Bhumipuja generations of  India must demonstrate by their words and deeds  that man can make the world his home in sun and shower. If this is not the lesson imparted by the ceremony, the ceremonial visual tapestry will hang on a date in a calendar.

 

Ram is worshipped in India as an avatar of Vishnu, the administrative  head of the Universe in the Trinity imaginary of Indian thinkers. The epic Ramayan, composed by the sage poet Valmiki  may or may not have any authentic historical reality as no record of Rama's birth and his life's works exist. The Indians termed the epics Ramayana and Mahabharat as history (Itihasa) and as such the work of Valmiki can be accepted, contrapuntal challenges notwithstanding. Scholars are, however, at variance about its date of composition. If the popular belief is believed Ramayana predates the Vedas but most modern scholars believe that the epic was written sometime between 300 BC and 200 CE. But in popular imagination  Ram is forever, does not matter  BC or CE. Now the main question is why is Ram a permanent feature of Indian memory? Even the neighbouring countries like Srilanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia , Philippines and Iran, Afghanistan have versions of the Ramayana in their social lives? The episodes of the epic are still enacted in Thailand and Indonesia, and in Iran only very recently some sculptural evidence of a Ram Chariot and Hanuman's kneeling obeisance posture has been found. This definitely suggests the impact of the epic and its eponymous hero on a larger territory beyond the borders of India. Ram's geopolitical fame and his  practised values definitely have touched a universal human chord. We can  assert beyond an iota of  doubt that Ram was historically real and his name and deeds had spread far and wide.  Now we can ask the other question: Why was Ram admired if not worshipped, by a large segment of humanity spread over South East Asia and beyond?

 

A human being is raised to a deity status when his values are seen as the most respectable for mankind and his works or deeds, his judgements, heroism - restraint and above all his administration and governance of human affairs are felt as life ennobling and ecofriendly. Ramchandra of Ayodhya is one such(literary) deity for men and women who have heard about his stories, that is his life's highs and lows, achievements and sacrifices. Born a Prince  (a miracle birth induced by divine elixir) his childhood was spent under the tutelage of a strong willed disciplinarian Biswamitra; his reversal of fortune came on the day of his coronation as king of Ayodha, caused by human agents; his life in exile turned its course when his wife Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, the most powerful king of Lanka - but he did not succumb to his gloom. He forged new friendship with Sugriba, a king  with a monkey totem and Hanuman a scholar son of the Wind God and a great being of physical and moral strength. He built an unheard of bridge over the ocean from the southern tip of India that is Bharat to Lanka and attacked the forces of Ravana to rescue wife Sita. He won; destroying evil he established the Rule of Dharma. He restored the kingdom to Ravana's brother Bibhisan and returned to Ayodhya. When some low caste people questioned Sita's chastity, as a king he respected public opinion and banished his Sita, an expectant mother. And he ruled his kingdom without discrimination - caste, creed, gender; respected freedom in all  individuals, never greeded for another's land and made his people love  each other...

 

Today if Rama is still remembered , with worshipful love , it is because Ram stands for 'rectitude', that is moral uprightness and courage to implement moral convictions. Ram respected his father -mother ; loved his siblings; honoured and obeyed his teachers and  all learned men and women; never harmed anyone as long as he was not attacked; respected and redeemed his commitments to friends, honoured his words to the detriment of his own interests , protected the weak and supported the poor, never compromised his values. He made  sacrifice of his personal life to please the people. In this sense his exiling Sita when she needed him most is a personal sacrifice. The Ramayan created Ram as the ultimate human ideal, fit enough to be a king. A king has no parents, no family, no luxury and no self indulgence. The king lives and dies for the people. Sleeping on the floor and eating the plainest food his life is dedicated to the larger  family - the people. The king lives  for his people as their Sevak - Servant not master. 

 

But that does not mean  the king will give up arms and negotiate  for peace. He should create fear in others for only then respect comes. A strong man is grudgingly admired by enemies - a weak man is often ignored. Rama was and continues to be this ideal human being - royal, heroic and kind. This Bhumipuja for  the Ram Mandir ought to be a pledge to redeem Ram's debt to mankind; to make India that is Bharat, free from fear, the fear especially  of foreign aggression and create mutual love among the people irrespective of caste, creed and other man- made discriminations.

 

Modi (Narendra Damodardas Modi, the present Primeminister of India) laid the foundation brick as a fated man to restore India's historical pride. But history of the future must move as Ram has already shown in all affairs of life management. If this event is just a foundation laying ceremony the future historians will record it as  an act of Hindu Supremacist triumphalism: If it is a relaying of the Ram values in public and private life  Modi will definitely find a respectable place in the Pantheon of the future. Restoration of values must move forward along  creative universalism.