Research on Ramacharita Manas to Clear Misinterpretations

Several verses in Hindu epic Ramacharita Manas are used to suppress women and dalits. Onkaranandji, a lecturer turned saint, has been studying Ramcharit Manas for over ten years to understand the true meaning of the verses that have been used to exploit dalits and women. His findings suggest that all these couplets have been misinterpreted for exploitation by people with vested interests.

Onkaranandji has a PhD in Sociology and before taking ‘sanyas’ he was teaching at the Banaras Hindu University.

So, what made him to do research on Ramacharita Manas? Talking to Hindustan Times he says

“After taking sanyas diksha in 1986, I attended religious discourse of some renowned saints in different parts of the country. Everywhere I found that they quoted famous couplets of Ramcharit Manas for advocating tough behavior towards women and dalits in the society, which really shocked me.”

For a better understating of Ramcharit Manas, he traveled across North India and studied the original hand written Ramacharit Manas of Tulsidas.

Onkaranandji’s conclusions

• ‘Nari’ in Ramcharit Manas controversial couplets does not mean woman but veins. So it is the veins that need to be controlled for an ideal behavior not women.

• 'Shudra' in the original script is written as ‘Chudra’ which means a crook not a caste.

• Another controversial couplet which says women have eight negative qualities should really mean women have eight additional qualities not found in men.

It is a well known fact that almost all the Holy Scriptures has been twisted by people with vested interests. But these scriptures still contain unfathomable knowledge. Dig for the true knowledge and leave out all those that are not of any use in the modern day world.

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