HIST 10 World Civilizations to 1500
Lect. #10 

I. Sanskrit
      A. "Sanskrit Cosmopolis"(b. 300 CE - 1300 CE)
                1. Personal charisma
                2. Brahmanism
                3. Cosmopolitan language for South and SE Asia
                            • Gandara (NE Indian subcontinent
                            • Prusapura (Peshawar)
                            • Panduranga (Annam -- S. Vietnam)
                            • Prambanan (central Java - Indonesia)
      B. Kavya
                1. Human experience
                2. Kingly lineages
                3. Kingly virtue
                            •Aesthetic appeal
      C. Sanskrit
                1. Not a "natural language" (not a 'mother tongue')
                2. Phonological and morphological transformations c. 3rd-4th century BCE
                            • No core group of people thus equal affinity
                            • Tamil, Kannada, Khemer, old Javanese
                3. Spread of Sanskrit
                            • Unlike Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian and Chinese not spread by military
                            • Not Indian political colonization
                4. Rise of Vernacular Languages

II. Valmiki's Ramayana
      A. Background of text
                1. 1st century BCE = Valmiki's Ramayana
                2. Earliest of Sanskrit kavyas
                            • Myth?
                            • Patterned representation of the world
                            • Framework of narrative
      B. The Story (map)
                1. Popular versions of Ramayana in India

III. Themes
                1. Divine Kingship and the Ramayana
                            • Rama = divine human incarnation of Vishnu
                            • archetype of loyal husband/ideal ruler bringing divine salvation/ideal human
                            • He is human but also divine (a divine human or a mortal god)
                2. Dharma
                            • good and righteous conduct in performing your life's roles
                            • Performing correctly within context of specific situation and time
                            • Dharma is rooted in notions of kingship
                                   - Provides security
                                   - Provision of welfare
                3. Other Themes
                            • Stratified social Order
                            • Patriarchy and Family Order
                            • Morally bound sense of duty
                            • Characterization of the Other
                                   - Ravana = cosmic evil
                                   - Destruction reveals transcendent entity of Rama

IV . Appropriation of Ramayana and Vernacularization
                1. Not limited to one period of history
                2. Reflects the era in which it is told
                3. Appears in vernacular languages only after 12th century
                4. Pictorial Representations of Ramayana
                            • Rama shooting Bow (Siamese)
                            • Folk painting from Madhubani India
                            • Ravana Battles Jatayu
                            • Rama in his chariot battles in Lanka (Thailand)
                            • Javanese puppet of Ravana
                            • Hanuman lifting the mountain
                            • Depiction of Ramrajya in popular art
                            • Bapu (modeled on 18th century manuscript)

V. Invoking the Past
                            • Destruction of Babri Mosque (1992)
                            • Birthplace of Rama