KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Ramayana Trail was criticized by various individuals. Lucian Rajakarunanayake made fun of the Ramayana trail in his newspaper column of September 2007.  In a recent YouTube presentation (July 2024) Nirmal Devasiri said ‘At the moment we can see Ravana only as a fictitious person, not a real person. There would have been some evidence, if Ravana had existed. [1]

Bandu de Silva told Island in 2009 that there is no historical basis for a Rama connection with Sri Lanka. The Ramayana legend, so popular in south East Asia as well as India had not caught on in Sri Lanka. It is only in the 15th century that we come across even a stray reference to Ramayana legend when Sri Rahula refers to it, said Bandu. Rahula was a descendent of the Skandavara family (Kandavuru kula) which is of Kerala origin, added Bandu. One sees people questioning the Vijaya myths of origin, how can we entertain a greater myth, of greater antiquity from Ramayana, concluded Bandu.

C.B.Punchibandara stated in 2009   that   he was surprised and bemused to read that the Ramayana trail has around 50 sites in Sri Lanka .Ramayana story never took root in Sri Lanka. There are no historical records to vouch for its belief here.  No inscription refers to it or any of its characters. Rama is ridiculed in Budugunalankara.

 Sri Lanka Tourist Development Authority seems to have identified some fifty sites. Perhaps more than even in India, continued Punchibandara. On what basis or fact? Historians doubt whether the reference to Lanka” is to Sri Lanka. To distort Sri Lanka’s past to attract Indian tourists cannot be condoned. Before this myth gets crystallized, the veracity of the pronouncements made by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board should be authenticated, concluded Punchibandara. (Island 21.10.09 p 9)

The Royal Asiatic Society   saw the gravity of the Ramayana Trail and held a symposium in July 2010 to challenge the Ramayana Trail. There was comprehensive coverage of the subject by experts.  Sunday Island   featured the symposium in its 29.8.10 issue on p 2.

Malini Dias gave Sunday Island her views on the subject. Malini Dias said that CE Godakumbura had presented a paper at the international Ramayana seminar, held in 1975 in New Delhi. His paper was titled ‘Ramayana in Sri Lanka and Lanka of the Ramayana”.  Godakumbura had said there is an abundance of folklore in Ceylon connected with the story of Rama and Sita. Some of these explain place names some point to special geographical features, other the lay of the land, the position of hills, nooks and bend in rivers, the color of the soil and various curiosities. However, all this is folklore and nothing archeologically probable or tested historically, said Malini.’

NCK Kiriella, chairman of the Ramayana Trail Executive Committee of the Ministry of Tourism, speaking at a symposium held at the Indian Cultural Centre, has distorted some of the early brahmi inscriptions, said Malini Dias. Cave inscriptions from Wegiriya devale has been painted over with white ink.  The word Kubakara has been misinterpreted as Kubakana.

Cave inscriptions from Molagoda vihara   were distorted to indicate that it refers to the pilot of an aeroplane. Bamana has become Bimana. Alulena inscription letters were painted over and then photographed to appear as Ravana’s son”. Isurumuniya vihara is considered the temple of Rowena’s parents, Visravasumi and his wife Kaikali.  A site at Sigiriya is considered the palace of Rawana’s elder brother Kuvera and one cave inscription is linked to Sita, concluded Malini when speaking to Sunday Island.

 Some commentators dismissed the criticism of the Ramayana Trail. Haris de Silva, former Director, National Archives, said need we go to great lengths to debunk the Rama- Ravana connection with Sri Lanka. There is no threat to Buddhism from Ramayana trail. Every Buddhist temple has separate annexes for Siva and Vishnu within the temple complex.   . Why should not the Tourist Board make a quick buck out of it. They should be allowed to embellish the material, Haris said.

Tissa Devendra suggested that the Ramayana trail could be presented as a fictitious one. There is a tradition of fictional tourism, such as the Baker Street tours in London, of the places where Sherlock Holmes lived in London.

Columnist Nan” said in her column if money could be made from the Ramayana trail why not make it. There is no point in making such a fuss over the fact that Ramayana has been debunked as historical in India. We believe in myths about the origin of the Sinhala race and believe that the Buddha visited our island.

She says that this segment of tourism came to be when tourism as in the doldrums. The idea of Ramayana trial was developed parallel to the Buddhist circuit in India and was approved by Milinda Moragoda, when he was Minister of Tourism. Don’t attempt to kill the golden goose which lays the golden egg of this arm of religious tourism. Ravana was a great king, she said.

