A thread of the Epic: Sita Eliya

History was taught in school as dates and years – when a king was born, or vanquished; when he went to annex the next country/ continent or stole the king’s wife! My sense of history has surpassed the dates and years (may be ageing!). In school, The Independence Struggle translated to a different form of struggle for the students as those who set the question papers had a penchant for ‘mutliple choice’ ‘objective type’ questions that centered around years, which looked all alike in the heat of the examination hours!

Thankfully in my high school there was an affectionate teacher – Remani – who is still a mother-like figure to me, who gave the first glimpse of ‘after all history is not all that bad.” She taught the years, but also explained things as if a story. Now, history and pre-history remain a learning of incidents, stories, the outcome and the aftermath – and how they repeat themselves, through communities, countries and modern day conflicts – that is ethnic, political etc. Fairly late in life I realized, history also meant evolution of civilizations, societies, culture, traditions and is different to the manic obsession of years (of incidents) which I was forced to maintain through school days. (Afterthought: I like to think that the education system has changed a bit, at least…)

Such a preface to what I am going to write about an epical episode which involves two countries – Alas! India and Sri Lanka.

Ramayana, ascribed to the first poet in India Saint Valmiki, is supposedly written between 5-4th^th century BC. Though one of the greatest epics of Hinduism, it involves India and Sri Lanka (Lanka Puri as it is written) – where the Demon King Ravana had abducted Sita and kept her captive in a forest. Later on she was rescued by Rama. ( I need to say here, this is the Valmiki /Indian version).

The Indo-Sri Lankan that I am, had often been the punch bag due to an epic, especially in the light of emerging Indo-Sri Lankan relations! Ahem! All in good fun.

My friend John, whose love of life is International Relations (not to mention he is a retired, revered former diplomat) always had a Sri Lankan twist to Ramayana – which was – “Sita was ill treated by Rama and she sent a message to Ravana to take her. And he did and treated her with all respect and accorded all protocol...”(not like these days where a bunch of Sri Lankan ministers had to apparently stand in the queue to purchase tickets for the cricket world cup final match in India and the Sri Lankan High Commissioner maintained the stand that full protocol was followed!).

John’s story continues… “And when Sita was refusing to get back, Rama sent the Monkey King Hanuman – the first IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force – which has a distasteful connotation among the general public, I repeat the ‘general public’ of Sri Lanka after the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in 1987; more on this later). The Monkey King wreaked havoc by burning the countryside with his tail lamp! Finally, Sita had to leave though she did not want to.”

Though the ‘twist’ was mainly given by John to ‘fire me up’ I, in fact enjoyed the new version. In India, every story has many versions, interpretations and perspectives. Thus his attempt to urge me for a fight always failed.

Jokes apart.

In fact, the epic has many versions in South Asia. Even in India. And one of them even mentions that Ravana was the father of Sita – born out of an aborigine during one of his youthful haunts. In fact this version I had found as very moving, as a reader.

Whether Rama or Ravana existed – or whether the controversial (prehistorical) bridge existed between India and Sri Lanka – the myth sure exists. In Sri Lanka, there is a temple called Sita Eliya (Eliya, in Sinhala means ‘light’), where Sita is supposed to have been kept by Ravana, after he abducted her. A few kilometers away from the town called Nuwara Eliya (meaning city of light), famous for its cool weather, hilly terrain, winding roads, etc. one can find this temple –a thread in the Indo-Sri Lankan relations. There are two temples, one is supposed to be 5000 years old and the other, built recently (forget when exactly). The temple is bang on the side of the road; but from the other side, it is on the banks of a stream.

Valmiki, gives a very elaborate description of the lush Ashoka Forest, the moon lit nights and Sita’s anguish, loneliness, fear and humiliation. The only picture of the Ashoka Forest coming live in my mind as a child was in the long, serialized version on Television by Ramanada Sagar in 1987-88 period. Actress Deepika acted as Sita and Arun Govil acted as Ram (and later they were worshipped on the streets – well, that is also India!).

Sita Eliya is far different from Valmiki’s description. ‘Ravana is supposed to have been ruling somewhere close by’ a visitor in the temple remarked.

But interestingly, this is the only Sita Temple in the world. The temple also worships Rama and Hanuman. In fact, I happened to speak to an old Sinhalese lady who explained her understanding of the epic, which was Valkmiki Ramayana. She believed that it was not just a story, but real.

The fact that a myth can still hold its way through since 5^th century BC, does make one think, that myths have always, and will still continue to fascinate mankind. I felt this way while doing my circle around the temple. Yes, myths have their own beauty; they at times seem real though they are surreal.

An Indo-Sri Lankan.