6-BOOK REVIEW: THE LAST WORD ON RAMAYANA:
VENTAKESTWARA RAO NARLA (2004) [257P] VISALANDHRA PUBLISHING HOUSE
 REVIEW: BY KAVNEET SINGH Part 3rd 
Chapter 10 – Interpolations
We are told that Jambavantha emerged and jumped out from the mouth of Brahma when_ _he yawned………[Page 59]_
Since when did men give birth to live adults through their mouths; it’s simply amusing! _In the 109th_ _Sarga of Ayodhyakanda, these interpolators have put puerile words in_ _Rama’s mouth. In a discussion with Jabali on Athesim, Rama refers to Buddha as a_ _“thief”… [Page 63]_
Buddha was a real person but Rama is a fairytale character in work of myth. It is interesting to note how the writers of the Ramayana have mixed fact and fiction and even the time and space has no logical relevance.
_The same question arises in the case of Trishira who had been killed once by the arrow of_ _Rama in Janasthana (27th_ _Sarga Aranyakanda) and dies again at the hands of_ _Hanumantha during the war at Lanka (70th_ _Sarga-Yuddhakanda). In Yuddhakanda again_
_Mahadara and Maha-Parshwa die once in the 70th_ _Sarga and again die, perhaps finally_ _in the 98th_ _and 99th_ _Sargas….[Page 68]_
Since everything has been cooked up by various writers in separate settings over a long period of time, it can create major problems to stitch a complete logical story with it. Finally when someone like Valmiki supposedly put it all together getting a consistent story becomes very difficult and the holes in it are unexplainable.
Chapter 11 – Valmiki
_Full justice can only be done to Valmiki only when the Sansjkrit Ramayana is stripped of_ _all interpolations and forgeries of others in the name of Valmiki that have been heaped_ _on it. As a poet, Valmiki possessed wonderful capacity for imagination….we would_ _therefore, be doing him injustice to him by ascribing to him the entire Sanskrit Ramayana_ _which is a disjointed hotch-potch bundle…..[Page 68]_Valmiki being an excellent poet has clearly written a ballad/poem, namely the Ramayana, singing the praises of a hero albeit fictitious but definitely not a superhero, demi-god, god-king or a god.
Chapter 12 – Rama’s Image
_Utter obedience to his father’s was Rama’s creed. His teacher’s or priest’s word was law:_ _Protecting the traditional religious belief along with the pride of his lineage was the_ _philosophy of his life…He was a hard core statusquo-ist. Change was anathema for_ _him….he never understood anything new…..[Page 70]_
This rigidity and the blind obedience to priests is precisely the diabolical plan, through the modus operandi of the Ramayana, by the Brahmins to inject their master philosophy of divide, rule, subjugate and make money in perpetuity by claiming to be on par and simultaneously the doorkeepers of the gods.
Chapter 13 – Valmiki’s Rama
_Kaykeyi.... “this day, all your enemies have been silenced’” deserves to be underlined, as_ _they indicate that apart from Kaikeyi, there were other enemies_ _to Rama_ _in Dasharatha’s_ _court……[Page 72]_
Looks like there were other enemies even before Ravana came into the picture. Ravana has been made out to be the villain when really the villain should be Lakshmana whoinsulted Ravana’s sister Sarupnaka whose nose and nipples he cut off in the most inhuman way!
Chapter 14 – Human, Not Divine
_Seetha asks, “Why are_ _you in so much grief?” Rama replies: “Dasharatha has given the_ _Crown Prince status to Bharata for all time to come.” (26th_ _Sarga-Ayodhyakanda) At that_ _time, Rama believed that he missed the throne “for all time to come.”……[Page 73]_
An angry grief stricken, highly emotional Rama seems every bit a human with all the faults and weaknesses rather than a god-king or a superman. _Rama who never gave rest to his eyes, and kept shedding tears, and talking to Lakshmana,_ _looked like “fire without flames and sea without waves.”…..[Page 74]_
What a crybaby Rama turns out to be, instead being man or god enough to bear the news. _Lakshmana out of his inability to judge Bharata’s caliber, exhorts Rama to wage war_ _against him to teach him a lesson. Rama’s advice not to resort_ _to such a measure was__based not on his correct assessment of Bharata. In fact., Rama did not even think that it_ _would be improper to kill Bharata. The reason Rama gave_ _was, “if we kill Bharata, will_ _not people blame us that we did so only to capture the_ _kingdom that father had givento__Bharata?” (97th_ _Sarga-Ayodhyakanda)……[Page 75]_Rama is actually contemplating killing Bharata but the only thing stopping him is not his own conscience but the concern what others will think, if he assassinates Bharata.Chapter 15 – Jabali
_Instances of reducing the king to a mere figurehead and priests themselves running the_ _affairs of the State are quite common not only in the history of India, but in those of_ _Akkadia, Sumeria, Babilonia, Egypt, Rome, China,….[Page 78]_Narla’s incisive faculties made him write a play called ‘Jabali’ based on the Ramayana characters to show the readers and bring new insight into understanding the gory fairytale Ramayana, in the real sense.
Chapter 16 – The Play, Jabali
_We should keep an eye on Atheists, as one can see in Ramayana (109th_ _Verse, 100th_ _Sarga-Ayodhyakanda)…..From this we can understand, how those who indulged in heavy_ _doses of interpolation and committed forgery in the_ _name of Valmiki have_ _forgotten,_ _all decency, decorum_ _and restraint in attacking the non-Vedic_ _religions…..[Page 80]_
Ramayana does contain references to previous non-vedic religions which are reviled and denigrated such as Charvaka, Lokayata, Nastika, etc, and all reached prominence before Jainism and Buddhist philosophies. Some of the nascent humanistic ideas were nipped in the bud and subsumed by the devious Brahminical interpolators. The other parallel specialty of the Brahmins has always been co-opting anything that stands in its way!