Look I have long postponed typing this article because I didn’t want to increase animosity between tamils and other indians but i think its time now. This is what I have heard about the origin and purpose of Ramayana. The cause for writing Ramayana was not to portray the victory of good over evil but that to create a victory of vaishnavites over worshippers of Shiva or in racist form maybe Aryans over Dravidians or a victory of northerners over south. This is why Ravana is portrayed as devotee of Shiva, asuras are dark in color and Rama is portrayed as fair, from Ayodhya but Asuras are from south including tamil areas in both india and srilanka. First given both Valmiki and Kamban are Brahmins. The Cholas ruled from 300 BC to 1200 AD in tamil areas including northern parts of Sri lanka. This was a golden period in tamil history. Lots of Brahmins started moving into the tamil areas from the north in this time because of the wealth and prosperity in the Chola regions. The Cholas where staunch supporters of Shiva and opposed and sometimes hated Vaishnavite beliefs. This is why they didnt build a single significant Vishnu temple (except srirangam which was built as a gift by a chola king). They built over 50 of the greatest Shiva temples ex. tanjore, gangaikonda cholapuram, chidambaram, poolanurva(sri lanka swamimalai, thirukadaiyur, Tiruvarur, thiruvaiyaru, poolanurva(sri lanka), kumbakonam ........ Now an obvious friction between the Brahmins in Chola kingdom and the Cholas w
RE:Origin of Ramayana
by RN Iyengar on Jul 30, 2008 06:47 PM Permalink
Mr. Indiman, your article (if you can call it that way!) is full of holes. 1. There is no such thing as Dravidian or Aryan; it is a myth and it has been proven by scholars; nowhere in our Vedas, are these ever mentioned. 2. Rama is never portrayed as fair. 3. Kambar (Kamban written as 'Kambar" is honorific, like adding 'ji' in Hindi) was not a Brahmin but from a weaver family. 4. Srirangam temple was not built as a gift by the Chola king! The temple has been in existence for over 2000 years.
RE:Origin of Ramayana
by deepak on Jul 30, 2008 08:19 AM Permalink
We need to fund a mental hospital for dravidians, so tamil people, as well as India could be saved from these colonial pet dogs...
RE:Origin of Ramayana
by indiman on Jul 30, 2008 06:37 AM Permalink
Now an obvious friction between the Brahmins in Chola kingdom and the Cholas was the Vishnu beliefs and the motivation of Brahmins to promote Tamil as a language. They hated the caste system in its purest form because in Chola Empire there where only thinly demarcated classes based on economics and not the actual vaishnavite caste system.
Now for the Brahmins the guardians of Vishnu worship a kingdom rooted in another religion/ god/ beleif posed a threat and they had to write an epic to gain a psychological victory over the Tamil kings, worshippers of Shiva, promoters of a language and literary works in a language other than Sanskrit. Hence arrived Ramayana, which in its ancient and purest form has no mention of Shiva as supporter of good. Why else would Ravana have to derive his supernatural powers from Shiva and then Vishnu have to incarnate himself as a human being to kill Ravana. Doesn’t it sound like an illogical waste of time for two gods to go through this excercise. Now in the current world and after Krishna deva raya installed the nayakkars in tamilnadu, vaishnavism and shaivism were intermingled but in ancient world they where distinct religions. Extrapolating to the present we can probably infer that Ram Sethu is just a farce based on a story that was required in time that existed 2000-3000 years ago. Times have changed, needs have changed, if we don’t change with times we will only be left behind.
RE:RE:Origin of Ramayana
by ThoondilKaaran on Jul 30, 2008 07:17 AM Permalink
And there are no Sivaite script that talks about Ram or Vishnu. Whereas, various Vaishnavite script say that Siva gave away stupid boons to Asuras and Vishnu got to take an avatar to protect the people from those Asuras. May be it's a political move against Siva worshippers.
But I don't care what there scripts say since Siva is the creator, protector and destroyer.
RE:Origin of Ramayana
by ThoondilKaaran on Jul 30, 2008 07:14 AM Permalink
I don't know if your statements are right. But Kamban (very talented in Poetry) who wrote Ramayan was not known for ethics and he was very arrogant towards our Famous Avvai paati. Onetime, our Grandma busted Kamban in front of the King and this Kamban had no answer for that.
RE:RE:RE:Origin of Ramayana
by ThoondilKaaran on Jul 31, 2008 12:03 AM Permalink
Very simple. It\'s to include Vaishanavite and Sivaite into same belief. The Sivaites believe Siva is the supreme being and Vaishnavite think Vishnu is the supremem being. How did they solve the problem? By bringing in Trinity making Siva as destroyer and Vishnu as protector and Bramha as creator. you just make everything inclusive for people to accept it. Same way, Ram worshipped Siva to make Ramayan acceptable to Sivaites. In reality, the hardcore vaishnavities won\'t worship Siva. just ask around Vaishnavities who know scripts.
RE:RE:RE:Origin of Ramayana
by ThoondilKaaran on Jul 31, 2008 12:14 AM Permalink
Just like Trinity. make Siva inclusive so that it's accepted by Sivaites. If you ask the real Vaishnavite who know scripts, they would never pray at Siva.
