Crossover Episode! The Woman who Brought the Epics Together

It's Navratri season! While this festive occasion is linked with you stuffing your face with kaju katlis and all the different kinds of sweets your parents must have gotten you for the holiest nine days in the hindu calendar, it is also associated with the story of Ramayana - the epic of Lord Ram. Mightiest archer in history, ideal husband, great ruler and a fantastic role model, his praises have been sung across different generations - and in different formats. Heralded as Lord Vishnu’s reincarnation into the world, Lord Ram is perhaps the most well known entity in the world right now because everything he did and said had some sort of social influence on the people that have read his texts - be it lessons of loyalty, bravery or cleverness. Which means that he and his character have been pretty well established in popular media.

Afterall, Ragukul Riti sada chali aaye, pran jaaye par vachan na jaaye. (The Tradition of Ragukul has been going on forever, one shall break their lifeline before their promise) and forever is a pretty long time, right? So before you break out the shiny new traditional outfit and that fuljhadi you’ve been waiting to light, let’s talk about someone that might not have gotten as much attention as the glorious king of Ayodhya - Shanta

Shanta was the daughter of King Dashrath. First of all - whaaaat? I know, it blew my mind too. I could barely remember the names of all the sons and they were so flushed out and nuanced as characters that I had no trouble believing that the most famous king in Indian history just did not have any daughters. I mean, being the only daughter in a family as illustrious as that would surely get you some recognition, right? Especially in a text that had such a heavy emphasis on Sita and her origins, right? No? I get to tell you? Splendid! Not really, no. Hindu religious texts have been open to interpretation in the way they have been written to say the least. Valmiki Ramayana is the first recorded version of the epic, while different states and even poets (Ram Charit Manas by Kalidasa) had their own versions of the story.

As is with any piece of art, even if it is an artful depiction of history, things tend to change with time. Valmiki Ramayana did not feature or even briefly talk about Shanta, but she is a character in Mahabharata, an epic from a completely different time, featuring a completely different incarnation of Lord Vishnu and written by a god himself. It is also interesting to note that this version of Ramayana did not feature the Lakshman Rekha or the arc of Ahilya turning into stone. Thus, it becomes eerily difficult to track how or where this character came from, and why she was absent in most well known works of Ramayana. However, as your dear storyteller, it is my duty and pleasure to relay her story to you. Welcome to another episode of Mythomap blows your brain about stuff you thought you knew - brought to you by the guy who usually writes stuff for Greek and Norse mythology, but was nosy enough to steal this one from your usual Hindu mythology presenter (Sorry, hehe)

So, Shanta Devi, the elder sister of everyone’s favourite god, was King Dashrath’s eldest daughter with Queen Kausalya. According to several different versions of Ramayana over the years, King Dashrath fathered Shanta with no real difficulty. However, his joy of new fatherhood was short lived when he realised that he was unable to father anymore children - and thus he could father no heirs for his kingdom. Which, if you do not realise, was a big boo-hoo. Imagine creating a huge empire with no one to give it to (PS: only sons could be heirs. Don’t shoot the messenger) So, the King of Ayodhya opened his holy book of contacts and pondered upon a solution. Marriage, he thought, looking at his wife. Let’s retry that, he thought, looking at his slightly dishevelled wife. Twice that happened, and none of it worked. So, he decided to make a phone call to dear old god, through a Yagya which is a sort of a collective infront of a holy pyre to communicate with the hindu gods and goddesses - which ended up working. Overjoyed and happy, King Dashrath procreated four more times which would then become the basis of the entire epic of Ramayana. However, Shanta’s story happens before that.

Raja Rompada was a man who had visited King Dashrath once. Shanta had already grown a bit and was showing promise in every conceivable field, proving that her entire family was filled with talent galore. That doesn’t matter. Rompada didn’t have any children. Why is that important? Because King Dashrath was a nice man. Why is that important? He gave his only daughter away to Rompada like a box of soan papdi because he understood the pain of being childless. Fair enough, I guess? However, her story does not end here. King Rompada apparently ignored a brahmin boy once, and because of that, his kingdom suffered a drought. King Indra and his devotees are not the best people to mess with. To fix that, Rompada tried new irrigation methods! Nope. he did a Yagya, and what was the result? Rain! Happy ending. He must have paid the priest in gold and fortune, right? Wrong again. He married his only daughter off to the priest, whose name was Shringa. There is little else told about Shanta in the many texts she was featured in, but that is the case with many characters.

Shanta

Ramayana has been sort of like a fertile field. People over the ages grow different kinds of stories and those stories create vines that create rich and colourful characters. Every so often, these characters get eroded because of the social intricacies of the society they exist in. such was the plight of Shanta - a genius who was forgotten in time, only to be remembered by one temple some 50 kilometres away from Kullu. It also boggles the mind that Shanta is described as sensuous and erotic - someone who drove Rishi Shring from being a hermit to a householder, which is incredibly different from the description of Lord Ram and his family. There is a lot that can be said in this regard, but I guess I would leave that for the next interpreter.