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Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramayana Through India (1992)

by Jonah Blank

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2185122,701 (4.02)3
For 3,000 years, India has told the epic tale of the blue-skinned man-god Rama's journey across its timeless land; this unique travel book retraces his steps and retells his story in a vivid portrait of India today.
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Showing 5 of 5
didn't entirely finish, but what I read was good. Left in Chicago. ( )
  acorpsperdu | Dec 24, 2010 |
An excellent book that provides an insight for western minds to an ancient Indian adventure and mixes it with a modern day journey of observation in the sub-continent. Its well written and a very satisfying read. ( )
  thejohnsmith | May 27, 2010 |
Decades ago, I tried to read an English translation of the most famous version of the Ramayana, written by "the father of Indian poetry," Valmiki, but I just could not find the story I thought I knew (from my childhood in Malaysia) in all the religious teachings, sub-plots, and doggerel rhymes (which is the greatest failing of the British colonial translators, in my opinion, their insistence on childish rhymes and sing-song meter). Rama and Sita's story was buried, it seemed to me, under too many words and too much religious gobblety-guk. But perhaps I was just too impatient to see clearly.

In his Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God, Jonah Blank has managed, in delightful prose, to capture all the epic qualities as well as all the character traits and flaws and jokes that I remember loving as a kid, all while using Valmiki as his source. Blank has the advantage, of course, of being able to read Sanskrit! At the opening of each of his chapters, Blank "translates" a section of Valmiki's poem with an eye to a modern American sense of character, dialog, plot and pacing. Human foibles are dramatized, irony seeps in, the kidnapped heroine is unflappable, the bad guy turns out to be a (misguided) gentleman of sorts, a monkey god joins forces with the hero (whom he also makes fun of, of course), and... voila! action, adventure, high ideals, Ultimate Good versus Ultimate Evil plus a damned good love story...you're hooked!

Blank includes in his version of the Ramayana a number of episodes that I do NOT remember from my childhood, like the (soft porn) harem scene and the penultimate fight scene where Rama keeps repeatedly chopping off the ten heads of Ravana, King of Demons, chopping off heads that keep growing back!! over the entire two days' worth of hand-to-hand combat. (Heck, the Ravana that I knew in Malaysia had only one head, thankyouverymuch!) In Malaysia, I probably saw the Muslim-ized version of the story, so reading this original (sexier) Hindu version has been great fun. And VERY informative.

After Rama the episode that starts each chapter, Blank continues with his travelogue through India, visiting the real world sites of the mythical story. From his outsider/visitor point-of-view, he explains how each part of the story reveals and supports Indian culture. He uses the story to explain Hinduism as well as how all the other religious influences in India--Islam, Buddism, Christianity, Sikhs, etc--have influenced daily life and worship on the subcontinent. In this light, two of my favorite non-Ramayana episodes in the book are: 1) Jonah Blank's meeting with Mother Theresa, and 2) the man who explains to Blank how it is that Hindu worshippers who pray to many gods are really praying to the One True God, perhaps the same God of Christianity and Islam.

Because he wanted to ask a question rather than receive a blessing, on the day Blank visited Theresa in Calcutta, she asked him to remain until all the others seeking an audience with her that day had left. This request for him to wait furthered his story because he was able to witness the requests for prayers/blessings from the other visitors, all of them apparently Hindu. Blank tells us, "What I wanted to know is whether or not ... [Mother Theresa] considers herself a good Hindu... It is not as absurd as it might sound. Mother Theresa's life is a chronicle of good deeds, and deeds play a far larger part in Hinduism than they do in mainstream Christianity. I wouldn't want to cast any doubts on her impeccable credentials as a future Catholic saint, but Mother Theresa may qualify as a Hindu maharishi as well."

Which made me laugh...the YES!YES!YES! laugh of recognition...because this is the thing about Christianity that I simply don't understand: the idea that your actions and your day-to-day relationships with other humans do not necessarily add up to your final, eternal fate. God's grace is a lovely idea. Undeserved love, undeserved mercy sounds amazing (godly!) on the surface. Yet I DO find it wrong that the "truly repentant" can have spent their lives engaging in murder and mayhem, yet be forgiven in the end. Grace: To be forgiven for everyday human weakness, for not having the emotional or physical strength to live up to your good intentions now and then...to be forgiven for forgetting to take the garbage out or forgetting to send a birthday card...or for succumbing to jealously...for not being able (as opposed to unwilling) to pay your debts...that is one thing. But to be forgiven for deliberate, intentional, well-thought-out transgressions against a fellow human beings, for selfish acts of thievery, abuse, for dishonesty, for Machievelian manipulations that cause someone else to suffer, for knowingly propagating harmful outcomes for others... Forgiveness for deliberate evil acts with equally evil intent seems completely counter-intuitive and counter-productive.

