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This post is divided into 6 sections:

1. Introduction
2. Every Civilisation has a Cultural Base
3. What are the Ramayana and Mahabharata
4. Resources for Understanding the Mahabharata
5. Resources for Understanding the Ramayana
6. Conclusion

1. Introduction

I have previously written an essay titled “The Glue of Nusantara: Understanding the Javanese, Islam and the Minorities” in which I describe how Indonesia’s ethnic Javanese leaders have to carefully manage the interests of the various communities so that the country can function. To briefly summarise, the interests of the Islamists and the Pluralists (which includes the moderate Muslims and the ethno-religious minorities) must be harmonised and kept at balance, while the interests of Tanah Jawa are also worked on behind the scenes.

As you can imagine, maintaining the balance between these 3 communities is a complex and monumental task. To aid them, Javanese leaders often look to examples from the two Adikakawin (Great Epics: Ramayana and Mahabharata) in wayang for inspiration, which form an integral component of their culture and philosophy.

Generally, people are aware that Javanese culture affects many aspects of this country’s politics. The Economist noted it in their 2019 article “How the mores of Indonesia’s biggest ethnic group shape its politics”. Academic theses have been written which describe the influence of Javanese Philosophy on the Indonesian Military: (“Impact of Javanese culture on Indonesia's strategic outlook and on the Indonesian armed forces (TNI)” and “The Professionalisation of the Indonesian Military”. This is an interesting quote from the second thesis:

>The political wisdom contained in Javanese alphabet of Hanacaraka that tells a story about how to secure political power game was used by Soeharto to control the military. As summarised by Rinakit, [t]he moral of this story is that someone must create two balancing and powerful camps and plot to make them fight each other. The plotter will then emerge to pick up the spoils after they have destroyed each other’. By these means, the victor needs not to worry about a threat from below

I’m agnostic/ questioning and very interested in learning about various world cultures and religions ( Parts of Hinduism, like Reincarnation, Brahman, and Karma, make a lot of sense to me).

I want to learn more about the Ramayana as it sounds very interesting and it seems like has had a very profound effect on storytelling and culture in India and some of the rest of the world. I found several adaptations on YouTube , including Ramayana the Epic, Sita Sings the Blues, and the the 1987 TV series that everyone talks about. Are any of these , or others , able to be understood by people like me who were raised in a western context ( I’m in the USA) and have little exposure to Indian culture? I am of the belief that good stories are universal but sometimes books/movies/TV etc are influenced by the culture that they were made in and are hard to understand for someone who was raised somewhere else.

Specifically I'm struggling with the treatment of Sita. There is a Ram Dass lecture where he presents the metaphor that the individual soul is Sita and God is Rama. In this metaphor we have been taken away from god and we are devastated until Hanuman comes to remind us of God's love and to bring the news of our inevitable rescue. I love this teaching and it has helped me a lot in my journey. I am at loose ends now that I have read the rest of the story and there was not the happy reunion I expected.

I will give a brief summery of what I understand: Sita is brought to Rama after the battle is won in Lanka. Rama, as a way to "uphold dharma" claims that her infidelity is a disgrace and commands she be burned to death. It pains him to do this but the reasoning is that he must do this because of what his people will think. Sita, of course, is a goddess and survives the trial but is still banished to the forest shortly after their return to Ayodhya. Again, with Rama's reasoning being that "How will my people think I am a good king who upholds Dharma if I take back my "compromised" wife?"

Okay, like what the fuck!? This seems way out of Rama's character. How is that upholding dharma? To worry about what other people think to the extent that you shun your Love? Wouldn't real Dharma be pronouncing to your kingdom that Sita was ever faithful, and love her openly, no matter what people think? I mean who would even criticize Rama if he did that? Everyone loved him.

And circling back to the Ram Dass teaching I mentioned: how could god treat us like that? Was Hanuman's message an error? God is coming, but when we are finally reunited he will throw us back with a bullshit explanation that we disgraced him even though our heart was faithful?

I know God's reasoning is beyond human comprehension but I just don't get this one.

I'm reaching out here hoping for some words of wisdom. I love Rama and I chant his name but my mind is starting to get in the way because of this. How do I make sense of this or let this go.

Namaste

It’s about 5 hours, on YouTube. Being a westerner I was never exposed to this epic until I came across Ram Dass’ reading. It’s a wonderful story and if anyone has anything more to say about it they can say it here.

Edit - This was published on May 7th on this sub. I have edited the text to improve readability, added images and added more sources for credibility.

Pre-Script - The tragedy has been partially undone! We are finally getting a remastered 4k version of Ramayana. Now respects must be paid to Yugo Sako for the work he did. It will improve bilateral relationships with Japan and encourage Japanese artists towards Indic-centric stories.

Examples of national policy to use art and culture as soft power across the world

Sometime in the first decade of the 21st century, South Korea dedicated 1% of its GDP to fuel it’s arts and culture scene across the board — a fund of a staggering $1 billion. This meant it would fund universities, agencies and film studios in cash and low interest loans to further Korean culture. The main objective was to increase Korean influence across the world and hence project it as soft power.

The policy has been giving bumper harvests in form of critical acclaim and money. In the last year itself, South Korea brought in $85 BILLION as a result of this policy.

This can be seen everywhere. Parasite won the best picture at the Oscars in 2020. A Korean actor was nominated for best actor this year. K-pop is growing as a craze. K-drama is catching up.

They even have a quota system in Korean Cinema, where theaters are required to show a fixed number of Korean films and only after that imported movies.

This policy was thought to duplicate American and Japanese policies.

Japanese anime is all pervading today, and if you see any movie by a famous director, for example Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese culture is highlighted in every movie. Ditto with American soft power. Comics of Captain America, the novel The Hunt for red October, movie Argo are all examples of how USA pushes its cultural narrative.

Erosion of Indic culture from popular sphere

Back at home, there has been little effort to further Indic art and culture, and whatever little effort had been made was thwarted by malicious agencies or fizzed out due to inaction by the Indic wing of the political spectrum.

The best example of this is the anime Ramayana, The Legend Of Prince Rama. The film’s creator, Yugo Sako was a self professed Hindu, being an avid follower of Indic stories. The anime itself is beautiful, replete with melodious and memorable songs and dazzling fight sequences showcasing Sri Rama’s and Ra

I'm slowly exploring Hinduism, I didn't really before but I'm slowly trying to dive deep, I don't know if something happened outside of India. this is just a question that came in my mind right before I slept yesterday.

" Don't sleep, Quran nahi suna rahi " or " Don't sleep, Bible nahi suna rahi " or " Don't sleep any other religion holy book nahi suna rahi " Why only Hinduism ? why only Ramayan or Gita ? what's so sleepy in listening Gita ? I want to know ! Honarable Dr. Priya Joshi's logic is as rigged as her English !

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I want to learn more about this.

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