| Harikathaas
(religious story-telling) are arranged in which skillful
storytellers relate in the local language the nearly infinite
sub-stories – the upakathaas that bring us back and forth to the
main story – the Ramayana. An unusual mixture of emotions arise as
one listens to these spell-binding events in the life of Rama.
Sadness, anger, sympathy, empathy,
bewilderment, compassion, pleasure and pain are all felt as one
views in one’s mind Rama, Sita, Bharata,
Lakshmana, Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Jatayu the bird, Mareecha as a deer,
Vaali, Sugreeva, Vibheeshana, Keikeyi, Manthara, Hanuman and a
thousand other personalities exploding as it were from a capsule. |
