ambka and the Rmyaa Tradition: A History of Motifs and Motives in South Asia

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According to Vlmki's Sanskrit Rmyaa (early centuries CE), ambka was practicing severe acts of austerity to enter heaven. In engaging in these acts as a dra, ambka was in violation of class- and caste-based societal norms prescribed exclusively by the ruling and religious elite. Rma, the hero of the Rmyaa epic, is dispatched to kill ambka, whose transgression is said to be the cause of a young Brahmin's death. The gods rejoice upon the dra's death and restore the life of the Brahmin. Subsequent Rmyaa poets almost instantly recognized this incident as a blemish on Rma's character and they began problematizing this earliest version of the story. They adjusted and updated the story to suit the expectations of their audiences. The works surveyed in this study include numerous works originating in Hindu, Jain, Dalit and non-Brahmin communities while spanning the period from ambka's first appearance in the Vlmki Rmyaa through to the present day. The book follows the ambka episode chronologically across its entire history-approximately two millennia-to illuminate the social, religious, legal, and artistic connections that span the entire range of the Rmyaa's influence and its place throughout various phases of Indian history and social revolution.

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Drawing on classical and modern texts in six Indian languages as well as English and on contemporary ethnographic observation, this book presents an impressive diachronic study of a troubling, often elided, yet never wholly erased storyline within the pan-Indian Ramayana tradition. It persuasively shows not only the persistence and ubiquity of the tale of ambkaa low-caste man allegedly slain by King Rama in order to uphold dharmabut also its importance as a gauge of sentiments about a range of sensitive sociocultural issues, and thus offers a timely and important intervention in debates about Indias past and present.Philip Lutgendorf, Professor of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies, Emeritus, University of Iowa; Author: Hanumans Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey; Translator:Tulsidas: The Epic of Ram.

Caste has become the cornerstone of identity politics in India and Sherraden uses many versions of the story of Shambuka, told with its multiple intents and interpretations to map the larger Ramayana tradition anew. More importantly, he shows how the appropriation and dissemination of this story via Dalit and non-brahmin groups provides a counternarrative to the main (often elite and hegemonic) Ramayana tradition.Arshia Sattar, Author of Maryada: Searching for Dharma in the Ramayana.

Author Bio

Aaron Sherraden is a researcher on the epics of South Asia. He received his PhD in Asian Cultures and Languages from the University of Texas at Austin.