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The many hues of life
By Manju Gupta
This is a book in which the author tries to show the positive side of some well-known and some lesser known characters who have generally been criticised for acting contrary to the protagonist in any book, be it an epic, a novel, a religious book, or a commentary. Some of the characters whose unique qualities have been highlighted are Ravana, Devdutt and Duryodhana.
Ravana, the infamous character from the epic Ramayana, is portrayed as one who troubled Sita, fought war with Rama, was cruel to the enemy and made everyone cry. In the book under review, the author says that though Ravana himself admits that he is famous as Beesbhuja (the twenty-armed one) because of his adverse activities, with a loud voice because of which he is called Dashanan, but it was not he who picked up enmity with Rama or a quarrel with Mithila'sking. It was the Aryans who indulged in all kinds of activities like roasting animals in fire to eat, looting animals in ashrams, burning saints for penance, kidnapping women, etc. who should be criticised. Ravana believed in war for its own sake and for progress of mankind. Ravana believed that it was Vishwamitra who was the root cause of all trouble and who brought in Rama to create problems for him. Ravana says ?Yatra Ramo bhayam natra nasti tatra parabhava.?
Ravana'sfellow-demons had to relinquish the forest but Rama still did not desist from chasing him. Further, it was quite justified for Ravana to get riled when his sister Shrupnakha was humiliated by Lakshman. Moreover, though Ravana was drawn towards Sita because of her beauty, even after decamping with her, he did not molest her; he kept her separately in the Ashokvan.
About Duryo-dhana, the author has highlighted the fact that though he was blamed for being unjust when the entire Kuru kingdom belonged to the Kauravas only, who were used to living in the kingdom. The Pandavas had got used to staying in the jungle and should have remained satisfied there. It was Yudhishthir who was the root cause of the problem, that is, the Mahabharata war. Duryodhana complains that despite it all, ?everybody'ssympathy lies with Yushishthir. The world worships one who feeds dry grass to donkeys. I did the foolishness of feeding laddoo (a sweetmeat) and that is why I suffered defeat.? He adds, ?I did not lose in the war. I was killed through deception. The victory of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata war is not really a victory; it was a virtual defeat.? He is right when he says that when Draupadi made fun of him, he was forced to take revenge; when she accused Karna of being born in a low-caste family, then he called her a prostitute in retaliation. He adds, ?I made Karna my guard because I believe that greatness does not come with birth, or caste, or beauty or wealth; instead, it is related to karma.?
Devdutt has a very valid point to make when he criticises Buddha by calling the latter a weak-willed person who was anti-social, and who became worried on seeing a dead body, disturbed on seeing the sick, restless on seeing an old man?all these showed signs of mental weakness. Birth, disease, death etc, are all an integral part of life. Devdutt is equally critical about Buddha'slifestyle who left his young wife and child when he should have been performing the householder'sduties once married.
Other characters too have been shown in good light like Nathuram Godse, but there is not much weight in the arguments.
(Akhil Bharati, 3014, Charkhawalan, Delhi-110 006.)
