Comparing Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection and Ramayana - Essay Example

Comparing Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection and Ramayana Adequate understanding of ancient socio-cultural trends of a particular civilization is always a challenge, mainly due to two reasons, first, lack of authentic source and second, availability of those sources that would provide a proper picture of the prevailing socio-cultural aspects of a civilization during a particular period of time. Literature, in this context is extremely helpful, as it encapsulates various trends of existence in a particular socio-cultural context. The ancient Indian epics though are quite symbolic, metaphorical and encompass within their broad scope elements of fancy, however, also are considered as excellent sources for understanding contemporary social structure, nature of people, perception of the society regarding gender and other dimensions of socio-cultural existence. The immortal epic, Ramayana by Valmiki and the renowned Sanskrit drama Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection by Kalidasa are great examples of poetic craftsmanship in the context of world of literature. However, at the same time both these pieces of literature also provide readers with a comprehensive understanding about contemporary social structure and hierarchy, status of women within the social domain and role of men as has been determined by the society. Historical evidences regarding time period of writing both these texts show that though there has been almost 1500 years of gap between creation of these two literary masterpieces but social condition regarding perception and appreciation of genders have remained almost unchanged. The Ramayana narrates tale of Prince Rama, his divine power, truthfulness and valor, his marriage with Sita, their fourteen years of banishment, the war between Rama and evil king Ravana, generated from Sita’s kidnapping by the evil king, destruction of Ravana and his kingdom, Sita’s ordeal to prove her chastity, her banishment and finally the reunion of Rama and Sita. Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection by Kalidasa, on the other hand, narrates the tale of Sakuntala, her secret marriage with valiant king Dushyanta, Dushyanta’s oblivion of his relationship with Sakuntala and finally their union. Compared to Ramayana, where Prince Rama plays the role of a protagonist, dramatist Kalidasa has chosen Sakuntala, a woman figure as the leading character in his poetic drama. However, a close analysis of leading characters in these two great pieces of literature, namely, Sita and Sakuntala, Rama and Dushyanta would show that despite advancement in different aspects of human life, society has remained completely patriarchal and women, though they are perceived as essentially virtuous, however, are left with no choice than to accept their condition and suffer without any fault of their own. The tales of Ramayana has been narrated by the composer Valmiki who is consciously present in the growing course of the epic and also actively participates in the course of the tale. He provides shelter to Rama during his fourteen years of banishment from Ayodhya. Later on, Sita and her twin sons were also received by him. During this time he also witnessed the suffering of Sita personally and through his verse he has made an excellent depiction of such emotion. The entire tale of Ramayana can said to be an accumulation of several stories and the approximate time period for occurrence of these stories can said to be around 1000 B.C. (Hunter 123). The entire story of Ramayana is divided into seven parts or ‘kandas’ and it comprises 24000 slokas (Hunter 123). The broad platform of Ramayana has been masterfully used by composer Valmiki to provide adequate focus on different dimensions of human life in the contemporary times, starting from huge prosperity of the city, life styles of common people, role played by royal family members to ensure happiness and security of the common people, internal family disputes and struggle for personal gain, position of women in the society and the way they actually were regarded in the contemporary social context. Portrayal of the character of Rama by Valmiki in the Ramayana clearly shows that the king warrior in the contemporary society was perceived as the savior of the common people and he also used to be considered as human manifestation of divine power. However, despite presence of these strong divine attributes in the character of Rama, he has not emerged as a larger than life figure in the epic; rather he comprises all traits of general human emotions and follies. It is interesting to see that in the development of Ramayana’s plot, these traits of Rama’s character has played an important role and he has attained the fulfillment in his valor through defeating and assassinating the evil king Ravana. His obedience to his father’s will and accepting the fourteen