Religious Attitudes in Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa

Abstract

In examining the religious attitudes visible in Vālmīki'sRāmāyaṇa, perhaps the first thing to recognize is that such an examination in itself tends to distort the picture by focusing attention on an aspect which is, by Indian standards, of comparatively slight significance. For Vālmīki's work is far from being a Vaiṣṇava epic, even a religious epic at all. This point needs to be emphasized, for the epic is still sometimes regarded as a Vaiṣṇava work, but it is far from new, for Hermann Jacobi in particular made it 80 years ago in words which are quite explicit and still worth quoting: “Die Vergöttlichung Râma's, seine Identificirung mit Vishṇu, ist im ersten und dem letzten Buche eine Thatsache, die dem Dichter immer vor Augen steht. In den fünf echten Büchern aber ist diese Idee, von wenigen eingeschobenen Stellen abgesehen, noch nicht nachweisbar; im Gegenteil ist Râma dort immer durchaus Mensch. Es bedurfte gewiss einer längeren Zeit, ehe sich die Umwandlung des Charakters Rama's, wie sie in den beiden zugefügten Büchern zutage tritt, vollzogen hatte.” However, the existence now of the nearly-completeCritical editionof theRāmāyaṇa, permitting a closer approach to the original state of the work, warrants a fresh look at the evidence.