Inter-genre adaptations

Like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana too has inspired a lot of dramatic and dance performances. The Ramlila performed annually during Dussehra in North India is the best example of this. It is primarily the dramatic re-enactment of the epic, but it has minor variations from region to region. The most famous of all Ramlilas is the one in Ramnagar, Varanasi. This lasts for 31 days instead of ten days like most other Ramlilas. This also has the special feature that the performance is spread out over various venues and ends with the Rama-Ravana war in Lanka which is a part of the town of Varanasi. The Ramlila is a good example of the translation of epic to folk drama, or from high culture to popular culture.

The ‘tholppavakkoothu’ or leather-puppet show of Kerala is another unique adaptation. It is puppet theatre that uses Kamban’s  Tamil Ramayanam as the basic text. The narration is not in the local language Malayalam but a mixture of Tamil and Malayalam. It is still performed as part of festivals in Devi temples across central Kerala, but is not part of the classical temple-art tradition. In fact, its stage is usually the maidan outside the temple with a sleepy audience as it is an all-night performance. But this is a beautiful example of the syncretisation of culture manifested in the translation of genres as well as languages.

The most popular inter-genre translation that occurred recently was Ramanand Sagar’s television serial of Ramayana. It was so popular that it caught the attention of intellectuals and social historians, making them wonder why the serial was such a success. Richman attributes this to the “enthusiasm” that  Indians would give to a “new entrant into what has been an unending series of Ramayanas in India and beyond” (Many Ramayanas). However, the historian Romila Thapar was concerned that this Doordarshan version of Ramayana was a reflection of the concerns not of the vast majority of Indians but of what she calls “the middle class and other aspirants to the same status”( qtd by Richman). Thapar was worried about the monopoly that one translation / version might gain in a tradition that was marked by plurality.