The great Indian epics are so integral to our civilisation that they cut across all the barriers of geography, language, caste or religion.

I was in the final stages of completing my latest book, "Many Ramayanas, Many Lessons," and was revisiting Wayanad, which has many curious lores associated with the Ramayana. This beautiful hill district, originally famous for its pepper, cardamom, ginger, coffee and tea, has recently come into national news for a devastating landslide that claimed many lives. An eager media, hungry for ratings, had dubbed the natural disaster the "Wayanad tragedy," giving the impression that this hill district was washed away to the Arabian Sea in the last rains.

In reality, only two panchayat wards of a remote village, high up in the hills, were affected in a district four times the area of Mumbai city. Such sensationalising adversely affected the livelihoods of many who depend on tourism. Still, as a writer yearning for solitude, I figured this was a good time to revisit some places associated with the Ramayana.

Wayanad's Connection With The Ramayana

One may wonder what Wayanad has to do with the Ramayana. Isn’t it far away from Ayodhya? The beauty of Indian epics is that every community in every part of the country has made it their own. This is not just restricted to the present borders of India but includes the old Indosphere, which stretches from Afghanistan to the Philippines; you will find something related to the Ramayana or the Mahabharata.

There are many tribal and non-tribal communities in Wayanad, and each has its own Ramayanas.

Many believe that the events of Ramayana happened within the confines of the jungles and hills of Wayanad and not in distant Ayodhya or Lanka. They believe Valmiki lived in Wayanad, and Sita gave birth to Lava and Kusha here. My journey was to see such places and interact with people whose belief in the Ramayana was as strong as those who believe the areas associated with the Ramayana are in Uttar Pradesh.

I started early in the morning from my writing cottage near Kalpetta, the district headquarters. I have to travel towards the Karnataka border, almost 35 km away. The hill towns are yet to wake up, but plantation workers are already at their job. Mist curls through tea estates.

Soon, I leave Sulthan Bathery, a border town, where Tipu Sultan had moved his artillery batteries during his Malabar campaign, thus changing the place’s name from its ancient Ganapathi Vattam to the present Sulthan Bathery. The place is rich with history and legends. The town is well maintained and quaint, with an attempt to beautify it by the residents by putting flower pots on medians and footpath railings. It is a pleasant contrast compared to crowded hill station towns filled with shacks we usually encounter. Beyond this town, the journey is through thick forests. The highway stretches to Mysore and Bangalore. It is yet to be expanded to the six-lane road and keeps the old world charm of winding, forest paths with massive trees on either side, a vast vanishing sight in India.

I pick up Vancheeswaran, a friend, wildlife photographer and Saji Varghese, an ace photographer from Sulthan Bathery. The travel through Muthanga forest is refreshing and we stop to spot a herd of deer. We look out for wild elephants but aren’t lucky that day. These jungles, a part of the Nilgiri biosphere has the highest density of wild elephants in India and the highest density of tigers in the world. Spread over three states, this sprawling forest was once the haunt of the infamous forest brigand Veerappan.

Our first stop is at Ponkuzhi, a small freshwater lake inside the jungle. It is not far from the highway to Bandipore, but the place has an otherwordly charm. As per the beliefs of the tribal communities, this is the place where Lakshmana had brought a pregnant Sita in his chariot. He was following his brother’s orders to abandon her. As per Bhavabhuti’s "Uttararamacarita," a classical Sanskrit play, Sita expresses her wish to see beautiful jungles and tranquil lakes they had visited during their exile of 14 years. She says to her husband that she was most happy during that period.

He promises her that he will make arrangements to take her to those places again. Sita was not aware then, but Rama was a disturbed man at that time. The rumours about his people gossiping about his wife’s chastity had started troubling him. He had decided to abandon her but didn’t have the courage to tell her about his cruel act. He tells her that as he is busy with ruling Ayodhya, Lakshmana would take her to those beautiful jungles again. Trusting her husband, unaware of the fate awaiting her, she goes with Lakshmana in her chariot from Ayodhya. Lakshmana reaches a small brook in a beautiful jungle and tells Sita the truth that Rama has abandoned her. Without waiting for her reply, he flees in the chariot, leaving Sita all alone in the jungle. A shocked Sita breaks into sobs and cries uncontrollably, which Bhavabhuti describes with poignant beauty in his classical Sanskrit play.

Standing at the banks of the Ponkuzhy lake, one wonders whether Bhavabhuti had visited this place when he wrote his drama. The description of the forests and lakes looks closer to this distant corner of India than the dry jungles of central India. Perhaps, this place had preserved its pristine nature for thousands of years and all parts of India used to be like this. The tribals revere the lake as they believe it is made of Sita’s tears. It also is the tears of all humans and creatures, whose love is unrequited. Those are the tears of loneliness, abandonment, and ironically, of iron determination.

