Civilizational Dialogue and Multicultural Collaboration in the Ramayan

Abstract

Even though considerable amount of scholarship has been conducted on the Ramayan as a literary and religious work, it remains a civilizational document that defines ideals of ethical governance, human values and intercultural interaction. Being traditionally researched within the studies of the Indian tradition, the Ramayan is also an active structure of the civilizational exchange and the multicultural interaction beyond the borders of regions, societies, and time. The paper examines the Ramayan as a story about ethical interaction between different cultures and specifically on how it has dealt with cooperation, conflict and mutual recognition of different civilizations. The latter point, which is the focus of this paper, is the India–Sri Lanka axis in the epic, where the clash of Ayodhya and Lanka could be understood not only as a polarity of two civilizations but as the contact of two civilizations, which are highly developed. The image of a rich and culturally accomplished kingdom portrays Lanka as a challenge to the interpretations of any cultural form otherness, and this portrays the ethical subtext of the Ramayan as much more complex than it is generally perceived. Another theme that comes out in the building of the Ram Setu is its symbolism as a unifying factor and transregional cooperation, one that is based on common moral intent and mutual ground as opposed to acquiring territories. Outside the subcontinent, the spread of the Ramayan to the mode of Southeast Asia and other areas testifies to how it can be hijacked to fit the culture of various traditions and still be true to its original ethical spirit. Indonesian, Cambodian and other versions of the epic also evidence the localization of the text—a process that emphasizes universal values of righteousness (dharma), loyalty, sacrifice, and leadership based on ethical motivation thus reinforcing the fact that the Ramayan is a channel of soft power and a source of intercultural dialogue much earlier than globalization came into being. It is on this background that this paper proposes that the Ramayan provides a conceptual framework of significant importance to the global dialogue today because of the emphasis it places on ethics and human values as the tenets of teamwork. The teachings of moral restraint, inclusive cooperation, and respectful interaction beyond the differences embedded in the teachings of the epic can provide useful lessons in terms of promoting ethical global cooperation and civilizational coexistence in a steadily becoming culturally plural and interdependent world.