| Before the birth of Rama, the city of Ayodhya was a model of congenial harmony. In the words of the sages, 'No-one was mean, impious or failed to discharge his duties [;] none denied the existence of God, none uttered falsehood or were guilty of slander.' Today, Ayodhya is a hornet's nest, its menace accentuated by the stinging yellow and black railings that surround the entire perimeter of an enclave where legend and history overlap in layers. |
| Legend has it that Ayodhya was the birthplace of Rama, as it was that of his three half-brothers Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughana, all of whom were conceived mystically by the Lord Vishnu and delivered simultaneously to the three wives of Ayodhya's King Dasaratha. Later, celestial divinities spawned an army of bears and monkeys to support Rama while he searched for his wife Sita, who had been abducted to Sri Lanka by the demon Ravana. |
| Understandably, the present city of Ayodhya is dotted with sites associated with Rama, from the moment of his miraculous birth to his death by self-immersion in the waters of the nearby sacred river Sarayu. Hanuman - Rama's devoted monkey-general - is accorded a lesser but nonetheless significant prominence, and his unruly descendants scamper over the rooftops of Ayodhya, dart through open windows, and audaciously snatch anything edible from the hands of unwary pilgrims. |
| No-one has yet conducted a census of the number of such simian truants but however many hundreds they may be, they must surely be less than the battalion of police deployed to guard the Babri Masjid / Rama janambhumi site, on the orders of the Supreme Court of India. Guards search you as you enter the precinct, they search you at various stages on the way, frisking and scanning you to ensure that you are leaving all your worldly possessions behind you. You walk through metal pipe corridors not dissimilar to the ones familiar to visa applicants outside western embassies in Islamabad, and this seems oddly appropriate for - in a sense - one is applying to enter another country, the re-established kingdom of Rama-rajya. [EXTRACT] |
| Published in DAWN 6 May 2005, and reprinted in WHEN BUSH COMES TO SHOVE & OTHER WRITINGS (2006). |
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