Originally posted by: jia.astk
@Angie: I am not saying Ram is not perfect or fearless, but just wont completely feel that he can be called as noble. I haven't read Tulsidas Ramayan, but I read in another story from south India that Sita was hidden in fire during their Vanavas.So, he asked duplicate Sita to do Agni Pariskha so that he can get the original Sita back. This could have been written to justify his actions about Agni pariksha.I like your interpretation of him.
Jia, I personally also do not consider Ram either perfect or totally noble personally. He was a King and he should have kept Sita. So what if some people would not have been happy. That's why I prefer Krishna who rehabilitated a lot of women who were kidnapped and/or raped. And he did not worry about the society. Rather than Ram, Sita and Hanuman are heroic for me in Ramayan.
Tulsi's story about Agnipariksha is same as what you mentioned above. He considered Ram as God and hence found a reason for every one of Ram's actions.
But like you said all idealists make their families suffer. Rama is a man of actions where as Krishna was only a man of words. Yes
I feel Mahabharat is still relevant today like Tina said, Vyasa wrote so many stories altogether in one place and they were way ahead of their time. Or it is possible that all these atrocities/adharmas were actually done in that era. Karna was not born out of wedlock, Draupadi having 5 husbands(recently I read this tradition is still being followed in Madhya Pradesh), Draupadi's cheerharan, Yudhistir putting his brothers, wife at stake in the game of dice, Drona asking Eklavya his thumb who learnt archery by just watching it so that he is not competition to his favorite student Arjuna etc., Lots of politics..by Shakuni and Bheeshma's vow to protect Hastinapur till his death. All these were given a color of Dharma...so if people are bound by dharma and can do all such misdeeds then what is 'Adharma'?!
In both the eras people did lot of 'adharma's' so Rama showed it to people how to follow the dharma in Treta Yuga, but by the time Krishna came it was not possible to teach people by actions so he just taught them in Dwapara Yuga. Then came Kaliyuga..where even teaching wouldn't work😕.
Mahabharat is a huge epic and so has all sort of complex characters. In the end, humans are humans and do not change over centuries though value system change. I like the women of these epics more than the guys.
@Chitra: I didn't know Draupadi also had chose Karna in the beginning..hmmm. I read that she said 5 times 'Pati' , so she got 5 husbands. Yes 'Dalapathi' was the story of Karna-Duryodhana and Arjua (forgot to add Duryodhana). Mommuty played Duryodhana and Arjuna was done by Arvida swamy. Maniratnam's adaptation was so good with soulful music by Illayaraja.
Jia, Drapuadi did not choose Karn. She rejected him by calling him - the low caste unworthy of her. Karn was as talented as Arjun and would have won her if she had let him compete. She did not let him do so. That's why Karn took his revenge during cheer haran.
@Misti: There is another adaption in Indian Cinema for Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility by Rajiv Menon, the movie is "Kandukondain Kandukondain" in Tamil, there is a 3rd sister too here. I thought there are only 2 sisters in the original novel! I like Forest Gump, that was my first movie of Tom Hanks 😊.
Btw., I saw Highway yesterday, it was a poignant movie which explored human relationships where the heroine develops 'Stockholm syndrome' for her abductor.
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