Posted:
I agree! I believe the original versions are most accurate. They make the most sense without any loose ends in the story, whereas later versions don't really make sense to me in some of the stories. For example, in one of the later versions, Ram asks Lakshman to kill Sita after he leaves her in the forests (in Uttar Kand) and bring her ear as proof of her death. Lakshman can't bear to do it and kills a deer instead, bringing its ear. Don't tell me I should be respecting and following this version of Ramayan for portraying Ram as such a cruel person.🤢
Ultimately, Valmiki Ramayan is the original version, and I can accept Tulsidas as one of the original versions too since it's believed to have been told by Lord Hanuman to Tulsidas. So when people say there are 300 versions and we don't know what's really true, sorry but it doesn't hold for me. There's a reason why people follow the earlier versions. It's like saying historical books on the Civil War written now should be believed over books written during the Civil War. So Valmiki Ramayan, even with later interpolations we don't know about, is more accurate than anything else, and if anyone finds books Vasishta Ramayan (which is rumored to exist) or the Ramayan written by Hanuman that was later drowned in the ocean, those are also accurate versions since they too were contemporaries of Ram.
For television serials, since some creative license is expected in the name of of drama and entertainment, I believe it's important to follow the original versions at least as the main storyline, and incorporate other versions as side stories, or background stories to supplement the storyline, but when the other versions become the main storyline, then it doesn't look like Ramayan at all, but something cooked up by the CVs as a deliberate attempt to deviate from the epic.
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