“Opinion | Many Ramayanas, Many Ramas: Faith, Text And The Question Of Interpolation”, News 18, June 09, 2026
“In a recent article, mythologist and author Devdutt Pattanaik argued that certain episodes in the Ramayana, such as Rama abandoning Sita in the forest or the beheading of the Shudra ascetic Shambuka for performing tapas, may be morally unsettling.
However, he contended that the common explanation that these episodes are not part of the original text but later additions is not an honest position. Pattanaik notes that many other stories, from Hanuman’s childhood to Ravana’s austerities, also appear in the Uttarakanda of the Ramayana, which is regarded as a later interpolation. Yet those stories are readily accepted by the believers.
When it comes to episodes that raise difficult moral questions, however, many are quick to dismiss them as later additions. According to Pattanaik, this is because “we are protecting our preferred image of Rama, of dharma, and of ourselves as inheritors of a tradition we wish to see as untainted” through such explanations….”
Read full article at news18.com