years’ of banishment can be regarded as an excellent example that fuses both heroic traits and material perspectives of his character, “Although Rama is clearly a marital hero and the climax of the whole work is in this defeat of Ravana, from the beginning important issues of conduct were indeed central to the plot. When, on the eve of his installation as heir apparent, Rama is suddenly sent into fourteen-year exile through the machinations of his step-mother, his reaction is not anger but calm acceptance of his father’s will – an impressive demonstration of filial obedience” (Brockington 465). Valmiki has not only narrated the incidents but at the same time his considerable reflection over character of the protagonist also helps a reader to understand the actual nature of the character. The “impressive demonstration of filial obedience” becomes clear as Valmiki has emphasized over the fact that even after listening about his banishment Rama has not developed any feeling of grief or hostility for his father; rather he generously prepares to leave to honor his father’s dignity, “Calmly Rama heard the mandate, grief nor anger touched his heart,/Calmly from his father’s empire and his home prepared to part (Valmiki; translated by Dutt 42). His preparation to leave Ayodhya and his people has affected him tremendously and his desperate effort to escape from the scene, fused with his extreme grief for his fellow people makes him a common man with common human emotions, “ “Speed, Sumantra,” uttered Rama, “from this torture let me part,/ Speed, my friend, this sight of sadness breaks a much-enduring heart,/Heed not Dasa-ratha’s mandate, stop not for the royal train,/Parting slow is lengthened sorrow like the sinner’s lengthened pain!” (Valmiki; translated by Dutt 54). Rama’s character, throughout the seven khandas of Ramayana, provides clear impression to a reader that despite having traits of divine power he incorporates all traits of spontaneous human emotion and depending on this interpretation, it would be wrong if Rama is perceived as a one-dimensional figure of warrior king or a loyal son or a husband. Despite the fact that Rama is a temporal representation of Lord Vishnu and his triumph over Ravana symbolically represents “the victory of good over evil”, (Brockington 466) but he actually is a true embodiment of human emotions and sensibilities. Compared to Rama, Sita has been represented as an archetypical Hindu woman and her plight can be associated with universal suffering of womanhood that transcends the barriers of time, culture and region. Sita has been introduced to readers as “This is Sita child of Janak, dearer unto him than life,/Henceforth sharer of thy virtue, be, she, prince, thy faithful wife” (Valmiki; translated by Dutt 16). Such introduction of Sita immediately makes it clear that she does not have any individual identity of her own and she will forever be glorified with the fame of Rama. The universality of Sita’s plight becomes evident as we see that in Mahabharata, Draupadi has also become subject of such torture by the male dominated society though she never has any such fault of her own. In this context Alf Hiltebeitel has observed, “If we turn now to Valmiki’s portrayal of Sita, we may note at first that her career parallels Draupadi’s in many ways. Each heroine is banished to the forest with her husband (s); each is violated in some fashion by a male; in each case the violation spurs her husband (s) to acts of revenge; and in each case the heroine is restored to queenly status once that revenge is accomplished” (Carman and Apffel-Marglin 44). However, it would not be entirely correct to interpret the condition of both these characters as same. Despite the fact that Draupadi was insulted and attempt was made to exploit her chastity, but she was never deprived of support from her husbands. However, in this context, Sita has remained quite an isolated figure as she lost Rama’s support despite she has always remained completely committed and chaste. Rama’s deprivation of Sita, his demand of ordeal from Sita to prove her purity and her banishment asset the fact that Rama possesses typical mentality of male supremacy and he is also quite conscious about his pure image in society. Sita’s stay in Lanka created a negative impression among people regarding her chastity and due to this reason she had to suffer the ordeals. In this context Alf Hiltebeitel has observed, “Rama’s purity and Sita’s auspiciousness are sustained throughout the Ramayana, with only the slightest hints that Rama might come into contact with impure … and only the post-war … developments concerning Sita’s inauspiciousness. Where the negatives entre the picture in the Ramayana, however, it is in terms of Rama remaining pure but aligning himself with “inauspicious” forces, and Sita remaining auspicious but being suspected from impurity” (Hiltebeitel; Carman and Apffel-Marglin 52). Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection is one of the brilliant examples of poetic craftsmanship of ancient Indian dramatist Kalidasa and in the context of world literature this play receives high critical appreciation from leading artists of literature. The great German poet Goethe was so overwhelmed after with beauty of Kalidasa’s portrayal of Sakuntala that he wrote, “Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name combine?/I name thee, O Sakuntala! and all at once is said” (Goethe; Hunter 126). Plot of the poetic drama reveals the love between King Dushyanata and Sakuntala, their secret marriage, the king’s return to his kingdom and prior to that his delivery of the ring of recognition to Sakuntala; later on, the king’s oblivion of Sakuntala, her visit to Dushyanata’s kingdom, his refusal to recognize her, recovery of the ring of recollection and finally their reunion. Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection, was written almost after a time period of 1000 years, compared to Ramayana. However, it is interesting to see that despite during the time Indian society has made considerable progress in every aspect of social life but the aspect of social response regarding perception of gender has remained same. In this context, the spirit of Sakuntala’s suffering also receives a harmonious fusion with that of Sita’s and it also reflects the universal plight of women within the domain of social existence, irrespective of cultural and regional differences. Kalidasa’s entire focus to reveal layers of emotional development in Sakuntala’s character and his use of other characters to provide more illumination on his protagonist, at the same time, also indicates the fact that despite traditional patriarchal set up of ancient Indian culture, women started receiving more attention compared to the earlier times. However, reflection of such empathy for women was basically confined within the higher intellectual class of contemporary society and it was not a spontaneous reaction in general social context. The intoxicating appeal of Sakuntala’s physical beauty was the primary reason that the King felt attracted towards her and it is also clear from his expression as well as his interpretation of her beauty that he felt affectionate towards Sakuntala more from sensual attraction rather than her mental or spiritual purity, “No mortal woman could give birth to such beauty -/ lightening does not flash out of the earth” (Kalidasa and Miller 98). The possibility of King’s refusal to accept Sakuntala as his wife was raised by Anasuya, one of her friends, “When the king finished the sacrifice, the sages thanked him and he left. Now that he has returned to his palace women in the city, will he remember us here?” (Kalidasa and Miller 121). The feeling of uncertainly in Anysuya’s mind provides a reader about the impression of male gender in the contemporary society. Soon her words prove to be true as Sakuntala is cursed by a powerful sage and consequently, the king’s memory about marrying Sakuntala went into oblivion. Thus, when Sakuntala fails to show the ring of recollection to the king she became just another representative of socially perceived cunning women nature, “And so they say the female sex is cunning” (Kalidasa and Miller 140). Sakuntala, further, desperately tries to remind him of the words that he said to her during his stay in the hermitage and the just king insults her before everyone, “Thus do women further their own ends by attracting eager men with the honey of false words” (Klidasa and Miller 140). Like, Rama, the King Dushyanata here also appears to be highly conscious of his image before others and he under no circumstance is ready to sacrifice that. It is due to such self-obsessed approach, he does not even hesitate to address Sakuntala as unfaithful and cunning. Sakuntala, like Sita, despite her complete commitment towards her husband, became a subject of insults and humiliation. The truthfulness of her approach and her commitment for the relationship was entirely ignored. Both Sakuntala and Sita, in this respect, have remained representatives of women as well their plight in the contemporary society. At the same time, the essence of their suffering also bears an eternal connotation as the situation has remained unchanged for women despite the entire human civilization has made considerable progress in every aspect of social and cultural life. Works Cited Brockington, J.L. The Sanskrit epics, Part 2, Volume 12. Leiden: BRILL, 1998 Carman, John Braisted. and Apffel-Marglin, Frédérique. Purity and auspiciousness in Indian society. Leiden: BRILL, 1985 Hunter, Sir William Wilson. The Indian empire: its people, history, and products. New Delhi:Asian Educational Services, 2005 Kālidāsa and Miller, Barbara Stoler. The plays of Kālidāsa: theater of memory. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1999 Valmiki. Ramayana (Translated by: Romesh C. Dutt). Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2004 Read More