If you want to know how deeply the Ramayana is etched in Indians’ collective consciousness, read this from Glimpses of World History, the magnum opus that Jawaharlal Nehru authored from his Dehradun prison in 1933. “In Akbar’s reign,” he writes, “there flourished in northern India a man whose name is known to every villager in the United Provinces. He is far better known there, and is more popular, than

Akbar or any king can be. I refer to Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramacharitmanas or the Ramayana in Hindi.”

How amazing. Akbar was the greatest of all the Mughal emperors. His capital, Fatehpur Sikri, was in the United Provinces, now known as Uttar Pradesh. So, why was the badshah less popular than someone who was a mere bard?

The answer to this question lies hidden in the answer to another puzzle: Why does ‘Ram’ figure in the names of so many Indians from diverse social and ideological backgrounds even in modern times? Look at this random sample: Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram, Ramvilas Paswan, Ram Jethmalani, Sitaram Yechury!

At the very least, this means that Ram and the Ramayana are central to both India’s social history and to our civilisational identity. Even Allama Iqbal described Ram as ‘Imam-e-Hind’ in one of his celebrated poems, before he became a votary of Pakistan.

Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural capital, derives its name from ‘Lav’, the son of Ram. Go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which is one of the wonders of the world, and you will find the story of the Ramayana scripted in exquisite sculptures along the walls of the Vishnu-Buddha temple. Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is the world’s longest-serving current head of state (since 1946), is known as Rama IX. In Korean chronicles, it is said that King Suro of the ancient kingdom of Geumgwan Gaya was married to a princess from Ayodhya.

... contd.