Local Folklores

As per the local folklore, after crying for days, and filling an entire lake with her tears, Sita decides she would not give up. She promises herself that she would bring up her children by herself and make them better than anyone else. Perhaps, she was the world’s first single mother. She blesses the lake to flow eastwards and join Kabini, which again joins Kaveri. From her tears, thus a river is born that sustains a civilisation. She is the daughter of earth and the tribals worship her as their mother.

Valmiki Maharishi meets Sita in this place as per the tribal folklore. There is a Lord Rama temple nearby, to mark this place. It has idols of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita and is ancient. People come to do pitru tarpan, the death rites for their ancestors in the river that flows from the tear lake. There is another temple for Sita and her beloved son, Hanuman. Sita considers Hanuman as her eldest son. The tree nearby looks like the simian kingdom, with monkeys screeching their heart out and doing their acrobatics. There is a Valmiki Ashram nearby.

We leave to Ashramamkolli in Amarakuni hamlet, on the Pulpalli route. The Ramayana was written here as per the local belief. One wouldn’t be surprised as the tranquility of this place is capable of making a poet of anyone, let alone a literary genius like Valmiki. Nearby, there is a crude hut, with mud and cowdung plaster and thatched with Darbha grass.

This place is rebuilt every year by Nayaka tribes, who carry the grass to thatch the roof from deep inside the jungle. It is an offering to Mata Sita. None of the trappings of Brahmanical temples are there in this humble, spiritually charged place. There are a few brass lamps given as offerings by city dwellers. But other than that there is nothing else, not even an idol. This is the place where Sita gave birth to Lava and Kusha as per the local belief and hence, is considered the holiest of holy places for the tribals. There is a hibiscus (mandaram) tree in front of the thatched temple.

Every day, this tree yields two flowers which are used as offerings for Lava and Kusha. We stood under the tree, watching the pink flowers. They aren’t plucked, but have to fall down before being offered. Hurting no creatures, even a tree by plucking its flowers, is a part of the tribal ethos. Only for food, a part of sustenance, they can kill or hurt any being. I was learning new lessons or perhaps, relearning things that humans have always intuitively known.

There is a formal temple some distance away, built in typical Kerala style. The speciality of this temple is that it is dedicated to Lava, Kusha and Sita together, making it perhaps one of the rare temples in India.

Most parts of Wayanad are thickly forested even now. The forest floor is full of leeches. However, for about 24,000 acres around this temple where Lava and Kusha grew up, there are none. The legend goes that after having attacked baby Lava and Kusha, these leeches were commanded away by Sita and even now you will find no sign of them.

The formal temple was also witness to an important historic event. In the early 1800s, Pazhassi Raja, the king of Kottayam and Wayanad, had made this area his military headquarters in his fight with the British from 1793 to his martyrdom in 1805. Varma had led an army of Kurichiyar tribals and Nair troops and had defeated the famous Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington in the battle of Panamaram with his army of tribals armed with bamboo bows and arrows. Pazhassi was later betrayed and killed in Wayanad, like many others in our history. This temple premise was the headquarters and feeding place of his army and was surrounded by impenetrable tropical forest in that era.

A kilometre away is a unique place called Jadayattakavu. This place is holy for the tribals because this is the only place where all the major characters of the Ramayana were together. Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughana, all the family members, Hanuman, Lava, Kusha, Sita and Valmiki stood at this place during the reunion of Rama with his children and wife. This was the ground where Lava and Kusha had tied up the Aswamedha horse of Rama and defeated his entire army, including Hanuman. Sita had brought up her children to make them into great warriors who could even defeat their father and Vanara army that vanquished Ravana.

What could be a sweeter revenge? What could be a bigger statement of who Sita was? Hence, Sita is the prominent deity for the tribals and locals more than Rama.

The place got the name as Jadayattakavu for a reason. After reunion, where Bhavabhuti ends his plot of "Uttararamacarita," the actual drama begins. Rama asks for another agni pariksha from Sita. A devastated Sita pleads to Mother Earth to take her back. Sita was born from the womb of earth and she returns to the womb. She had done her duty as a mother and she had nothing left to live for. As she is being swallowed by earth, an anguished Rama rushes to her and grabs her hair. However, the hair gets torn off her scalp and Sita vanishes. Rama breaks down into tears and throws the hair, which grows into groves. Hence, for the tribals, every tree and grass around is Sita’s hair. They remain on earth, sustaining countless lives. As if to underline the story, the jungle around is teeming with life.

Unlike the literary Ramayanas, the folk narratives are rich with life and symbolism and their connection with nature is stronger. One needs to be immersed in such places to visualise, to feel, to breath the stories such places offer. For thousands of years, such beliefs, localised and intense, is what enhanced our civilisation.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the author and do not reflect the opinions or endorsements of Outlook Traveller

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