Bhubaneswar: Lord Ram is always shown as a great archer.
Unlike other heroes from Indian epics, he has never been depicted as a royal figure hunting lions from a chariot.
Why is that so?
Devdutt Pattanaik, a well-known mythologist from Odisha, is of the view that images of Shri Ram walking through forests, fighting battles on foot and travelling in wild areas show that he is from an older time, when chariots were not common in India.
In an article for Mid-Day on the occasion of Ram Navami, Pattanaik says that the chariot was introduced later, around 1500 BCE, by Steppe nomads, and was a sign of military power.
Ram’s journey is more connected to forest regions like Chhattisgarh and Odisha, hence his image is simpler and more nature-based, Pattanaik opines.
Saying that the Ramayana possibly comes from around 1000 BCE, before sugar was even used in India, Pattanaik points out how Shri Ram’s family name ‘Ikshvaku’ first meant bottle gourd, and later sugarcane.
Pattanaik also refers to Jain versions of the Ramayana, which say vanars were forest people with monkey flags, not real monkeys. Ravana, said to belong to Meghavahan family, is linked to King Kharavela of Odisha, reflecting a mix of Vedic and tribal cultures.
Ram considered Kishkinda to be part of his kingdom, showing it was in southern Kosala, which is today’s Chhattisgarh. Tribal people there even call the Sirpur region as Paschim Lanka. That Sirpur later became an important Buddhist centre links mythology to real historical and cultural landscapes, according to Pattanaik.
