M A N Y V E R S I O N S , M A N Y T H E O R I E S

02 “Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.”GÉRARD DE NERVAL, FRENCH WRITER AND POET OMG

So where does the truth lie? Authors arguethat in mythology, the only aspect that

has survived are the stories –which are an interpretation of

our perception. Can we thentrust history? No! It’s aneven bigger lie that has

been agreed upon bythose who were the

victors. There aremultiple truths;

one must readseveral versions

to arrive at acommon view

throughindependent

thinking. TimesNIE reports

MYTHOLOGICAL STORIES ARE LIES WITH SHARDS OFTRUTH... YOU ARE FREE TO HAVE YOUR OWN VERSION

Mythological writers on their versions of Ramayana...

If I was looking for a feminist’s POV, I wouldwrite my version of Ramayana whereSita took centrestage - Anuja Chandramoulli

The epic’s core beats with a feminist heart led by ‘fierce’ women who makeRamayana one of earliest odes to the

utopias of feminism. Sita is acknowledged inValmiki’s Ramayana for her ability to ‘reduceRavana to ashes through the fire of her chasti-ty’ alone. She, however, resists the power toensure ‘Rama’s arrow is not deprived from its legiti-mate glory’.

Nothing Adharmic about having your own perception and believing in it - Anand Neelakanthan

For me, all our puranas are proto-history. Lot of exaggeration has happened; lotof propaganda has been added to that.

It’s like Chinese whispers of 5,000 yearswhere some things have been twistedwhile somethings may have actually hap-pened. In one version of the Ramayana insouth India, Sita was not kidnapped byRavana. She went with him willingly.

My Ramayana is about strong women- Devdutt Pattanaik

When people argue, there is an assumption that one ofthe two parties knows the truth. But what if no oneknows the truth? Then one party wants to

impose his truth on the other. BeyondRamayana’s politico-royal landscape,

its spiritual scape of ashramas toofeatures strong-willed women in the‘ascetic-like’ Shabari andSwayamprabha. They lead

single, independent andfulfilling lives.

Sita had tochoosebetween two eli-gible men fromdifferent mountainregions. She wantedto test both ofthem. First, shewent willingly withRavana as he had moreresources...

Sita hadthe abilityto reduceRavana to

ashes throughthe fire of her

chastity alone.However, she

resists thepower...

A TALE OFMANY TRUTHS

STUDENTSSPEAK

Iagree that there can be multiple truths and reading different versions is necessary to make an inde-pendent judgment. When we say different ver-

sions, it is different perspectives of the same issue.What might be true for one might be false for theother. It is for the same reason that courts hearboth sides of the matter before passing a sentence. ARCHISHA PANDA, class X, Pawar Public school, Pune

Yes, I agree that truth can take different forms. In today’sera of mass media and information overkill, there isalways a chance of misinformation. A story from a sin-

gle source is never complete and hunting for several versionsof it before forming an opinion is important for us to presenta neutral and unbiased take on the matter.URMILA JITHESH, class X, Bhavan's Vidya Mandir Elamakkara,

Ernakulam

To quote Mahabharata — within infinite myths, lies eternal truth.Who sees it all? Indra has a thousand eyes, Varuna a hun-dred and you and I only two. One can develop a perspective

only when he/she has all the facts laid bare. To acknowledge thefact that all accounts aren’t complete and lack all possibleinformation, is to build a stronger, more thoughtful society,which is more open to views.AMEYA DIXIT, class X, NES National Public School, Mumbai

Truth is what you believe to be true. It is your truthand my truth and the real truth maybe somewherein between or may not exist at all. There is nothing

in Indian mythology which is canonical. Every villageand house has different versions of our epics acrosstime. So, I don’t draw parallels with Greek or Nordic cul-tures because theirs is a story that has stopped growing. SOUMILEE BHATTACHARYYA, class XI, Apeejay School, Kolkata

