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Ramayana joke
I just read a translation of the Ramayana by Aubrey wenner. The introduction was
toooooo muuuuuuchhh. The book is published by scribner & sons, 1954.
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Introduction
This is the story of Rama, a prince of India, who lived his life according to
the best advice. He reverenced his intellectual betters, who were called
Brahmins, and did what they told him to do. He took his morals from the best
moralists, and his politics from the best politicians. As a result he was
ruined, exiled, and disinherited: his wife was stolen from him and when he got
her back he very nearly had to burn her alive for the best of motives. In the
teeth of the soundest and most reliable guidance from his moral and mental
superiors, he finally recovered his country, his throne, and his common sense.
He lived more than two thousand years ago but everybody will recognise his
experiences.
Twenty-five centuries is a lot of time ago, but the Indians were in many ways
as civilized as we are today. There were great cities with immense bazars in
which the shopkeeper cheated his customers and was in turn cheated by the
merchants. The merchants were robbed by a vast civil service, and the civil
servants kissed the big toes of the politicians, who were known as courtiers.
The courtiers were brahmins, and the brahmins were the top dogs. They made the
laws, taught the ignorant, dictated morals, controlled the temples, and
terrified the king. In those far-off days they had not yet become a rigid and
hereditary caste. Any man could become a Brahmin provided he set himself up to
know better than his fellow men, and was sharp enough to get away with it.But a
Brahmin was usually the son of a Brahmin,because the tricks of the trade took a
long time to learn, and a man could not start too early.
Besides the Brahmins, there were men of genius. These were usually thought
brainy but a danger to the society and they were customarily driven to live
in the wilderness, another sign that this ancient civilization was not much
below our own. One such man of genius was Valmiki, who wrote the story that I
am going to re-tell.
It is said that the tale of Rama's adventures is the first story ever put
together. I do not know that this is true; but it is certain that Valmiki was
the first human being to be recognised as a literary genius. He was therefore
penniless and much disliked. He lived in a thatched hut and had to grow his
own food. He could move among his fellow men only if he were heavily disguised,
and then at the risk of his life. He was an outlaw.
[rest deleted]
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