Ramayana: Memoir Hanuman

Rata-rata penganut agama Hindu seluruh dunia masih menganggap Ramayana sebagai teks kudus dan suci. Maka kandungan teks berkenaan dilihat perlu diterima bulat-bulat tanpa boleh dipersoalkan.Ajaran yang terkandung dalam Ramayana dijadikan panduan hidup; sama penting dengan ajaran dalam Mahabharata, Upanishad, Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda dan Atharvaveda.

Bagaimanapun, mengikut peredaran zaman, para pengkaji dan peneliti sudah mula memberi interpretasi baru terhadap kandungan adikavya (karya agung) berkenaan.Tindakan ini tidak pula mencemarkan keagungan Ramayana. Sebaliknya, membuktikan bahawa epik klasik itu amat kompleks dan bersifat universal, serta boleh ditafsir dari pelbagai sudut mengikut zaman.Tokoh pemimpin di Tamil Nadu, India, E V Ramaswami yang lebih dikenali sebagai Periyar pernah menulis semula Ramayana dengan mengangkat Ravana sebagai wira.

Pulavar Kuzhanthai pula menulis Ravana Kaviyam (1946) dari sudut penceritaan Ravana. Bagaimanapun, karya itu diharamkan kerajaan Tamil Nadu pada 1948.Kalau dikaji secara teliti, Ramayana sebenarnya memiliki ciri teks sejarah atau itihasa kerana membuat rujukan pada peristiwa dan tempat-tempat yang memang terdapat dalam catatan sejarah.Misalnya mengenai pelayaran dari Benua Kecil India ke Kadaram (Kedah). Usah lupa tentang Laksamana Hang Tuah yang dipercayai menggabungkan watak-watak dari Ramayana dan Mahabharata.

Ramayana: Valmiki vs Hanuman

Ada suatu kisah yang kurang diketahui umum mengenai apa yang berlaku selepas cerita dalam teks Ramayana berakhir.Salah satu versi mengatakan bahawa Hanuman pergi ke Himalaya dan mula menulis semacam autobiografi mengenai segala apa yang berlaku dalam hidupnya.

Kemudian, apabila Valmiki melihat hasil karya Hanuman, maharishyi itu kecewa kerana Hanumad Ramayana (Ramayana Versi Hanuman) jauh lebih hebat berbanding Valmiki Ramayana (Ramayana Versi Valmiki).Perlu diingat bahawa Hanuman terlibat secara langsung dalam segala peristiwa penting yang berlaku dalam Ramayana sementara Valmiki hanya mendengarnya kemudian daripada Sita.

Valmiki dikenali di seluruh dunia sebagai pengarang epik Ramayana. Beliau digelar “adikavi” iaitu “penyair agung” manakala Ramayana digelar “adikavya” iaitu “karya agung”.Nama asal Valmiki dipercayai ialah Ratnakara. Pada suatu hari, beliau mengikut bapanya, Prachetasa, seorang alim ke hutan. Ratnakara sesat lalu ditemui seorang pemburu.

Prof Khoo: I didn't say we can't accept legends

INTERVIEW Historian Khoo Khay Kim clarified that he never said we should totally discount “unproven” legends like Hang Tuah or Hang Li Po, but wants official history to focus on more relevant historical figures instead.“I didn’t say we cannot accept legends and myths, if society has already accepted myths for decades, it has became tradition and we usually do not question it,” he told Malaysiakini in an interview yesterday.

“(My views were) not to reject the legends, but at least if we want to include them in texts, we must say, that according to legend, it was said that there was an admiral named Hang Tuah. If we clarify that it is a legend, then there is no problem.”What he is against, he said, is when such legendary figures are inserted into historical texts without such caveats.

Brickfields traders in demo against contra lane

KUALA LUMPUR: About 50 Brickfields businessmen staged a protest on Jalan Tun Sambanthan today, calling on the authorities to close the new contra lane there.They said their businesses had suffered since the lane was opened and new traffic rules imposed on Dec 3.

The demonstrators belong to a newly formed group called Residents and Business People of Brickfields Movement."For the last two weeks, I have been receiving complaints from the business owners here that their revenue is down 50% since the contra road was opened,” said the movement’s pro-tem chairman, Dr R Narkunam.