The line between what the truth actual-ly is and what we perceive it to be, isfine, and we walk a tight-rope as we

try to evaluate various “perspectives”.So, to be impartial, it is imperative thatall versions are considered. AARADHANA VAGHELA, class XII, Anand

Niketan, Ahmedabad

Netflix released its first interactive experience with ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’. The team behind the immersive film,which debuted a first-of-its-kind technology, say there is a need to tell the audience that all versions are welcome

Bandersnatch is an im-mersive, nonlinear filmthat uses the “branchingnarrative” storytellingformat and allows view-

ers — through touch screen ortheir remotes, depending on

the device — to pick betweena series of two choices asthey go along, giving themcontrol over how the plotunfolds. Bandersnatch isset in 1984 and follows a

programmer named Stefan (played by‘Dunkirk’’s Fionn Whitehead), who is devel-oping a choose-your-own-adventure comput-er game for an emerging technology compa-ny run by famed gamer Colin Ritman.

NOTE: There is no official run length toBandersnatch. Viewers need about 90 min-utes to get through a satisfying chunk of the

story and reach at least one ending, but itcould take up to two-and-a-half hours to ful-ly “play” it to its official end, which is markedby rolling credits.

Along the way, there are multiple“endings” and many story paths that arethe result of millions of unique permu-tations created by the audience itself.

BANDERSNATCH: there’s no one ending

1In today’s history text books we read about thegreat statesman Chanakya as the shrewdBrahmin who brought Chandragupta Mauryato the throne. But historical accounts

of Chanakya come to us from a Sanskritplay called Mudrarakshasa, which was writ-

ten by Vishakhadatta at least 700 years afterChanakya died.

2What is taught as ‘The Great Rebellion of 1857’ in India find mention as ‘TheSepoy Mutiny’ in England. Same event,different perspectives.

3There are those who are convinced a massive Aryan migration happened inthe Indian subcontinent and Sanskritand the Vedas are a product of that

migration. On the other side are those who believe that

the migration happened in reverse,carrying Indic culture to other parts

of the world.

4There are those who arguethat Aurangzeb was not adespot and that much of theanti-Hindu actions attrib-

uted to him were exaggerated. On theother side are those who believe thathe was a religious bigot who destroyedmany Hindu temples in his ferociouszeal to Islamise India.

5There are readers who believethat the most glorious periodin Indian history was the oneunder the Mughal empire. But

there are others who argue that theSatavahana, Vijayanagar or Chola

empires were no less glorious but havesimply been glossed over.

6Many see the struggle forIndian Independence as a non-violent movement that borefruit due to Gandhi’s efforts.

But equally, many believe that IndianIndependence would never have beenpossible had it not been for SubhasChandra Bose and the lurking possibili-ty of a military mutiny.

7There are those for whom Nehruis a hero who ensured a democ-racy in India. There are otherswho see him as the man who

bungled Kashmir, lost Tibet, lost theChina war and gave up the offer of aseat on the UN Security Council.

➤ There is noofficial run

length. Alongthe way, there

are multiple“endings”,many storypaths that

are theresult of

unique per-mutations

MOVIES THAT PROVE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE IS

EVERYTHING

If film has taught us anything, it’s thatdifferent people perceive things differ-ently. That’s how we get conflict. And wewouldn’t have conflict if we all experi-enced and interpreted events in exactlythe same way. Here’s a shortlist

1. OblivionPG-13 | 2h 4min |Action The movie is a hauntingpiece of cinema thatexcels at putting theaudience into the sub-jective viewpoint of theprotagonist.

2. MementoR | 1h 53min | Mystery,ThrillerChristopher Nolan’s filmplaces all its scenes inreverse order, so thateach new scene thatplays radically revises our

perspective of the previous scene.

Phot

o: G

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Photo: GETTY IMAGES

WATCH THIS SPACE:

Columnists on storieswith multiple truths

ThoughRamayana

effects categori-cal punishments

against any violationof women, none of the

women, from queenKaikeyi to asceticAnasuya show any

need for maleprotection...

In pic: Sita depicted as theWarrior of Mithila

by author Amish Tripathi