Episode 8 of Hindi TV Serial – Bharat Ek Khoj – which is based on Pt. Nehru’s book – Discovery Of India – continues his quest to know the culture and orgin of India and Indian Civilization. This episode is second installment of exploring the epic – Ramayan – aka – Ramayana – the life and works of Lord Ram (Lord Rama).
It starts with two folk singers telling the tale of how Ram and Lakshman had to fight with the Rakshasas in order to provide fearless way of living to the saints and sages living in the jungle. It seems the conflict of cultures or way of living to say better, between the Rakshas who were tribes living in the depth of jungle and the Sages, who were part of well cultured society.
As the main stuff the sages do was to educate people, spread the wisdom and knowledge, carry forward the knowledge from the Vedas (which are vault of knowledge, science and traditions earned so far) and make the society get structured and stronger – which seems to be in the conflict of what it was seemed as the way of living – for Rakshas. The saints and sages do perform their stuff in jungle by having Ashrams and Gurukuls there; as it provide an isolation from the society. It is also better for the learners to concentrate on getting educated (in broad meaning) in the first segment of the life, this isolation works as a boon. However it crosses the path of both the cultures and leads to conflict. As the efforts to convince Rakshas were went into vein, there was no way left for Ram-Lakshman but to fought and overpower them, which lead a lot of casualities at Rakshasa side.
It also explores the fact that there are references of garden also found in the Rakshas civilization (for example Sita was kept in – AshokVatika). However there are no references found of they were doing farming or so. Which makes us to think that Rakshas were still living in the tribal way. As Ravan was a brahmin, it is a possibility that his father was chosen as the leader of the tribe based on his knowledge and respect he gained. Ravan himself was a great scholar and it also leads us to the fact that the fusion between the Arya-Rakshas culture was already started.
During one such conflict in the Jungle – Laksham cut the nose and ears of Shurpanakha who happened to be sister or Ravan. It is the incident when Ram-Ravan’s path crossed which lead to the all other major incidents of Ramayana including the final battle between both them.
The scene when Shurpanakha meet Ravan and tell him about what happened to her is a must watch part of the episode. It is not very dramatic though. The way Shurpanakha explores the broad picture of whatever happened to her as the symbol of attacks and defeat of Raksha clan is interesting. She was able to provoke the fire in Ravan to do tit-for-tat with Ram. Her arguments prove that she was not dumb or uneducated as people think. She was intelligent enough to analyze and summarize the facts and consolidate them in a way to represent her side effectively. She makes Ravan to feel that the misbehavior with Shurpanakha is a direct challenge to Ravan by Ram! Just watch this – a few minutes scene – and you will realize how much efforts the script/dialog writers put to make it effective.
The scene where Ram-Sita talks about first annual Shraddh of Late Dasharath is taken from PratimaNatakam by a playwright named Bhas (Bhasa). The background music in the scene where Ravan came to Ram’s place in the disguise of a sage is worth to mention.
The incidents of Ramayana are by heart to the people, so there is nothing much to talk in that aspect. But the way the director-writer represents their point of view, the thoughtful aspect to look at this great epic is definitely worth to go for. And the rest of the stuff is better to watch on screen.
The wardrobe is definitely worth to mention. It is quite opposite to what we see in the most of the religious or divinity oriented TV Serials (where it is found larger than the life); it is quite simple and more realistic. The same we can say for the sets, weapons and other stuff.
If to talk about acting all the lead actors played really excellent! Most of them did theaters and it brought the flair in their performances.
References to various folk tales, folklores, dance-dramas based on the Ramayana are weaved in the episode intelligently.
The DVD quality is also good as a positive attribute. This episode will be loved by those who like to take an open-minded look to the cultural aspect. It is not a fantasized representation like some other TV serials which are popular these days (and earlier).
Our personal verdict is – go for it.