How Ramayana fired the imagination of Urdu poets.

Epics allow themselves to be read at multiple levels; the many stories contained within an epic can be 'broken down' and interpreted in different ways, to suit a variety of purposes while maintaining the over-arching, all-embracing integrity of the larger poetic story.

In the case of the Ramayana, while it is primarily a religious text depicting the life of Ram, the Prince of the Kosalas, his 14-year exile, the various dramatis personae he meets during his stay in the jungles, his journey to distant Lanka in pursuit of his wife who has been abducted by Raavan, and his eventual, triumphant return to his home in Ayodhya, the story and the very persona of Ram are brimful with meanings and significance.

Laying claim to Ram

As much a religious figure as an icon of morality, the character of Maryada Purushottam Ram, the so-called 'perfect' man, the embodiment of goodness and 'manliness' and everything that symbolises honour, chivalry and kindness, has seized the imagination of the poet and creative writer from different Indian languages for millennia. His story has been told and retold in different ways, in multiple languages and dialects.

The Urdu poet and writer is no exception. While large numbers of the Ramayana itself have been written in Urdu, both in verse and prose, a vast amount of Urdu poetry exists on the various incidents mentioned in the epic, first said to have been written by Valmiki, the principal characters mentioned in the story as well as several that deal specifically with Shri Ram himself.

- Photos by the author

Of the many poems on the chief protagonist of the many Ram Kathas that have sprouted over the centuries, 'Ram' by Dr Muhammad Iqbal is remarkable. Brimming over with love and respect for 'Ram-e Hind', whose very name is a badge of honour for the people of Hind, it lays claim to Ram in unequivocal terms, as someone that every Indian is proud of:

Labrez hai sharaab-e haqiqat se jaam-e Hind

Sab falsafi hain khitta-e maghrib ke Ram-e Hind

(The goblet of Hind is brimful with the wine of reality

All the philosophers of the west are taken in by Ram of Hind)

Similarly, Saghar Nizami's 'Ram' stakes his claim to honouring and loving the legacy of Ram, making no distinction between the followers of Hinduism and the people of Hind who have the same reasons to love and respect him:

Zindagi ki rooh thha roohaniyat ki sham thha

Woh mujassam roop mein insaan ke irfaan thha

(He was the spirit of Life and the candle of spirituality

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