Content area
Full Text
Abstract
This article seeks to examine the history and function of the Hindu religious text, the Ramcharitmanas - commonly referred to as the Ramayana - in Trinidad. Since the earliest days of Indian indenture in Trinidad, the Ramayana has provided the major framework of the theological edifice of the Hindu migrants. Initially functioning as a religious, social, cultural and emotional anchor for the Hindu indentured labourers, the Ramayana has established itself as the primary source of ethics, morals and codes of conduct, variously influencing almost all dimensions of both the private and the public spheres of Hinduism in Trinidad and Tobago. The article argues that the Ramayana, by constantly informing and reflecting the Trinidad Hindu experience, can be deemed both mirror and metaphor of history and society, and, thus, Hindu socio-religious transformation. Finally, it explores the Ramayana's role in the spheres of Hindu religious and family life, politics, and social interaction.
Introduction
V.S. Naipaul, perhaps the most celebrated product of the Trinidad Hindu community, described the Ramayana as something that "lived among us" and as "something I had already known".1 Working with such assumptions, this article seeks to demonstrate that the Ramayana has always been an intrinsic aspect of the Trinidad Hindu society, and has functioned as both agent and mirror of developments and transformation therein. Although there are several hundred written and oral versions of the Ramayana, this essay focuses on the Ramcharitmanas, the recension brought to Trinidad by Indian indentured labourers. Composed by the saint-poet Tulsidas around 1574, it has been central to the literary, cultural and religious heritage of India2 and almost every other country of the Indian diaspora. Original neither in terms of plot nor theme, the Ramcharitmanas is instead an interpretation of the Valmiki myth of Rama, with influences and borrowings from other prominent texts of sixteenth-century India.
During the period of Indian indenture, a total of 143,939 Indians migrated to Trinidad,3 approximately 88 per cent of whom practised various facets of Hinduism. Since the beginning of the Indian presence in Trinidad, the Ramcharitmanas has occupied the unchallenged position of " Dharmashastra par excellence" in all facets of Trinidad Hinduism, providing "the major framework of the theological edifice of Hindu migrants".4 So pervasive is this version that many...