Ramayana: Historicizing Myth and Mythologizing History 69our History. Tolerance, yes; but not unilateral." A professor at IIT Bombay
went one step ahead to claim that the "ex-Hindus [are] a part of the Hindu
society as the 5th caste" and the "reconversion needs be merely psycho-
logical, not ritualistic."^72 The Hindutva forces also pointed out how the
Islamic Iranians identified themselves with the pre-Islamic Persian leg-
ends of Sohrab and Rustom.
The cultural wing of the Hindutva forces was defending the Rama-
yan from accusations of being communal by arguing that the serial was
depicting the cultural and social values of a time when there was no other
"dharma." The serial, according to them, inspired a son "to obey" his
father's wishes, a wife "to accompany and follow" her husband, and a
younger brother "to serve" his elder brother. This discourse of subjugat-
ing by way of traditional hierarchy and accepted conventionalities has
many other examples in the serial also. Interestingly enough, these cul-
tural forces cannot defend their culture by its virtues, but only by pointing
out the defects in other cultures. One Hindutva commentator dismisses
a criticism of the above-mentioned discourse of subjugation by asking
if one should slay one's own brother as Aurangzeb killed Dara for the
throne.^73 Defending Ram's decision to banish his wife even after her test
of fire, another commentator justifies that by quoting the English proverb
"Caesar's wife must be above suspicion," based on the story that Pompeia
was divorced by Caesar. He hastens to add, "Pompeia is as different from
Sita as chalk is from cheese."^74 Yet another Hindutva zealot saw a mali-
cious scheme in the criticism of the serial, because "without our Rama this
nation will die and that precisely is the objective of its hostile critics."^75
Contributing their share to the revivalist scheme, the VHP celebrated
Tulsi Jayanti (the birthday of Tulsidas) at Talkotra stadium in Delhi mid-
1987 and paraded the Ramayan team. In another VHP function in Bombay
in late 1987, Sagar said that "the epic is a part of our being. It is there in our
psyche. All that is necessary is to awaken the dormant 'Sanskars'. We have
only to look into our hearts and feel the power lying latent there."^76 This
Hindu psyche of the "new era" was much sought after by both the Con-
gress (I) and the Hindutva elements. Capitalizing on the Hindu psyche's
legendary weakness and modern confusion, and the desperation of its
political wooers, Ramanand Sagar did the right thing at the right time.
And the Right forces rightly used it for their rightist agenda. The Illustrated
Weekly of India summed up precisely: "The programme has in any case
come about at a time when the Hindu revivalist phenomenon is fast gain-
ing momentum. Some observers believe that Sagar's success can be attrib-
uted to the state of Hindu psyche. Wounded by what it perceives as the
federal government's concessions to the minority, it has begun to vocally
assert itself, using instruments like the epics to further its cause."^77
The Ramayana becomes a contested terrain of Indian national identity
where several discourses compete with one another. The myth and the his-