Unlike what some pseudo-liberal atheist Bengalis may tell you, Rāmanavamī (Rāmnôbomī / রামনবমী) is not new to Bengal. We have been Rām bhakts for as long as Hinduism has existed. After all, we are the ones who popularised the Vaiṣṇava mahāmantra: “...Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.”
However, our Rām is different. Yes, our Śrīrāma (Śrī Rām / শ্রীরাম) is different from the one worshipped in the northern plains. No, it is the same deity, but what I mean by “different” is the way He is perceived and portrayed.
The Bangla translation of the Rāmāyaṇa, or the Kṛttibāsī Rāmāyaṇa, was written by the medieval Bengali poet Krittibas Ojha. Later works by writers like Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury and Michael Madhusudan Dutta also depicted Rām in a vision quite different from the one we see in today’s political rallies.
Firstly, our Rām is not a political tool. All the Bengali leaders, from either end of the political spectrum, are committing, in my humble opinion, nothing less than sacrilege by shouting political slogans in His name. Our Rām is not to be used to intimidate others.
Our Rām is green, yes, quite literally. He is green or greenish-blue (ghanaśyāma) in most depictions of Him in Eastern and Southern India.
Our Rām is not the hypermasculine vanquisher or conqueror often portrayed in the north. No, our Rām is gentle, He is compassionate, and He is kind. Our Rām is righteous. He fights, yes, but not merely to destroy evil, He fights to safeguard Dharma.
Our Rām feels human emotions. He is Puruṣottama, the “best among men.” A man loves. A man feels pain. Our Rām has felt them too, and yet He is beyond them. That is His greatness, not in His grand vānarasenā, nor in killing Rāvaṇa, but in His extraordinary courage in the face of adversity, in not giving up on His beloved Sītā, and in doing what it takes to bring Her back. That is Maryādā Puruṣottama.
This Rāmnavamī, let us uphold Dharma, let us uphold truth and righteousness, and remember: sometimes, adharma does not begin on some distant island in the south, but within ourselves.
