As if we do not have enough controversies on our national plate, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in its wisdom had added to the general confusion and tension that surrounds us. It is one thing for the ASI to opine that the Ram Setu/Adam’s bridge is “merely a sand and coral formation which cannot be said to be of historical, archaeological or artistic interest or importance.” This is a bona fide view which can only be countered by equally strong professional counter-arguments. However, they shocked the nation by going far beyond that and making certain sweeping obiter dicta that questioned the very existence of Ram as a historical figure, although they have now withdrawn it. In this connection, several points need to be made.

Firstly, ‘historical evidence’ for most of the outstanding religious figures in the world would be difficult to find, particularly as many are lost in the mists of antiquity. This is not a question for Ph.D dissertations, but one that affects the beliefs and sentiments of crores of people around the world. Besides, there are numerous places in India and Sri Lanka which are closely linked with the events in Ram’s life including Ayodhya and Janakpuri, Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It is now well accepted by historians that so-called ‘myths’ and ‘legends’ very often have a strong basis in actual events and personalities.

Secondly, from the original Ramayana of Maharishi Valmiki down to Kamba’s great work in Tamil and Tulsidas’s immortal Ramcharitamanas, the story of Ram has been told and retold in almost every language of the world. The immensely fascinating story beginning with his birth, his marriage to Sita, his fourteen years of exile, his decisive battle with the then King of Lanka and his triumphant return to Ayodhya is engraved in the minds of the vast majority of Hindus around the world, and he is as real to them as any so-called ‘historical’ figure. To quote Jawaharlal Nehru in the Discovery of India regarding the Ramayana and Mahabharata, “I do not know of any books anywhere which have exercised such a continuous and pervasive influence on the mass mind as these two. Dating back to a remote antiquity, they are still a living force in the life of the Indian people. Not in the original Sanskrit, except for a few intellectuals, but in translations and adaptations, and in those innumerable ways in which tradition and legend spread and become a part of the texture of a people’s life. They represent the typical Indian method of catering all together for various degrees of cultural development, from the highest intellectual to the simple unread and untaught villager. They make us understand somewhat the secret of the old Indians in holding together a variegated society divided up in many ways and graded in castes, in harmonising their discords, and giving them a common background of heroic tradition and ethical living. Deliberately they tried to build up a unity of outlook among the people, which was to survive and overshadow all diversity.”

... contd.