This article contains spoilers for both the original work and the film adaptation.
The upcoming release of a major film adaptation of the Ramayana offers an extraordinary opportunity for children and adolescents around the world to discover and enjoy one of humanity’s greatest literary creations. Watch the trailer.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen recalls, in The Argumentative Indian (2005), how much the Ramayana and the Mahabharata enriched his childhood. He emphasizes that these great epics are not merely stories of heroes and battles, but also works filled with dialogue, moral dilemmas, diverse perspectives, arguments, and counterarguments.
The first recommendation is to build on the interest generated by the film. Cinema can be an extraordinary resource, especially when people engage in dialogue about what they have watched, either before or after the screening. Adults can watch the film, discuss it, and feel inspired to read the original work and share some of its stories with children. It can also be an excellent experience for adolescents to watch and discuss the film together. If we believe that certain violent scenes might frighten younger children, as can also happen with some adaptations of The Odyssey or Troy, animated versions offer another way to introduce them to the story.
The second recommendation is to tell the most beautiful stories from the Ramayana. Many of us enjoyed stories from One Thousand and One Nights during our childhood. We can also offer new generations the beauty of the stories found in the Ramayana. One of the most moving accounts explains how, according to tradition, its poetic form originated. It did not arise from the celebration of war or conquest, but from compassion for the suffering of another living being. Valmiki, traditionally regarded as the first poet and the author of the epic, was watching a pair of birds when a hunter killed one of them. Witnessing the grief of the surviving bird, he spontaneously uttered a verse. Tradition identifies this moment with the birth of a fundamental form of Sanskrit poetry.
The third recommendation is to encourage reading the work and engaging in dialogue about it. We have scientific evidence of the educational and social benefits of Dialogic Literary Gatherings, in which people of different ages and backgrounds share their interpretations of great works of world literature. These gatherings foster reading comprehension, dialogue, and the participation of people who have not always had access to this cultural heritage. Whenever possible, reading and discussing Valmiki’s text is especially valuable. Depending on the ages and circumstances of the participants, carefully prepared adaptations, including children’s editions, can also be used.
The fourth recommendation is to promote intercultural dialogue. For many children in South Asia, Rama and Sita are deeply familiar figures, encountered through books, theatrical performances, celebrations, and family conversations. Children of European backgrounds have much to share with children from these cultures, but also an enormous amount to learn from them. The Ramayana offers an extraordinary opportunity for people from different backgrounds to engage in egalitarian dialogue about a great literary creation, discover different interpretations, and enjoy its beauty together.
The fifth recommendation is to explore and discuss the character of Sita in depth. Although the epic is not named after her, she is at the heart of some of its most moving moments and raises profound questions about goodness, justice, truth, and dignity. One particularly beautiful scene takes place when Hanuman brings Sita Rama’s ring while she is being held captive in Lanka. Sita thus realizes that she has not been forgotten and that news has arrived from the person who wishes to rescue her.
Yet the ending of her story, narrated in the Uttara Kanda, shows that Sita is not submissive. After enduring captivity, rumors cast doubt on her conduct, and Rama distances himself from her under pressure from those around him. When she is asked to provide yet another public demonstration of her innocence, Sita refuses to continue trying to convince those who distrust her word. She calls upon the Earth, her mother, to receive her if she has always spoken the truth. The Earth opens, and the goddess Bhumi welcomes her, leaving Rama to regret having yielded to the rumors.
More than two millennia ago, Indian literary tradition thus offered us, through the figure of Sita, an extraordinary opportunity to engage in dialogue about dignity, injustice, and a woman’s determination to stand up for herself.
Why should children anywhere in the world be deprived of the beauty of these stories, their dilemmas, and the conversations they can inspire? The Ramayana can offer a magnificent opportunity to enjoy world literature, learn from other cultures, and engage in dialogue from childhood about goodness, justice, and truth.
Ramón Flecha
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