If I were to believe in any concept of life after life, I think I'd go for the idea of karma (Sanskrit for "action") and reincarnation, where all my actions as well as all my intentions--all actions and thoughts, both good and bad and indifferent--come back to "pay" me for the all the decisions I've made and the life (or lives) I've led. I'd rather get to Heaven, in other words, on a thousand thousand daily acts of kindness. I'd rather that I profit from deliberately dedicating myself to making daily life better for those I love and live with, for my community. To be judged by my overall dependability as a "good" influence in the Universe, rather than put all my eggs into the "repentance" basket. AND I'd rather live in a system that motivates my neighbor to make my daily life better as well. ...But enough about me: Back to the book.

Mother Theresa laughed, of course, at Blank's question about whether or not she was a good Hindu, but she was happy to answer his next question, about how India has influenced her faith: "Why, in every way! I have learned so much here. So much about fidelity, honesty, strength of devotion."

As to the question of how a religion that seems to worship hundreds of gods is actually monotheistic, Blank turns to a stranger in a Nehru suit whom he met at a temple dedicated to the Monkey God, Hanuman (who is also a key player in the Ramayana). Blank sums up the idea like this: "Like Roman Catholics seeking the help of patron saints, Hindus look to lesser gods for intercession." But the man in the Nehru suit has a much more entertaining and revealing analogy:

[quoting directly from the book:
"The Supreme Being is like a beaurocracy. No, no, do not be alarmed," he added hastily, for I must have lifted my eyebrows at this apparent blasphemy, "certainly it operates more efficiently, but along the same principles. You see, each of the gods has his own function and responsibility. Just as we civil servants have a Ministry of Defense, a Ministry of Finance, what have you, on the spiritual level there is the war god Kartikeya; Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth; Sashti for childbirth, Manasa for snakebite, Sitala for smallpox, and so forth."

"Then would you regard each god, like each ministry, as a separate entity?" [asks Blank.]

"Yes and no. The ministries have different offices, but all are part of the same government. If you wish to receive a driver's license, do you send off your application addressed merely to 'The Government, New Delhi'? Of course not. You mail it to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. But surely you would not doubt that it is the government which issues the license."
[end of direct quote from the book]

Hah! I think I finally get it: Henotheism in action!

At the end of the "War" segment of Blank's version of the Ramayana, Rama realizes that his battle with Ravana is a stalemate. No matter how many times he chops those ten heads off, they will always grow back. That night, in a vision, one of his old teachers, the maharishi Agastya, comes to him with the answer he needs to vanquish evil. The maharishi tells him,

"The cosmos is not truly ruled by a pack of squabbling deities. It merely appears that way to us mortals, when we look at the world and see its seemingly meaningless anarchy. But behind all the faces, behind all the stories, all the gods are but One God."... "That God is also yourself. He is me as well, and every other living being.... Know that all the gods of the world are One, know that the One God is you, and this knowledge will give you power to do anything you wish." He then raises Rama off of the ground. "If it makes you more comfortable," said Agastya, "think of this wisdom as a weapon, the most devastating and wonderful weapon ever forged. Think of it as the all-conquering Arrow of God."

This gift of knowledge turns out to be Rama's secret weapon that helps him win the war the next morning. I won't tell you exactly what happens, but for this reader, the "solution" was deeply satisfying. Even more satisfying than a great retelling of an ancient myth, however, is Blank's ability to use the lessons of the Ramayana to shed light on the problems of the chaotic, often harsh reality of India's multi-linguistic, multi-cultural, muliti-theistic society.

This is an outstanding read for anyone interested in South Asia. ( )
2 vote maprovencher | Jun 13, 2009 |
An incredibly compelling book, in which the author recounts the story of the Ramayana while travelling through India along the epic's pathways, describing its significance and its contrast with modern India. ( )
  klg19 | Jan 24, 2008 |
Intelligent, non-patronising and thoughtful look at India. Funny and though-provoking anecdotes alternate with snippets from the Ramayana. Perhaps a little short, but then if it were more in-depth it would probably have lost some of its flow. ( )
  jobbi | Jul 25, 2007 |
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For 3,000 years, India has told the epic tale of the blue-skinned man-god Rama's journey across its timeless land; this unique travel book retraces his steps and retells his story in a vivid portrait of India today.

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