All this could not have been possible without Ram and the epic of which he is the hero having some historical basis. But isn’t there mythology, too, in the story of Ram, Sita, Hanuman and Ravan? Of course, there is. The Ramayana derives its greatness and retains its power of influence over the masses even today precisely because its immortal moral message is conveyed through fantastic mythologisation by Valmiki, Tulsidas and innumerable other poets and artists. However, the mist of myth cannot negate the existence of Ram’s historical reality. Also, which ancient civilisation anywhere in the world — Greek, Egyptian, Persian, Chinese or Mayan — is without its own myths and legends? And is there a single mythologically blessed land on this planet whose people are not proud of their heritage of epics, puranas, heroes and sacred personages?

When something becomes an integral part of the spiritual life of a people — as the Ramayana has for the Hindus — mythological reality becomes inseparable from what is narrowly understood as ‘historical’ reality. In an insightful essay in India Today recently, U.R. Ananthamurthy, the Jnanapeeth laureate Kannada writer, wrote that the only “language” understood throughout the length and breadth of our country is the language of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Seen in this light, it is possible to see the enormity of the blunder committed by the UPA government in affirming before the Supreme Court, through an affidavit in the dispute over the Rama Sethu, that Ram did not exist at all. It betrays a mentality that holds that the religious sentiments of Hindus can be hurt, and India’s civilisational identity can be falsified, with impunity. It does not require a BJP leader to make us wonder if the government would have made a similar claim in the event of a dispute regarding the historicity of Hazaratbal in Srinagar, where a ‘holy hair’ belonging to Prophet Mohammed is believed to be preserved in a glass casket.

... contd.