Nan thought the RASSL symposium was tilting at windmills, seeing dangers where they do not really exist. Paranoid fears were expressed at the RASSL symposium, she said. Apprehensions were exaggerated. Since we believe in the coming of the Buddha and Vijaya without proof, why not Ravana.

There are two opposed views on Ravana in Sri Lanka at present. One group says that Ravana is a fictional figure in Hindu mythology of India, It has nothing to do with Sri Lanka and the Ramayana trail is dangerous.

There is another group which vigorously says they believe in Ravana. They say Ravana was a real king who lived in Sri Lanka long before Vijaya came.  He was a wonderful king, a kind ruler and   scholar. They dismiss the abduction of Sita. They say this was the ‘Indian version’ of Ravana.

Various imaginative histories have been woven around Rawana. Ven. Athureliye Rathana   said that that according to the ancient Buddhist scriptures, Buddha had been invited to Sri Lanka by Ravana.  Buddha preached to Ravana, and the resulting Lankavatara Sutra was not only the foundation of Mahayana Buddhism in Sri Lanka, but having been translated into Chinese also became the basis of Chan and Zen Buddhism as well. [2]

Arisen Ahubudu in Sakvithi Ravana (1988) says that Ravana reigned from 2554 to 2517 BC. He quotes Ravanavaliya to say that Ravana belonged to the Sun race”, as Ra” signified the Sun and vana” signified generation. Ravana’s ten heads represented the ten crowns he wore as a result of his being the sovereign of ten countries. According to Ahubudu, Ravana’s ancestors ruled over what is now Polonnaruwa district. He termed Polonnaruwa as a derivative of the word Pulasthi, the name of the dynasty to which Ravana belonged. However, Ravana himself ruled over the entire island and many places overseas, said Ahubudu.

Ahubudu trashes the story that Rama invaded Lanka because Ravana had kidnapped his consort Sita. According to Ahubudu, Ravana’s step brother Vibhishana had invited Rama to invade Lanka because he wanted to oust Ravana from the kingship of the island and take it over. Abduction of Sita is a story concocted by Yuwaraja Vibhishana in order to discredit Ravana in the eyes of his people and take advantage thereof,” concluded Ahubudu.

Patrick Jered said that in 2009, he had uncovered a whole artistic community of young people in Sri Lanka    for whom Ravana is a positive influence and a creative springboard. A new generation of creative young people are tapping into them as a source of inspiration.

Several books have been written on Ravana in Sinhala. One book   Secret of Ravana: the Golden Era, was written by a fifteen-year-old schoolboy at the start of 2009. It was aimed at a teenage readership.

Sanjaya Nirmal a film producer, informed Patrick Jered that he was engaged in a long-term research project which would culminate in a trilogy of films, like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, about the lives of Ravana. He believed, he told me, that the many references in historical and mythological texts referred to several avatars, collectively known as Ravana, said Patrick.

There was plenty of evidence around, Sanjaya told me that the historical figure Ravana had presided over a well-ordered and technologically superior nation of contented inhabitants. He had not been the evil despot portrayed by Valmiki concluded Sanjaya.There were also numerous books on medicine and science which were attributed to Ravana, still available in print, but only in Sinhalese.

Ravana had been a musician as well. He had invented a special musical instrument, the Ravanahattha, the oldest ancestor of the violin. It is  used in present-day Rajasthan and Gujarat. It  is also played by North Indian gypsy tribes.

Sri Lankan musician Dinesh Subasinghe has launched a one-man crusade to raise awareness of this instrument. An instrument invented by the ancient King of Lanka was so ignored at home. In 2007 he released a CD, Ravan Nada, using the ravanahattha.It sold 16,000 copies, becoming the best selling  instrumental music CD in Sri Lanka .

 Subasinghe had been invited to play the ravanahatha on stage in many countries, such as India, the UK, and the USA. Subasinghe hopes that in future other musicians and members of the music industry in Sri Lanka will be interested in playing the ravanahatha and including it in their musical scores and songs. The ravanahatha was played in a scene of a recent Hindi film, Mohenjo daro. The music for the film was composed by A.R. Rahman. ( Continued)

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[1] https://youtu.be/eJ5_GxySkcQ

[2]https://www.sundaytimes.lk/090524/Magazine/sundaytimesmagazine_00.html