Ramayana
Review of the William Buck translation of this classic Hindu work
Not understanding Hindu myth or religion, I have no right to judge this work. I can only speak of the my experience of it, in this very accessible and readable translation.
To me, it was fantasy, world-creating on a grand scale. Gods and demons and humans and intelligent animals who are like cartoon characters. There are no rules, or the rules can change at any moment. Anything can happen, regardless of physics, chemistry, geology, or common sense. An army of monkeys and bears with superpowers and equipped with magical devices. Impossible situations resolved by deus ex machina time after time. “Monkeys have bridged the sea, and stones float for them unfairly, against the natural laws, and what never yet happened in the world has happened here!” p. 307
“When everyone was aboard, that huge chariot arose with a great noise like fireworks and waterfalls, then silently high in the sky he turned north in a wide climbing curve, carrying Sita who had been lost and found again, and two mortal men, and five demons and twenty-three million monkeys and bears sitting there at their pleasure in the free-flying gardens, facing the fresh morning wind as if they owned the world.” p. 373
It begins at the “beginning of Time” and talks of “the destruction preceding creation.” Gods take the form of humans and other creatures. Death sometimes, like in a videogame, leads to another life. And at other times, Death is a character, like any other, capable of assuming many forms.
The style often makes the obscure and imaginary seem tangible.
“took a staff, went outside an struck the ground of heaven hard.” p. 23
“fled wounded and burning in grief don to safety int he underworlds beneath the sea, through a door under Ocean.” p. 25
“the huge aerial mind-driven chariot” p. 27
“the three brothers sat contemplating the absolute immensity of Life.” p. 29
“there stood before Ravana his full-grown son Meghanada, like fire released from hiding in fuel, set free to burn.” p. 31
“That flowery chariot… dipped down into Yana’s kingdom like a rain of jewels.” p. 38
“he saw Kikeyi lying like one illusion spread out to capture another” p. 68
“Ravana [who had ten heads] hung down his heads and wept for a long time.”
“He wrapped himself in illusion and spread enchantment around himself with a wae or his arm, and vanished.” p. 309
Some of the imagery is striking.
“The great grey elephants of Ayodhya wept as wild elephants weep when one of their Kings is captured in the forest.” p. 102
“There were puzzles with essential parts missing and loaded dicee and heartbreak and many first loves lost.” p. 296
“Like a mirror gleaming through from within a black velvet bag, we may sometimes glimpse Reality shining here and there when it takes us unawares.” p. 306
“and shiny gold bracelets winking like fireflies in the dusk fast approaching.” p. 331
“Ravana loaded a hundred tough horn-tipped bows as hard to stretch as the mind” p. 340
“swift as thought Rama shot his arrows” p. 347
“If one wished to hear stories of past times he could speak with an old sword about ancient battles, or hear the old tales told by the trees and stones.” p. 390
“Flames burst like blood from the stricken stars.” p. 395
“I’ll go alive to heaven for awhile, and rest and tend the cow of wishes in her peaceful pasture.” p. 424
There are well-stated nuggets of wisdom.
“the brighter the light the blacker the shadows” p. 65
“Time is hidden from you, charioteer. You can only see his work, not him.” p. 75
“war in within us, it’s nothing outside.” p. 144
“All is truly forever chance and change” p. 306
“all the universe is but a sign to be read rightly, colors and forms are only put here to speak to us; and all is spirit, there is nothing else in existence.” p. 394
“Even this body is not mine, this I am not. It is no part of me.” p. 418
There are peculiar statements presumed to be fact, such as
“they were all twenty-five years old, the eternal age of heaven.”
In this ancient text there are also strange foreshadowings of modern science. For instance, a surprisingly accurate view of Earth from outer space.
“we would fly so high that we saw below us all the world like a picture, clear as your face in a mirror. We saw Earth herself turning in space with a strange whirring noise like a firebrand swept quickly thorough the air.” p. 211
As well as hints of evolution, as when Hanuman the monkey says to a human, “We are your forefathers.” p. 315
And a giant hovercraft, a chariot “like a small city, lightly riding just off the ground” p. 370
If you have the time to wade through 430 pages of rambling story with no links to Western literature or any other story you are likely to have read before, taking place in a world with no ground rules, in which the ground itself might suddenly disappear, give this a try and enjoy the ride.