Narkunam, a gynaecologist, said the prohibition of parking in certain areas was forcing his patients, including the pregnant ones, to walk long distances to his clinic."I dread to think of my patients' predicament if it is an emergency case."Last week, he said, a patient had to circle Brickfields four times before finding a place to park her car.

Hindu-born woman can challenge her Muslim status

Factory worker S Banggarma has been finally given a breather to challenge those who she maintains wrongfully caused her to undergo conversion to Islam in 1989, when she was seven.According to her lawyer Gooi Hsiao Leung, the Court of Appeal yesterday ordered the High Court to hear her application challenging the validity of her conversion to Islam when she was in an orphanage in Penang.

Her parents placed her at the Ramakrishna Orphanage when she was five, and she was there for a year-and-a-half. Banggarma's mother died in 1989, and her father in 2004.Gooi said the three-member Court of Appeal panel led by Justice Abu Samah Nordin arrived at a unanimous decision.

"They ruled that the High Court has the jurisdiction to hear the originating summons brought by Banggarma," he told Malaysiakini.

No Interlok reclaim order at 80 schools

More than 80 secondary schools have yet receive instructions to reclaim the novel Interlok, distributed to Form 5 students last year, despite a cabinet decision on the matter last month.

Chairperson of the pressure group National Interlok Action Team (Niat), Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim, said a telephone survey of 100 schools conducted by his group showed that 80 of them have yet to receive any written instruction from district education offices to reclaim the book from the students.

The schools surveyed were from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya and Negri Sembilan.

At a press conference with Ngeow Chow Ying, the vice-chairperson of the civil rights committee of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Thasleem said he had received more than 600 complaints from the parents on the matter.
Of the 100 schools, Thasleem noted that most of those that did not receive the circular were in rural areas.

Delay in Thaipusam preparations in Penang

With Thaipusam just weeks away, the Penang Hindu Endowment Board (HEB) has yet to hold a meeting with some 300 operators of refreshment stalls to prepare for the key event.The operators set up refreshment stalls - known as panthal in Tamil - each year, as thousands of devotees pay homage to the deity Lord Murugun over the three-day celebration. It falls on Feb 7 this year.

An operator, Tharshana Rayer, said the meeting would typically have been called in December, to enable elected representatives and HEB commissioners to address relevant issues.
These include the duration of the chariot procession, shoplot allocations, the coconut- breaking ceremony, allocation of sites for refreshment stalls and voluntary assistance for the temples.

"It is now January and I wonder why the HEB has not issued any notices or press statements to the public and panthal operators," Rayer said in a statement to Malaysiakini.

"The HEB must  at all times  observe integrity when serving  the Indian community during such religious festivals  and this meeting should be held without fail.   "It is mind-boggling as to why the HEB is keeping (silent). Could it be because of (problems it has faced in) leasing land to private businesses in Butterworth?"
 
‘Explain lease arrangement’


Early this month, about 30 Hindu devotees had staged a protest at the Sree Gangatharan Shiva Peruman Temple in Butterworth, over two private business allegedly encroaching on temple land.The HEB clarified that it owns the land, and that the temple management had been informed about the lease arrangement.
However, Rayer questioned if the land had been leased based on an open tender system as HEB had failed to clarify this point.

"It is also crucial that the HEB calls for the meeting with the respective  parties to show good governance and (maintain its) the good name," he said.The HEB was further urged to disclose the process of appointing commissioners and the remuneration provided to them and the administrative staff.



Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/186279

Rajinikanth biography to hit stands on 12.12.12

A biography which pertains to south Indian superstar Rajinikanth will hit book stands in the superstar’s real style on 12.12.12.The book titled 'Rajinikanth', authored by critic-producer Naman Ramachandran will be the first and only definitive biography of one of India's biggest stars.According to Press Trust of India (PTI), the book, published by Penguin Books India, will be launched on Dec 12, 2012, to commemorate the Superstar's 62nd birthday.

"The book will comprehensively analyse his meteoric career in the movie industry from his debut performance to his forthcoming blockbuster 'Rana', releasing this year."With never before presented insights on his personal and political life, this book, for the first time analyses the unmatched charm and magic of Rajinikanth that bridges the unique boy-next-door, down to earth persona, with that of his larger than life superstar image," the publishers said in a statement.The book will also contain exceptional pictures and narrations.



Source- Bernama