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Babri Mosque, Bollywood, and Gender: Ramcharitmanas as World Literature
Abstract
From Bollywood to medieval literary traditions, from contemporary literary festivals to the divisive politics on the Indian subcontinent, Ramcharitmanas (Rāmacaritamānasa) captures the imagination of South Asians and beyond. A.K. Ramanujan, a poet and scholar, once said that no one ever reads Ramayana (Rāmāyana) for the first time in South Asia; they all know it. Yet, each Ramkatha (Rāmkātha, story of Rama) differs from the others. Composed in the Avadhi language in 1574 Tulsidas's (Tulsidāsa) Ramcharitmanas presents a strong case to be studied as world literature in the local and global traditions. This chapter focuses on Ramcharitmanas's textual history, its afterlife in Bollywood, its haunting presence in the backdrop of the demolition of Babri mosque, and the debates it generates in contemporary Indian literature and literary festivals. The chapter concludes with remarks on the role Ramcharitmanas could play in the debates on world literature and comparative literature.
1 This paper aims to investigate the portrayals of Hindu-Muslim relations in recent Bollywood movies with a specific emphasis on the Tanhaji movie. The movie narrates and depicts a religious struggle in the 17 th century for the liberation of India. While Hindu-Muslim relations and conflicts have had many fluctuations throughout the history of India, evidences indicate that the contemporary situation of Muslims have worsened in the country. In parallel with the discriminatory discourses that are becoming prevalent against Muslims in the mainstream Indian society, different types of media represent and justify these actions. Cinema as the most significant type of popular entertainment in India has played an important role in this regard. The results of the present study indicate that by introducing Hindus as heroes who are smart, loyal, brave, diligent and dedicated to their motherland, and Mughal Muslims as violent, cruel and irrational, certain Bollywood movies have provided a significant contrast between the two groups.
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Abstract (E): Applying recent theories of embodied cognition to Danny Boyle’s 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire , this essay contrasts Vittorio Gallese’s notion of the "shared manifold" of human experience to earlier models of identification drawn from Freudian psychology and Alvin Goldman’s simulationist theory of mind, and also proposes a fourth notion of empathy: "getting under the skin." Focusing on Slumdog ’s "blue boy" scene, which evoked strikingly different reactions from viewers around the world, this essay argues that viewer identification and empathy, while possibly universal phenomena, are simultaneously subject to cultural and historical constraints. Creating emotional bonds between viewers and filmic protagonists thus remains a complicated challenge for filmmakers aiming to reach a global audience.
Abstract (F):
Cet article applique les théories récentes de cognition corporelle au film Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008). Il oppose la notion du "partage multiple" de l’expérience humaine ("shared manifold") de Vittorio Gallese à des modèles plus anciens basés sur le concept freudien d’identification mais aussi à la théorie simulationniste de l’esprit d’Alvin Goldman, tout en proposant une quatrième forme d’empathie qui consiste à se « glisser sous la peau » de quelqu’un d’autre. Analysant une scène qui a suscité des réactions très diverses parmi les spectateurs du monde entier, l’article démontre que tant l’identification que l’empathie, qui sont sans doute des phénomènes universellement partagés, subissent aussi des contraintes culturelles et historiques. La production de liens émotionnels entre spectateurs et personnages reste donc un défi très complexe pour tout réalisateur désireux de toucher un public global. </span
While the "standard" version of the Rāmāyana is a 14th-century Sanskrit text by Valmiki, the diversity and adaptability of this narrative are extraordinary. Many regions and languages have their own versions of the tale that they consider authoritative. In addition, the basic tale of the Rāmāyana is continually adapted to new contexts, forms, and media. It is, in one form or another, read, recited, sung, danced, and acted. Yet the vast majority of scholarship on the Rāmāyana has dealt exclusively with the textual editions, and mainly with Valmiki's Sanskrit version. This book examines the epic in its myriad contexts throughout South and Southeast Asia. It explores the role the narrative plays in societies as varied as India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. The essays also expand the understanding of the "text" to include non-verbal renditions of the epic, with particular attention to the complex ways such retellings change the way the narrative deals with gender.
In his article, "Comparative Literature in India," Amiya Dev bases his discussion on the fact that India has many languages and literatures thus representing an a priori situation and conditions of diversity. He therefore argues that to speak of an Indian literature in the singular is problematic. Nonetheless, Dev also observes that to speak of Indian literature in the plural is equally problematic. Such a characterization, he urges, either overlooks or obscures manifest interrelations and affinities. His article compares the unity and the diversity thesis, and identifies the relationship between Indian commonality and differences as the prime site of comparative literature in India. He surveys the current scholarly and intellectual positions on unity and diversity and looks into the post-structuralist doubt of homogenization of differences in the name of unity. Dev also examines the search for common denominators and a possible pattern of togetherness and Dev underlines location and located inter-Indian reception as an aspect of interliterariness. It is t/here Dev perceives Indian literature, that is, not as a fixed or determinate entity but as an ongoing and interliterary process: Indian language and literature ever in the re/making.
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